Methodology of Islamic Arts

Methodology in Islamic sciences, including Islamic arts, is inevitable; and makes it possible to judge about the essence of Islamic arts and ask some theoretical questions about it. The scholars of this field have considered different methods and each have a special perspective in this subject; and their various methods has ended up with different conclusions which has ended up with some disagreements and contradictions between the judgments about the essence of Islamic art. Phenomenology and historicism are two of these methods in Islamic arts considered by scholars. One of the important ways to understand Islamic arts is phenomenology which is affected by Husserl's philosophy and is used by Orientalist religion and art researchers. Phenomenology and historicism are affected by two philosophical courses, which is Husserl's phenomenology and Hegel's philosophy of history respectively. Each method indicates a special aspect of Islamic art and has some advantages and disadvantages with respect to the other. Investigating the possibility of understanding Islamic arts from the two perspectives, this article shows the application, importance and advantage of phenomenology with respect to historicism.