The Aesthetics of Allegory I: Rhetoric versus Demonstration in the Hermeneutics of Images in Classical Islam

This article explores the aesthetics of allegory in classical Islamic thought, focusing on the hermeneutics of images as articulated by key philosophers and scholars such as Averroes, Ibn ʿArabī, the Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ, and al-Bīrūnī. It examines the distinction between rhetorical and demonstrative interpretations of sacred texts and images, highlighting the role of intellectual hierarchies and cosmological theories in shaping these interpretations. The study also analyses the allegorical interpretation of the Miʿrāj narrative by Avicenna and its connection to Islamic metaphysics. Finally, it discusses the Marinid Sultanate’s promotion of geometric art in madrasas as a reflection of these allegorical principles, arguing that such art served as a visual representation of Islamic cosmology accessible only to the intellectual elite.