Islam is submission to the injunctions of Allah and abstinence from His prohibitions. And CULTURE has been defined in the well known lexicons as "the training and refinement of mind, taste and manners." Therefore, the definition of the term ISLAMIC CULTURE is obtainable through the combination of the definitions of these two terms as, "the training and refinement of mind, taste and manners in submission to the injunctions of Allah and abstinence from His prohibition." Since the Divine injunctions and prohibitions cover the entire field of human activities, the submission- and abstinence of the servants should also cover the entire field of human activities; i.e.: the servants should submit to the injunctions of Allah and abstain from such His prohibitions in respect of the entire field of their activities. This serves to further clarify the aforesaid definition of Is1amic Culture as: "training and refinement of mind, taste and manners with submission to the injunctions of Allah and abstinence from His prohibitions in the entire field of human activities". This includes in its application the activities of all Muslims without discrimination of age, sex, colour, language, country etc.; and all their activities such as eating, drinking, dressing, dwelling, sleeping, marriage, divorce, birth, death, worship, speech, reading, writing, singing, celebration, festivities etc., irrespective of whether these are activities of individuals or collective.

Since training and refinement are things dependent on knowledge, culture itself is dependent on knowledge. Knowledge in its turn is dependent on its sources. It is a known fact that knowledge, basically speaking, is of two types: the subjective type and the objective type. The subjective type of Knowledge is that which man acquires through his efforts by making use of the faculties of sense, thought process and reasoning. The objective type of knowledge is that which comes to man of its own, without his effort, within the vistas of his sense of perception, thought or mind. The former is known as reason and the latter is known as revelation. In other words the former is known as philosophy and the latter is known as religion, if religion is based on revelation. Islam is a religion based on revelation because, its tenets and teachings are based on a revealed text, known as the Qur'an, which is a collection of revealed truths received piecemeal by the Prophet of Islam within the course of a period of 23 years of his lifetime. Therefore, Islamic Culture is essentially the Qur'anic Culture, i.e.: it is a culture which came to man through the revelation of the Qur'an. Therefore, it is not a thing which came as a result of the intellectual efforts of man, though it is a fact that man has used his reason in deducing the particular laws from the revelations and the personal guidance and explanatory teachings of the Prophet of Islam, which again he did under Divine revela-tion. For it is stated in the Qur�an:

Islam itself is no other than the training and refinement of mind, taste and manners according to the dictates of the revealed guidance contained in the Qur�an and the life examples of the Prophet. Therefore, Islamic Culture is not in any way a separate entity from Islam. This is because, Islam is itself a culture and is itself a civilization, for it sets out how man should train and refine his mind, taste and manners, i.e.: his beliefs, likes, dislikes and practices. There is no aspect of Islam which cannot be categorized under Islamic Culture. Therefore, the aim and purpose of Islamic Culture are the same as the aim and purpose of Islam. TawHid is the aim of Islam and its purpose is to unite believers under one banner and to mould them into one single peaceful and harmonious brotherhood, for the good of mankind at large and to serve as a model for the rest of mankind to follow. In order to achieve its objective Islam teaches the Unity of Divinity, the oneness of human origin and makes all its followers face, in their prayers, the Ka�bah in Mecca, which is the most ancient house of Allah founded by the great patriarchs of TawHid Prophet Ibrahim and his son, Prophet Isma�il, (May the blessings of Allah and Peace be on them). By so doing Islam unites all believers and aspires to unite all human beings under its banner of Divine Unity (i.e.: TawHid), without discrimination of race, colour, language or culture. Therefore, any aspect of Islamic Culture, whatever it might be, must be conducive and contributive to the aim and purpose of Islam, and cannot, therefore, extend or go out side the limits set by the Doctrine of Divine Unity in Islam.

It is because of this Islam guides and controls all fields of human activities, including art, architecture etc. It is because of this again the Holy Prophet has set certain limits applicable to certain branches of art such as music, picture-making, painting, carving, engraving, sculpture, photography etc. The guiding principle in setting those limits has always been the Doctrine of Divine Unity in Islam. Anything found to contravene or conflict with this basic tenet has always been vehemently condemned. Therefore, drawing pictures, paintings, carving, engraving, sculpture, photography etc. of animate things have been prohibited in Islam in most unambiguous term. This is because, such images were and are considered to be the root cause of Shirk, Polytheism which is directly against the basic doctrine of Islam i.e.: TawHid.

This prohibition, its reasons and its evidences in the traditions of the Prophet all have been exhaustively dealt with in the works of traditions and Fiqh. Therefore, it is too popular to need any reproduction here. Suffice it to say that it is prohibited in Islam to make pictures or images, of whatever sort, of animate things and that there is permission to make only pictures, paintings, carvings etc. of inanimate things and plants. However, there may at times arise necessities and needs for pictures of animate things, for identification purposes, for anatomical or biological studies, for establishment of evidences for or against offenders of crimi-nal nature, for purposes of vital information and record or for medical purposes, in which case the law of DaRuRah: "inevitabilities legalize the illegal things", may be invoked.

As for music it is a fine art the use and promotion of which have been restricted in Islam. Music is the art of expressing feelings or stirring emotions through sounds in melodic or harmonic combinations, whether produced by voice or instruments. It is capable of expressing good feelings as well as bad feelings and stirring good emotions as well as bad emotions. Experts have found out that certain types of music are bad for the nervous system and detrimental to health and certain other types of music are good for the body and mind. Certain types of music are addictive and captivate the listeners and make them forgo their duties, however important they may be. these are the types of music which are prohibited in Islam. Therefore, the criterion in judging whether a particular type of music is permissible in Islam or not is whether it is harmful and addictive and whether it captivates the listeners and makes them forgo their duties. There are definitely certain types of music which are not addict-ive and are good for the body and mind and therefore, will not fall under the prohibition. Music is also an essential component of poetry which has been permitted in Islam. It is a known fact that there can be no poetry without music. The Holy Prophet is reported to have said: "Verily in poetry there is wisdom". (SaHiHul Bukhari)

The Prophet had great appreciation for good poetry as much as he has displeasure for bad poetry, for he has also said:

The NobleQur'an declares:

This is because the poetries which were popular in those days robbed reason away from people and led them astray. Therefore, there was a stigma attached to poetry. Therefore, the Prophet and the revelations he received had to be absolved from that stigma through the declaration of Allah:

Therefore, it has become a Fard Kifayah for Muslims to know the art of poetry in order that they can distinguish between Qur'an, which is prose, and poetry.

Poetry has been found to be a matchless medium through which ideas and values can be conveyed appealingly and retained in the mind for long. Only if the bad use of it is avoided poetry can be a real asset to learning. The Prophet indeed praised very much the poetry sung in praise of him by Ka�b-ibn-Zubayr, and he also reported to have praised a poet known by the name of Labid for a hemistich of his poetry which read:

From what has been said so far, it becomes clear that music and poetry or song as it may be called, are not condemned in Islam Indiscriminately. They are condemned only when they are made use for wrongful purposes and as for their rightful use is concerned, it has been all along held with respect. Therefore, Islam does in no way discourage these arts, it only promotes and guides them in the right direction. To make up for the loss in this field, because of the restrictions, Islam has provided a matchless substitute. And that is the recitation of the Qur�an. The recitation of the Qur�an according to Tajwid makes a wonderful music of its own. Though it is not poetry,it can surpass all poetry. And it has developed as an art in which none other than Muslims have any hand.

As has already been said, Islamic Culture is no other than Islam itself and its aim and purpose are the same as the aim and purpose of Islam. Therefore, the method of its protection and preservation, too, is the same as that of Islam. Since Islam is a religion based on the revealed text, i.e.: the Qur'an and the traditions of the Holy Prophet of Islam whatever protects and preserves the Qur'an and the Sunnah also protects and preserves Islam. Allah the Almighty has assured in the Qur'an about the protection and preservation of the Qur'an on His part by saying:

The Noble Qur'an again proclaims:

This guarantees the protection and preservation of the Qur'anic text and there can be no better guarantee than a guarantee from Allah. The Noble Qur'an has been preserved intact through these 14 centuries to this day in millions of minds without even the change of a dot. It has been and is protected in its written form and in the form of recitation as well.

Apart from these verses of the Qur'an, God Almighty also advised the Prophet in the following terms:

These verses, besides taking care of the protection and preservation of the text of the Noble Qur'an also take care of the preservation of its meaning. Thus Allah, the Almighty has taken upon himself the protection and preservation of the text as well as the meaning of the Noble Qur'an. This means that the Holy Prophet was not only given the Qur'anic text but also was taught its meaning by Allah. The Holy Prophet, in his turn, taught the text as well as the meaning of the Qur'an to his companions who in their turn taught the same to others. He warned those who might attribute false explanation or forge a hadith, to his name by saying:

This and other similar AHadith serve as a protective measure taken by the Prophet against the corruption of the culture brought down by the Qur�an.

Once the Prophet asked one of his companions, Mu'adh, when sending him to Yemen as the administrator, "O Mu'adh, by what rule would you be guided in your administration of Yemen?" He replied: "By the law of the Qur�an." When again asked by the Prophet, "in case that was not enough?", he replied: "then I will act according to the example of the Messenger of Allah." When again the Prophet asked: "But if that fails?", he answered: "then I will exercise my own reason and Judgement." This was not the spirit and attitude of Mu'adh alone in preserving and protecting the culture brought down by the Qur'an and taught by the Prophet, but it was the attitude, generally, of all the companions and their followers. This spirit continues even to-day except in the case of some who have wandered outside, being tempted by greed. The method of preservasion of Islamic Culture adopted by the earlier Muslims was by cultivating in them the virtue of contentment. For greed leads man to compromise all values of whatever importance with however cheap attractions, and contentment makes him cling to values and virtues. Therefore, contentment is the most effective method of the preservation of Islamic Culture.

Culture manifests in all aspects of man�s life, but for the most part,the culture of every man dies with him and the culture of every group of persons dies with that group of persons unless that individual or group makes use of his or its talent in preserving some aspects of their cultural attainment in a lasting form, such as passing their knowledge, know-how, expe-rience and techniques through writing, drawing, building edifices and useful monuments. Islam encourages such activities by giving them a respectful legal status as Sadaqatul Jariyah. Most of these Sadaqatul Jariyah serve as displays of man�s talents in art, architecture and calligraphy while at the same time serving as Masjids, Libraries, Dhikr Khanahs, Hospitals, Welfare Homes, Burial Places, Water Tanks etc., thus serving a double purpose, both of which are beneficial to mankind. This is how culture is made to manifest most conspicuously and lastingly in the forms of art, architecture and calligraphy.

It is Islamic Culture which has guided the Islamic Art, Architecture and Calligraphy to be channelled to these worthwhile causes. It is also Islamic Culture which controls Islamic Art, Islamic Architecture and Islamic Calligraphy from aimlessly wandering into things which are not conducive and contributive to the aim and purpose of Islam. The chief guiding principle of Islamic Culture is the uncompromising Unity of Divinity preached by Islam. This does not permit or tolerate any conduct, behaviour, art or architecture which is suspected of leading man towards either polytheism or atheism. By so doing Islam does not retard progress and development. It is in fact encouraging Muslims to pursue the path of development and progress by making it a religious obligation to seek knowledge wherever it may be. It teaches the Muslims to consider a thing of knowledge as a lost camel of oneself and wherever one finds it one has a greater right to it. In this spirit of seeking know1edge the Muslims, wherever they went, adopted the culture and acquired skill in the fields of the various arts and architectures of the people of different parts of the globe and mastered them and made them theirs. In so doing the criterion of their choice was always the guiding principle of Islamic Culture. This is how Muslims developed their culture, art, architecture etc. Because of this one may find, in the art and architecture of Islam, the blend of the excellences of all other arts and architectures to such a level that at times some mischievious archaeologists among the enemies of Islam begin to trace the origin of even the most outstanding master pieces of Muslim art and architecture, despite crystal clear historical evidences, to non-Muslims who had nothing to do with such edifices. The terms Islamic Art and Islamic Architecture differ from the terms Muslim Art and Muslim Architecture. Although all Islamic Arts and Architectures can be called as Muslim Arts and Muslim Architectures, the reverse is not true, because, only those arts and architectures which conform to the guiding principles of Islamic Culture can safely be called as Islamic Art and architecture. Merely because a Muslim was the artist, builder, architect or initiator of the project an art or architecture will not be considered as Islamic Art or Architecture. This is because, a Muslim is a man and as such he is apt to err. He may exercise his choice wrongly and violate the Islamic Law concerning art or architecture and draw a picture or build a structure in clear contravention of Islamic Culture. Therefore, his art or architecture cannot be called an Islamic Art or Architecture. But it should be called a Muslim Art or Architecture, because, by violating that law a Muslim could only have committed a sin. It is a fact that by committing sins no Muslim becomes a Kafir or infidel. Therefore, such a violator remains a Muslim even after such violation. Therefore, his art or architecture which was done in violation of Islamic Law still retain the names of Muslim Art and Muslim Architecture, though of course, they cannot be called Islamic Art or Islamic Architecture. The lack of this clarity has led a mischievious enemy to write a book claiming the originality of the entire Delhi Red Fort to the Hindus of India, because of the mere fact that the door-knobs of some rooms in the Royal Khas Mahal Pavilion inside Delhi's Red Fort are made up of elephant heads and riders. (See Picture A)

The guiding principle of Islamic Culture is the Unity of Divinity and the oneness of human origin. Islam teaches that before Allah, Who is One, all His servants enjoy equal status. This theme of unity, equality and cohesiveness is very conspicuously depicted in the domes or Qubbahs of Masjids and Minarets. -The Muslims in various parts of the world incorporated this Qubbah in their most outstanding pieces of architecture such as Masjids, Madrasahs, Libraries etc. in order to preach the Doctrine of TawHid and the equality of all Muslims before Allah in a subtle but conspicuous way. The Qubbah has a perpendicular pole at its apex indicating on the Unity of Allah (not on Allah) and the oneness of the Muslim Ummah, and the hemispheric shape of the dome depicting that all members of the Islamic Ummah are equal in the presence of Allah. (The argument that "there is a kind of symbolism in this kind of explanations and that there can be no symbolism whatsoever in Islam", stands refuted when we ask: "Is not the extending of the forefinger in Tashahhud a kind of symbolism indicating on the Oneness of Allah recommended in Islam? Are we not to kiss our fingers after pointing them towards the black stone while doing the Tawaf in our pilgrimage rites? Is it not a symbolism? Are all symbolisms worthy of being condemned in Islam? What is symbolism and how do you differentiate between an indication or sign and a symbol? Let us not pretend to be better MuwaHHids than the Prophet himself. The Noble Qur'an has commanded us only as: *****it did not says: **** for that will be the quality of the Jews). Some of these domes have a crescent moon on the top of the perpendicular pole to remind Muslims that they are to follow a lunar calender in their time calculations and observance of religious rites just as the Christians have the cross to remind them that they are to follow the solar calender, because, the cross is just a symbol showing the sun crossing the Equator to the North and then to the South. This is how the idea of cross versus crescent came about. The Crusades were not merely wars between two different religious communities but they were also the starting point of the centuries-long clash between two cultures and between two calenders, the Islamic Lunar Calender and the Christian Solar Calender. That clash is not over even in these days. We continue to be in defeat in the clash between these two calenders. I say this, because, when we Muslims print calenders we ourselves (including some Muslim Governments) print the dates of the Christian Calender in bold letters and the dates of the Islamic Calender in small types. This looks like admitting the defeat and we ourseves recognizing the supremacy of the Christian Calender. This should change. Now there is a modern trend showing up amidst Muslims of certain parts to under estimate or avoid these domes and minarets in their new Masjids in their worthless craze for modern architecture. They fail to understand that the so-called modern architecture is planned and schemed by the enemies of Islam to undo the influence of the Islamic Culture, Art and Architecture on Muslims. Anyone who visits a foreign country and sees some domed buildings he is at once reminded of Muslims and Masajids, though at times very rarely it may prove to be wrong. On the contrary when one visits a Muslim country where most of the Masjids have no domes or minarets and are structured in the so-called modern architecture one is reminded of no Muslims and no Masjids. Therefore, domes and minarets are needful features, though it is not a must, of important Islamic Architectures like Masjids, Maktabs etc.

What features an Islamic architecture must include depend on the purpose for which they are to be used. This varies from building to building and structure to structure. What I mean to say is some general features which are common to most of the buildings and edifices. All those buildings where Muslims gather or come or visit in substantial numbers without discrimination of sex, irrespective of whether such buildings are Masjids, libraries, schools or government offices, should have separate facilities for males and females, such as lavatories, bathrooms, waiting rooms, prayer places etc. All working places, factories and offices should provide a place for prayer. The lavatories should not be done in such a way that one has to stand and pass urine and thereby splashing the urine onto one�s body and clothings thereby rendering oneself unfit to offer prayers therewith. There should be privacy for each and everyone by making partitions and there should be water made available for cleansing in each and every such partition. Most of the modern lavatories are deprived of these facili-ties in the name of being modern. Lavatory should be a lonely place and there should be no chance for exposing one�s private parts to anybody, even male among males and female among females. The so-called modern lavatories do not have such privacy. Therefore, it promotes a kind of shamelessness and it is a fact that, **** i.e.: shamelessness will make man do anything and everything without any discrimination whatsoever. The lavatories should be designed in such a way that people do not have to face the Qiblah or make it directly behind them while excreting or urinating. In the name of modern architecture these Islamic values are flouted and the Muslims are forced very subtly to compromise their values with those of others who have no specific laws in this respect. Because of these even if a Muslim sincerely wants not to miss his prayers while working in offices and factories he may be forced to give up or postpone his prayers, thus systematically and methodically a Muslim is deculturized of Islamic Culture in a very subtle way through the so-called modern architecture or building methods. Once he is made to forgo or postpone his duties, the tendency is that, a Muslim begins to take all other laws the same way and takes things lightly. The enemies of Islam have master-minded the modern building methods with their sinister motives of deculturizing the Muslims of Islamic Culture. These are only a few, there are many such things. The enemies of Islam do these to the Muslims, because, they have found out that the Muslims cannot be effectively de-Islamized without first deculturizing them from the Islamic Culture. One of the most effective ways of deculturizing Muslims of Islamic Culture is to destroy the monuments of Islamic Art, Architecture and Calligraphy or to allow them to ruin without proper maintenance or to put forward baseless and false claims on those products of art and architecture of Islam which the Muslims cherish with pride as the reminders and remnants of their rich cultural heritage. This they do to demoralize the Muslims and thereby to subjugate them and to make them forget about their cultural identities, so that they can continue to keep the usurped territories of the Muslims. In certain countries of the enemies of Islam the Muslims have been displaced from their homelands thousands of miles away in order that they are kept far away from their rich cultural heritage. What happens today in the U.S.S.R and in India to the Muslim monuments and architeetural edifices is a commentary of what has been given here.

The former colonialists during their tenure had done great damage to such master pieces of Islamic Art and Architecture by stealing away many of the priceless pieces of art and craft made of the precious metals and precious stones. They also had destroyed some of the most important products of architecture in the name of carrying out studies and researches. They did this to enrich themselves with the techniques employed in making these master pieces, at the expense of Islamic Architecture. In doing this they were not free from their sinister motives of deculturizing the Muslims of their culture. Their designs towards Muslims need not be mentioned here for they are known to many alert minds. (Islamic monuments and architectures embody the geometrical, scientific and technical achievements of the Muslims of the past. As such their continued preservation enables us to know the levels of their achievements and develop them to further heights. If these are done away such a chance is done away. Moreover, by building the so-called modern structures of formless forms and shapeless shapes there is no chance for anyone to be inspired by the geometrical, scientific and technical achievements of the glorious days of Islam. This so-called modern monument is a method of deculturizing the Muslims of their culture. This should be very cautiously studied, before we Muslims begin to import the culture of the West, because, it will be too late to make amends if later we find that our rare resources were wrongly invested on purposeless and worthless enterprises).

As for Calligraphy it is handwriting as an art. This art did not thrive very much amidst non-Muslims, because, the languages they had to use for this purpose were not suitable for the development of this art. The writing of the Arabic language and the other languages of the Muslims which are written in the Arabic script are most suited to the development and success of this art than most of the other languages. This is because, the letters of the Arabic alphabet and the alphabets of all the languages which are written in the Arabic script are made up of almost all types of lines, such as straight lines, perpendicular lines, slant lines, broken lines, curved lines and horizontal lines. The perpendicular lines can assume any length and need not necessarily be in any proportion to the lengths of the horizontal lines of letters. The horizontal lengths of letters, too, have no limits except the limits set by the taste of the writer and his convenience. The dots of the Mu'jam letters plus the vowel marks, quiescent signs and Tashdids serve as a natural decoration of the Arabic writing. More than half of the number of letters in the Arabic script are Mu'jam and the remaining letters are Muhmal letters. This makes it possible for almost every line of Arabic writing to have as many Mu�jam letters as well as Muhmal letters intermingling, and thus serving as a natural means of decoration. All Arabic letters have more than one form. Except for Alif, Dal, Dhal, Ra�, Zay and Waw which have only two forms, namely independant form and final form, all the letters of the Arabic alphabet have at least four forms, namely: independant form, initial form, medial form and final form. This renders it con-venient for the writing of words separate from one another, despite the fact that the Arabic writing is made up of a chain of interconnected letters. The � ߡ ҡ � and � have additional forms of writing. In addition to these advantages the Arabic script has a number of styles of writing, though the oldest style of writing was the Kufic style. Now it has the Naskhi, Thuluth, RayHan, MuHaqqaq, Tawqi, Riq�ah, Ta�liq and Nasta'liq styles of writing. These exceptional qualities of the Arabic script permit a piece of Arabic writing to fit in any shape, size or form, without having to break its continuity. No other script has these advantages. Moreover, the art of calligraphy can be merged with the arts of painting, carving, engraving and sculpture. This provides an unrestricted scope for the renaissance and development of this art. Calligraphy is destined to be a success, because, there is a definite market for products of this art, for, at least the more than 900 million Muslims, the world over, have a definite liking and respect for this art, because, the Arabic language and its script are those of the Qur�an which is revered and respected by Muslims without exception. It is also liked by other lovers of art. This guarantees the survival and development of this branch of art in Islam. -However, there is a pessimistic view point presented by some scholars. They say: "There is a threat to Calligraphy in the shape of type and the machine making its appearance and threatening the existence of Calligraphy as a profession. Even as an art there is the dreadful prospect of its extinction to an extent that in a few decades, one may have to search for a calligraphist in a dilapidated house in an old mahallah."

This fear is there, because, most of the calligraphists live and work and are amassed only in certain parts of the Muslim World leaving various other parts with no calligraphist at all. By a wise dispersal of these artists to various parts of the Muslim world they and their art can definitely prosper. That will also be another way of propagating the Islamic Culture, because, for the most part these calligraphists are writing verses of the Qur'an and the sayings of the Prophet and the words of wisdom uttered by the Muslim men of greatness. If it is done at least the Muslims in those parts of the world would be enabled to adorn their houses with the products of this art rather than covering the walls with un-Islamic pictures and portraits. In order to save this art the interest of the calligraphists should be well protected by the introduction of the relevant copy right laws in order to protect them from extinction and from the threat of machines. In order that one will not have to search for a calligraphist in a dilapidated house in an old quarter the calligraphists should not be made to solely depend on that art for their livelihood, they should be, instead, encouraged to derive at least part of their livelihood from other fields of activities, preferabily, those which are closer to it and akin to it, such as engraving, sculpture etc. Men of such talents should be grouped and financed with a view to make it as a continuing industry.

All arts and sciences are branches of knowledge, and calligraphy is a branch of art, therefore, it is a branch of knowledge. We human beings acquire knowledge at times as a duty, at times as an adornment and at times as a means of livelihood. As long as we acquire knowledge as a duty and as an adornment we are safe. Only when we acquire it as an exclusive means of livelihood we may have to face difficulties. But this can be done away by the dispersal of such artists to various parts of the Muslim world. Calligraphy, by its nature, is almost exclusively a Muslim art, because, the Muslims have the advantage of the Arabic script, and the natural advantages of the Arabic script over other scripts, as the most suitable script for Calligraphy, places the entire art in the hands of the Muslims. Therefore, it cannot be usurped away or claimed the credit of by the enemies of Islam, by its very nature. This art is exclusively placed in the hands of the Muslims to make up for the loss suffered by the Muslim artists because of the limitations placed by Islam on pictures of animate things. To counter the plots of the enemies, Muslims have to persistently cling to Islamic Culture, to promote Islamic Arts and Architecture and to cling even more persistently to the values taught by Islam without compromising any of them, under whatever circumstance and under whatever difficulties and hardships. To be able to withstand such hardships and difficulties Muslims should cultivate in them the qualities of contentment and austerity as antidotes for greed and desire. Because, our enemies are stirring our desire and greed through which they would like to tempt us to compromise our sublime values with their worthless values and thereby they try to keep us as slaves under remote control. Once we lose our culture and values we will have lost everything. Since our arts and architectures are the store houses of our rich cultural past and the reminders and remnants of the achievements and skills of our forefathers those have to be preserved intact and we have to see them preserved intact wherever they may be, because, only through the preservation and protection of such monuments intact with their arts, architecture and calligraphy the preservation and protection of the rich Islamic cultural past can be carried out successfully. Since such monuments are a morale booster for the young Muslims those should be filmed and made available with their historical backgrounds to Muslims all over the world so that they know what belongs to them and rightly be proud of them. In this way we can offset the enemy plans to lay their hands on the Muslim monunents, arts and architecture.

It is now opportune for me to draw the notice of the delegates to a new aspect of modern art and architecture which has now become popular not only in the west but also in the Muslim countries where in the name of decorating new city-centres, parks and public places some aimless, meaningless and purposeless monuments which have no attraction whatsoever to the tastes of our people are being built with no other aim except merely aping the West. To spend our wealth in that type of architecture is a mere waste of our wealth. To waste the wealth has been prohibited in Islam. (Vide exhibits 1,2 & 3). "Verily Allah loveth not the wasteful".

Moreover, this is a systematic and calculated plot to make us spend our wealth vainly and purposelessly and to brain-wash us against our long cherished values by changing our tastes for conventional arts and architectures. And this is also a subtle challenge to the Shari'ah�s applicability to the modern world, because, the books of Fiqh stipulate no concrete rules to prove that these arts and architectures are unlawful, despite their glaring aversion and unacceptability. That is because these arts and architectures are elusive and the law prohibiting pictures of animate things is not suitable for prohibiting this art. Therefore,it has to be prohibited, because of the grave dangers involved in promoting it, on the grounds that it is a waste of resources, energy and time and that it serves no purpose. The East, especially, the Muslim countries, are full of meaningful arts, crafts and architectures. Our tastes have been all along trained in them. Those arts and their developments were based on natural and geometrical bases and were the bases for the development of technology. Can the unseemly formless forms, shapeless shapes of the so-called modern arts be of any inspiration to any technology - it can only lead to destruction and nihilism. Now by changing our tastes towards these so-called modern arts, crafts and architectures our own arts and crafts such as engraving, embroidery, pottery, carpet-making, tile works etc. are in mortal danger of losing their markets and thereby facing extinction or being sunk into oblivion. These modern arts and architectures do not serve any useful purpose as our conventional arts and architectures. There is no true beauty in them, because, beauty can only be visualized in certain combinations of forms and colours agreesble to man�s nature and not in certain other combinations of forms and colours disagreeable to man�s nature. This appears to be an open brain-washing session intended to train men artificially to accept that which is unacceptable to his mind and nature. This seems to throw a subtle challenge at the doctrine of Husn and QubH in the Is1amic Theological Dialectics. Therefore, let us not lose or exchange the basic characteristics of our arts and crafts to the so-called modern arts and crafts which are very inferior in respect of motive and purpose to our arts and crafts. There is ample scope for the modernization of our arts and crafts to the liking of the entire world. The survival of our culture and values are dependant on the retention of the basic characteristics of our arts and crafts and architectures. If at all these modern arts and architectures were to be promoted it should be seen that these essentially incorporate the basic characteristics of the Islamic Arts, Crafts and Architectures in order to ensure that our artists, craftsmen and architects do not become redundant and their skills do not become obsolete, for this will result in the catastrophe of we Muslims loosing our culture once and for all. Let us now look into exhibit No.1 again. Apart from being a mere landmark what other purpose does this monument serve? If the purpose is being a landmark then any other structure would have done the same thing and no less. What is so modern and so special about it? Does this monument serve Islam in any way? A structure of whatever type, decked with Islamic Art or Calligraphy on it would have done an ideal job. How can Islamic Art, Architecture and Calligraphy survive when we Muslims are blindly aping the West in making these aimless and purposeless monuments? If the trend is to support these modern monuments then our artists and craftsmen will definitely become extinct because of lack of support. That will result in the gradual extinction of our arts, crafts and architectures. That will close the chapter of our culture. Let us not, therefore, be deceived by the so-called modern art and modern architecture.

May Allah grant us the ability to identify our enemies and their plots and grant us the ability to ward off their evil. Amen!

1. Qur�anul Karim

2. SaHiHul Bukhari.

3. SaHiH Muslim.

4. Tafsirul Baydawi.

5. JawhaRatut-TawHid.

6. Treasures of Islam by Philip Bamborough.

7. Moorish Culture in Spain by Titus Burckhardt.

8. The Qur�anic Art of Calligraphy and Illumination by Martin Lings.

9. Art of Islam (Language and Meaning) by Titus Burckhardt.

10. A Revealing Story of Soviet Russias Tsarism (An article published in the Islamic Order Quarterly published in Pakistan).

11. A Note on Islamic Calligraphy, an article by Sajjad Haider published in Hamdard Islamicus, Vol: II, Number 2.

12. Delhi's Red Fort is Hindu Lalkot. by P.N.Oak of the Institute for Rewriting Indian History.