ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the serious pursuits, leisure activities on which there is by and large more information than those of casual and project-based leisure. It explores some of the leisure activities that held some level of appeal among Arabs during the course of their history up to modern times. The chapter focuses on literature, music, calligraphy, dance, theater, and Oriental carpets in the field of the arts. Arabic calligraphy decorates coins, often with short quotes from the Qur'an. According to Oleg Grabar little reliable data are available on Arab architecture in the period preceding the emergence of Islam in the seventh century. Decoration of the structure is central to Islamic architecture. The Islamic Golden Age is the period during which Arab philosophers, scientists, and engineers contributed substantially to the world of science. Gerry Loughran argues that Egypt, which has always been the sports leader of the Arab world in general, is now also a bastion of football.
