Word of God, Art of Man – the Qur’an and its Creative Expressions

The international colloquium ‘Word of God, Art of Man: The Qur’an and its Creative Expressions’ was held at the Ismaili Centre in London from 18 – 21 October 2003 as part of the twenty-fifth anniversary celebrations of The Institute of Ismaili Studies. Most Qur’anic Studies conferences focus on the textual reading, codification, transmission and interpretation of the holy text. This colloquium, attended by more than two hundred scholars, students and artists, was unique in that it focussed on the sacred word as a source of creative and artistic inspiration for Muslims worldwide and throughout the ages. The papers took a multi-disciplinary approach and were not limited to a particular historical period or geographical space, leading to rich and varied discussions as the Holy Qur’an was approached from the perspectives of art and architectural history, palaeography (the science of ancient scripts), codicology (the study of the structure and production of a manuscript or codex), numismatics (the study of coinage) and material anthropology.

Word of God, Art of Man: The Qur’an and its Creative Expressions presents selected papers from the 2003 conference along with 120 colour illustrations, some published for the first time, and an extensive bibliography. The volume offers a broad spectrum of recent scholarly work on expressions of the Holy Qur’an vis-à-vis the material arts, stretching from the earliest period of Islam to the present day. The essays explore subjects that range from Qur’anic manuscript illumination in Southwestern Nigeria and Southeast Asia to the use of Qur’anic inscriptions on architecture in 16th-century Safavid Iran and on coinage in 10th-century Fatimid North Africa.