FSTC Research Team

The following article presents a survey on some glorious pages of the history of Kairouan, the ancient capital of the Islamic Ifriqiya (present day Tunisia). Founded in 670 by ‘Uqba ibn Nafi’, the Arab general in command of the Muslim conquest of North Africa, Kairouan flourished under the Aghlabid dynasty in the 9th century and was an important urban center of the Islamic west, with a rich architectural heritage and a thriving tradition of learning.

Rabah Saoud

One area where the genius of the Muslim civilization has been recognized worldwide is that of art. The artists of the Islamic world adapted their creativity to evoke their inner beliefs in a series of abstract forms, producing some amazing works of art. Rejecting the depiction of living forms, these artists progressively established a new style substantially deviating from the Roman and Byzantine art of their time. In the mind of these artists, works of art are very much connected to ways of transmitting the message of Islam rather than the material form used in other cultures. This article briefly examines the meaning and character of art in Islamic culture and explores its main decorative forms-floral, geometrical, and calligraphic.