1993 APT1 Conference : Identity, tradition and change

''z5£UrZSt'+ 4^- ->• ~i~ : ,-:-wsrz-.*.T«v ■ ■ - - 5 . - -cr. V iii) the philosophical-spiritual: According to Clifford Geertz, a well-known American anthropologist, man is basically, a conceptual­ izing, symbolizing and meaning-making animal. The search for meaning is central to man (Geertz:!973). In similar vein Weber posits that man's metaphysical need is the need for meaning. It is essentially the drive to attain comprehensiveness - to cosmosize the world, by grounding it in an ontology. This drive is a will, a will to truth (Marx Weber: 1930). Precisely, for many Malay artists the search for meaning, in terms of its epistemo­ logical and axiological orientation is grounded in Islam. It is Islam that provided the answers to the definition of their selfhood, its spiritual specificity and its ontological situatedness. Hence as argues by Ozey Mehmet, "In the end, it is Islam and not nationalism that emerges as the strongest source of identifica­ tion. It sets the Malay apart from the other group ... in the rapidly changing multi-racial community, Islam gives meaning to "Malayness" (Ozey Mehmet:1991) From Periphery To The Centre The commitments by the Malay artists to restore Islam as the central dominating; force in their art are attested by their approaches, attitude and the selected themes or subject- matter of their art. A feature that emerges most strongly concerning their creative involvement is their self-conscious effort to render their art God-centered rather than man-centered. For many, art is becoming less of an ego-trip, or mere involvement with formal aesthetics. It is perceived as the process of remembrence, of contemplation of God and certainly for some, self-purification. Indeed, the process of creativity now become a jour­ ney of the self from the periphery to the Centre. The extent to which the spirit of Islam has infused their collective consciousness is evi­ denced by the following themes that dominate the content of their art. 1. Man As The Servant Of God According to the Qur'an the rational for the creation of man is that he should worship God and that there is nothing better for him than the remembrance of God. Being a servant of God, it is only through the submission to the Creator, who is the Light and source of Truth, that man's happiness in this world and the next is attained. This submission involved the act of remembrance and contemplation of Divine Names and Attributes such as Divine Unity, Omnipotent, Omnipresence, Infinity, Transcendence, Beatitude, etc. Islamic art which is defined as an aesthetic expression of the Divine Unity is essentially an art of sub­ mission to God. For the traditional Muslim artists the expression is attested by the mani­ festation of various forms of Islamic art such as architecture, arabesque, Islamic calligraphy. Among the Malay artists whose works reflect their commitments to the above definition and role of Islamic art are Omar Rahmat, Ghafar Ibrahim, Ruzaika Basree, Sharifah Fatimah Zubir, Mat Anuar, Syed Ahmad Jamal, Ahmad Khalid, Mastura Rahaman, Fatimah Chik, Sulaiman Esa, Habibah Zikri, Nurwani Nawawi, Khatijah Sanusi, Fatimah Chik, Ponirin Amin, Ariffin Ismail, Tengku Sabri and others. 2. Man As Vicegerent Of God God chose man, amongst all His creations to represent Him on earth. In his appointed role and capacity as vicegerent (Khalifah), every man is entrusted with the duty of fulfill­ ing God's Divine will on earth. He is duty- bound by his religion to "enjoin the good and 27