Editing Islamic art (section)

== Terminology ==
Although the concept of "Islamic art" has been put into question by some modern art historians as a construct of Western cultural views,<ref>{{cite news|last=Melikian|first=Souren|date=December 5, 2008|title=Qatar's Museum of Islamic Art: Despite flaws, a house of masterpieces|newspaper=International Herald Tribune|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/06/arts/06iht-melik6.1.18429368.html?pagewanted=2&sq=islamic%20art&st=nyt&scp=5|access-date=September 6, 2011|quote=This is a European construct of the 19th century that gained wide acceptance following a display of Les Arts Musulmans at the old Trocadero palace in Paris during the 1889 Exposition Universelle. The idea of "Islamic art" has even less substance than the notion of "Christian art" from the British Isles to Germany to Russia during the 1000 years separating the reigns of Charlemagne and Queen Victoria might have.|author-link=Souren Melikian}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Melikian|first=Souren|date=April 24, 2004|title=Toward a clearer vision of 'Islamic' art|newspaper=International Herald Tribune|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/24/style/24iht-souren_ed3_.html?scp=9&sq=islamic%20art&st=nyt&pagewanted=1|access-date=September 6, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Blair|first1=Shirley S.|last2=Bloom|first2=Jonathan M.|year=2003|title=The Mirage of Islamic Art: Reflections on the Study of an Unwieldy Field|journal=The Art Bulletin|volume=85|issue=1|pages=152–184|doi=10.2307/3177331|jstor=3177331|url=http://arthistoriography.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/blairbloomdoc.pdf }}</ref> the similarities between art produced at widely different times and places in the Muslim world, especially in the [[Islamic Golden Age]], have been sufficient to keep the term in wide use as a useful classification since the late 19th century. Scholars such as Jacelyn K. Kerner have drawn attention to its wide-ranging scope referring to more than 40 nations and to the growing public interest both in Western as well as, more recently, in Muslim societies.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kerner|first=Jacelyn K.|title=The Bloomsbury Companion to Islamic Studies|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|year=2014|isbn=9781472586902|editor-last=Bennett|editor-first=Clinton|pages=227–229|chapter=From margin to mainstream: the history of Islamic art and architecture in the twenty-first century}}</ref> Further, the [[List of museums of Islamic art|List of Islamic museums]] bears witness to this art historical term having found wide acceptance.

The [[Encyclopædia Britannica]] defines "Islamic arts" as including visual arts, literature, performing arts and music that "virtually defies any comprehensive definition". In a strict sense, the term might only refer to artistic manifestations that are closely related to religious practice. Most often, however, it is meant to include "all of the arts produced by Muslim peoples, whether connected with their religion or not."<ref name=":2" />