The aim of this thesis is to highlight the relevance of the spiritual dimension of Islamic calligraphy, focusing on the Turkish contemporary calligraphic tradition. Academic literature in the field has been dominated by the tendency to focus on the objects produced by artists, neglecting their personal experience and understanding of the art. Using a phenomenological perspective, I give voice to calligraphers I met in Istanbul and Konya, letting emerge their views on issues related to the relationship between art, religion and spirituality. I explore several themes that have arisen from the interviews I conducted with fifteen exponents of the contemporary tradition, organised as a journey from the most material aspects to the most abstract ones. The exploration of these themes starts with the symbolism hidden behind physical calligraphic tools, moving to the analysis of the symbolism of the point and the letters, elementary forms of the calligraphic creations. The bodily dimension has been taken into consideration, showing how the control of the body is an essential aspect of the calligraphic practice. The art can be conceived as a pathway requiring the development of several moral qualities and virtues, all necessary to improve both the artistic capabilities and the spiritual maturity of the practitioner, until the achievement of the authorisation to teach the art. Once a calligrapher reaches the license and the mastery of the art, they bear the responsibility of transmitting the art to others. Furthermore, they become agents of remembrance, portraying in the most beautiful manners the verses of the Quran in social religious spaces, as in mosques, or on calligraphic panels acquired by individual collectors or museums. Since their artwork focuses on representing religious materials, including the remembrance of the attributes of God and of Prophet Muhammad, their art is considered an act of worship. Finally, I investigate what the meaning of Divine Beauty is in Islamic calligraphy, presenting the perspectives of Turkish calligraphers and analysing the connections between the artistic form and the meaning of the contents of specific calligraphic works. In conclusion, I have not limited my analysis to the formal aspects of the art, rather I have highlighted the existential dimension of a complex practice which connects together several aspects of the human being, including the spiritual dimension. Thus, the traditional stream of Turkish contemporary calligraphy can be seen as a full manifestation of a culture, a lifestyle and a religion.

Orientador: Milton Jose de Almeida / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Educação / Made available in DSpace on 2019-01-04T15:20:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rodrigues_UbirajaraAlencar_D.pdf: 41150719 bytes, checksum: dd62e343c9b0c326b696000c59b681f4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Resumo: Este é um estudo e uma pesquisa sobre imagens em literatura, cinema, letras e textos em manuscritos e miniaturas árabes e persas. O estudo passa pela novela O colar da pomba, de Ibn Hazm, andaluz do século XI, e suas aparições nem sempre claras no filme de Nacer Khemir, O colar perdido da pomba. O estudo aqui apresentado está relacionado ao meu estudo central sobre as letras e a caligrafia árabes, e sobre o modelo de biblioteca árabe medieval, nos séculos 8 e 9, o Bayt ak-Hikma, A casa da sabedoria, como designavam os persas, e depois os árabes. / Abstract: This is a study and a research of images in literature, film, letters and texts in Arabic and Persian manuscripts and miniatures. The study permeates the novel The Ring of the Dove by the Andalusian Ibn Hazm, written about the eleventh century, and how it implicity appears in Nacer Khemir's film, The Dove Lost Necklace. The study presented here relates to my study on the letters and Arabic calligraphy, and a model of medieval Arabic library of the 8th/9th, the Bayt al-Hikma, the House of Wisdom, as denominate by the Persian and the Arabs. / Doutorado / Educação, Conhecimento, Linguagem e Arte / Mestre em Educação