Islamic miniature in the context of "Ottoman miniature"

In Islam, Jannah (Arabic: جَنَّةٍ, romanized: janna, pl. جَنات jannāt, lit. 'garden') is the final and permanent abode of the righteous. According to one count, the word appears 147 times in the Qur'an. Belief in the afterlife is one of the six articles of faith in Islam and is a place in which "believers" will enjoy pleasure, while the disbelievers (Kafir) will suffer in Jahannam. Both Jannah and Jahannam are believed to have several levels. In the case of Jannah, the higher levels are more desirable, and in the case of Jahannam, the lower levels have more excruciating punishments — in Jannah the higher the prestige and pleasure, in Jahannam the suffering will be severe. The afterlife experiences are described as physical, psychic and spiritual.

Jannah is described with physical pleasures such as gardens, beautiful houris, wine that has no aftereffects, and "divine pleasure". Their reward of pleasure will vary according to the righteousness of the person. The characteristics of Jannah often have direct parallels with those of Jahannam. The pleasure and delights of Jannah described in the Qu'ran, are matched by the excruciating pain and horror of Jahannam.

Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic traditions across a wide range of lands, periods, and genres, Islamic art is a concept used first by Western art historians in the late 19th century. Public Islamic art is traditionally non-representational, except for the widespread use of plant forms, usually in varieties of the spiralling arabesque. These are often combined with Islamic calligraphy, geometric patterns in styles that are typically found in a wide variety of media, from small objects in ceramic or metalwork to large decorative schemes in tiling on the outside and inside of large buildings, including mosques. Other forms of Islamic art include Islamic miniature painting, artefacts like Islamic glass or pottery, and textile arts, such as carpets and embroidery.

The early developments of Islamic art were influenced by Roman art, Early Christian art (particularly Byzantine art), and Sassanian art, with later influences from Central Asian nomadic traditions. Chinese art had a significant influence on Islamic painting, pottery, and textiles. From its beginnings, Islamic art has been based on the written version of the Quran and other seminal religious works, which is reflected by the important role of calligraphy, representing the word as the medium of divine revelation.

A Persian miniature (Persian: نگارگری ایرانی, romanized: negârgari-ye Irâni) is a small Persian painting on paper, whether a book illustration or a separate work of art intended to be kept in an album of such works called a muraqqa. The techniques are broadly comparable to the Western Medieval and Byzantine traditions of miniatures in illuminated manuscripts.

Although there is an equally well-established Persian tradition of wall-painting, the survival rate and state of preservation of miniatures is better, and miniatures are much the best-known form of Persian painting in the West, and many of the most important examples are in Western, or Turkish, museums. Miniature painting became a significant genre in Persian art in the 13th century, receiving Chinese influence after the Mongol conquests, and the highest point in the tradition was reached in the 15th and 16th centuries. The tradition continued, under some Western influence, after this, and has many modern exponents. The Persian miniature was the dominant influence on other Islamic miniature traditions, principally the Ottoman miniature in Turkey, and the Mughal miniature in the Indian subcontinent.

The Madrid Skylitzes is a 12th-century illuminated manuscript version of the Synopsis of Histories (Greek: Σύνοψις Ἱστοριῶν) by John Skylitzes, which covers the reigns of the Byzantine emperors from the death of Nicephorus I in 811 to the deposition of Michael VI in 1057. The manuscript was produced at the Norman court of Palermo in Sicily (although there is some debate on whether the main body was made in Palermo or Constantinople) and is now housed in the Biblioteca Nacional de España in Madrid. It remains the only preserved Greek-language illustrated chronicle from the Byzantine period. The chronicle includes 574 miniatures detailing depictions of everyday life in the Byzantine Empire such as boats, literary practices, sieges, and ceremonies, in "both purely Byzantine and Western styles while also reflecting Islamic elements".

Alchemy in the medieval Islamic world refers to both traditional alchemy and early practical chemistry (the early chemical investigation of nature in general) by Muslim scholars in the medieval Islamic world. The word alchemy was derived from the Arabic word الكيمياء (al-kīmyāʾ), which itself may derive either from the Egyptian word kemi ('black') or from the Greek word khumeia ('fusion').

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the Islamic conquest of Roman Egypt, the focus of alchemical development moved to the Caliphate and the Islamic civilization.

Qurbān (Arabic: قربان) or uḍḥiyah (Arabic: أضحية, romanized: sacrificial animal) as referred to in Islamic law, is a ritual animal sacrifice of a livestock animal during Eid al-Adha.

The concept and definition of the word is derived from the Qur'an, the sacred scripture of Muslims, and is the analog of korban in Judaism. The word and concept are similar as in other Abrahamic religions; in the Jewish faith there are several forms of "korban" e.g. korban shelamim ("peace offering"), or korban olah ("elevated offering", also translated as "burnt offering"). The meat of the Islamic qurban is distributed equally between the poor, the donor of the qurban, and the family of the donor.