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Geometric motifs
were popular with Islamic artists and designers in all parts of the
world, for decorating almost every surface, whether walls or floors,
pots or lamps, book covers or textiles. As Islam spread from nation
to nation and region to region, Islamic artists combined their
penchant for geometry with existing traditions, creating a new and
distinctive Islamic art. This art expressed the logic and order
inherent in the Islamic vision of the universe.
 The
wide spectrum of intellectual treasures allowed Islamic scholars to
quickly embrace Greek philosophy and mathematics, translating and
disseminating this knowledge for posterity. The works of Euclid and
Pythagoras were among the first to be translated into Arabic. The
study of geometry also fed an ardent preoccupation with the stars
and astronomy. All this in turn nourished the Arabic passion for
creating infinite, decorative patterns. The cultivation of
mathematical analysis, in particular, had a harmonizing effect.
Driven by the religious passion for abstraction and the related
doctrine of unity (Al-Tawheid), the Muslim intellectuals recognized
in geometry the unifying intermediary between the material and the
spiritual world.
The development of this
new distinctive art, in part may have been due to the discouragement
of images in Islam on basis that it could lead to idolatry. For the
Muslim, in recognizing the reality of the fundamental formula of
Islam: "There is no divinity other than God". He sees in figurative
art, a fundamental error or illusion in projecting the nature of the
absolute into the relative, by attributing to the relative an
autonomy that does not belong to it. In this way, Islamic artists
did not seek to express themselves as such, but rather aimed to
ennoble matter. Whilst this tradition may have frustrated some
Islamic artists, others took up the challenge and became the
greatest pattern makers of their time. Instead of covering buildings
and other surfaces with human figures, they developed complex
geometric decorative designs, as well as intricate patterns of
vegetal ornament (such as the arabesque), with which to adorn
palaces and mosques and other public places.
 Alternatively,
the development of infinitely repeating patterns can represent the
unchanging laws of God. Muslims are expected to observe certain
rules as were originally set forth by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh),
characterized by the "Pillars of Faith". In this way the rules of
construction of geometric patterns provide a visual analogy to
religious rules of behavior. Both the contemplation of and the
creative skill in making patterns lead in their own way to an
understanding of the perfections of Universal Nature as it moves the
elements. Islamic pattern, unique as an art form, is also unitary in
its aim and function. Symbols can exhaust verbal explanation but
verbal explanation can in no way exhaust symbols -and the symbols
inherent in Islamic pattern and geometry are directed towards that
undifferentiated unity.
Thus, the circle, and
its centre, are the point at which all Islamic patterns begin and is
an apt symbol of a religion that emphasizes one God, symbolizing
also, the role of Mecca, the center of Islam, toward which all
Moslems face in prayer. The circle has always been regarded as a
symbol of eternity, without being and without end, and is not only
the perfect expression of justice-equality in all directions in a
finite domain--but also the most beautiful parent of all polygons,
both containing and underlying them.
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