Episode Six: Islamic Calligraphy: Aesthetics, Ethics, and Practice with Master Efdaluddin Kılıç

What is the nature and significance of beauty in Islamic theology and intellectual thought? To what extent did theological, philosophical, and mystical ideas inform the production and reception of Islamic material culture? These and other questions will be the focus of the English interview series "Beauty and Islamic Theology", a series that explores the rich and diverse relationships between theology, art, and aesthetics in the Islamic world.
In this week’s conversation, Dr Bilal Badat talks to master calligrapher Efdaluddin Kılıç. Efdaluddin Kılıç describes the relationship between the Qur’an and Islamic calligraphy, explains what makes a work of calligraphy beautiful, and explores the role and importance of character formation in artistic production.
Efdaluddin Kılıç is a teacher and researcher at the Faculty of Islamic Theology, Maramara University, Istanbul, where he also completed his Masters degree. Efdaluddin Kılıç is also a renowned master calligrapher. He studied the sülüs and nesih scripts with grandmaster calligrapher Hasan Çelebi, and obtained his license in calligraphy from Hasan Celebi in 1993. Efdaluddin Kılıç has participated in numerous exhibitions both in Turkey and abroad, and his work can be found in various collections, as well as a number of illustrious architectural settings, such as Mecca and the Üç Şerefeli Mosque in Edirne. Efdaluddin Kılıç continues to teach calligraphy in Istanbul, where he is currently based.
This interview series concludes the one-year AIWG project workshop "Beauty and Islamic Theology", a joint research program of the Centre for Islamic Theology at the Eberhard-Karls-University Tübingen and the Chair of Islamic Religious Studies at the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg.