Quran, Culture And Civilization

Quran, Culture And Civilization

Artistic Resonances Between Sayyid Quṭb’s Qur’anic Theory of Imagery and the Safavid Miʿrāj Miniature of Sulṭān-Muḥammad

Author
Sepideh Yaquti
Assistant Professor, Department of Textile and Fashion Design, Faculty of Art, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran
10.22034/jksl.2024.458877.1353
Abstract
The Miʿrāj, as one of the most concise yet profound events in Islamic sacred history and explicitly alluded to in the Qur’an, has long attracted the attention of scholars and artists. One of the most remarkable visual representations of this transcendent event is the Miʿrāj miniature attributed to Sulṭān-Muḥammad, the distinguished painter of the Safavid era. This descriptive-analytical article is framed by Sayyid Quṭb’s Qur’anic theory of artistic imagery. Drawing on documentary (library-based) sources, the study first outlines the components of Quṭb’s theory and interprets them in relation to the Qur’anic verses narrating the Miʿrāj. It then analyzes how these principles correspond to the artistic characteristics of Safavid Persian miniature painting, with particular emphasis on Sulṭān-Muḥammad’s Miʿrāj composition. The findings show that in the Safavid period, Qur’anic themes within Persian miniature painting reached a level of refinement that resonates with the artistic standards of Qur’anic imagery formulated by Sayyid Quṭb. The mode of visual representation emerges as the key point of convergence and the foundational artistic mechanism through which both domains express their concrete and abstract dimensions.

Graphical Abstract

Artistic Resonances Between Sayyid Quṭb’s Qur’anic Theory of Imagery and the Safavid Miʿrāj Miniature of Sulṭān-Muḥammad
Keywords
Qur&‌‌rsquo
an
Sayyid Quṭb
Safavid miniature painting
artistic imagery of the Miʿrāj
Sulṭān-Muḥammad

Subjects

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  • Receive Date 22 May 2024
  • Revise Date 07 September 2024
  • Accept Date 22 September 2024
  • Publish Date 22 December 2025