This research is the product of many reflections and difficulties encountered on a sometimes hostile, sometimes fragile, and sometimes controversial terrain, which is that of artistic work within the Muslim community.
We know art, its freedoms, its fantasies and we are tempted to perceive a “paradox” by linking the lexies “Art” and “Islam”. Indeed, the doxa wants to make artistic actors of the Muslim faith blocked, conditioned beings, locked in a dogmatic yoke which is already itself very tight.
To speak of “Art in Islam” would then amount to speaking of the few permissions granted to the artist. Suffice to say that the artist, in Islam, spends his time evolving on a bed of eggs. His art would have no definition except in what it prohibits, which the arts of other philosophies allow. An art that would draw its inspiration from a limited universe, a narrow, restricted grid, in short, a dictated vision of the world.

Talking about “Art in Islam” also challenges us in the definition that we make of it today. Even if the lexie Islam accompanies our gestures as artists, this does not mean that the latter have no purpose other than religion. Our production can even be profane. What brings together all our artistic achievements is indeed a philosophical thought of Islam which ultimately brings together different individuals and styles, places and different times. The art of Islam is by no means the art of a civilization, but of an ethic.
“To God belongs the Kingdom of the two and the Earth and His power has no limit. (Surah 31 Verse 189).
The starting point is therefore the need to answer a sensitive question. This is about doing justice to art in Islam, because God is Just. Prohibiting or allowing is not a simple game or business. Man is tempted to pronounce “halâl” and “harâm” at all costs, according to moods and accommodations. But, the only one to have this power is God, who forbids us the bad things and allows us the good ones, and does not decide on certain others to make our life beautiful and easy. Al-Hakam tells us from Abu Dardâa and Al-Bazzar this hadith: “What God has permitted in his book is permitted, what God has prohibited in his book is prohibited. The things that God said nothing about is forgiveness, accept God's forgiveness. Then he quoted, “Your Lord forgets nothing. (Sura 19 / Verse 64)
There is a great diversity of legal opinions reported in the various reference treaties with regard to art, and more specifically with regard to music and painting. These two disciplines constituting the two modes of expression vis-à-vis which, the controversies have been, and remain the most lively. Some have prohibited them by considering them as illicit (haram), others have considered them as lawful (halât) under certain conditions.
It will be a question for us of exposing the various opinions which exist, in the most audible way possible, and not in an exhaustive way. We will thus expose the existence of a real discussion between different scientific opinions. It is then up to the reader to return to the references more specifically, for a more in-depth examination of the legal opinions. Overall, we can thus say that the different legal opinions concerning music or design fall into two, or even three main categories:
- some forbid them completely, relying sometimes on the literalness of a hadith, sometimes on an interpretation of a verse from the Koran;
- others, in disagreement with the interpretations and sources on which the former are based, summon other texts to authorize, within certain limits and under certain conditions, both music and drawing;
others, finally, also allow music and drawing but diverge on the second category, as to the conditions and limits set for the permission; we will see how, particularly in the case of music, the answers differ significantly.
The decline that history experienced after the prophetic period and the period of the four caliphs, gradually reduced inventiveness, creation and artistic thought to nothing. Until then used for laudable, noble, scholarly purposes, they have gradually become the assortment of spaces of debauchery where injustice flows like alcohol fills the cups. It is for this reason that it is necessary to say aloud and with courage that it is not art (music or others) which is at the center of the debate, but what is wanted for this art.
This little book will provide you with clear and accurate information on the subject. The importance of this examination led the Ph'Art association to produce these few writings. These data have no other purpose than to allow the Muslim to follow the path of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, without falling into extremes and imitation. Doing justice to artistic expression is a legitimate motivation when we see what this discipline, like all other disciplines, has suffered as a result of historical decadence.

Topics covered in this book:

• Music and songs in Islam
• Arguments of scholars who allow music
• Arguments of scholars who forbid music
• Study of the different prohibition texts
• Drawings and photography
• Movie theater