It is a well known fact that Islamic teaching came and prohibited almost all sorts of arts that were known back in the sixth century. The reason, we are told, is that only God can act as a "creator". In this context, for example, an artist who draws a picture of any living being, or a sculpture that sculpts a statue of a human being, is "guilty of creation" for a lack of a better term. It is fair to say, however, that this interpretation of the Islamic scripture and sunnah (the teaching of prophet Mohamed) are still being debated by progressive Muslims to this day and especially since the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the last truly Islamic State.
Yet it is interesting to note that those very peculiar teachings of Islam, or at least their strict and very conservative interpretation, have led to the development of such a wonderful new art, that of Arabesque, the Islamic art as it's officially known.
Well, as the saying goes, need is the mother of all inventions. The need for an art that the Muslim communities can use to build their own identity with the continued spreading of Islam was becoming obvious.
Well, it was also obvious that Islam, even with its most conservative interpretations, never prohibited writing for example. It also never prohibited drawing except of living beings. Moreover, the Quran, the holy book of the Muslims, was also writing using very artistic style of the Arabic alphabet which is very rich with decorative fonts and artistic characters. It was at that time that the Arabesque art, as we know it today, was truly born. Muslims started competing on the use of different geometrical patterns (especially that they were very knowledgeable of geometry as a science by that time as well), along with different and newly innovated alphabetic fonts to decorate their mosques, palaces, furniture, and much more.
Today, the Arabesque art is still used in decoration but very few talented artists are still involved in this style of art. However, those artisans still provide art lovers with very unique handmade artifacts that are indeed masterpieces of beauty. Some artisans in Egypt today are still in the industry of their great great grandfathers. They are creating for us a variety of Arabesque masterpieces, from geometrical Arabesque sculptures to decorative trays and hand-engraved tableware.
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