A Survey on Viewpoints of Farabi, Ibn Khaldon and Burckhardt about Islamic Arts

This research tries to study the social origin of arts and artists of the Islamic world in the past. Crux of the research is that some contemporary researchers have pointed out that Bedouins were the origin of arts in the Islamic world. The aim of this paper is to survey on viewpoints of Titus Burckhardt and two prominent scientists: Farabi, and Ibn-e Khaldon by using a comparative approach. This research’s Focus is on two main questions: 1) Regarding the Islamic world where was the origin of arts? 2) Were all kinds of the Islamic arts similar in ritual content and artistic aspect? The methodology of this research is descriptive and analytical and the necessary data were gathered through documentary method. The analytical framework of this research is based on the presupposition that culture, environment and social factors play important roles in the emergence of Islamic arts. The results of this research showed that arts in the Islamic world originated and developed in urban area. In addition, all kinds arts and artworks belonging to the Islamic period do not share similar ritual content, and artistic forms, as a matter of fact, are quiet mismatched.