Islam History Art & Architecture

Antoniou Books
ON LINE LIBRARY
(PDF)

,

PhD(Hon), FRCS, ,
, site
www.antonioubooks.blogspot.gr
) , , , ,
, . 2121/1993 (
. 100/1975).
Contents
1. Islamic History..7
2. Historic Maps of the Islamic World 41
3. Islamic Art and Aesthetics (essays). 99
4. Islamic Painitng and Calligraphy..117
5. Persian Miniatures.131
6. Ottoman Miniatures.. 136
7. Mughal miniatures 139
8. Islamic Mettalic Art.. 144
9. Glass Art 151
10. Ivory Art.. 152
11. Islamic Pottery.. 153
12. Islamicn Calligraphy 164
13. Islamic Frontispieces. 183
14. Islamic Carpets. 185
15. Islamic Aesthetics. 191
16. Great Mosques, Holly Shrines, Palaces, Tombs and Mausoleums...201
17. Glossary or Islamic and Western Culture and Architecture...277
18. Author`s Curriculum Vitae.339
19. A letter to our Arab Brothers and Sisters341
Islamic History
(external sources)
Muhammad and the First Four Caliphs, 570-661
The Prophet Muhammad was born in Mecca in around 570. The major caravan routes went
through the town, and the Kaaba made it the most important place of pilgrimage on the
Arabian Peninsula. This cube-shaped shrine held the images and statues of some of the
many gods worshipped by the regions Arab tribes. This is where Muhammad began to
preach Islam, the new religion with only one god.
At first, the Meccans opposed the spread of Islam, and in 622, Muhammad had to flee with
his followers to Medina. This emigration (hijra) marks the start of the Islamic calendar.
From Medina, Muhammad was able to subjugate local Arab tribes and convert them to
Islam within a few years. Mecca was also taken, and the Kaaba was purged of its many
idols and given the status of Islams most sacred shrine. After Muhammads death in 632,
the Islamic world was ruled from Medina under the next four caliphs (successors): Abu
Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali. All were related to the Prophet by marriage, but only his
cousin Ali was his blood relative. These four successors are also called the rightly guided
caliphs, since all had known the Prophet personally.
Right from the time of Muhammads death, there was disagreement between those who
wanted an elected successor, regardless of kinship (the Sunni Muslims), and those who felt
that only Alis descendants could be Muhammads legitimate heirs (the Shia Muslims).
The caliphs were both religious and political leaders, and the territory under Islamic
dominance expanded with enormous speed under their rule. Within two decades, Syria and
grain-rich Egypt were conquered from the Byzantine Empire. In Iraq and Iran, the Sasanian
Empire was overrun by the Arab armies, which exploited disputes over succession and
internal strife.
The conquered territories were divided into provinces, with an Arab governor and soldiers
who lived isolated from the local population in military camps. Completely new garrison
towns such as Basra and Kufa in southern Iraq were also built. Among the many different
peoples in the great new realm, Jews and Christians were for the most part allowed to
keep their religion and way of life. They were considered People of the Book, whose
holy scriptures had been revealed to them by the same God that the Muslims worshipped.
Like other non-Muslims, they were still obliged to pay taxes to the new rulers. Apart from
a few examples of Arabic script, there are almost no physical remains from this period,
and nothing that would testify to the start of Islamic art proper.
Links:
http://www.davidmus.dk/assets/1017/DS-web_kortgrafik-01.png?1241009367 (map)
http://www.davidmus.dk/en/collections/islamic/dynasties/muhammad
Islamic History
The Umayyad Caliphate, 661-749
When Ali, the fourth caliph and last Islamic religious and political leader with close
personal ties to the prophet Muhammad, died in 661, the Arab governor in Syria seized
power. Muawiya came from the Umayya clan in Mecca and founded the first hereditary
Islamic dynasty, the Umayyads.
The Umayyads continued the rapid conquest of new territories, and the caliphate reached
a size that has never been surpassed by a single Islamic realm. The Muslim armies invaded
Afghanistan and penetrated into the Indus Valley in northern India and far into Central Asia
to Chinas borders. In the west, they took all of North Africa, occupied the Iberian
Peninsula, and continued on expeditions deep into central France. They maintained
pressure on the Byzantine Empire, both on the Mediterranean Sea and on land. Islamic
armies invaded Anatolia and besieged Constantinople, but were later forced back to
eastern Anatolia.
The center of the Umayyad Caliphate was Damascus, where the caliph resided. The
language of the court, the civil service, and the religious class was Arabic, but the realm
was administered according to principles adopted from the Byzantine and Sasanian
empires. Partly because of conflicts among the Arab tribes, the realm did, however, lack
internal stability, and for periods it was virtually in a state of civil war.
The Umayyads took many features from the territories that they had conquered, but a new
Islamic culture also slowly began to take form. At the same time, the realms new subjects
adopted the Arabic language and Islam. A powerful symbol of the new empire was the
development of a special Islamic coinage. Large-scale building projects, such as the Dome
of the Rock in Jerusalem and the Great Mosque in Damascus, demonstrated the Umayyads
artistic and political ambitions. They were built on sites where the temples and churches
of other religions had stood before, and were embellished with extensive mosaic
decorations and monumental Koranic sayings. The Umayyads palaces and hunting lodges in
Syria were also richly ornamented, both inside and out. Sculptures and murals with princes
and dancing girls show that rulers led a life of luxury in these desert palaces.
Apart from architecture, there are few artistic remains from the Umayyad period, and they
are closely related to Late Antique, Byzantine, and Sasanian art. Works of art are often
embellished with figurative elements such as animals and plants, frequently found as parts
of large decorative patterns.
Links:
http://www.davidmus.dk/assets/1019/DS-web_kortgrafik-03.png?1241009853(map)
http://www.davidmus.dk/en/collections/islamic/dynasties/umayyads
Islam, History, Art and Architecture

Iraq under the Abbasids, 750-1055
Toward the middle of the 8th century, a revolt broke out against the Umayyads when the
recently converted Muslims in the provinces became dissatisfied with their limited
opportunities in Islamic society. The Abbasids, who now seized power, were able to trace
their lineage back to Muhammads uncle al-Abbas. This gave them far greater legitimacy as
Islamic rulers than the Umayyads.
Under the Abbasids, the capital of the realm was moved from Syria to Iraq, first to
Baghdad in 762 and then to Samarra in 836. The move eastward also meant growing
influence from Iranian culture at the expense of the Mediterranean Byzantine culture. This
period, considered a golden age, reached its culminations under the caliphs Harun alRashid (786-809) and al-Mamun (813-833). Literature, theology, philosophy, and the
natural sciences flourished, and the House of Wisdom (Bayt al-hikma), where Hellenistic
works from Antiquity were translated into Arabic, was founded in Baghdad. The caliphs had
enormous palaces and palace-cities built that were decorated with legendary
magnificence.
The caliphate was not expanded under the Abbasids, and in fact experienced increasing
pressure from Byzantine forces in the eastern Mediterranean. In the 9th century, the
empire also started to break up from within. A renegade Umayyad had founded an
independent realm on the Iberian Peninsula, and in North Africa, the Abbasids hegemony
was soon only a matter of form. There were similar developments in parts of Iran, where
local governors founded independent dynasties that rarely if ever paid taxes to the
Abbasids.
The Abbasids finally lost their political power when the Buyids occupied Baghdad in 945
and took over the Abbasids Iraqi and Iranian holdings. The Buyids were originally
mercenaries that came from northern Iran. In contrast to the Abbasids, they were Shiites.
They let the Abbasid caliphs stay on in Baghdad, but only as religious rulers over the Sunni
Muslims. The Buyids stayed in power for nearly a century, until they were defeated by the
Seljuk Turks in 1055.
A distinctive Islamic form of decoration was developed under the Abbasids: the Samarra
style, featuring geometric and vegetal patterns. Like the Arabic script, the Samarra style
was to play an important role in artistic decoration in many contexts, from stucco and
stone in buildings to woodcarvings, glass, metal, and ceramics, which also underwent
important technical improvements. The new guidelines in art and architecture that
emerged from Baghdad and Samarra were copied throughout the Islamic world from the
Atlantic coast to Central Asia.
Links:
http://www.davidmus.dk/en/collections/islamic/dynasties/abbasiderne
10
Islamic History
Al-Andalus, Muslim Spain, 756-1492
A single member of the Umayyad family, Abd al-Rahman, managed to escape the bloody
conflict that ensued after the Abbasids seized power. He fled to Spain, the Islamic
empires westernmost province, which the Muslims called al-Andalus. This is where he
established the Spanish Umayyad Emirate in 756, with its capital in Cordoba. The city soon
grew into western Europes largest, with more than 500,000 inhabitants. It became a
center of Islamic culture, and its schools and libraries attracted Muslim, Christian, and
Jewish intellectuals. The Spanish Umayyads reached their political and cultural
culmination in the 10th century, when Abd al-Rahman III (912-961) assumed the titles of
caliph and Prince of the Believers to show that the realm was autonomous in relation to
the Abbasids and Fatimids. Art was an important tool in emphasizing the caliphs status,
and a great many resources went into creating refined works of art, frequently with
naturalistic depictions of plants, animals, and people. Abd al-Rahman IIIs palace-city
outside Cordoba, Madinat al-Zahra, set a new standard with its wealth of carved marble,
and the mosque in Cordoba was expanded and embellished with palace-like magnificence.
At the beginning of the 11th century, the caliphate of the Spanish Umayyads was dissolved
into many little states, called the Taifa kingdoms, which fought one another and also came
under increasing pressure from the minor Christian kingdoms that had survived in northern
Spain. An appeal for help from abroad led to the North African Almoravids and later the
Almohads seizing power. At the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212, the Almohads were
decisively defeated by the combined forces of the kingdoms of Aragon and Castile. The
Iberian Peninsula then fell into Christian hands, apart from a small region in the southeast,
where the Nasrids were able to hold their own for a few more centuries.
The Nasrid Sultanate was founded in 1232 in the mountainous area around Granada,
Malaga, and Almeria. The realm was under constant pressure, and from 1243 was obliged
to pay tribute to the Christian kingdom of Castile and Leon. Many expelled Muslims sought
refuge with the Nasrids, whose capital of Granada, in particular, developed into the last
flourishing stronghold of Islamic culture in Spain, financed among other things by silk
manufacture. A unique complex of palaces, watercourses, and gardens was created in the
sultans palace-city, the Alhambra, which was surrendered intact when the sultanate fell
in 1492.
Muslim culture survived on the Iberian Peninsula through Muslim craftsmen, whose
production of inlaid woodwork, polychrome tiles, and luster-decorated ceramics remained
in demand among the Christian ruling elite.
Links:
http://www.davidmus.dk/en/collections/islamic/dynasties/spain
11
Islamic History
Eastern Iran, Afghanistan and Northern India, 10th-12th century-The Ghaznavids and
Ghurids
The eastern part of the Samanid Empire was ruled by governors, who like most of the army
were slaves captured among the Central Asian Turkic peoples. Under Sebktigin, a process
to sever ties began that was completed by his son Mahmud (998-1030). The city of Ghazna
became the capital of the new Ghaznavid Empire. Through large-scale military campaigns,
it expanded into the former Buyid and Samanid regions of Iran in the west and up to the
Oxus River in the north. Mahmuds military operations were also directed to the east and
south, and he carried out a total of 17 campaigns into northern and central India. They
were justified as jihad (holy war), since they were directed against the heathen Hindus,
whose temples were destroyed. From the realms in northern India, Mahmud brought back
rich booty, which in addition to financing his large military machine was used to build up
Ghazna as a fitting capital. Mahmud also attracted the leading intellectuals of the period,
such as Firdawsi, to lend luster to the Ghaznavids new court. The Ghaznavid Empire
reached its greatest size under Mahmud. Soon it came under pressure from new Turkic
dynasties, such as the Seljuks and the Ghurids.
The mountainous region of Ghur in Afghanistan was inhabited by a Turkic people that had
been used as slaves in Muslim armies for years. Under the Ghaznavids, however, the
Ghurids became Muslims and vassals, but soon gained their independence and grew into a
new and expanding power. They captured and plundered Ghazna in 1150 and drove the last
Ghaznavids into Punjab, where the dynasty was annihilated in 1186. Their leader was the
Ghurid Muizz al-Din Muhammad, who continued the Ghaznavid jihad tradition and
penetrated farther into India, where he took Delhi in 1193. He ruled the realm in
partnership with his brother Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad, whose army in the west invaded
Khorasan, extending the Ghurid Empire from the Caspian Sea to Bengal in eastern India.
The realm collapsed soon after the death of Muizz al-Din Muhammad in 1206, partly
because of pressure from the Mongols.
Although these Turkic dynasties, the Ghaznavids and the Ghurids, took Persian culture as
their ideal in many respects, the effect of Indian culture was also felt in art. This can be
seen both in details that were adopted directly from Indian art and in a penchant for
figurative, fairly true-to-life depictions.
Links:
http://www.davidmus.dk/en/collections/islamic/dynasties/ghaznavids-and-ghurids
15
Islamic History
Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan and Southern Russia, c. 1250-1400- The Mongol Empire, IlKhanids and the Golden Horde
The Mongols were a nomad people, and their colossal conquests started under Genghis
Khan (c. 1167-1227), who invaded China in 1213, marking the beginning of the Mongol Yuan
dynasty. The Mongol cavalry then moved westward and by 1223 had already conquered
Central Asia, Afghanistan, and northern Iran. A few years later, Genghis Khans grandson
Hleg Khan penetrated even farther west into Iraq, where Baghdad was destroyed and the
last Abbasid caliph, al-Mustasim, was murdered in 1258. The seemingly invincible Mongols
advance was only stopped when they met the Mamluks in the battle of Ayn Jalut, in
Palestine, in 1260. Hleg now ruled over the part of the Mongol empire that was centered
on western Iran and extended across Iraq, into Anatolia, and up to the Aral Sea. He took
the title Il Khan, or subordinate khan, the subject of the Great Khan in Mongolia.
The Mongol armies enormous devastation was followed by a culturally rich period under
the Il-Khanids. As a whole, the new rulers largely adopted their subjects cultural
traditions. The Il-Khanids, who converted to Islam beginning in 1295, had their newly built
palaces, mosques, and sepulchral monuments covered with tiles that were more colorful
than those favored by the Seljuks. Gold and silver were used lavishly for weaving into
textiles and for metal inlays. In addition to traditional motifs, new ones such as lotuses,
chrysanthemums, phoenixes, and dragons reflect the Mongols contact with China.
When the Il-Khanid Abu Said died childless in 1335, the realm began to disintegrate. The
area covered by Iran and Iraq was gradually split into a number of minor realms with local
ruling families, such as the Muzaffarids, Injuids, and Jalayirids. These fairly short-lived
dynasties underwent violent internal and external power struggles, but many of their
princes also became important patrons of the arts and culture.
The area east of the Il-Khanid realm was ruled by the Mongolian Chagatay dynasty, while
other Mongol cavalries had already invaded Russia and Siberia, and penetrated far into the
Balkans under Genghis Khan. These conquered territories were stabilized into a single
khanate, or empire, under the clan that became known as the Golden Horde. The Mongols
soon relinquished their nomad existence and founded large cities, such as their capital of
Saray on the Volga River. The leaders of the Golden Horde were Muslims from 1313, while
their subjects were Russian Orthodox Christians. The works of art from the Golden Horde,
whose khanate gradually disintegrated in the course of the 15th century, testify in form
and choice of motif to the Mongols eastern origins.
Links:
http://www.davidmus.dk/en/collections/islamic/dynasties/il-khanids
17
Islamic History
Anatolia, the Balkans, Syria, Egypt, c. 1300-1850 The Ottomans

When the empire of the Seljuks of Rum collapsed, the situation was exploited by a local
Turkic ruling family in northwestern Anatolia whose ancestor was named Osman (Othman
/Uthman). Invoking jihad (holy war), the Ottomans expanded their holdings into
Byzantine Anatolia and soon also occupied large parts of the Balkans. Only the Byzantine
capital of Constantinople held out until Mehmed II the Conqueror took the city in 1453 and
put an end to the Byzantine Empire. Constantinople became the capital of the Ottoman
Empire under the name of Istanbul. Conquests continued at the beginning of the 16th
century, when Iraq was soon taken, along with Mamluk Syria and Egypt and the
Mediterranean ports in North Africa. The Ottomans now dominated most of the
Mediterranean with their fleet, and after the conquest of Hungary, they posed a serious
threat to the rest of Christian Central Europe. The empires political and economic peak
coincided more or less with the long rule of Suleyman the Magnificent (1520-1566). The
Ottoman Empire was one of the worlds great powers and the strongest Muslim realm,
which also ruled over the holy cities of Arabia.
In the course of the 17th century, however, the empire began to lose its position, and a
final attempt at expansion in Central Europe failed in 1683, when the Ottomans were
rebuffed before Vienna and then abandoned Hungary. The lack of booty from new,
conquered lands combined with weak state government increasingly drained the empires
finances throughout the 17th and 18th century. Although the Ottoman Empire remained
very large, it developed in the 19th century into the sick man of Europe, which tried in
vain to keep pace with the European powers reforms in administration, military matters,
and trade.
The Ottoman Empire was controlled through a centralized system of government, with
power concentrated in the sultans capital of Istanbul. Most of the administrations leading
officials and the awe-inspiring Janissaries had been taken as boys from Christian regions,
converted to Islam, and undergone careful schooling.
A special design workshop was founded in the Topkapi Palace complex to produce patterns
for tiles, woodwork, metalwork, and textiles used for the courts many construction and
decoration projects. The patterns spread to the rest of the empire with the artists who had
been trained in the workshop and through the many monumental building projects in the
provinces that were commissioned from Istanbul. From having a close kinship with Timurid
art, Ottoman art soon developed a number of new and unique forms of decoration, with
both more abstract patterns and naturalistic decorations based on local flora.
Links:
http://www.davidmus.dk/en/collections/islamic/dynasties/ottomans
21
Islamic History
Mughal India, 1526-1707

The Indian Mughals take their name from the Mongols, since the family traced its ancestry
back to both the Mongol leader Genghis Khan and Timur. The dynastys founder, Babur,
came from Central Asia, but when he was forced to leave his family lands in Farghana, he
turned his army to the southeast and invaded India, where he conquered the Delhi
Sultanate in 1526. During his grandson Akbars long reign (1556-1605), the Mughals
established themselves as the Indian subcontinents dominant power. The realm was
expanded to Bengal in the east, across north and central India, to rich Gujarat in the west.
Gujarats ports along the Indian Ocean made it possible to carry out profitable trade with
the Ottoman Empire, Iran, and Europe.
Under Akbar, the Mughal Empire was given a strong central administration, following
traditional Islamic models. The ruling elite consisted of Turks, Afghans, Persians, and
Indian Hindus. Akbar was a great statesman and commander, and he was open to the
different cultures found in his realm. In the newly built capital of Fatehpur Sikri, near
Agra, he created his own religion in 1582. It was a synthesis of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism,
and Christianity, which had been introduced to the court by Jesuit missionaries. Although
Akbar himself could not read, he founded a large workshop to produce books and
miniatures. Its artists were Persians, Indian Hindus, and Indian Muslims, and their different
backgrounds were reflected in their output. The missionaries European art proved an
important source of inspiration, since naturalism and perspective fit in well with the local
pictorial tradition. In other art forms, Mughal art also had a predilection for naturalistic
motifs that was unique in Islamic art.
Akbar laid the basis for the Mughal Empires administration, which survived for several
centuries. He also established a tradition in the field of art that lived on under his son
Jahangir (1605-1627) and grandson Shah Jahan (1628-1657). Both were great art-lovers and
the latter was an active builder, who commissioned the Taj Mahal as a mausoleum for his
wife. The Mughal Empires period of greatness ended with Aurangzeb, who came to power
in 1658. In his later years, he was gripped by religious orthodoxy and devoted himself to
building mosques, while pictorial art suffered. The Mughal Empire reached its greatest
geographical extent under Aurangzeb. He vanquished the last Shia Muslim sultanates in the
Deccan and incorporated several Hindu states that had previously survived as independent
realms under Mughal suzerainty.
Links:
http://www.davidmus.dk/en/collections/islamic/dynasties/mughal-india(map)
http://www.davidmus.dk/en/collections/islamic/dynasties/mughal-india
25
Islamic History
The Prophet Muhammad
The Prophet Muhammad is considered by Muslims to be the last in a long succession of
prophets that also includes Moses and Jesus. In contrast to Christianitys description of
Jesus, however, there is no direct link between God and Muhammad. Neither the Prophet
Muhammad nor any of the other prophets have been considered sons of God by Muslims,
only His messengers.
Muhammad, whose full name was Muhammad ibn Abdallah, was born in 570 in the city of
Mecca on the Arabian Peninsula. From various statements in the Koran we can conclude
that Muhammad was orphaned at an early age and grew up among relatives, including his
uncle Abu Talib. We can also surmise from the Koran that as a young man, he worked as a
caravan merchant for a widow named Khadija, whom he married at some point and
became the father of four daughters and two sons. The boys both died in infancy, and the
last son that was born to Muhammad later also survived for only a short time.
In around 613, Muhammad began to impart the revelations that were later to make up the
Koran. According to his own account, Muhammad had received these revelations from God
through the Archangel Gabriel in the mountains near Mecca. In the beginning, a few
adopted Muhammads new teachings and became Muslims, but as a whole, his preaching as
a prophet did not make a major impact in the city of his birth.
When he was confronted with growing opposition from Meccas leading families, who
feared that the new doctrine of the one and omnipotent God could develop into a threat
against the citys status as a multi-religious place of pilgrimage, Muhammad decided in 622
to emigrate to the city of Yathrib, later called Medina. The year of this emigration (hijra)
has since been considered the first in the Islamic calendar.
From Medina, Muhammad began to wage war against the citizens of Mecca, and after eight
years and many battles, the Muslim forces were able to take the city in 630. This marked
the foundation of a religious center for Islamic civilization, and in the following centuries,
the new religion spread to Syria, Egypt, the Persian Empire (Iran and Iraq), North Africa,
and parts of India. Muhammad died in 632 after a brief illness.
29
Islamic History
Sunni and Shia
Today, some 85 percent of the worlds Muslims consider themselves to be Sunni Muslims,
while the remaining 15 percent are adherents of the different sects of Shia Islam.
The designation Sunni Islam, or Sunnism, refers to the Prophet Muhammads customs
(sunna_). For Sunni Muslims, it is a guiding principle for each individual and for Muslim
society as a whole when confronted by new challenges to follow the rules for living
that the Prophet himself practiced. Sunni imams consult the traditions (_hadith) that
have been written down on the words and deeds of Muhammad when they need to find
solutions to problems that are not expressly described in the Koran.
While Sunni Islam emphasizes the importance of Muhammads customs, Shia Islam
emphasizes the special authority of the Prophets relatives (ahl al-bayt). Male descendants
of the Prophets closest relative, Ali ibn Abi Talib the Prophets cousin and son-in-law
are thus considered to be the ideal imams by Shia Muslims. But different views about the
rightful succession led to Shiism being divided into many branches, each with its line of
legitimate imams. The most important branches are the Fivers (Zaidites), the Seveners
(Ismailites), and the Twelvers.
Islamic society split into its two main groups right after Muhammads death. In the
disagreements about the rightful successor (khalifa) for the position of supreme leader of
the Muslim community, the Shiites demanded that power be bestowed on Ali. The word
_shia _is in fact an abbreviation of shiat Ali, the party of Ali. The other members of the
Muslim community later called the Sunni Muslims insisted on succession in keeping with
old Arab customs, which meant by election.
As a result of these disputes, the Sunni Muslim majority won and the first three caliphs
Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman were elected from among the Prophets especially faithful
adherents, and not only among his blood relatives. The fourth caliph elected, Ali, who in
fact was a blood relative, ruled for five years.
When Ali died in 661, what proved to be a long and bloody struggle began between Shia
and Sunni Muslims over who was to rule the Islamic world. While the fortunes of war
changed from time to time, only a minority of the Islamic worlds many dynastic states
have rested on a Shia Muslim foundation, however. Egypt under the Fatimids (969-1171)
and Iran under the Safavids (1501-1732) are the most famous. Today Iran is the only
country in the world where Shiism is the state religion.
31
Islamic History
The Religious Prohibition Against Images
A conspicuous feature of art in the Islamic world is the limited use of naturalistic images of
living beings. This is because Islam, like Judaism and in certain periods Christianity,
practices a kind of prohibition against the making of images though a prohibition that has
always been interpreted in very different ways.
The Koran provides no specific guidelines for the use of images. The hadith the traditions
of the words and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad do, in contrast, express a clear
antipathy towards figurative depictions. Some hadiths make it absolutely clear that a
person who tries to emulate Gods creative force will be hard pressed on the Day of
Judgment.
He who creates pictures in this world will be ordered to breathe life into them on the Day
of Judgment, but he will be unable to do so. Hadith, Sahih Muslim (818-875)
The purpose of a prohibition against images was initially to avoid idolatry. As Muhammad
himself demonstrated when he purified the Kaaba of sculptures and idols, it was an
important aspect of the new doctrine that no one should be induced to worship an object
or an image instead of God.
The removal of idolatrous images did not, however, put an end to all interest in figurative
art. The magnificent buildings and desert palaces of the Umayyad caliphs were decorated
in the style of Christian Late Antiquity, which abounded in images. Later Muslim rulers in
different periods and in both east and west surrounded themselves with monumental
paintings, figurative stone reliefs, sculptures, and miniature paintings. But where
figurative decorations were used, rarely were they the dominant form of expression and
never were they used in religious contexts.
The non-figurative character of religious decoration has remained a fundamental principle
throughout the history of Islam. At no point have images found their way into the interiors
of mosques; as far as we know, no Muslim artist has endeavored to depict God; the Koran
has never been illustrated; and depictions of the Prophet Muhammad are rare. With the
reform of coinage carried out by the caliph Abd al-Malik in 696, even the portraits of rulers
were removed from Islamic coins and replaced by calligraphic decoration.
The result of restraint in the use of figurative depictions in time led Muslim artists, more
than those in other cultures, to concentrate on abstract forms of expression. In traditional
Islamic art, vegetal ornamentation, geometric patterns, and a fascination with script
calligraphy reached unprecedented heights.
33
Historic Maps of Islamic World
Susa Kingdom in 13 ce. B.C.
http://www.google.gr/imgres?start=258&hl=el&client=firefoxa&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:el:official&channel=np&biw=1230&bih=853&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns
&tbnid=2bF0MCvOiAMPTM:&imgrefurl=http://iranpoliticsclub.net/maps/maps01/index.htm
&docid=71eS8LISnFhS7M&imgurl=http://iranpoliticsclub.net/maps/images/008%252520Susa
%252520Kingdom%252520Igehalkids%252520Dynasty%25252013th%252520Century%252520BC%
252520Iran%252520Map.jpg&w=759&h=652&ei=b0P1T-m8NPQ0QX_5ImaBw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=525&vpy=430&dur=8&hovh=208&hovw=242&tx=131&
ty=78&sig=109826678027353175186&page=10&tbnh=159&tbnw=185&ndsp=28&ved=1t:429,r:
7,s:258,i:214
43
Sassanian Persian Empire at 500 AD.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Asia_500ad.jpg
47
The Spread of Islam 622-750. Caliphate of Muhammad (622-632), first 4 Rightly Guided
Caliphs (632-661) and Umayyad Caliphs (661-750). Byzantine Empire and Franks`, plus
Italian Lombard kingdoms in Europe.
http://www.google.gr/imgres?hl=el&client=firefoxa&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:el:official&channel=np&biw=1230&bih=853&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns
&tbnid=Q5CzU4DFx5S2kM:&imgrefurl=http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/medieval/visua
l.php&docid=QOjFUyokcx_dgM&imgurl=http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/medieval/ima
ges/islam.jpg&w=512&h=428&ei=cjX1T5HyKsKi8QPO5dGBw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=573&vpy=311&dur=3084&hovh=205&hovw=246&tx=136&ty=126&s
ig=109826678027353175186&page=1&tbnh=151&tbnw=181&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:7
,s:0,i:91
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Caliphate of Muhammad (622-632), first 4 Caliphs (632-661) and Umayyad Caliphs (661750), Byzantine Empire and Franks` plus Italian Lombard kingdoms in Europe.
&tbnid=xw82_MrvFuMs_M:&imgrefurl=http://studyabroad.blogs.bucknell.edu/2011/03/28/c
ordoba-and-its-proud-historical-legacy/&docid=3jlBm6uuRshzxM&imgurl=http://www.wallmaps.com/Classroom/Atlas/worldSpreadOfIslam750.gif&w=900&h=693&ei=cjX1T5HyKsKi8QP
O5dGBw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=677&vpy=403&dur=5646&hovh=197&hovw=256&tx=135&ty=125&s
ig=109826678027353175186&page=2&tbnh=149&tbnw=193&start=20&ndsp=30&ved=1t:429,r:
3,s:20,i:144
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Caliphate of Muhammad (622-632), first 4 Rightly Guided Caliphs (632-661) and Umayyad
Caliphs (661-750), Byzantine Empire and Franks` plus Italian Lombard kingdoms in Europe.
&tbnid=JcyLtpRV2L7jkM:&imgrefurl=http://islamichistory.wordpress.com/category/maps/&
docid=Y6QlBQkHoOzuSM&imgurl=http://islamichistory.files.wordpress.com/2006/12/age_of
_caliphs.png&w=685&h=351&ei=cjX1T5HyKsKi8QPO5dGBw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=108&vpy=333&dur=10261&hovh=161&hovw=314&tx=189&ty=94&s
ig=109826678027353175186&page=1&tbnh=107&tbnw=209&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:5
,s:0,i:85
59

GREAT and ANATOLIA SELJUKS AND THE KHWARAZM-SHAHS
Seljuks: Turkish nomadic tribes originated in Central Asia and spread west from the 8 th ce. onwards.
They adopted the Sunni Islam c.960, under their leader Seljuk.
1038: Beginning of the Seljuk Empire:
Seljuk`s three sons and finally his two grandsons, Chaghri Beg (1038-1060) and Tughril Beg (10381063), crossed Khorasan towards west to Afghanistan, where the cities of Merv in 1037, Heart and
Nishapur in 1038, were succumbed to them. This heralds the beginning of the Seljuk Empire.Then,
the two brothers divided their territory into two: he younger, Chaghri Beg (1038-1060), became
the King of Kings of Northern Afghanistan (with royal seats in Balkh and Merv) and his older
brother Tughril Beg (1038-1063) established himself in Nishapur, from where he expanded towards
west, first defeated the Ghaznavids in 1040 and then occupied western Persia, including Rayy
(1042), Khwarazmia (1042), provinces bordering the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan and Khuzistan (105254). In 1055 he invaded Baghdad and replaced the Shiite Buyids as protectors of the Abbasid
Caliphate. He then named Isfahan as the capital of his rule.
Tughril`s nephew Alp Arslan (1063-1072) (Chaghril`s son) became the founder of the Unified Great
Seljuk State (Empire). In 1071 in Mantzikert, Armenia, Alp Arslan defeated Byzantine Emperor
Romanos IV Diogenes and settled in Nicaea, Anatolia (Asia Minor). Next, Alp Arslan, crossed Oxus
River in the east. He was assassinated in 1072. His son, Malik Sah (1072-92), established a cultural
golden era for Seljuks and the Empire reached its zenith. He conquered Damascus from the Fatimids
in 1076, Konya in 1077 and became ruler of Syria and Palestine in 1078. During his reign the Seljuk
Empire extended from the borders of China in the East (including Transoxiana), all the way to
Anatolia in the West (including Syria and Diyarbacit) and the whole of Arabia in the south (including
the island of Bahrain and Yemen). After Malik`s death, the Empire entered in a decline path, under
power struggles for his succession.
1097: Seljuks defeated in Anatolia by the Crusaders under Godfrey of Bouillon. Nicaea was
occupied by the Crusades and Konya became the new capital of Anatolian Seljuks.
1097: Beginning of Khwarazmian Empire, inside Seljuk Empire territory (Shah Qutb al-Din
Muhammad. Capital Khiva). The Empire included mainly, the current Persia, Uzbekistan and west
Afghanistan states.
1117: End of the Seljuk rule in Syria
1118-1157: Sultanate of Seljuk Sanjar
1157: Disintigration of the Seljuk Empire, after the death of Sanjar. Battles against Byzantines,
Khwarazmians Turks and Crusades who, under Friederick Barbarossa of Germany, conquered Konya
in 1190.
1194: Khwarazmians Tukrs ended the rule of Seljuks in Persia, destroyed Samarqand in 1212 and
finally ended Ghurid rule in 1215.
1218: Execution of Mongol merchants by the Khwarazm-Shahs, unleashes the Mongol assault on the
West (1220).
1220-1231: Rule of the last Khwarazm Sah, Jalal al-Din. The Khwarazmian Empire in Mongol`s
hands.
1258: Mongol assault ends the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad.
1260: Mamluks, under Baibar, stopped the western expansion of Mongols in Palestine.
1277: Battle of Elbistan. The Seljuks, supported by Mamluks, pushed Mongols back.
1279: Final Mongol victory over Anatolian Seljuks.
1308: Anatolia subjected to direct Mongol Rule.
1330: The Seltjuk leader Ohran (1326-1360) conquered Nicaea.
69
Eurasia on the eve of the Mongol invasions, c. 1200. Khwarezmian Empire (1097-1231) in
the territories of the Seljuk Empire (1038-1157).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PremongolEurasia.png
73

Toqtamish (r.1377-1395). He unites the White and Golden Hordes (1378) and plunder Moscow.
1395: Death of Toqtamish and dissolution of the Golden Horde begins (1445-1983), into the new
Khanates of: Astrakhan 1466-1556), Kazan (1445-1552), Qasimov (1452-1681), Crimea (1430-1783).
1502: Death of the last Great Kahn of the Golden Horde Sheikh Ahman.
The Tumens of Mongolia Proper and relict states of the Mongol Empire by 1500.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mongolia_1500_AD.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mongol_dominions1.jpg.
Post-Timurid Mongolian Era:

Three new Empires and many Khanates developed out of the inheritance of the Timurid Empire:
1. Uzbek Empire (Central Asia, east and south borders of Aral Sea). Shaybanid dynasty (1428-1599),
followed by Janid dynasty (also known as Toqay-Temurids) (1599-1747), until the Russia invasion
(1852-55).
2. Safavid Empire (Persia) (1501-1722, experiencing a brief restoration from 1729-1736)
3. Mughal Empire (Northern and Central India) (1526-1757) (ended by the British India Company
from 1757-1858. Finally, India got its independence in 1947).
4. The Khan Princedoms: From c. 1700 to Russia conquest of Central Asia (1852-1855).
Princedoms of: Kokand (Uzbek tribe) in the Fegana Valley, Princ. of Buchara and Princ. of Khiva
(capital of Khwarazmia).
77
The Deccan sultanates were five Muslim-ruled late medieval kingdomsBijapur, Golkonda,
Ahmadnagar, Bidar, and Berar, of south-western India. These kingdoms became independent
during the breakup of the Bahmani Sultanate. The sultanates were later conquered by the
Mughal Empire. Berar was stripped from Ahmadnagar in 1596, Ahmadnagar was completely
taken between 1616 and 1636, and Golkonda and Bijapur conquered by Aurangzeb's 1686-87
campaign.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/46/Deccan_sultanates_from_Sc
hwartzberg_Atlas.jpg/349px-Deccan_sultanates_from_Schwartzberg_Atlas.jpg
80
Islamic Christian clashes in Europe: by Karl Martelos in 732 in Tours of France, 740 in
Constantinopoli and 1526 in Hungary (the year of conquest of India by the Mongols, rulling
Babur).
&tbnid=UvYTskalyo3MbM:&imgrefurl=http://euroheritage.net/pecsgallery.shtml&docid=TGn
E2ViuOKjptM&imgurl=http://euroheritage.net/islamicconquest.jpg&w=1398&h=1160&ei=cjX
1T5HyKsKi8QPO5dGBw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=752&vpy=139&dur=14205&hovh=204&hovw=247&tx=132&ty=147&
sig=109826678027353175186&page=2&tbnh=156&tbnw=188&start=20&ndsp=30&ved=1t:429,r
:15,s:20,i:182
91

JERUSALEM: Contemporary period: British Mandate: Today, the status of Jerusalem remains one
of the core issues in the IsraeliPalestinian conflict. In 1917 after the Battle of Jerusalem, during
the WWI, between the British and Ottoman armies, the British Army, led by General Edmund
Allenby, captured the Jerusalem, and in 1922, the League of Nations at the Conference of Lausanne
entrusted the United Kingdom to administer the Mandate for Palestine, the neighbouring mandate
of Transjordan to the east across the River Jordan, and the Iraq Mandate beyond it. From 1922 to
1948 the total population of the city rose from 52,000 to 165,000 with two thirds of Jews and onethird of Arabs (Muslims and Christians).
Division and reunification 19481967:
Israel. Territory held by Israel before and after the Six Day War. The Straits of Tiran are
circled, between the Gulf of Aqaba to the north and the Red Sea to the south.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Six_Day_War_Territories.svg
94
Islamic Art and Aesthetics
Plato`s Politea and Oriental Despotism

In his dialogue Politia Plato dreams of a State (politea) been governed by an Idea, which
takes various names (is realized by) such as King, wise man, philosopher, denying
thus entirely the ordinary no-wise people of any political power and authority. Plato
argues for a political leader bearing divine features, identifying thus the political leader
with a divine entity. This is what the Islamic world has fully adapted.
Lastly Plato argues, in his ontology, for an eternal soul, which is embended in an eternal
incarnation circle, echoing thus the similar widespread ontologic doctrine in the East, from
Induism to Christianity, Jewdism and Islam.
About the Unity of the Human (mind) and Nature, as it is expressed in Architecture
The great pre-Socratic Greek metaphysist philosophers (7th-6th ce.b.c), such as
Anaxagoras, Parmenides, Heraclitos, were the first Monist Realist, who believed in the
unity of the living and the nature. Anaxagoras f.e. named this unit the universal mind,
Parmenides the Being and most extraordinary of all Heraclitos the contradictory
dialectic, such as the contradictory pairs death-life etc. At the same time Budha in the
East was claiming: I am as a living mindful being- the whole universe. Later, Pyrhagoras
and Plato were the first Dualist Realist who introduced the exclusion duality between the
mental-living and the nature. The mental for Pythagora was the number for Plato the
Idea. The Dualism dominated the Western philosophical though up to our days, greatly
developed by great thinkers such as Aristotele, Descartes, Hegel. On contrary, in the East
the Monistic Unity of the mental (human) and the nature never was denied and abandoned.
And this is reflected, I think, in the Garden-Palace Islamic Architecture, which deeply
influenced first the Garden-City conception of Howard in late 19th ce, and the Modern
Western Architecture of the 20th ce, in the hands of great architects such as the German
W. Gropius, American F.L. Wright and French Le-Corbusier, Avo Aalto, L.M. van der Roche,
etc., as I will discuss in my next post. The ontologic unity of human (mental) and the
physical (nature) dominated ultimately the philosophy of science and mind of the Western
thought!
Here, unity of mind and nature should be conceived as stressing the importance of nature
in the development of human (mental) nature.
101

ASSIGNMENT 2: Types to Mosques
Introduction: There are two main types of mosques: i) Those in which their functionality
determines their architectural form. Functionality here should be undestood as the
provision of faccilities and possibilites for the satisfaction of the religious esoteric and
exoteric needs and attitudes of the faithfull, but not only (see below). Such a determining
factor, is the avalaibility of enough space in the domain of the mosque. Such mosques are
the Couryard mosques, ii) Those in which their Form determines their meaning and
function. These are the Mosques-Symbols, such as the Sanctuaries and Shrines of Islam,
which expicitly communicate a Divine message (meaning) through their Symbolic, or
Semiotic Form. Such mosques are the Haram in Mecca and the Dome of the Rock in
Jerousalem, Similarly, such mosques-symbols are also those which communicate their
meaning through the Tombs of the sacred they encompass, such as the Mosque of the
Prophet in Medina, the Srhrine of Ali in Najaf and the Shrine of Hussein in Kerbala. We can
lastly distinguish a type of mosque which combines features of the above two types, such
as the Ottoman type, which, along with the veneration to God, aims also to symbilize the
authoritative power, dominance, richness and piousness of its Sultan founder. Such mosque
is f.e. the Suleimaniye Mosque in Istanbul.
Mosques in which functionality determines their architectural form.
i) Ribat Mosques: They consist of a square ground plan courtyards and a fortified wall
around it, with enormous round towers at each corner of the latter and semi-circular
tower-bastions in the middle of its courtain walls. The walls surround the courtyard and
protects the multi-floor buildings consisting of living quarters, a prayer hall with Mihrab
and storehouses for provisions and weapons. They are buitl for prepartaion fot the holly
war (jihad) and as a defence against the Crusades, as meeting places of the warriors (almarabitum), as places of refuge and treasure strorage. They are really militant
mosques. Examples: The Ribat of Monastit in Ifriqiyan (756) and of Sousse (821). Also,
Ribat-like was the Great Mosque of al-Mutawakiil at Samara (848-852-see below).
ii) Courtyard Mosques: They are the well known Friday Mosques, which function as holly
places for the main Friday pray of a large number of followers, but also as places in which
the Islamic community exercises and develop its social-political and even economic (such
as tax-collections) relations among its members and generally as places of strengthening
the Islamic social and religious brotherhood bonds and consciousness. We can distinguish
two types of courtyard mosques: i) the Christian Basilika-like Ummayad featuring a three
aisle prayer hall (haram), and ii) the mutli-aisle prayer hall of the hypostyle type
mosques, mainly of the Abbasid rule, Fatimid reigh in Northern Africa and the Ummayad
dynasty in Islamic Spain.
Examples of the basilika-like type are the Great Mosques of Damascus (707-714) and Great
Mosque of Allepo (716), built by the two brothers caliphs Walid Sulaiman (715-717)
respectively. The Great Mosques of Damascus consists of a wide coryard surrounded by
ambulatories around its three sides. On its 4th side there is the prayer hall consisting of
three aisles running parallel to the Mecca oriented qibla wall with the Michrab Niche
inside it. The aisles are bordered by two columns with ancient Corinthians capitals
suppotting round arches parallel to the qibla wall. The entablature formed above the
convexes of the arches, supports shorter arched colonades wich in turn support the above
106

flat wooden roof. At right angles to the aisles (and qibla wall) is running a shorter transept,
towering high above the roofs of the aisles, and opening in the courtyard throug a dominat
main ornamented with folliage faade, and pointing directly inside the preyer hall in front
of the qibla wall and Mihrab, instituting thus the T shape of the mosque. At the crossing
poin of the transept with the aisle in front of the Mihrab enclosure, a prominent dome is
towered giving prominence to the side of the magsura. The ambulatory around the three
sides of the cortyard (cloister) consists of a single aisle with two stories of archways. In the
soutn side of the the courtyard there exists a pavillon-like ritual fountain and on the north
side a small ocatgonal domed treasury annex on eight classical colonades.
The hypostyle type of mosque features a preyer hall consisting of many aisles, running
parallel or perpendicular to the qibla wall, bordered either i) by many raws of (multi)
arched-vaulted (pointed, or horseshoe) collumns supporting a flat timber (wooden) roof, or
ii) by arcades on heavy masonry pillars supposting a barrel-vaulted masonry, brick (riwaq),
or wooden roof. The same construction form characterizes the ambulatory around th
courtyard. Examples of the type i) are the Great Mosques of al Mutawakki at Samara (848852), of Kairouan (Aglabids-9th ce), of Tunis (856-865) and Mosques of Ibh Tulun in Cairo
(876-879), al Ashar in Cairo (972, Fatimids), al Hakim in Cairo (990-1013) and of the type
ii) the G.M. of Sousse (850), the mosques of Damghan, Nayin (9th ce), Aby Dal af in Samara
(with timber roof) and the Ukhaldir palace Mosque (8th ce), Great Mosque of Cordoba, 785988 (Umayyads), G.M. of Tlemcen in Algeria (Mahreb), 1082 (Almoravids), G.M. of
Marakech (Kutubiya), 1158, Morocco (Almohads), Friday Mosque of Gulbarga, Deccan
(1365-70).
Ottoman style: Agias Sophia, Istanbul, 532-537, built by Ictions and Isidoros, ruling
Emperor Justine I and the Suleymaniye Mosque 1550-1557, bilt by Sinan, rulling Suleyman
the Magnificent (1520-1566). This consistis of cross-in-a rectangle ground plan, featuring a
compact highly centralized building, communicating authoritative power, dominance,
richness and piousness of its Sultan founder.
Interior of Suleymaniye Mosque:
Four massive square pillars arranged in in a rectangular layotu are vaulted with huge
pointed masonry arches. The apexes of the arches and the bases of the triangular
sprandels formed between the adjacent arches, form the supporing bases upon which the
enormous central Dome of the Mosque is based. Beyond the rectangular space otuline by
the pre-mentioned four massive pillars and in the East-Westw axis of the main Dome,
there axtended two deep and spacious semi-cylindrical niches doomed by large semidomes, reaching at a height level lower than that of the main Dome`s.
In the convex walls of each of the semi-coomed niches there is a row of high tripartite
niches, of which the two side ones are domed with pseudo-domes, while the eastern
central niche of the tripartite complex contains the Mirhab. All the pre-mentioned
auxillary semi-domes form a weight supporting buttressing ring around the main Dome,
which carry the weight of the Dome to the ground (see below). The architectural form is
an immitation of its predecessors Byzantine Cathedral of Agias Sophia, Istanbul, 532-537,
by Ictions and Isidoros.
107

arranged around a hollowed courtyard and opened off the latter through large portal
facades with deep tympanums. The oriantated towards Mecca larger and most prominent
iwan, bearing the qibla wall and Mihrab, serves as the prayer hall and is domed in the
standard transitional zone mode, which, in elevation plan, consists of the transformation
of the base square dome chamber into an octagon, which in turn supports a 16-sided zone
that supports the hemispheric base (drum) of the dome (see Veramin Mosque, Ilkanid
period in Iran1322-1326, south of Tehran). The other 3 iwan halls are barrel-vaulted in the
standard mode. The 4-iwan halls are inter-comminicating by mutlistoried vaulted nichescells, quarters, rooms and halls, all open off to open, arcaded on collumns, two storied
galerries, around the inner-coryard. The 4-iwan commplex layout allocate its 3 less
prominnet iwans as madrassas (legal scholls), the 4th as a prayer hall and a Michrab in it
and the niched cells between them as student residence and libraries. Similarly it can
comprise a monastery and/or kanqua of the Sufi brotherhood`s congregations and
residence. Due to increasing building density in the densely populated cities in the Mamluk
era in Egypt, the 4-iwan laytout was originally reuced to a 2-iwan style, or the 3 side iwanhalls of the 4-iwan style, are spatially reuced to swallow niches. Eventually a roof is placed
over the couryard, rendering the 4-iwan cortyard layout to a closed cubic-like builidng very
similar to other secular builidngs, functioning as a madrassa with a Mihrab in it. The latter
closed 4-iwan laytout was also adjoined by a mausloleum, constituting thus a mutlifunctional complex of builidngs, which could also include a 2-iwan mosque. The
mausoleum per cecould be conceived as structues very similar, in their arctitectural form,
with the above mentioned qibla iwan hall domed in the transitional zone mode. The
mausloleums had religious character, featured by their qibla wall with Mihrab and their
spacious halls included the kenotaphs of the venerated royal or religious personalities,
buried right below the kenotaph of behind the qibla wall. The madrassas or kanqua of the
closed 4-iwan complexes are adjoined to the mausoleum as a salient closed projection
from its qibla wall. As such, in thse mausoleum complexes, is the mausoleum the structure
with the most prominent significance, not the mosque per ce (if it exists). The mausoleums
can thus be classified as Symbolic Religious Complexes, communicating the political or
religious significance of the deadand aiming to the immortal remembrance of the latter
(see below).
Examples of 4-iwan Complexes: Great Mosque of Isfahan (4-iwan with domed qibla
iwan)(1611-1630), rec. by Shah Abas (1587-1629), which replaced the old Seltzuk Friday
Mosque of 1121/22, Friday Mosque of Heart (1200, Ghurids), Madrass complex al Fridaus in
Allepo (1235-1241-Ayyubids), Sultan-Hasan complex in Cairo (1356-1362-Mamluk), Sultan
Qalawun`s complex (with Byzantine tyle domed mausloleum), in Cairo (1284-5, Mamluk),
Monastery of Sultan Faraj Ibn Barquq, Cairo (1400-1411, Mamluk) (not iwan-like, but
coutyad like G.M. of Damascus, Mamluk), Mausoleum complex of Sultan Qaitbal al in Cairo
(1472-1474, Mamluk), Qajmas al-Ishaqi complex in Cairo (1480, Mamluk), Mausoleum of
Emir Hairback in Cairo (1502, Mamluk), Kwasau Pasha`s Mosque complex in Cairo (15371546, of Ottoman style, by Sinan), Royal Tomb Complex of Uljaitil at Sultaniya (1315-1325,
Ilkhanids), Khoja Ahmad Yasawl Mausolem Complex in Turkestan (1389-1399, Timurids),
Gur-I Mir Mausoleum Comples in Samargand (14-15th ce. Tombs of Timur and his
descendants), Mir-I Arab Mausoleum Complex in Bukhara (1535-6, Timurids), Pakhla
Mahmud (poet) Mausoleum in Khiva (14-20th ce, Timurids), Akbar`s Mausoleum (with
garden), Sikandra(1612-1614), Mughal India, Ibrahim Rauza Mausoleum Comlex (with
garden) (1626), Bijanpur, Deccan, Mughal India, Taj Mahal Masoleum (with garden and
pool), (1632-1643), Agra, Mughal India.
109

Platonic and Islamic Aniconism- A comparative study-Part-I
Islam, in its aim to reconcile ancient Greek philoosphy with Quran`s new relevation,
favoured and adopted the classical arguments for a divine unite, as those of Pythagoras,
Plato, Aristotele and later on by Plotin (Nepplatonism).
For Pythagoras (6th century B.C.) the God is mathematics and numbers: All things are
made of numbers. Plato, by analogy, introduced in his ontology the Ideas (Forms),
abstract entities which constitute the unesperienced and unconceived logically, Real
World, in constrast to our false physical world which is a mere phenomenon
(phenomenalism) and an imperfect coly of the former. This is the Platonic Realism. Plato
consideres as God the Idea of all Ideas which he identified with the Idea of the
Truth, which further is identified with the Idea of Beaty and Morality (). The Ideas
are self-determined and as such do not correspond to anything else in the physical world
and thus they are meaningless, since they are the source of the meaning of everything in
the world. Ideas (such as the greatest of all, i.e. the Idea of God) are not either
perceptible by experience, or even by logical concpetion. We can approach them vaguely
only through instict and mystical, ecstatic union, such as when we have been fallen in
love (eros), meaning here the erotic hapiness rather than the erotic passion. Plato,
following Pythagora, identified finally the Idea of God and Beuaty, with that of
Mathematics and Geometry. But now Platonicn Geometry should be conceived not in the
usual figurative manner- but as been expressed in terms of Cartesian Analytical Geometry,
that is, geometry which is expressed in terms of abstarct trigonometric algebra. Thus
Platonicn Geometry is not geometric figures, but instead abstract algebraic relations.
Thus Platonic Geometry loses any element of the common physical realism. Geometry is
the essence of God and any attemtp to immiate and represent it with any pepceptible
physcial figure is unacceptable and constitutes an offense to God himself. The same
applies for any attempt to describe or represent God with any anthropomorphic manner.
Furhter it is an offence to him even to represent the human body, which is the house of
the Soul, of Divine Substance and origin. Hence Plato`s low appreciation for representativ
arts, considering them a copy of a copy, or a third removal from the truth. And for
these reasons, Plato favored only music amongst the arts, as being a type of purely
abstract art. Plato`s Ideas were continued by Plotinus (200-269 A.D.), been Born in
Alexandria of Egypt, and spread all over the early Arab world. Hence the considerable
influence of Plato`s ideas on Islamic philosophy, mysticism (Sufism) and Aesthetic.
Accordingly, in the Arabic intellectual domain, philosophy was reformulated to theological
sensibilities, rather than the other way round. Now we undesrstand Plato`s aniconism,
fully adapted by Islam, in its Aestheric domain.
Final comment: Plato in his last dialgogue Fedro, argus extrapolating his above ideasargus that the Beautifull Body is not only this which express perfect Geometric qualities,
such as harmony, proportinality, symmetria, but this which behaves and acts Morally
intact. That body carries a morally perfect soul (of Divine substance), which is the
abstract form of the material body. In the end: A moral soul constructs (inhabits) a
beautifull body (in Geometric terms), which as such behaves morally perfectly. But still
the body cannot expess the unparallel beuaty of its soul and any attempt to mimic the last
in terms of the former is an offenst to her.
113

The psychoanalysis of (an)Iconism
An essential requirement for the images (painting, or sculpture) to be classified as real art
works, is the attitude of their art-creator, during their creation, to be overwhelmed by
the pseudo-illusion that he is a real creator of life who is breathing life into his/hers work
of art. From this view then, the images, as real art-works, are living existences. This is
an archetype instinct and belief of all artists in the whole history of art. And it is
impressive that this attitude has passed on to the non-artist humans as well. Hence the
magic and influencial power the images are exercising on humans in ritual and religious
festives and actions, up to nowadays, in primeval or civilized societies. We all know the
myth of Narcissus who fell in love with its river image and was drawn in his attempt to kiss
it. We also know that Pygmalion fall in love with his female sculpture, which, with the aid
of Afrodite (Venus), became real. Finally we know that Dorian Gray also fell in love with
his own mirror-image. The artist`s pseudo-illusion of being a life-creator and giver, is
impressively exhibited in the following passages:
1) Lucian Freud (a British painter of German origin, born in 1922 and one of the greatest
expressionistic artist of 20-21st ce, the grandson of Sigmund Freud), wrote: A moment of
complete happiness never occurs in the creation of a work of art. The promise of it is felt
in the act of creation, but disappears towards the completion of the work. For it is then,
that the painter realises that is only a picture he is painting. Until then, he had almost
dared to hope that the picture might spring to life.
2) Vasari tells that, Donatello at work of his Zuccone, looking at it suddenly and
threatening the stone with a dreadful curse, was shouting: Speak, speak.!
3) Leonardo da Vinci, praised the artist as the Lord of all manner of people and of all
things. If the painter wished to see beauties to fall in love with, it is in his power to bring
them forth and if he wants to see monstrous things that frighten or are foolish or
laughable, or indeed to be pitied, he is their Lord and God. And Leonardo continues:
Painters often fall in despair.when they see that their paintings lack the roundness and
liveliness, which we find in objects seen in the mirror.but it is impossible for a painting
to look as rounded as a mirror imageexcept if you look at both with one eye only.
Perhaps this passage may explain Leonardo`s reluctance to reach the fatal moment of
completion and explain his many unfinished works. He probably turned to mathematics and
to engineering, in order to become a real creator by his attempt to create the flying
machine as a live flying bird.
But it is that artist`s pseudo-illusion of been a creator of living images, which constitutes
his rivalry with Religion of all monotheistic dogmas (including to some extent even the
eastern Orthodox Christians, who ban sculptures from churches as been too real!). It has
been argued that the Old Testament`s ban on graven images is connected non only with
a fear of idolatry, but with the more universal fear of encroaching on the Creator`s
prerogatives.
115
Islamic Painting and Calligraphy
The assignment1 that follows has been written by, and is entirely the work of, <Dimitrios
Antoniou>
Two Lovers, 1630 Riza Abbasi, (c. 15651635).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Twolovers.jpg
Riza Abbasi,Riza yi-Abbasi or Reza-e Abbasi, (c. 15651635) was the leading Persian miniaturist of
the Isfahan School during the later Safavid period, spending most of his career working for Sha
Abbas I. He is considered to be the last great master of the Persian miniature, best known for his
single miniatures for muraqqa or albums, especially single figures of beautiful youths.
117

Art of the Ilkhanid Period (12561353) (external source)
The Mongol invasions of the Islamic world began in 1221 with the conquest of eastern
Iran. A more devastating wave of conquest, however, came with Genghis Khan's
grandson Hleg, when Mongol forces subjugated all of Iran and by 1258 had also taken
Baghdad, thus bringing to an end the cAbbasid caliphate (7501258). Establishing rule
over most of West Asia, including Iraq, Iran, Khorasan, the Caucasus, and parts of Asia
Minor, Hleg (r. 125665) assumed the title of "Il-Khan," meaning lesser Khan,
subordinate to the Great Khan ruling in China. This branch of the Mongol dynasty, which
became known as the Ilkhanids (12561353), centered its power in northwest Iran.
Although Mongol conquests initially brought devastation and affected the balance of
artistic production, in a short period of time, the control of most of Asia by the
Mongolsthe so-called Pax Mongolicacreated an environment of tremendous cultural
exchange. Following the conversion to Islam of the Il-Khan Ghazan (r. 12951304) in
1295 and the establishment of his active cultural policy in support of his new religion,
Islamic art flourished once again. East Asian elements absorbed into the existing PersoIslamic repertoire created a new artistic vocabulary, one that was emulated from
Anatolia to India, profoundly affecting artistic production.
During the Ilkhanid period, the decorative artstextiles, pottery, metalwork, jewelry,
and manuscript illumination and illustrationcontinued along and further developed
established lines. The arts of the book, however, including illuminated and illustrated
manuscripts of religious and secular texts, became a major focus of artistic production.
Baghdad became an important center once again. In illustration, new ideas and motifs
were introduced into the repertoire of the Muslim artist, including an altered and more
Chinese depiction of pictorial space, as well as motifs such as lotuses and peonies,
cloud bands, and dragons and phoenixes. Popular subjects, also sponsored by the court,
included well-known stories such as the Shahnama (Book of Kings), the famous Persian
epic. Furthermore, the widespread use of paper and textiles also enabled new designs
to be readily transferred from one medium to another.
Along with their renown in the arts, the Ilkhanids were also great builders. The lavishly
decorated Ilkhanid summer palace at Takht-i Sulayman (ca. 1275), a site with preIslamic Iranian resonances, is an important example of secular architecture. The
outstanding Tomb of Uljaytu (built 130713; r. 130416) in Sultaniyya, however, is the
architectural masterpiece of the period. Following their conversion to Islam, the
123
Safavids, 16th ce.
127
Saki, album miniature, 1609, by Reza Abbasi (c. 15651635).

An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of
decoration, such as decorated initials, borders (marginalia) and miniature illustrations. In the most
strict definition of the term, an illuminated manuscript only refers to manuscripts decorated with
gold or silver.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Saki_-_Reza_Abbasi_-_Moraqqa%E2%80%99e_Golshan_1609_Golestan_Palace.jpg
132
The Prophet and his companions advancing on Mecca, attended by the angels Gabriel,
Michael, Israfil and Azrail. Siyer-i Nebi: The Life of the Prophet 1595.
Hazine 1223, folio 298a.
http://www.ee.bilkent.edu.tr/~history/Pictures2/ul167.jpg
136
Mughal Miniatures
1561-The Submission of the rebel brothers Ali Quli and Bahadur Khan-Akbarnama.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1561The_Submission_of_the_rebel_brothers_Ali_Quli_and_Bahadur_Khan-Akbarnama.jpg
139
Mughal Miniatures
Nur Jahan Begum Nur Jahan (alternative spelling Noor Jahan, Nur Jehan, Nor Jahan,
etc.) (31 May 157717 December 1645), also known as Mehr-un-Nisaa, was Empress of the
Mughal Empire that covered much of the Indian subcontinent. She was an aunt of Empress
Mumtaz Mahal, Emperor Shah Jahan's wife for whom the Taj Mahal was made.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nurjahan.jpg
143
Islamic Metallic Art

7) LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art):
http://collectionsonline.lacma.org/mwebcgi/mweb.exe?request=jump;dtype=i;startat=85
Ewer, Iran, 12th ce.

Bronze casted ewer with repouse foliage medallion in the neck and engraved body.
Decorative casted mythical creature in the neck.
Crystal Fatimid Ewer, Louvre.
149
Islamic History, Art and Architecture

If by eternity is understood not endless (inside time) temporal duration, but timelessness (outside
time), then he lives eternally who lives in the presence. Our life is endless in the way that our visual
field is without limit. Wittgenstein: Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus: Prop. 6.4311
ii) The solution of the riddle of life (in conjunction with the problem of the temporal immortality
of our soul, that is its eternal survival after death) in space and time lies outside space and time.
Wittgenstein: Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus: Prop. 6.4312
http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/03/hm3_5_5c.html
The Pisa Griffin, probably created in the 11th century in Al-Andaluz, is the largest Islamic figurative
sculpture to survive.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Pisa-Opera_del_DuomoGrifone_islamico000.jpg/576px-Pisa-Opera_del_Duomo-Grifone_islamico000.jpg
150
Islamic Pottery
The Book of Human`s Philosophy in the Form
of a humble Ceramic clay earthenware-II
This is white tin-glazed earthenware with one short and yet not-deciphered under-glazed
Kuffic script in blue, belonging to the white and blue era commencing in the 9th ce, in
Iraq. I vastly like this, made of humble earthly clay, ceramic art work, because I conceive,
interpret and therefore I see! in it its whiteness as a sign of the Infinite unconceivable and
unobserved Divine Form (Platonic Idea), which (ontologically) exists as a mindindependent substance, timeless, eternal and spaceless.
And I also conceive and see the Kuffic script in blue as a symbol of the finite human
wisdom and mind. Form and meaning, divine and physical coexist in absolute harmony in
this earthenware. The Essence and absoluteness of the World condensed in one simple
humble piece of clay! The book of human being`s philosophy in the form of a humble piece
of earth. Indeed it is calling us into a philosophical dialogue with it, rising question as
such:
a) Does the Divine (whiteness) exists ontologically independently of the human mind
(Kuffic blue script)?
b) Which comes first? The Form (Divine) or the Human Mind?
c) Does the Divine contains in itself its own meaning (truth)?, or it requires always an
earthly physical referred counterpart?. Does this Divine`s physical reference requires the
intervention of the logic of the mind or not?. First the non-speculative metaphysical
Philosophers, such as Plato and Heidegger, would say that the Divine (Form-Idea) is truth
self-determined. On contrary, the speculative philosophers would agree that a truth self-
155
Islamic Pottery
The monumental style, characterised by centrally arranged bold motifs reserved in white
on a solid lustre background.
The miniature style, characterised by designs that are painted in lustre on the white
background, while the designs are also smaller and sometimes organised in natural settings
or divided registers.
The Kashan style, characterised by a lustre background with scratched motifs and figures
drawn in reserve and filled with lustre motifs.
Inv. no. 50/1966: Fritware dish painted in lustre over an opaque, white tin-glaze;
outside glazed blue. Iran, Kashan; end of twelfth century. Height: c. 11 cm; diameter: 47.5
cm. Inv. no. 50/1966. It is of the monumental style, in which the unpainted in reserve
whith motif emerged on a brown luster background after firing.
159
Islamic Pottery
1) Fritware bowl in minai style with in and under glaze polychrome figural painting in
haftrag palette.
161
Thuluth script is characterized by curved letters written with barbed heads. The letters
are linked and sometimes intersecting, thus engendering a cursive flow of ample and often
complex proportions. Thuluth is known for its elaborate graphics and remarkable
plasticity. It is still the most important of all the ornamental scripts.
Deewani script is an Ottoman development parallel to Shikasteh (broken style). The script
was largely developed by the accomplished calligrapher Ibrahim Munif in the late 15th
century from the Turkish/Persian Ta'liq. Deewani reached its zenith in the 17th century,
thanks to the famous calligrapher Shala Pasha.
Like Riq'a, Deewani became a favourite script for writing in the Ottoman chancellery.
Deewani is excessively cursive and highly structured with its letters undotted and
unconventionally joined together. It uses no vowel marks. Deewani also developed an
ornamental variety called Deewani Jali which also was known as Humayuni (Imperial). The
development of Deewani Jali is credited to Hafiz Uthman. The spaces between the letters
are spangled with decorative devices which do not necessarily have any orthographic
value. Deewani Jali is highly favoured for ornamental purposes.
Riqa. This script, also called Ruq'ah (small sheet), evolved from Naskh and Thuluth.
Although Riq'a has a close affinity with Thuluth, Riq'a developed in a different direction.
Riq'a became simplified. The geometric forms of the letters are similar to those of Thuluth
but are smaller with more curves. Riq'a is rounded and densely structured with short
horizontal stems, and the letter alif is never written with barbed heads. Riq'a was one of
the favourite scripts of Ottoman calligraphers and underwent many improvements at the
hand of Shaykh Hamdullah al-Amasi. Later, Riq'a was revised by other calligraphers and
went on to become the most popular and widely used script. Today, Riq'a is the preferred
script for handwriting throughout the Arab world.
Farsi. Ta'liq (hanging) script is believed to have been developed by the Persians from an
early and little known Arabic script called Firamuz. Ta'liq, also called Farsi, is an
unpretentious cursive script apparently in use since the early 9th century.
The calligrapher Abd al-Hayy, from the town of Astarabad, seems to have played an
important role in the scripts early development. He was encouraged by his patron, Shah
Isma'il, to lay down the basic rules for the writing of Ta'liq. The script is currently in great
favour with Arabs, and it is the native calligraphic style among the Persian, Indian, and
Turkish Muslims.
The Persian calligrapher Mir Ali Sultan al-Tabrizi developed from Ta'liq a lighter and more
elegant variety which came to be known as Nasta'liq. However, Persian and Turkish
calligraphers continued to use Ta'liq as a monumental script for important occasions.
164
Object Name: Non-illustrated manuscript, folio: Muhaqqaq Style.

Title: Qur'an Manuscript.
Calligrapher: Ahmad ibn al-Suhrawardi al-Bakri.
Date: A.H. 707/ A.D. 13078.
Geography: Iraq, Baghdad.
Medium: Ink, colors, and gold on paper.
166
Page of a 12th century Qur'an written in the Andalusi script.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c4/AndalusQuran.JPG/514pxAndalusQuran.JPG
170
Islamic Carpets
17th century Ottoman velvet cushion cover, with stylized carnation motifs. Floral motifs
were common in Ottoman art.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ottoman_cover.jpg
187
Islamic Aesthetics
in Islam; doctrines that affirmed a divine unity, such as those of Plato and Aristotle
were, naturally, more favourably received.
The Neoplatonists themselves traced their roots back to the semi-legendary Pythagoras
(6th century B.C.) and the school that developed his ideas. The Pythagoreans were the
first to believe that the structure of the universe was to be found in mathematics All
things are made of numbers - and it can be fairly said that they laid the foundations of
both arithmetic and geometry. This school was much concerned with ratios and proportions
(they also uncovered the laws of musical harmony), and seem to have ascribed mystical
properties to both numbers and geometrical figures. For the Pythagoreans, numbers and
proportions took the place of the Gods. They had a separate existence of their own,
entirely independent of mens minds, the contemplation of which was a form of devotion
or prayer.
Plato was greatly influenced by these theories and adopted their belief that number and
form were the keys to a deeper understanding of the universe. He was also sympathetic to
their perception of the gross material world as a place of corruption and illusion. Platos
philosophical ideas are extensive and not easily summarised, but one consistent theme was
that of a supersensible realm of Forms, of which the world of ordinary experience was
an imperfect copy. He was deeply interested in geometry and clearly felt that its method,
which produced clear and definite proofs, could be more generally applied. In the Platonic
view the world of Forms or Ideas is separate and superior to our world of ordinary
experience and free of its illusions.
This proposition, the existence of a place, beyond our immediate sense-experience, of
timeless perfection, colours the whole range of Platos thought. He had a very low regard
for the art of representation, seeing this as a copy of a copy, or a third removal from
the truth. For Plato the truly beautiful could not be conveyed by any work of
representation or imagination; at best these could only ever be conditionally beautiful.
True beauty had to express at least some of the eternal quality of his Forms, the
terms of which he seems only to have found in geometry.
Philosophy in Islam
The Neoplatonists, who conveyed Platos philosophical ideas to the Islamic world, had in
fact elaborated his philosophical system into a complex cosmology of their own. This
movement originated in Alexandria in the 3rd century A.D. (long after the decline of
Classical Athens). It was eclectic and was influenced by Pythagoras, Aristotle and the
Stoics as well as Plato. In its later development it absorbed Jewish and Christian
precepts. The main aim of its founder, Plotinus (200-269 A.D.), was to connect with the
supreme unity, the source of all existence and all knowledge, through mystical, ecstatic
union. In this system, the lower, material levels of existence are a sort of overflow of the
divine fullness. These, and later Neoplatonic speculations, exerted a considerable
influence on Islamic philosophy, and on Islamic mysticism (Sufism).
In time, as they became more discriminating, Muslim scholars were able to separate out
the older Classical philosophies from later accretions, and to make their own
193

aesthetic sensibilities appear to crystallise around essentially Platonic (geometric)
notions of beauty. In fact (again ironically), the geometric and arabesque decorative
modes, which are now so completely associated with Islam in all its manifestations, were
originally adopted as the identifiable style of a renascent, Sunni orthodoxy.
Classical philosophy, always treated with suspicion by the narrowly religious, could not
thrive in the spiritual and political turmoil that characterised the Islamic world from the
12th/6thcentury on. But pure Geometry could never be considered as heretical, and the
interplay of Platonic figures on the Euclidean plane, clearly did not violate any
injunction in the Holy Quran or the Hadith. But the connection with the Classical past was
never entirely forgotten. In a revealing passage in the Introduction to his History of the
World, the famous 14th/8thcentury author Ibn Khuldun makes various observations,
presumably of fairly widespread currency, about the craft of carpentry
In view of its origin, carpentry needs a good deal of geometry of all kinds. It requires
either a general or specialised knowledge of proportion and measurement in order to bring
forms from potentiality into actuality in the proper manner, and for the knowledge of
proportions one must have recourse to the geometrician. Therefore the leading Greek
geometricians were all master carpenters. Euclid, the author of the Book of Principles,
was a carpenter, and known as such. The same was the case with Apollonius, the author of
the book on Conic Sections, and Menelaus and others.
The Craft of Carpentry in the Muqaddimah.
Islamic aesthetics
Islamic art is not, properly speaking, an art pertaining to religion only. The term "Islamic"
refers not only to the religion, but to any form of art created in an Islamic culture or in an
Islamic context. It would also be a mistake to assume that all Muslims are in agreement on
the use of art in religious observance, the proper place of art in society, or the relation
between secular art and the demands placed on the secular world to conform to religious
precepts. Islamic art frequently adopts secular elements and elements that are frowned
upon, if not forbidden, by some Islamic theologians.
According to Islam, human works of art are inherently flawed compared to the work of
God; thus, it is believed by many that to attempt to depict in a realistic form any animal
or person is insolence to God. This tendency has had the effect of narrowing the field of
artistic possibility to such forms of art as Arabesque, mosaic, Islamic calligraphy, and
Islamic architecture, as well as more generally any form of abstraction that can claim the
status of non-representational art.
The limited possibilities has been explored by artists as an outlet to artistic expression,
and has been cultivated to become a positive style and tradition, emphasizing the
decorative function of art, or its religious functions via non-representational forms such as
Geometric patterns, floral patterns, and arabesques.
196
Great Mosques, Shrines, Madrasas, Mausoleums
Al-Masjid al-arm with the Kaaba, in Mecca, built at Prophet`s time (570-632).
Links:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/Kaaba_mirror_edit_jj.jpg/6
40px-Kaaba_mirror_edit_jj.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_famous_mosques
201
Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, built in 691.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e7/110409_042.jpg/640px110409_042.jpg
206
Great Mosque of Damascus, built in 715.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Umayyad_Mosque%2C_Dam
ascus.jpg/640px-Umayyad_Mosque%2C_Damascus.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Umayyad_Mosquee_panora
mic.jpg/640px-Umayyad_Mosquee_panoramic.jpg
210

The shrine of John the Baptist (or Yahya) inside the mosque's prayer hall
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/StJohnInUmmayad.jpg/640
px-StJohnInUmmayad.jpg
211
Shrine of Ali ar-Ridha, the 8th Twelver Shia Imam, built in end of 9th ce., in Mashhad, Iran.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/RezaShrine.jpg/640pxRezaShrine.jpg
215
Mosque of Uqba (Kairouan), Tunisia, built from 670 by Abbasids and Aghlabids (9th
century). It is a courtyard Hypostyle Mosque.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/Kairouan_Mosque_Stitched_
Panorama.jpg/640px-Kairouan_Mosque_Stitched_Panorama.jpg
221
(800-909, conquered by Fatimids)
The Ribbat of Monastir, Tunisia, founded in 796, under Aghlabids (800-909, conquered by
Fatimids).
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/TUNISIE_MONASTIR_RIBAT_
02.jpg/681px-TUNISIE_MONASTIR_RIBAT_02.jpg
223
GHAZNAVIDS (967-1186) fallen to GHURIDS (1169-1215), fallen to Khwarazmians

(Turko-Monglolic tribes)
The Jamkaran Mosque in Jamkaran, 984, Qom, Iran. This Mosque is significant because of
the wide spread belief that the hidden Imam, the 12th Imam, Zaman will reappear from
Jamkaran well at the appointed time.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f0/Jamkaran_Mosque3855.jpg/640px-Jamkaran_Mosque-3855.jpg
226
The Kharghn twin towers, in Iran, is the burial of Seljuk princes.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/Kharaghan.jpg/610pxKharaghan.jpg
234
Great Mosque (Cathedral) of Cordoba, Spain, built from 750 (Umayyads). Now a cathedral
known as the Mezquita.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/15/Mosque_Cordoba.jpg/640px
-Mosque_Cordoba.jpg
237
Sultan Hassan Moschee in Cairo, Egypt. Its construction began 1356.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/Kairo_Sultan_Hassan_Mosch
ee_BW_1.jpg/628px-Kairo_Sultan_Hassan_Moschee_BW_1.jpg
241
Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, 1389-1399, Turkestan in southern Kazakhstan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Turkestan.jpg
247
2.
(1501-1722, experiencing a brief restoration from 1729 to 1736).
Great Mosque of Isfahan (Shah Mosque), Iran, built from 9th ce. by Abbasids, to 10th ce. to
Buyids and mainly by the Seljuks in 12th ce. Its renovation continued 611-1629 by the
Safavid Persian dynasty ruled from 1501 to 1722.
Links:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bb/Shahmosque.jpg/640pxShahmosque.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_architecture
251
3.
, (1526 to 1757).
The Taj Mahal in Agra (1648) India, built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum
for his wife, represents the pinnacle of Mughal Islamic architecture in India and is one of
the most recognizable buildings in the world.
Brief History of India: Invasion in India from 711 by Arab Muslims and Mongols. 1398:
Invasion by Timur (1370-1455). 1526: Victory of the Mongol Babur (over the Lodi ruled of
Delhi, Ibrahim (1517-1526) and beginning of the Mughal Empire (*) ended in 1858 by the
British India Company. India becomes a British viceroyship in 1858. India got his
independence in 1947.
(*) Mughal Empire included Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of northern India
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f5/Taj_Mahal_2012.jpg/640pxTaj_Mahal_2012.jpg
256
The Badshahi Masjid, literally the Royal Mosque, India, was built in 1674 by Aurangzeb. It
is one of Lahore's best known landmarks, and epitomizes the beauty and grandeur of the
Mughal era.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/90/Badshahi_Mosque_July_1_2
005_pic32_by_Ali_Imran_%281%29.jpg/640pxBadshahi_Mosque_July_1_2005_pic32_by_Ali_Imran_%281%29.jpg
257
Sleymaniye Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey, 1550-7. The Sleymaniye Mosque was built on the
order of Sultan Sleyman (Sleyman the Magnificent) "was fortunate to be able to draw on
the talents of the architectural genius of Mimar Sinan" (481 Traditions and Encounters:
Brief Global History). The construction work began in 1550 and the mosque was finished in
1558.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cb/Istanbul__S%C3%BCleymaniye_camii_dal_Corno_d%27oro_-_Foto_G._Dall%27Orto_28-52006.jpg/640px-Istanbul_-_S%C3%BCleymaniye_camii_dal_Corno_d%27oro__Foto_G._Dall%27Orto_28-5-2006.jpg
264
Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia, built in 1961-1978, by architect F. Silaban.

The foundation stone was laid by Sukarno (*) on 24 August 1961 and the construction took
17 years. Indonesian president Suharto (**) inaugurated the Indonesian national mosque on
22 February 1978.
(*) first President of Indonesia (r. from 1945 to 1967, died in 1970), who replaced by
(**) his general Suharto, the 2nd Indonesian President (r.1967-1998, died in 2008).
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a6/Istiqlal_Mosque_Monas.jpg/
640px-Istiqlal_Mosque_Monas.jpg
271
The Bah' House of Worship in New Delhi, India, popularly known as the Lotus Temple
because of its flowerlike shape, is a Bah' House of Worship and also a prominent
attraction in Delhi. It was completed in 1986 and serves as the Mother Temple of the
Indian subcontinent. The surface of the House of Worship is made of white marble from
Penteli mountain in Greece, the very same from which many ancient monuments and other
Bah' Houses of Worship are built. The architect was an Iranian, who now lives in Canada,
named Fariborz Sahba.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/LotusDelhi.jpg/640pxLotusDelhi.jpg
The Bah' House of Worship in New Delhi, India. Interior view.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Temple
273
Glossary on Western and Islamic Architecture
Ablaq: Specific examples include the use of the ablaq technique of alternating stones of
different colors, particularly red and white,or black basalt and white limestone.
The ablaq is the decoration style which features red and white masonry, prevalent in the
Mamluk era.
Ablaq.

Arch:
Treffoil, cross, romanesque, horse-shoe (3 last).

Architrave: Architrave (also called an epistyle; from Greek , epistylo or door
frame) is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of the columns. It is an architectural
element in Classical architecture. The word architrave is also used to refer more generally
to the mouldings (or other elements) framing a door, window or other rectangular opening.
In classical entablature, it is the lowest part of the entablature consisting of architrave,
frieze and cornice.
Architrave.
286

Archivolt (or voussure): An archivolt (or voussure) is an ornamental molding or band
following the curve on the underside of an arch. It is composed of bands of ornamental
moldings (or other architectural elements) surrounding an arched opening, corresponding
to the architrave in the case of a rectangular opening. The word is sometimes used to refer
to the under-side or inner curve of the arch itself (more properly, the intrados). The word
originates in the Italian (or French) equivalents of the English words arch dn vault.
Archivolts and tympanum from Strasbourg Cathedral (left) and Archivolts at Speyer
Cathedral, Germany (right).
Archivolts of Church of Santiago (left) and Eglise St-Lazare, Avallon, Burgundy (right).
287

Buttress: A flying buttress is a specific form of buttressing most strongly associated with
Gothic church architecture. The purpose of any buttress is to resist the lateral forces
pushing a wall outwards (which may arise from stone vaulted ceilings or from wind-loading
on roofs) by redirecting them to the ground. The characteristic of a flying buttress is that
the buttress is not in contact with the wall all the way to the ground; so that the lateral
forces are transmitted across an intervening space. Flying buttress systems have two key
components - a massive vertical masonry block (the buttress) on the outside of the building
and a segmental or quadrant arch bridging the gap between that buttress and the wall (the
'flyer').
Buttresses.
Celadon glaze refers to a family of transparent, crackle glazes, produced in a wide variety
of colors, generally used on porcelain or stoneware clay bodies. Its pale green color is
produced by iron oxide in the glaze recipe or clay body, mimicing the green shades of
hade (nephrite and jedite).
290

Cloister: A cloister (from Latin claustrum, "enclosure") is a rectangular open space
surrounded by covered walks or open galleries, with open arcades on the inner side,
running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of
a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a warm southern flank, usually
indicates that it is (or once was) part of a monastic foundation, "forming a continuous and
solid architectural barrier... that effectively separates the world of the monks from that of
the serfs and workmen, whose lives and works went on outside and around the cloister."
Cloister.
Columns: A) Classical Orders:
General: Each style (order) has distinctive column capitals and entablatures. The shaft is
sometimes articulated with vertical hollow grooves known as fluting. The shaft is wider at
the bottom than at the top, because its entasis, beginning a third of the way up,
imperceptibly makes the column slightly more slender at the top. The capital rests on the
shaft. It has a load-bearing function, which concentrates the weight of the entablature on
the supportive column, but it primarily serves an aesthetic purpose. The necking is the
continuation of the shaft, but is visually separated by one or many grooves. The echinus
296

The Composite order is a mixed order, combining the volutes of the Ionic with the leaves
of the Corinthian order. Until the Renaissance it was not ranked as a separate order.
Instead it was considered as a late Roman form of the Corinthian order. The column of the
Composite order is ten diameters high.
An illustration of the five orders engraved for the Encyclopdie, vol. 18, showing the
Tuscan and Doric orders (top row); two versions of the Ionic order (center row); Corinthian
and Composite orders (bottom row).
301

Cross-shape ground plan: In western christian religious architecture, from the Gothic era
onwards (from 12th ce.) the cathedral`s ground plans were of the cross-shape. In this, the
west-eastern long leg, commencing as its western main entrance and continued as its nave
(consisting of its central-main and two side aisles), which in turn ended up eastwards to
chancel (high altar), was intersected perpendicularly near its eastern end, by a shorter
trasnverse north-southern leg (transept), being constructed so, a cross-shape ground plan.
If the long leg (main aisle) is shortened becoming equal to the transverse transept, it
provides the composite-cross-shapd ground plan, initially of the Byzantine (Aghia Sophia)
and later of the Ottoman style cathedrals and islamic mosques respectively (see also to Tshape ground plan of islamic mosques, at right angles to this one).
T-Shape Western Cathedrals: Entrance from left (west) to right (east), along the central
nave (long arm of the Tshape). High Altar towards the east (at the end of the nave).
Cuerda Rasa: Underglaze tile painting with different color glazes (haftrang) on a ingle
tile, fired on a common temperature. It should be compared with the mosaic (cut) colored
tiles, which consist of the luting of propriately cut tiles in various ornamental forms, which
(tiles) have been individually painted with one individual glaze and each fired at various
each temperatures.
Dome: a) A true dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow
upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long
architectural lineage extending into prehistory. True, or real, domes are formed with
increasingly inward-angled layers of voussoirs which have ultimately turned 90 degrees
from the base of the dome to the top.
Comparison of a generic "true" arch (left) and a corbel arch (right).

The construction of the first technically advanced true domes in Europe began in the
Roman Architectural Revolution, when they were frequently used by the Romans to shape
303

b) Semi-domes: A semi-dome, also called a "half-dome", is the term in architecture for
half a dome ("cut" vertically), used to cover a semi-circular area. Similar structures occur
in nature. Semi-domes are a common feature of apses in Ancient Roman and traditional
church architecture, and mosques and iwans in Islamic architecture. Lastly, it can be
defined as an arch with niches or squinches.
Basilica di Sant' Apollinare in Classe 15th ce, Ravenna, Italy (left), Aghia Sofia, 15th ce,
Istanbul, Turkey (right) (5th ce).
St. Mark`s Cathedral, 1063-94, Venice, Cupola at the transept crossing (left)and The
Church of St. Panteleimon, Nerezi, FUROM-Macedonia has five domes in a quincunx pattern
(right).
306

Maqsura: The vaulted dome at the crossing of the middle aisle with the transept, right in
front of the Quibla and Michrab (rulen`s precinct).
Mashahids: Places of witnessing to the Islam faith.
Masjid as-jami : Friday mosque.
Maugarnal vault: over the main portal of the mosque protecting the foundation
inscription.
Mihrab: Niche indicating Qibla wall which point to Mecaa- Prayer`s niche.
Minai (enamel) 11th ce, Persian Ceramic technique of over-glazed painting with 7 Persian
colors (haftrang), making possible to paint coloured detailed narrative themes.
Minaret (Turkish: minare, from Arabic manrah (lighthouse) is a distinctive architectural
feature of Islamic mosques, generally a tall spire with an onion-shaped or conical crown,
usually either free standing or taller than any associated support structure. The basic form
of a minaret includes a base, shaft, and gallery. Styles vary regionally and by period.
Minarets provide a visual focal point and are used for the call to prayer (adhan).
Minbar: Stepped pulprit, or reading podium, or sermon (khurba).

Miraj: Ascension of the Prophet form the Dome of the Roch in Jerusalem.
Muezzin: The prayer caller, who summons believers to prayer, from the minaret of teh
mosque, before the five daily acts of worship.
Muharam: The 1st month of the Musli calendar. Hussein1s (Ali`s son) death is
commemorated for 10 days (October).
317

Rose Window:
Notre Dame, Paris.
Reims Cathedral, France.
Rubble masonry is rough, unhewn building stone set in mortar, but not laid in regular
courses. It may appear as the outer surface of a wall or may fill the core of a wall which is
faced with unit masonry such as brick or cut stone.
Sanctuary: A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the
use of such places as a safe haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any
place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a safe place
for humans, such as a political sanctuary; and non-human sanctuary, such as an animal or
plant sanctuary (see also, high alrat, chancel, apse).
Saz: An under-glazed ceramic ornamentation style developed by Iranians masters of
Tabriz in 13-14th ce and fully flourished under the Ottoman ruling. It features serrated
leaves, lotus blossoms and rossetes, inhabitant with birds and mythic creatures, in blue
and turquoise palette in a white background.
Shahabah: The Muslim profession for faith.
Shahnama: Firdawsis`s (100 ad) narrative of the life of Persian Kings.
Sharia: The totality of the Islamic legao and moral order, which is based on teh
prescription of the Koran and the Sunna, determining all aspects of Muslim society`s life,
from individual religious acts, hygiene, and family life, ot the structure or the state and
society. The Saria is regarded as divine law, and is therefore incontrovertible, unlike
human legislation (fiqh).
Shia: The party of Ali, Muhammad`s cousin and son-in-law. Its supporters, the Shiites,
narrowed down the Prophet`s succession legal rights to chosen descendants of Ali, as e
member of Muhammad`s family. Following the series of recognized imams, the last of
whom retrieved into occulation (ghalba), but remain present on earth, a distinction is
327

Tracery: In architecture, Tracery is the stonework elements that support the glass in a Gothic
window. The term probably derives from the 'tracing floors' on which the complex patterns of late
Gothic windows were laid out.
Tracery Soissons Cathedral (c.1200), France (left) and Bar tracery in the clerestory windows at
Reims Cathedral (1230's) (right).
Triforium: A triforium is a shallow arched gallery within the thickness of inner wall, which stands
above the nave of a church or cathedral. It may occur at the level of the clerestory windows, or it
may be located as a separate level below the clerestory. It may itself have an outer wall of glass
rather than stone. Triforia are sometimes referred to, erroneously, as tribunes.
Malmesbury Abbey (right), showing the location of the triforium. It lies between the lower (aisle)
windows and the upper (clerestory ) windows, as arrowed.
331

T-Shaped ground plan:
Cross in a Rectangular plan of Aghia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey.
333

Tympanum: The area of solid masonry between an arch and an opening-like a door- which
it surrounds. The segmental space above a portal or on a gable (see also, archivolt,
voussure).
Tympanum.
Vault: An arched ceiling of a roof, usually composed of a wedge-shaped stones of
voussoirs. Forms: Barrel (or tunnel), Cross or groined, Coffered Muqarnas, Stalactite,
Cantilever.
Vaults.
335

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