 Authors such as Keith Critchlow argue that Islamic patterns are created to lead the viewer to an understanding of the underlying reality , rather than being mere decoration , as writers interested only in pattern sometimes imply . David Wade states that " Much of the art of Islam , whether in architecture , ceramics , textiles or books , is the art of decoration – which is to say , of transformation . " Wade argues that the aim is to transfigure , turning mosques " into lightness and pattern " , while " the decorated pages of a Qur ’ an can become windows onto the infinite . " Against this , Doris Behrens @-@ Abouseif states in her book Beauty in Arabic Culture that a " major difference " between the philosophical thinking of Medieval Europe and the Islamic world is exactly that the concepts of the good and the beautiful are separated in Arabic culture . She argues that beauty , whether in poetry or in the visual arts , was enjoyed " for its own sake , without commitment to religious or moral criteria " . 
