The book of the most authoritative scholar S.Kh. Nasr is neither the history of Islamic art, nor its analysis, but rather an essay on the philosophy of Islamic art. The book will no doubt arouse the interest of a wide range of readers interested in the problems of world art. To facilitate reading, proper names, as well as terminology in Arabic and Persian, are given in transliteration, traditional for Russia and familiar to the reader. All quotes from the Qur'an are translated by I.V. Porokhova.