Hadith and Visual Arts: A Reinterpretation of Figurative Prohibition from the Perspective of Islamic Aesthetics and Socio-Cultural Context

Abstract

This study reexamines hadiths concerning the prohibition of figurative representation through a multidisciplinary framework that integrates theological, historical, and aesthetic perspectives. Employing a hermeneutic phenomenological design combined with qualitative content analysis, the research analyzes canonical hadith collections alongside classical and contemporary scholarly interpretations. The analytical procedure proceeds through four stages: textual articulation, historical contextualization, interpretive negotiation, and hermeneutic recontextualization. The findings indicate that figurative prohibition in the hadith corpus operates primarily as a theological safeguard aimed at preserving tawḥīd and maintaining ontological hierarchy between Creator and creation. Historical analysis situates the emergence of these narrations within a socio-religious environment shaped by devotional image practices, while juristic traditions reveal interpretive plurality in their application. Through a structured engagement with Mimēsis and Expressionism within a tawḥīdic metaphysical horizon, the study demonstrates that figurative prohibition functions not as categorical aesthetic negation but as a metaphysical regulator of representation and expression. Rather than advocating unrestricted figuration, the study proposes a hermeneutically disciplined understanding in which artistic mediation remains derivative, relational, and non-sacralizing. The originality of this research lies in its systematic integration of hadith interpretation and aesthetic philosophy, offering a conceptual framework that situates Islamic visual discourse within an ethically structured theological horizon.