Written by: Nimra Khan
Posted on: March 03, 2023 | 
| 中文
The panelists: (L to R) Amra Ali, Rasheed Araeen and Nafisa Rizvi at the book launch of Araeen's 'Islam and Modernism'.
The issue of Western domination has long been discussed, especially in the Muslim world. Even in regions where wars have not been unleashed, a more insidious and subtle form of cultural and economic domination persists in our societies. However, we are fed a Eurocentric historical narrative, which downplays the greatness of the Muslim civilization.
Rasheed Araeen, a London-based Pakistani artist, who is one of the pioneers of Minimalism in the UK. However, he found it difficult to be recognized in the mainstream Modernist discourse, because of the conservatism of the art establishment. He became one of the critical voices fighting to create a space for himself and others like him through the written word, rewriting art history from an alternate perspective. His book, “Islam and Modernism”, is the latest in this quest, a result of his attempts to reconcile the Modern in his work with the Islamic, which he has only recently accepted and appreciated.
Islam and Modernism by Rasheed Araeen
Published by Grosvener Gallery, this text establishes what the artist found missing in mainstream art historical discourse, and in doing so, seeks to destabilize the hegemony of Eurocentric versions of art history, and history in general. Araeen not only discusses the connection between Islam and Modernism, but asserts a causality that situates Islam as an intellectually advanced system of beliefs which contributed to the development of the European ideas of modernity, and pulled Europe out of the Middle Ages and into the age of Enlightenment.
Rasheed Araeen
He does this through the lens of art and picture making, beginning with a critical view of the Hegelian theories of self-consciousness, rejecting his view of Greek art as the pinnacle of civilization and Islam as lacking self-consciousness. Araeen instead views Hegelian self-consciousness as narcissism of the white man, which places him at the center of the universe as a reflection of God. It is at the root of European sense of superiority resulting in the colonization of races that they regarded as inferior to them.
Araeen sees Islam as an independent entity with its own historical trajectory, which evolved intellectually beyond the need for representation. Islam freed human consciousness from the shackles of what the eye could behold, and opened the door to abstract thought. “It was this unique idea of the Invisible or Unseen Divine that put Islam, ideologically and historically, ahead of all existing philosophical systems.” It is this intellectual superiority that led to its major achievements in science and mathematics, while the Europeans were going through their darkest period in the Middle Ages.
Guftugu by Rasheed Araeen
He then uses the symmetrical geometry of the Ka’aba in Mecca, the center of Islam, and traces a trajectory to the geometric abstraction of Modern Art. He calls this the “Spirit of geometry”, which emerged from the Ka’aba and travelled to Europe where in France, it “seemed to enter the consciousness of Cezanne”. In a text that puts so much weight and emphasis on empirical attitudes and Islamic rationalism, it is odd for Islam to be presented as almost a mystical force that cannot be concretely proven to the critical reader.
The question then arises, if Islam was really responsible for bringing Enlightenment to the Europeans, why did it then not adapt to Western progress while entering into a period of stasis. Araeen chalks it up to complex internal and external events. Some of the reasons we can surmise from the text are the rise of “fundamental Islam” and the “absence of the philosophy of Islam from the daily life of the Muslim world.” We still have a post-colonial mindset, while those who regard themselves as the keepers of Islam are trapped in religious ceremonies and rituals, oblivious to the spirit and essence of Islam. However, the ruling and parasitic elites benefit from maintaining the status quo and keeping the majority of the population poor and uneducated.
The panelists and the attendants at the book launch at VM Art Gallery
So, what is the solution to this self-perpetuating situation? Araeen does offer one, even if it is rather an idealistic and a vague one. We must now work on establishing institutions for “the development of free thinking, the power of the imagination, from which should emerge original ideas, not only for the betterment of the life of the Muslim world but also reinforcing the spirit of Islam.” But as he himself reiterates, it is only possible when we rid ourselves of colonial domination and don’t lose our identity and our self in the path to modernity and progress. It is no secret that education is our salvation, the problem is that those with the power to implement it are the ones who benefit from its absence in society.
While these arguments are sound, one cannot help but question the treatment of Islam as a homogenous culture universal to the entire Muslim world, disregarding any specific regional influences on identity. This is seen in the writer’s dismissal of neo-miniature as a viable artform in contemporary Pakistan, due to its roots in the Indian Subcontinent and the Hindu Courts of Rajasthan. This question was raised by Nafisa Rizvi during the talk at the launch of the book. This seems to adhere to a myopic view of what is a complex array of influences creating an identity. Araeen asserts a contrived ‘Muslim’ identity (which seems to be synonymous with Arabic culture in this text), while disregarding our inevitable South Asian context. This is why Islamic art today has been reduced to embellishments on architectural forms in the Muslim world, its philosophical and meditative aspects distilled out, which the writer himself laments.
Izmetullah by Rasheed Araeen
The artist also seems to be critiquing the return to representational art forms in contemporary art, but this seems to almost move towards prohibition rather than the natural evolution of image making. Current art practices do incorporate the human form and observable imagery, but its use is abstract and metaphorical. Art has reached a point where the image, form and material are secondary to the meaning, which can be argued is a step beyond the rejection of representational form. It is a kind of art beyond art, seen specially in collaborative or interdisciplinary practices, research-based art or art activism, community-based art, performances, interactive or public art. Instead of artists attempting to imitate art they find irrelevant to their current context simply because it reflects their Muslim identity, perhaps it would be more in line with the spirit of Islam to engage with their current environment or community and solve their issues, whether in representational form or not.
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