Horizontality and Islamic Though

In this article, creative and lateral thinking is used to elaborate certain artwork, which can be seen from all sides, but maintain a unified meaning and value. The significance of this subject leads toward research with emphasis on horizontality and with the aim of protecting and publicizing this concept. This is done through decoding the principles and symbols of Islamic Arts in order to arrive at the underlying concepts and goals. Many have elaborated how Islamic arts are abstract and they manifest themselves in compositions based on Islamic principles and spiritual concepts. However, this paper introduces lateral and horizontal thought through examples from different eras, places and ideologies, in order to highlight the necessity of the existence of such thought in Islamic arts, and to approach a proposition that such horizontality in Islamic arts is a result of a particular philosophy and world-view, which can be evaluated much like other, more familiar, principles of Islamic arts. The most important characteristic of horizontality in Islamic art is a parallel, distant vision from above in which phenomena become abstract and lose their morphological characteristics. From this point of view, things are converted to meanings and structures that become symbols of the real world. This process aims to lead the audience towards an understanding of Allah. By looking from above, multiple elements create one single image. This is similar to parallel vision without perspective. A Parallel representation of a subject demonstrates all aspects of the subject equally. Thus, this kind of vision shows the same value to all aspects of a subject, which is in agreement with the logic of horizontality and particularity. Vision from multiple places is plurality, which in the end leads to unity. Horizontal vision shows the elevation of the artist’s capabilities. In this scenario, the artist cooperates with the audience in creating the art. In this paper vertical vision is defined as a perspectival vision belonging to someone who is standing on the ground plane looking at the subject. Inevitably some aspects of the subject become hidden behind other aspects. Thus, horizontal vision, which becomes possible through the ascent of the artist in order to achieve parallel vision without perspective, allows him to become wise, holy and nearer to the vision of the divine creator. This research points towards an important issue that horizontal thought can be identified in many different eras of Islamic art, made possible through an abstract eye from above and its reflection in geometry. Through this accurate, distant vision from above, the artist and his audience observe divine creations and their interpretations are representations of a symbolic world. This paper argues that horizontality, as a principle of Islamic art, has been the inspiration for many artworks. Thus, horizontality is an indicator, a director, protector and a reference for the evolution and modification of styles. As a standard, horizontality controls the quality and quantity of artworks and, as a criterion, it allows one to distinguish between the characteristics of Islamic arts and those of other artworks.