Hassan al-Turabi’s Discourse on
the Arts: Conservative Prohibition

and Cautious Permission
Gubara Said Hassan and Jabal M. Buaben

Abstract

In Islam, God’s wondrous creativity is reflected in the unity of de-
sign in the widest diversity and beauty of the cosmos. For some
Muslims, Islamic art expresses this natural beauty as well as the
miracles of God’s creation related in the Qur’an and the prophetic
traditions (aḥādīth). This article focuses on Hassan al-Turabi’s
perceptions of the arts and the aura of conservative prohibition
and cautious permission that surrounds them. For him, the Islamic
attitude toward the arts and aesthetics is determined by monothe-
ism (tawḥīd), which entails one’s absolute belief in God’s oneness
and the abjuration of anything that might compete with it or with
His omnipotence. God has created in beauty a dualistic nature:
guidance (belief and faith) and temptation (seduction and aberra-
tion) for humanity. 

Keywords: Arabia, tribalism, Arabic poetry, idols, beauty, paint-
ing, pictorial and figurative arts, calligraphy, sculpture, architec-
ture, music, singing, dance

Introduction
In his History of the Arabs, Philip K. Hitti stated that “it was only in the
field of poetical expression that the pre-Islamic Arabian excelled. Herein
his finest talents found a field. The Bedouin’s love for poetry was his one
cultural asset.”1 The abundant remains of that desert art, according to A. J
Arberry, “developed an unparalleled poetic structure which still astounds
scholars.”2 The Bedouin poet (shā‘ir) was the oracle of his tribal group, its
guide in peace negotiations and arbitration, and its instigator in times of war

132 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 32:4

Gubara Said Hassan, originally from Sudan, teaches international relations, globalization, as
well as global development and governance, at the Institute of Policy Studies, Universiti Brunei
Darussalam. He is also an adjunct professor at the Institute of African Studies, Carleton Univer-
sity, Canada. Jabal M. Buaben, formerly of the School of Philosophy, Theology, and Religion,
University of Birmingham, UK, is an associate professor of Islamic history and civilization at
the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Centre for Islamic Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam.



and conflict. However, as this term implies, the poet was commonly believed
to be endowed with supernatural knowledge, a wizard who had some kind
of relationship with the spirits or devils, and one who depended upon them
for his or her magical powers. Apart from poetry, however, which these
Arabs held up as being the supreme expression of literary or artistic excel-
lence and thus accorded their poets an influential tribal position, they “had
little or no erudition in the arts and most of their acclaimed artistic expres-
sions had their origins from foreign lands.”3 Clearly, the nomadic life of
continuous wandering, along with tribal warfare and conflict, was not con-
ducive to painting and sculpture.

For Thomas W. Arnold, “the gods [and goddesses] of the Arabs at the pe-
riod of the birth of Muhammad received little in the way of artistic treatment,
for the Arabs at this period seem to have been content with shapeless blocks
of stone (and wood) as symbols of the divinities they worshipped, and when-
ever they did spend any artistic effort upon them, it was of a meagre charac-
ter.”4 In this sense, one could state that Prophet Muhammad received a heritage
devoid of any noteworthy art, a reality that is reflected in his attitude toward
the arts through the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and his personal life.

As the Arabs poured out of the desert during the seventh century, they
conquered cultures that were new to them. In the Roman and Persian empires,
for example, they found gratification in painting and in other novel artistic
experiences that appealed to them due to the pagan spirit that still animated
many of them. Their invasion of Syria, Persia, Egypt, North Africa, and Spain
(Andalusia) brought them into contact with peoples that had inherited ancient
artistic traditions. The new Muslim rulers soon learned to appreciate their sub-
jects’ artistic abilities not only in forms that were harmonious with Islam, but
also in ways directly opposed to its teachings. Once again, devoid of any cre-
ative artistic activity of their own, the early Muslim Arabs had to seek the help
of others. Therefore, the beginnings of what is commonly known as the
Arab/Muslim arts are of foreign origin. 

Arnold identifies the various non-Arabs and non-Muslims involved in
the prolific display of artistic production in the era of Islamic rule. He counts
among these the Christians from the lands that had come under Islamic sway,
the Persians for whom artistic expressions were part of their culture; the
Manicheans, for whom religious art was important, also contributed to this her-
itage. The fourth group he identifies as the cultures of Transoxania who had
well-developed artistic expressions before they came under Islamic sover-
eignty.5 Islam, of course, made its own immense imprint on these “imported”
artistic expressions and adapted them to reflect its core philosophy of this world
and the hereafter, as well as its attitude toward the arts and aesthetics.

Hassan and Buaben: Hassan al-Turabi’s Discourse on the Arts 133



Hassan al-Turabi (b. 1932) believes that the Islamic attitude toward the
arts and aesthetics is determined by monotheism (tawḥīd), which entails a com-
plete submission to the belief in God’s oneness and abjuration of anything that
might compete with it or with His omnipotence, as well as a belief in His won-
drous creativity as reflected in the unity of design in the widest diversity and
beauty of the cosmos. Islamic art, whether architecture, painting, or sculpture,
expresses both this natural beauty and the miracles of God’s creation:

That which is on Earth We have made but as a glittering show for it, in order
that We may test them – as to which of them are best in conduct. (Q. 18:7) 

We have indeed decked the lower heaven with beauty (in) the stars. (Q 37:6)

It is We who have set out constellations in the heavens and made them fair-
seeming to all beholders. (Q. 15:16)

Or who has created the heavens and Earth, and who sends you down rain
from the sky? Yea, with it We caused to grow well-panted orchards full of
beauty and delight: it is not in your power to cause the growth of the trees
in them. (Can there be another) deity beside Allah? Nay, they are people
who swerve from justice. (Q. 27:60)

“Forms of beauty in the present visible cosmos,” al-Turabi states, “attract
beholders and thinkers and transcend matter only to acquaint them with God
and His attributes of perfection, wisdom and creativity.”6 Thus how can any-
one think of the wonderful universe as a whole without thinking of the far
higher unity of design, the evidence of God? The highest lessons we can draw
from this order, beauty, and grandeur are spiritual: The author of this mar-
velous order, beauty, and harmony is One, and He alone is entitled to sincere
worship or devotion, the reward of which is eternal residence in an extensive
and beautiful Paradise. He continues, “The creation of beauty may accompany
the most significant objective of religion, belief in God as One. A believer can
express his [or her] intentions and psychological states or conditions through
(artistic) forms that transform theoretical values into a living, realistic, beau-
tiful and effective example. Such an example will make these intentions and
states a perfect emotional experience and a comprehensive reaction.”7

Al-Turabi grounds his argument on the Qur’an, which states: “Say: ‘Truly,
my prayer, and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death, are (all) for
Allah, the Cherisher of the Worlds” (Q. 6:162). In this respect asceticism,
which often means negating or renouncing materialistic pleasures, has no nec-
essary sanctity attached to it. The beautiful and good things of life are really
meant for and should be the privilege of those with faith in Allah. One is

134 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 32:4



cautioned against the assumption often held by many religious scholars that
those who do not follow precisely what the Creator has ordered would have
no stake in what this world offers. He points [out] that such people would
have adequate benefit and be given the opportunity to amend their way on
earth while facing accountability at the end of time.8

According to al-Turabi, God created in beauty a dualistic nature: guidance
(belief and faith) and temptation (seduction and aberration) for humanity.

Since art is a symbolic practice that indicates an aesthetic ideal, interacts
with the artist’s imagination and transcends his [or her] direct reality, and
since religion is also a symbolic practice that interacts with the unknown,
transcends mundane life and aspires for eternality, art is relevant to religion
and both of them can live in harmony. The artist can be guided by faith
(īmān) which in turn gives him [or her] more inspiration (ilhām) for more
artistic production.9

In other words, religiosity gives artists a spiritual supply for an intensive
symbolism. It enriches their imagination, enables their aspirations, develops
their fortitude in facing life’s afflictions and challenges, and enriches their
souls through reactions of faith, the changing conditions of life, and the ten-
sions that arise. It is religion alone that that makes artists commit themselves
to this transitional life and the permanent hereafter. Art should be adopted as
a means of worshipping God. A historical religious example of this is Prophet
David, whose gifts of song and sacred music were displayed in his psalms,
where all of nature sings and echoes the praise of God: “We bestowed grace
aforetime on David from Us. O you mountains, echo the praises of Allah with
him! And you birds (also)!” (Q. 34:10).

Al-Turabi characterizes art in the following statement: “Like authority,
economics and sex, [it] attracts through lust, overwhelms or dazzles man and
captivates him. If the world of art, as expressed by the slogan ‘art for art’s sake,’
engulfs man he will then experience real polytheism (shirk). Beauty will then
become a deity or divinity worshipped by man or an end in itself or dominate
all other values of life and abrogate all moral values.”10 Furthermore, 

art is a free, unlimited emotional or sentimental reaction that does not suit
the reasonable or rational orientation and conscious movement towards God
(Allah). It is a satisfaction of obscure psychological needs. It draws man into
imagination and distracts him from all serious objectives. It is in close asso-
ciation with the artist’s soul and personal conditions and far from being an
objective system or social function that is committed to public interests or
the needs of a reality.”11

Hassan and Buaben: Hassan al-Turabi’s Discourse on the Arts 135



In and of themselves, the arts are not evil and may in fact serve religion
and righteousness, but there is a danger that they may be prostituted for base
purposes. If the arts are insincere or divorced from actual life, or from its good-
ness or its serious objectives, they may become instruments of evil or futility,
diverting one’s attention from all set purposes and causing one to seek the
depth of human folly rather than the height of divine light. Thus the com-
mendable arts emanate from minds and souls steeped in faith, try to carry out
in life the fine sentiments they express in their artistic works, and seek the
glory of God rather than self-glorification or the fulsome praise of others and
transitory pleasures. 

In this sense, perfect artists should be perfectly faithful individuals. Life
is taken seriously by those faithful individuals who realize what hangs upon
it. But as the Qur’an indicates, frivolous people, such as poets, prefer the van-
ities of life and idle distractions to true realities.

And the poets, it is those straying in evil who follow them: do you not see
that they wander distracted in every valley? And that they say what they
practise not? Except those who believe, work righteousness, engaged much
in the remembrance of Allah, and defend themselves after they are unjustly
attacked. (Q. 26:224-27)

But there are, among men [and women], those who purchase idle tales with-
out knowledge (or meaning), to mislead (people) from the path of God and
throw ridicule (on it): for such there will be a humiliating chastisement. (Q.
31:6)

It is religion that commits artists to the seriousness of the mundane life and
the expectations of the hereafter. Art should be used as a means of devotion to
God and practiced according to the teachings of the Qur’an and Sunnah.

For al-Turabi, in principle “art, which enhances one’s profound acknowl-
edgement of the beauty in Allah’s creation, does not clash with the tawhidic
paradigm and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad.”12 The Qur’an, as the ulti-
mate expression of the divine in Islam, was revealed in Arabic, resides in un-
matched linguistic beauty, and is armed with unprecedented linguistic efficacy.
The divine message of Islam, delivered through the Prophet, laid the founda-
tion for the high intellectual and emotional esteem in which the Qur’an has
been held ever since. This attitude has resulted in two major developments:
calligraphy (i.e., writing the Qur’anic text in a manner compatible with its sa-
cred status) and the love of knowledge and the propagation of books as the
medium of knowledge.

As Arnold intimates, calligraphy or the

136 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 32:4



art of writing is an honourable one and a soul-nourishing accomplishment.
As a manual attainment it is always elegant, and enjoys general approval, is
respected in every land, and rises to eminence and wins the confidence of
every class, being always held to be of high rank and dignity, oppression
cannot touch it, and it is held in remembrance in every country, and every
wall is adorned by its hand.”13

Calligraphy enjoys an exalted position in the Muslim world due to its con-
nection with the Word of God and with all of His prophets. This profession
was one of honor and dignity, for it engaged the person in writing and copying
the Qur’an and thus was accorded religious sanction. This consideration shows
the different status of calligraphers, whose work was in the service of Islam,
and of painters and sculptors, whose works were condemned. This lack of re-
ligious sanction also lowered the status of singers, dancers, sculptors, and
painters. In addition,

for of the three great missionary religions of the world – Buddhism, Chris-
tianity and Islam – each striving for the mastery of the world and endeav-
ouring to win the allegiance of all men [and women] by various devices of
propaganda, Islam alone has refused to call in the aid of pictorial art as a
handmaid to religion. This hostile attitude on the part of Islam to pictorial
art has given to the whole history of its propaganda, and to the organization
of its devout life, a complexion fundamentally different from that of either
Buddhism or Christianity, both of which have made use of paintings in order
to attract fresh converts or to instruct and edify the faithful.14

This theological objection has applied from Islam’s early period and has
effectively prevented the emergence of painting and sculpture in its followers’
religious life. It has sometimes been stated that the Qur’an forbids the painting
of pictures and sculpture, even though it contains no specific mention of pic-
tures. Only Q. 5:90, which the theologians would cite to support this particular
prohibition, makes it clear that the real objective was avoiding idolatry: “O you
who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, sacrificing to stones and divination by
arrows are an abomination of Satan’s handiwork: eschew such abomination
that you may prosper.” The legal basis of condemning and prohibiting pictorial
and figurative art must therefore be sought in the prophetic traditions.

A clearer pronouncement in this regard is found in this literature, which
sanctions the hostile attitude prevailing at that time throughout the Muslim
world. These traditions enjoy the same status as due the verses of the Qur’an
in terms of formulating Islamic dogma; however, Muslim jurists hold that they
proceed from divine inspirations, unlike the Qur’an, and are inspired only in
terms of their content and meaning, and not in terms of their actual verbal ex-

Hassan and Buaben: Hassan al-Turabi’s Discourse on the Arts 137



pression. Accordingly, their authority is commensurate with that of the Qur’an’s
precepts and thus equally binding on the Muslims’ conscience.

The prophetic traditions condemn painting and figurative art or sculpture.
In fact, al-Bukhari reports that the Prophet said that painters will be most se-
verely punished on the Day of Judgment, will experience the punishment of
Hell, and will be called to breathe life into the forms they have fashioned. He
issued this statement for two reasons: (1) Painters and sculptors usurp God’s
creative function by fashioning the form of a living being and thus are at-
tempting to assimilate themselves to God. God will command them to breathe
life into what they have created, something that they of course cannot do, and
thus they will be tortured in the Fire and (2) His intention was to wipe pagan-
ism from the Arabs’ memory. Succeeding Muslim generations relate that after
the Prophet peacefully conquered and then entered Makkah, he went into the
Ka‘bah and ordered the pictures in it to be obliterated and the idols surround-
ing it to be destroyed. 

In any case, Muslim exegetes generally rejected any views that permitted
the figurative arts (taṣwīr) on the grounds that any supposed permission found
in the Qur’an was voided by the prophetic traditions. Still, even this prohibi-
tion (taḥrīm) was not unanimous when it came to subsidiary issues, particu-
larly on how one should regard figures printed on garments, bedclothes, and
curtains; drawing plants; and the production of all kinds of art for secular pur-
poses. However, Arnold argues that “later, after the Hijrah, when aḥādīth re-
ceived statutory recognition, painting and sculpture became forbidden as in
the authoritative aḥādīth collections and the prohibition became enshrined in
Muslim legal texts.”15

Al-Turabi appears to be undisturbed by the conservative Islamic legal
provisions on the prohibition of figurative art. For him, 

the triumph of the conservative tendency toward arts can be attributed not to
a mere inquiry into the narrated Shari‘ah texts but to historical considerations.
[Primarily], … since the Arabian Peninsula was relatively devoid of cultural
elements other than poetry, artistic phenomena in the life of post-Prophetic
Muslims were foreign importations. The new varieties of arts generated after
the Islamic conquests, which brought Muslims into contact with races that
had inherited an ancient artistic tradition, were rejected by Muslim jurists
who also doubted all cultural imports including scholastic theology (kalām).16

He goes on to enumerate other factors, including “the alleged negative
effects of the arts on spirituality and life hence leading people to be over cau-
tious and also the general inflexible attitudes of Islamic jurists (fuqahā’).”17
In addition, Islamic jurisprudence sticks to the texts and does not consider the

138 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 32:4



fact that the Prophet approved of dolls and the figures of people and animals
on the woven stuffs with which his house in Madinah was decorated, so long
as they did not distract his attention when he was praying. Similarly, the
prophetic prohibition of painting was intended to avoid idolatry and any de-
viation from absolute loyalty to the sole true deity: God. 

The practical acceptance of this ruling, which was a common ummah-
wide theological opinion, largely depended upon the theologians’ influence
upon the habits and tastes of society at a particular time. Such a stern and
uncompromising opinion can, on occasion, relax some of its severity depend-
ing as regards the prevailing conventions and the intentions of the artists and
those who view their works. Rapture (ṭarab) is an affair of the Sunnah, and
therefore the prophetic traditions relevant to it and to weddings, arrival from
abroad, and festivities were not restricted. Prohibiting rapture is applicable
only when such events are accompanied by drinking wine and engaging in
immoral activities.

Building on this relaxed religious attitude, al-Turabi states that “creating
beauty can and should be cautiously utilized for worship of God. Such caution
is caused by the alluring nature of the arts, the conservative religious attitude
toward artistic production and the threat of imported Western culture which
increases such temptation through exposure to an alluring, ignorant (jāhilī)
arts.”18 In addition, the quest for beauty and its creation is, in principle, en-
couraged by the traditions and teachings of the Shari‘ah as an inquiry into
God’s cosmic signs, gratitude for His beautiful favors, an expression of and
an adornment of worship, and a permitted distraction or psychological relax-
ation for better devotion. 

However, he emphasizes that in accordance with Islam’s general ethical
and theological principles, any art that challenges the tawhidic paradigm and
promotes immorality, tyranny, and dishonesty in any form should be prohib-
ited.19 But if they consider what he calls “the religious confines of prohibition
and abhorrence,” then they are permitted. In this respect, he accepts and
prefers the following varieties of colorful figurative art to persons, materials,
and scenes: calligraphy; beautiful lyrical, theatrical, and epic poetry; and nar-
ratives and prose – as long as they do not contain anything prohibited. Aural
and visible art, expressed by music, dancing, and song, is permitted unless it
leads to immorality. Purposeful performing art (e.g., theater, cinema, and tel-
evision), applied art (e.g., adornments in jewelry and clothes), industrial and
architectural design, or commercial advertising are also permitted according
to the same reasoning.20

Al-Turabi justifies his preference and acceptance of these arts, for 

Hassan and Buaben: Hassan al-Turabi’s Discourse on the Arts 139



the significant role played by arts in contemporary social life is an outcome
of the dominance of the patterns of Western civilization and the efficacy of
the modern communication revolution and its technology. In addition, since
Divine religious messages call for devotion to God, to fight against evil and
strive for good ends, arts should be utilized to realize such ends.21

In other words, art and modern international civilization play a great role in
the call toward  doctrines and values. A call through artistic beautify is tanta-
mount to a direct call through oral and written discourse. Thus, famous Islamic
stories, plays, films, and poems are very significant in propagating the Islamic
message worldwide. 

He also draws attention to the role of the arts in the stages of what he calls
“Islamic construction,” including calling others to Islam (da‘wah), struggle
(jihad), social transformation, and stability. Moreover, performing and literary
artistic expression can facilitate effective criticism of existing social condi-
tions, expose the deficiencies of the status quo, and help people aspire for bet-
ter alternatives. As he puts it:

In the stage of jihad (struggle) and revolution against an old system of values,
artists and men of literature can play a colossal role in agitation and mobi-
lization and in keeping the revolutionary rhythm active through poetry and
hymns. Popular arts also have their special role in the psychological con-
centration of victorious post-revolutionary values and the reception of the
new order. It is imperative that artists and men of literature should recognize
their active role in Islamic Jihad and that the perfection of Jihad entails the
consecration of all artistic potential for God’s path.22

In the stage of the call and jihad for propagating and defending Islam,
priority should be given to general issues, criticism of the old regime’s fun-
damentals, and concentration on those pertaining to the new Islamic order.
Poetry, plays, and films can be very useful here, for their styles have the abil-
ity to carry messages related to public life, represent collective consciousness,
and express the comparison between conflicting lifestyles. During the third
stage, that of social transformation, artistic expression can convey the under-
lying motives of the new message or mission. But when the new order is set-
tled and psychologically established, the artistic renewal should accelerate
its pace in order to assimilate new values and fill the vacuum created by the
destruction of all expressions of the former order of things. The arts should
be used for both deconstruction and reconstruction, for they “could help in
enhancing one’s religious life, enabling creativity and introducing dynamism
in the general life of a Muslim. Therefore they need to be promoted.”23

140 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 32:4



Among the most important problems that challenge the arts in their aspi-
ration to accomplish an Islamic transformation, al-Turabi mentions the influ-
ence of the arts in the spiritual and mundane life of a Muslim which creates a
sort of dualism, the potential conflict with the tawhidic paradigm and the rigid
jurisprudence (fiqh). In addition, he refers to the pragmatic problems of post-
modern culture, issues of pre-Islamic ideas and also the overwhelming influ-
ence of Western culture.

In his attempt to handle these problems, al-Turabi offers several solutions:

First, the necessity for an authentic, faithful artistic education guided by an
Islamic behavioural method that places this education in the sphere of reli-
giousness. Second, the perfection of religion through an original legal ijtihād
(rational reasoning) that depicts a straight path to arts and appreciates the
value of artistic works in the light of Shari‘ah values. Third, both the Muslim
artist and the Islamic artistic movement should have intellectual and spiritual
authentication and a practical orientation to build a new model for the unity
of religion and the arts. Fourth, the vanguard of the Islamic movement should
acquire a supply of suitable faith and legislation, be empowered by their faith
to challenge discouragement, tribulation (fitnah) and should create the model
of a “faithful” art. Fifth, policies which create an atmosphere conducive to
the Islamic artistic movement through the provision of facilities and freedom.
Sixth, state control and censorship over the means of communication assist
faith, the faithful and the emergence of a religious artistic movement parallel
to the explosive phenomena of religiousness in the life of Muslims. 

Seventh, since a comprehensive monotheistic Islamic life is a perfect, contin-
uous system, a renaissance in Islamic art is unattainable without a renaissance
in all Muslims’ affairs. Eighth, the renewal of all Islamic jurisprudence, includ-
ing that of art, through comprehensive ijtihād (rational reasoning). Ninth, the
provision of a multitude of cultural symbols in a life rich in forms and stimuli
interacts with world culture and benefits from styles of human artistic creativity
without having its identity deformed and conscience obliterated. Tenth, an artist
should be religiously committed and concerned with all aspects of life. Those
who lead “our” artistic renaissance should be faithful, have genuine motives
and should guide people through their vocation and good example. To these
are added, their God-fearing, observance of religious rituals and having soli-
darity with all aspirants for an Islamic order where a policy of artistic liberation
can be adopted for the sake of beauty and creativity.”25

Conclusion
To conclude, Islam’s hatred of idolatry caused a statue or a picture to be re-
garded with suspicion because it might play a role in leading the faithful into

Hassan and Buaben: Hassan al-Turabi’s Discourse on the Arts 141



heresy and polytheism. However, this hostile attitude has not kept paintings,
statutes of heroes, songs, and dancing entirely out of the public religious life
of Islam and from most Muslim societies. Similarly, the Muslim world con-
tains plenty of kings or sultans, nobles and princes, not to mention military
rulers, many of whom, despite their general fidelity to Islamic dogma, have
unhesitatingly disregarded the jurists’ protest whenever they feel that it is their
best interests do so. Wine is explicitly prohibited in the Qur’an and the
prophetic traditions, and yet all of Islamic history and literature is full of drink-
ing, dancing, and concubines – all of which poets, particularly those of the
kings, have praised. The jurists sternly condemned music, but Arabic literature
is full of stories of musicians and singers – as well as of the liberal patronage
bestowed upon them by Muslim princes. In many other respects the practice
of the royals and other prominent people was and remains contrary to the pre-
cepts of Islamic traditions. In almost every Muslim country sultans and kings
have sought to leave behind some memorial of themselves in the form of
statutes, tombs, or paintings. 

Another interesting example is the Islamic world’s failure to break with the
past and establish a culture permeated with Islam’s spirit. In the Arab and Mus-
lim worlds, pre-Islamic poetry is still held up as the supreme literary excellence
and, consequently, has been diligently studied throughout the Muslim era, even
though in sentiment and ideals it is the very antithesis of the Prophet’s teachings.
Young Muslim students read and study these poems that are full of the spirit of
self-gratification, licentiousness, wine, and other forms of self-indulgence. Due
to this, as well as to foreign invasion and acculturation, there has always been
an internal contradiction between the Islamic ideals of asceticism, humility, self-
depreciation, and piety and those of pride, lust, and the joy of life, each of which
are set forth in the literature and simultaneously admired by the jurists. 

Added to this has been the widespread self-assertiveness of the wealthy
and powerful who ride rough-shod over the dogmatists and moralists. The ju-
rists have not succeeded in imposing their viewpoint upon Muslims, and Is-
lamic history reveals that Muslim rulers often flouted the former’s authority.
However, they still have enough influence to exclude sculptures from the
mosque, which is devoted to religious purposes, and to keep the general body
of orthodox believers uncontaminated by such abominations.

Al-Turabi did present a legal defense of the arts, one based on various jus-
tifications and his apparent belief that artists have quite peculiar means of rec-
ognizing God. According to him, painters who sketch anything that has life
must come to feel that they cannot bestow individuality upon their creations
and thus are forced to think of God, the Creator of life, and to increase their
knowledge of Him and their own faith. This defense obviously has in mind the

142 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 32:4



condemnation embodied in the prophetic traditions and attempts to refute them
on the grounds that painting and sculpture could advance divine knowledge
and faith. It is characteristic of him that, during this period, this new apprecia-
tion of the arts or beauty and its creation should find its expression in the lan-
guage of jurisprudence and seek to confute, through ijtihād, the unfavorable
judgment and hostility of the older Islamic jurists with their own weapon. How-
ever, this new Turabist appreciation of the arts never managed to displace the
earlier condemnation, for the latter was too firmly rooted in popular Islamic
sentiment and too decisively set forth in authoritative classical-era legal text-
books to make way for more modern speculations.

Endnotes

1. Philip K. Hitti, History of the Arabs, 10th ed. (New York: The Macmillan Press,
1974), 92.

2. A. J. Arberry, Arabic Poetry (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965), 4.
3. See Ahmed Y. Ghabin, “The Qur’anic Verses: A Source for Legitimacy or Ille-

gitimacy of the Arts in Islam,” Der Islam 75, no. 2 (1998): 193-94. 
4. Thomas W. Arnold, Painting in Islam: The Study of Pictorial Art in the Muslim

Culture (London: Dover Publications, 1965), 52. 
5. Ibid., 53-54.
6. Hassan al-Turabi, Qaḍāyā al-Ḥurrīyah wa al-Waḥdah wa al-Shūrā wa al-

Dimuqrāṭīyah (Issues of Freedom, Unity, Consultation, and Democracy) (Jeddah:
Saudi House for Publication and Distribution, 1987), 87. Translations are ours.  

7. Ibid., 89.
8. The Holy Qur’an: English Translation of the Meanings and Commentary (Mad-

inah: King Fahd’s Holy Qur’an Printing Complex, 1410 ah), 407.
9. Al-Turabi, Qaḍāyā, 91.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid., 92.
12. Ibid., 96.
13. Arnold, Painting in Islam, 2.
14. Ibid., 4.
15. Ibid., 9.
16. Al-Turabi, Qaḍāyā, 101.
17. Ibid., 101-02.
18. Ibid., 104-05.
19. Ibid., 106.
20. Ibid., 106-07.
21. Ibid., 109.
22. Ibid., 111-12.
23. Ibid., 113.
24. Ibid., 115-16.
25. Ibid., 116-18.

Hassan and Buaben: Hassan al-Turabi’s Discourse on the Arts 143