The Relationship between Art and Religion in the Eyes of Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Seyyed Morteza Avini

Since the beginning of history religion and art have existed side by side. Art with its meta-material content and divine identity cannot be considered as separate from religion. For this reason the relationship between them has always been challenging. Muslim scientists and thinkers have made great efforts to investigate the relationship between them. The aim of this paper is to investigate and compare the relationship between religion and art in the light of Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Seyyed Morteza Avini’s views. This paper seeks to explain the views of these two thinkers by investigating the principles to which they adhere. Given his definition of Perennial Philosophy and Sunnah, Seyyed Hossein Nasr tends to consider the root of divine doctrines as the source of Islamic art, basing his view on the definition of Sunnah. Therefore, he supports the idea of divine art which is detected in traditional art. Impressed by Fardid, Heidegger, the critical school of Frankfurt and, deeply by Imam Khomeini’s philosophical and mystical view, Shahid Avini establishes a new approach in the field of the art in Iran.