The Method of Participation of Architectural Elements in Conveying the Meaning of "Truth" in the Painting "Yousef's Escape from Zulaikha" by Kamal Al-Din Behzad

Iranian painting is an art that has been able to depict beauty in the passage of time and has been transferred from the external beauty to the world and things beyond what is evident in its five external senses through the artist's imagination; the world that Schihab ad-Din Yahya Suhrawardi, while acknowledging its existence, tried to prove its existence with some reasonings, and all the scholars of Islam and Iran returned to this discussion and developed it, and as a source, they were nurtured by it. Iranian painter, like an illuminated scientist, by entering the field of intuition and illumination by following the concept of separate space (imaginary world), has been able to transform the two-dimensional level of painting into an image of the hierarchy and by elevating the viewer from the horizon of normal life and material existence to a level above this physical world, a world which, of course, has its own time, place and forms, has made him more aware of this world. Although many studies have been done on Iranian-Islamic painting by the Iranian and foreign scholars, many of its hidden and spiritual aspects have not yet been properly expressed.
It seems that one of the most important reasons is that most researchers have looked at these paintings from the perspective of extra cultural studies. They have analyzed these works from the perspective of their beliefs. That is why, instead of analyzing Iranian works of art from the perspective of tradition (in its original meaning), they have paid attention to them from a purely historical perspective. That is why Islamic art is considered as the result of historical interactions of artists, and it is considered as a product of historical exchanges. The approach of Iranian-Islamic painting is the simultaneous emphasis on the material appearance of the work and its delicate interior. This attitude of the painter is the result of a special wise view of art and industry in Islamic civilization, because the painter trained in this school learns to respect creation well and to use his field of action and material activity as an opportunity to reveal and portray the spiritual subtleties expressed in Islamic wisdom.
The artists of Islamic Iran were like mystics who came to know the universe through faith. In other words, just as philosophy means loving knowledge, mysticism is knowing the secret of love. In some arts, such as painting, the mystical aspects reach their peak. Light, color and space in this art have the task of showing the power and elegance of love. But, this love has a divine approach; because love does not belong to unstable and transient beings. That is why the painters were looking for subjects so that they could show their spiritual and heartfelt aspirations and share them with the people. For them, the most important book of Muslims - the Qur'an - and its stories was the best option. That is why Behzad goes to the story of Yousef escaping from Zulaikha; by depicting it, he conveys one of the most important mystical religious themes - truth - by involving artists in architectural elements.
Kamal al-Din Behzad's painting "Yousef's Escape from Zulaikha" is one of the outstanding works of the Timurid period, which has different artistic and semantic features. This painting is inspired by, and the product of a tasteful explanation of one of the Qur'anic stories that has a mystical Islamic discourse. Although many studies of epistemological, historical, artistic and mystical fields have been done around it, many of its angles have not been explored yet. One of the hidden aspects of this work is the painter's creative effort in conveying one of the most fundamental pillars of Islamic mysticism - namely, truth. Truth in literature and mysticism is the cause of excellence. The aims of this research are to examine the semantic structures and unique creations of Behzad in the mentioned painting and to show his special doctrinal and artistic concerns. It seems that painting has been a tool for mystical expressions for him and in this regard, he has used the semantic meanings of architectural elements in promoting content and technical aspects. The most important questions of this research are why and how did the artist contribute the architectural elements in conveying the theme of truth? What are the special artistic and semantic advantages of this work and what are the findings for contemporary artists?
The research method is descriptive-analytical and the method of data collection is documentary and library-based. This research has shown that the painter has used architectural elements with great generosity and special foresight in conveying his desired theme and has taken emerging steps in order to improve the effect of the message by giving special semantic meanings to conventional objects and affairs.