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Many Islamic rulings relating to the performing arts are gender and event specific.
There is no clear position in Islam regarding Music.[1]
Certain schools of Sunnis as well as some Shiites hold that music is forbidden with the sole exception being that women can play the Daf, a traditional one sided drum, at celebrations and festivals.[2] However some Islamic groups and denominations deem music permissible including many Sufi orders who use music as part of their worship.[3]
Islam does allow singing without musical accompaniment within prescribed circumstances - namely that the performer be of the same gender as the audience.[4]
However, the general consensus is that music is permitted in Islam provided that the lyrics are not obscene or vulgar.[5]
Gender based rulings are also evident in Islam's position on dance. Dance is permissible for women within a female only environment and is often performed at celebrations.[6] Dancing is prohibited for men.[7] Again, some Sufi orders are the exception to this rule.[8] They include the whirling dervishes who use dance as a means of worship.[9]
However, in South East Asia, Islam provided new influences on local dance, and dance often became a form of da'wah. The most famous of these include the zapin of Malaysia, and the Saman (or 'dance of a thousand hands') of Indonesia (specifically the Islamic stronghold of Aceh).
Whilst theatre is permitted by Islam,[10] Islam does not allow for any performances to depict Allah, the Prophet Muhammad, his companions, the angels or matters detailed in the religion that are unseen.
Poetry and the spoken word have a strong heritage within Islam as it places a special significance on the word. Many Muslim poets and writers explore issues of faith and belief in their work.
Public Islamic art is traditionally non-representational, except for the widespread use of plant forms, usually in varieties of the spiralling arabesque. These are often combined with Islamic calligraphy, geometric patterns in styles that are typically found in a wide variety of media, from small objects in ceramic or metalwork to large decorative schemes in tiling on the outside and inside of large buildings, including mosques. However there is a long tradition in Islamic art of the depiction of human and animal figures, especially in painting and small anonymous relief figures as part of a decorative scheme. Almost all Persian miniatures (as opposed to decorative illuminations) include figures, often in large numbers, as do their equivalents in Arab, Mughal and Ottoman miniatures. But miniatures in books or muraqqa albums were private works owned by the elite. Larger figures in monumental sculpture are exceptionally rare until recent times, and portraiture showing realistic representations of individuals (and animals) did not develop until the late 16th century in miniature painting, especially Mughal miniatures. Manuscripts of the Qu'ran and other sacred texts have always been strictly kept free of such figures, but there is a long tradition of the depiction of Muhammad and other religious figures in books of history and poetry; since the 16th century the Prophet has mostly been shown as though wearing a veil hiding his face, and many earlier miniatures were overpainted to use this convention.[11]
Some considered that Islam prohibits the depiction of animate beings in paintings and drawings. One possible reason for this is that it removes the risk of idol worship. Islam teaches that Allah alone should be worshipped, and banning pictures of Muhammad or any other creature reduces the risk that they will be worshipped in his place.
However, some others argue that the depiction of animated beings is permissible if the art was not meant to be worshipped, and the creator did not intend to rival God (or intended any heresy) in the creation. This is due to the hadith that mentioned the Prophet had once asked his wife to move a picture of two birds in the room in which he prays, to somewhere. However, he didn't ask the picture to be destroyed. This, along with other hadiths, made some believe that pictures of animated beings that is not worshipped or to be considered heresy, is permissible (although using it as a form of luxury, such as hanging them in the wall, is discouraged).