Art, Aesthetics, and Islamic Mysticism

“This exciting volume accomplishes something both new and necessary—it offers a window into Muslim theories and practices centered on beauty, especially within the context of Sufism. The articles respond to almost any imaginable aesthetic practice that Muslims value, treated with exceptional erudition. This is a very welcome addition to the study of Muslim praxis, the Islamic arts, Sufi aesthetics, and embodied Muslim subjectivity.”

—Cyrus Ali Zargar, Al-Ghazali Distinguished Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Central Florida

During the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Islamic mysticism, or Sufism, spread extensively throughout Western society, with Sufi teachings permeating all spheres of society. The increasingly powerful and pervasive presence of Sufi popular religiosity and aesthetic traditions in the West has also engendered new cultural forms. Contemporary art has not only greatly expanded the traditional boundaries of aesthetic material culture; it also draws on a far more diverse range of bodily and sensory experiences. Drawing on recent methodological trends inspired by the “aesthetic turn,” this book explores contemporary perspectives on art, aesthetics, and Islamic mystical experience, with a focus on sensory synesthesia. The authors seek to contribute not only to the study of postcolonial and decolonial ways of thinking about Sufi performances, artworks, and visual expressions, but also to the development of a transcultural Sufi-inspired aesthetics.

Sara Kuehn is a researcher, writer, and lecturer, presently teaching at the Department of Islamic Theology, University of Vienna, working at the interdisciplinary juncture of (art) history, anthropology, theology, philosophy, religious and cultural studies.