The Reflections of Sufism on Iranian and Malaysian Modern Art

This paper explores the impact of Sufism on Iranian and Malaysian modern art. Sufism is the inner dimension of Islam and it can be used as a great source of inspiration for modern and contemporary artists. Some Iranian and Malaysian artists, such as Faramraz Pilaram, Monir Farmanfarmaian, Syed Ahmad Jamal and Sulaiman Esa are inspired by Sufism. Indeed, these artists and their inner world reflect a profound understanding of Sufism. In this research, the researcher used a qualitative method based on content analysis to get detail information regarding the topic enquired. The specific question which was investigated is: how Sufism as mystical tradition is related to Iranian and Malaysian modern and contemporary art? This article attempted to provide a better understanding of four selected artworks by these celebrated artists through different manifestations of Sufism. For Faramraz Pilaram and Syed Ahmad Jamal, the quality of sacredness in calligraphy plays a vital role. Moreover, the sacred geometry and its principals as the hidden architecture of the whole universe reveal through Monir Farmanfarmaian and Sulaiman Esa’s artworks. It can be concluded that Sufism can be regarded as an international language that is not limited to a specific country or place.