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IslamQA: Making art that serves God as a Muslim

Salam, how can I make my art serve God? For example it suggests of the poets at the end of Surah Ash Shura? Many thanks

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

The possibilities are endless. But it is important to know the difference between religious art and religious propaganda. The fiction works of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Jane Austen, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Leo Tolstoy represent true Christian art. They show you what it is like to experience the world through the spiritual awareness that Christianity brings–without talking about Christianity.

Great religious art enables everyone, including non-religious people, to experience what it feels like to have religious experience. For example a good poet can write a poem that enables the readers to know what it feels like to go on Hajj while barely speaking of any of the technicalities of making the pilgrimage.

Speaking more generally, producing anything that is truly beautiful can be considered a form of worship, because beauty enables people to come face-to-face with God (see my essay on beauty). Just seeking to be a great artist can be a form of serving God.

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