Survey of Architectural Typologies of the Islamic World

IAAU 625
Instructor: Akel Ismail Kahera, Ph.D.
Student: Aymen Aiblu

Reading & Reflection on Nader Ardalan

"The Visual Language of Symbolic Form: A Preliminary Study of
Mosque Architecture"

The author Nader Ardalan had an approach in terms of function and space of the

architecture of mosques around the world. He started with transformations as beginnigs where

he descriped the transformation of pre-Islamic monuments as an important first step in the

definition of what constitutes a visual vocabulary relevant to Islam, taking the observation of

the pagan, Christian, Zoroastrian and Hindu buildings’ parts as a lesson to gain the Islamic

features by modifying or entirely removing their religious merits to make them Islamic spaces.1

I personally agree with him, because nothing could be created from nothing, specially

in architecture, there always have to be a starting point of a specific design in regard of its

religion and culture, then modefied to suit the needs. For example, Dome of the Rock, known

as one of the earliest existing monuments of Muslim Architecture erected centries ago and still

surviving up to date, scholars declare that it is a creation of Roman Architecture, they show that

a circular domed structure was the most popular form of Roman mausoleum.2

Ardalan reviewed a number of notable transformations as representative samples of the

different ecological/cultural regions of the Islamic world, and he chose to review the Masjid al-

Haram at Mecca and the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. A more brief review of mosques at

1. Nader Ardalan, The Visual Language of Symbolic Form: A Preliminary Study of Mosque Architecture, p.18.
2. K. A. C. Creswell, Early Muslim Architecture, Volume I – The Works of Abd al-Malik, p.71.
Damascus, Cordoba, Delhi and Fars showed both the multiplicity and the unity of the earliest

beginnings of mosque architecture.

According to Ardalan Mecca is considered by the Holy Quran to be the “Mother of All

Cities” and, in a metaphorical sense, the “naval of the earth.” Nader writes: “Legend has it that

the Ka'ba constructed by Abraham and Isma'il was a roofless square about the height of a man

with its corners set to the cardinal directions. In the eastern corner the Black Stone was

installed (al-Hajar al-aswad) to mark the beginning of the circumambulation. From its primary

shape, the form came to be known as the Ka'ba: "the Cube."3 Many years later, by the time of

the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), the form had evolved into a flat roofed cube constructed of

alternating courses of stone and teak wood. The author writes that Tthe evolving design of the

Masjid al-Haram has been characterized by several distinct architectural forms occurring over

the centuries: courtyard, arcade (portico), gateways, minaret and, in a minor yet definite way,

dome. The latter is found in all of the Sinan arcades and in the contemporary Safa-Marwa area

of the mosque.

Ardalan moves to the following monument, Hagia Sophie, where back then in

Constantinople (Istanbul), on May 29, 1453, was one of the last Islamic transformations of

significance took place. Sultan Muhammad changed the “Cathedral of the Heavenly Wisdom”

as it was called into a mosque, and as the author mentions here, our concern is with the five

hundred years of its Muslim usage. Nader Ardalan says in the description of the transformation

of Hagia Sophia: ”In the interior of the Hagia Sophia the altar and all liturgical objects of

worship were removed; all biblical figures, such as the mosaics depicting the Virgin and Child

and St. John the Baptist were covered in plaster; the faces of two seraphim and two cherubim

in the four pendentives of the dome were transfigured by gilded stars, and most notably, the

image of Christ in the dome was replaced by a sunburst medallion enriched with the Sura of

Light. Among acts of inclusion in the interior was the placement in the old apse of a mihrab,

3. Nader Ardalan, The Visual Language of Symbolic Form: A Preliminary Study of Mosque Architecture, p.19.
minbar, sultan's throne and raised places for the recitation of the Koran. These objects were

situated with a slight orientational adjustment to the south in the direction of Mecca.”4

In conclusion, some other tranformed monuments have been mentioned by the author

like the mosque of Damascus, where it has gone through several transformation, a pagan Roman

temple transformed first into a Christian and then a Muslim place of worship. And the Mosque

of Cordoba also represents a reverse transformation. A Mosque turned into a Church.

4. Nader Ardalan, The Visual Language of Symbolic Form: A Preliminary Study of Mosque Architecture, p.20.

Bibliography

• Nader Ardalan, The Visual Language of Symbolic Form: A Preliminary Study of

Mosque Architecture, p.18, 19, 20.
• K. A. C. Creswell, Early Muslim Architecture, Volume I – The Works of Abd al-
Malik, p.71