I was standing on a side of small lake which is not far from where I am digging some knowledge. I picked up my violin and played it without any noise that was surrounding me while looking at calm and peaceful lake.
The nature was so beautiful. Its beauty made me dumb and remained silent as if I had no words to allude and were an infant who just learned how to speak. I felt very humble in the middle of nature.
The violin kept producing the sound that was gradually hypnotizing me and made me unaware of where I have been standing. One question hit my brain why is there such beauty that is able to make every person who comes and sees it won’t be able to produce a sentence or not even a word maybe. Who has created it? Why does the nature have some impact on human psyche?
Humans like attractiveness, cleanness, and everything that has an artistic value. They have a natural sense of appreciating the beauty of the world. This gifted sense of appreciating the world should not be abolished from us either intentionally or unintentionally. Abandoning such invaluable gift from God is indeed against the nature of man, al-deen (religion) particularly.
Islam never prohibits its followers to enjoy art, e.g. music, painting because this religion is in line with all aspects of human nature (fitrah). Humans have been created by God with some accessories that enable them to live their lives in the world with various kinds of color so they may enjoy the bounty of God and ultimately recognize the Creator better. There is no such thing in Islam where music, painting, or any art-related things are prohibited. If there were a prohibition of art in Islam, then, we can say that Islam is not for all mankind since such action is against the nature of man, which likes any beauty. Islam promotes the beauty which is reflected on art.
Some people always misunderstand that Islam prohibits music, for example. Music is an inborn capacity of human, so if Islam prohibits the music, then it is no longer relevant to humans because of repressing the natural tendency of humans, loving the beauty.
Yes, there is a significant different between Islam and the west with respect to perceiving the art. Islam has some restrictions and laws, but it does not mean that it totally rescinds everything, including art. The moderate principle in Islam is something that is perfect and perfect. Everything has a limitation. Then it applies the same thing to art. The aesthetic value which is contained in any artistic materials should be put in a moderate way. Imagine! Do you like something that is too bad or too beautiful? We wish to choose the later if we follow our desire. Unfortunately, if we come to the reality of humans it tends to prefer neither things that have too low nor too high value. They are inclined to like something which is in between, moderate. Both sides of extreme value of art, bad and good, will have some negative impacts on humans who possess it. For example, if you have a car which does not have any value at all, would you be pride of driving it? Unless you really need it to bring bread and butter to your table. On the other hand, should you have the best and most expensive car in the world, would you just drive it carelessly on the road? You might be able to drive carefully as you run with 150 km/h, but when the night comes and you need to take a rest, do you feel worry about your car that might be stolen while you are sleeping ?. You might feel very pride with your car, but you feel insecure psychologically. Thus, the expression of art should be limited in a moderate way. Then, the expression without any limitation is not always bringing the happiness but in fact it will just bring another opposite reaction, if there is too much freedom, which might withdraw them from enjoying the art itself.
So, again, coming back to the basic principle in Islam in which everything has to be moderate. Some Muslims might totally abandon music or any related artistic things at all, simply because it comes from the west. This unwise decision and action should not be reinforced and transferred to our next generation because it will just degrade the beauty of Islam which is always in line with the nature of man (fitrah) which covers art. On the other hand, too much expression of art without any limitation like in the west is also unacceptable from the Islamic point of view as well as the psychological aspect of man. Unlimited expression of art is just another way to bring another unlimited problem for humans. Human life will be disorganized should there is no restriction that organize us. Accordingly, moderation which always becomes a primary motto in Islam not only benefits humans to live peacefully but it also promotes the stability of life.
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