Art

After the rise of Islam in the late seventh century, societies in the Middle East, Africa and Asia often blended together their diverse religious, ethnic, and cultural communities under Muslim administration. Ancestral legacies were combined with various evolving notions of Islamic faith and practice. As political and economic futures converged, so too did cultural and artistic traditions. These creative fusions contributed to the development of a coherent, transcontinental plurality that is often labeled “Islamic civilization,” the “Islamic world,” or the “Islamic belt.”