A Critical Review of the Function of Islamic Art in Theosophy and Spirituality from Seyyed Hossein Nasr’s Perspective

The present research is mainly intended to explain, analyze and criticize the relationship between Islamic art and spirituality and theosophy based on Dr. Nasr’s approach. The research method in this article is based on the documentary analysis method and the library method was used in data collection. The findings of the research show that, from Dr. Nasr’s perspective, Islamic art, in addition to being spiritual enhancing, can also be considered as an ultimate manifestation of Divinity, because it causes man to deliberate on the beauties of art and always remember God with their help. The most important critique of Dr. Nasr’s view concerns his view on the nature of art as well as its role in spiritual and theological functions. By dividing art into religious, sacred and traditional, he has considered societies and not humans to be the criteria for the sacredness of art, and has also considered sacred art to be an art that originates from a traditional society. Another drawback leveled against his theory about art is matching his thoughts with works of art in Islamic civilization, which will be mentioned in the next parts of the research.