The article and speech of Professor Ogunnaike focuses on the importance of Islamic art,

calligraphy, and architecture and their part in refining the faith of the Muslim. These form of arts
plays important role in shaping the personality of a believer through the cultivation of adab
(respect and politeness). The main focus of the article and speech is on “Imagination and
Reasoning” as it is through imagination that the signs of the creation come into existence and
“Love and Beauty” as God is beautiful and He loves beauty.
Imagination is often contrasted with reason. It is through imagination that the signs of the
creation come into existence and by clearly interpreting those signs we can understand and
recognize the manifestation of the divinity. Reasoning demands a clear answer of the divinity
while on the other hand imagination is self-disclosure and there is always room for ambiguity.
According to many scholars, however, imagination and reasoning should work together in order
to understand the essence of God. As the verse of the Quran says: “There is nothing like unto
Him, yet He is the Hearing, the Seeing”. The first part which explains the only existence of God
as He is not comparable (reason) and the later part gives us the idea of comparison as it shows
light on hearing and seeing which is also a human instinct (imagination). So, in order to
understand the divinity of God, we should not only focus on reason but also on imagination.
Ihsan (Beauty) is one of the deepest level of faith. As Hadith says, “God is beautiful, and He
loves beauty”. This means that without beauty we cannot understand the existence of God. In his
speech, Professor Oludamini Ogunnaike says that beauty is available everywhere in Islamic
tradition. For instance, mosques, madrassas, and the written words of Qur’an are all showing the
beauty. And this is all due the reason that God loves beauty and showing indifference to the
beauty means showing indifference to the existence of the God. Also, beauty attracts love and
the love is essential to the cultivation of Ihsan which is related to sincerity. As a hadith says,
“None of you truly believes until God and His Messenger are more beloved to him than anything
else”. By loving God and His Messenger, we make a connection between God that brings beauty
and can be understand through Islamic art.
To conclude that, it is clearly understandable that through Islamic art we can connect back to the
only reality which is the reality of God Almighty. Also, it is explicitly stated in the article that
the only reason we are lacking behind in understanding the divinity of God is the rise of
sectarianism which further declined the understanding of Islamic art and architecture.