Islamic art is marvelous and worthy of your attention and appreciation. Muslims are beautiful people who are also worthy of your attention, appreciation, tolerance, mercy and protection. I encourage everyone to spend some time contemplating Islamic art:
"Even experts agree that the term "Islamic art" is insufficient, misleading or just plain bad—until one considers the alternatives. While some types of Islamic art, such as Qur’an manuscripts, mosque lamps or carved wooden minbars (pulpits), are directly concerned with the faith and practice of Islam, the majority of objects considered to be "Islamic art" are called so simply because they were made in societies where Islam was the dominant religion. A few, like the Freer Gallery’s famous canteen decorated with scenes of the life of Christ and saints, were clearly made in a Muslim context (in that case, 13th-century Syria) for use by non-Muslims, while others, such as the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, were probably made for Muslims by non-Muslims, because few craftsmen in Jerusalem had converted to Islam by the end of the seventh century, when it was built. In many cases, we simply don’t know the craftsmen’s faith, because the vast majority of objects are unsigned and many communities were religiously diverse. In medieval Cairo, for example, Muslims, Christians and Jews lived and worked side by side. Their taste in art was similar, but not exactly the same."
http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/...
Consider also the Taj Mahal:
"Ancient Voices - The Mystery Of The Taj Mahal"
http://video.google.co.uk/...
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Islamic art collections on the web:
Islamic Art Collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
http://www.lacma.org/...
The Khalili Collections
http://www.khalili.org/...
And so forth ... you can find plenty of material on the web.
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Consider this: If we all learned to love each other perhaps it would be possible for everyone to live at peace with each other. But I am speaking in an unrealistic idealistic sense. Human nature is not compatible with the peaceful coexistence of humans with each other or Nature.
Humankind has poured trillions of dollars down the black hole of the military-industrial complex. As humankind has continued to feed the beast it has only become bigger and its demands for money, resources and blood are never satisfied.
If humankind had spent all of this money on art instead our species would be a lot healthier and happier. Imagine that ... a world without weapons, a world without violence, a world without war, a world at peace with Nature, a world at peace with God, a world at peace with Life, and a world not fearful of Death.
Humankind cannot afford war any longer. Humankind has squandered too much of the world's resources already. There's going to be 9,000,000,000 humans on the planet soon. We really do need to stop hating each other and learn peacefulness and the virtues of poverty.
I am weary of prejudice, bigotry, hatred, violence and warfare. After 10,000 years of this I wonder why humankind hasn't yet learned love, peace and contentment. The problem is not religion (i.e., atheism isn't the solution) but human nature instead.
Who is going to teach peace to humankind? Who is going to teach love to humankind? Who is going to relieve humankind from this terrible scourge that it has imposed upon itself?
I'd pray to God for a solution but I know that this is a prayer which God would never answer. I'd spend my entire life preaching but this is a message that humankind would never hear, much less accept and follow.
So I spend my time with the manatees, the dolphins, the birds and the flowers instead.
David Mathews
http://www.flickr.com/...