Abstract
The author demonstrates the rift between Islamist art, which is a variant of ideological art, and the traditional art of the Muslim countries, often called ``Islamic art''. More than applying canonical prohibitions, Islamist art has taken over ideology in the aesthetical field, its main function being the falsification of reality and the sanctification of the Islamist regime. This art has two layers: first, a false realism, which tries not to describe but to transform reality with the help of the repressive system; and second, a method of sanctification based on a religious symbolism, which enables it to relate the immanent to the transcendental.