ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE
includes religious buildings intended for
worship by Muslims and secular buildings
built in a predominately Islamic region or used
by Muslims.
HISTORY
The architecture of the peoples of Islamic
faith, also called Mohammedan, which from
the 7th century onward expanded throughout
the Mediterranean world and as far as India
and China, producing a variety of great
regional works and local decorative styles.
What today is known as Islamic architecture
owes its origin to similar structures already
existing in Roman, Byzantine and Persian
lands which the Muslims conquered in the 7th
and 8th centuries.
Specifically recognizable Islamic architectural
style emerged soon after Muhammad's time,
inspired by the former Sassanid and
Byzantine models.
The horseshoe arch became a popular
feature in Islamic structures. Some suggest
the Muslims acquired this from the Visigoths
in Spain but they may have obtained it from
Syria and Persia where the horseshoe arch
had been in use by the Byzantines as early
as the 5th century.
CHARACTERISTICS
domes, horseshoe and round arches, tunnel
vaults and rich ornaments, geometric
because of the ban on human and animal
representation.
A new building type was developed from the
Christian basilica - the multi-aisled, arcaded,
columnar, or pillared mosque; a new type of
domed mosque, tomb, or madrasah from the
vaulted, centrally organized Byzantine and
Sassanian structures.
BASIC ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS:
pointed, horseshoe, "Persian," multifoil, and
interlacing arches;
bulbous, ribbed, conical, and melon domes;
tunnel, cross-rib, and stalactite vaults;
a wide variety of crenelations.
Surfaces are covered by abundant geometric,
floral and calligraphic decorations executed in
stone, brick, stucco, wood and glazed tile.
PRINCIPAL ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURAL
TYPES: the Mosque, the Tomb, the Palace
and the Fort.
MOST POPULAR MODELS
1- Old Islamic style:
Islam is characterized by its simplicity and
strictness. These two characteristics have
been reflected in Islamic architecture at this
time. If we look at the mosque of Quba, the
Mosque with the Qibla and the Prophet’s
Mosque in its first form, we find examples of
this simple style in architecture.
2- Umayyad style:
Syria, Palestine and all the Levants were a
Christian province and part of the Byzantine
Empire. The early Umayyads were influenced
by the style of Christian architecture, which
was clearly influenced by the Umayyad
Mosque in Damascus.
At that time, the Al-Aqsa mosque and the
Dome of the Rock were rebuilt in a way that
referred to the Christian influence and
introduced some of the characteristics of the
new Islamic architecture. The domes,
beacons and the style of Arab decoration
were added to the Christian architecture to be
the Umayyad style of architecture. The
addition of Arabic script to parts of the Holy
Quran or modern Arabic.
3- Abbasid style:
The Abbasids formed their own style of
domes and developed Islamic and Umayyad
lighthouses. The Abbasid style also has a
unique form of columns, pillars, and motifs
between domes in the form of domes in large
mosques.
4- Marrakesh and Andalusian style:
The Andalusian style in architecture is similar
to the Umayyad style in Damascus and the
Levant in general. After the fall of the
Umayyad state in Andalusia, Andalusia
became under the Morawi rule, then the
Mahdi in Morocco and then the Nazarene
who moved the capital from the
Mediterranean to Andalusia. In those three
eras, the architecture flourished greatly and
influenced the style of Umayyad, Andalusian
and Moroccan architecture.
5- Fatimid style “Obaidi”:
In the first Fatimid period, the Fatimids were
in North Africa, and architecture was
characterized by the simplicity with great
influence on local Berber architecture,
Marrakesh architecture and neighbouring
Andalusian architecture. The best example of
architecture in this era is the Mahdia Mosque
in the Fatimid capital of Mahdia (now
Tunisia).
6- Ayyubid style:
The Ayyubid style was influenced by the war
and its preparations. Most of the installations
in the Ayyubid period were highly fortified and
prepared for war. The richness of the Ayyubid
era was evident in the battlefields, the
construction of fortified palaces and castles,
city walls, fortifications, renovations and the
rebuilding of mosques and shrines destroyed
by the Crusaders.
7- Safavian Style:
It is characterized by fine decoration works
and was influenced by the Persian-Mongolian
style in the work of domes and lighthouses
with the addition of colours and decorations.
It is unique in interior decoration, especially in
the decoration of ceilings, cornices and
marble columns. The most important
example of Safavid architecture is the Shah
School in Isfahan and the Imam Mosque (the
Shah Mosque) in Isfahan.
8- Pashto style:
It is a simple architectural style characterized
by the artistic gift that God has given to
Afghans, especially Pashtu tribes. Pashtuns
and Afghans are adept at the art of mosaics
and ornaments. Examples of this
architectural art are Al-Harat Mosque and the
Blue Mosque of Mazar-e-Sharif. The Pashto
lighthouses are similar to those of the Indian-
Mongol style, and the entrances resemble the
entrances of the Persian-Mongolian style.
9- Ottoman style:
Ottoman architecture was influenced by the
Seljuks until the domes and lighthouses in the
Ottoman and Seljuk styles were identical, but
the Ottoman architecture was more charming
and rich in the diversity of sources. While the
difference was in the interior shape of the
mosques.
TERMINOLOGIES
Ablaq - Striped layers of stone. This
technique is a feature of Islamic architecture.
The ablaq decorative technique is a
derivative from the ancient Byzantine Empire,
whose architecture used alternate sequential
runs of light colored ashlar stone and darker
colored orange brick.
Ablution/ Wudu/Wudhu - Before entering
the mosque to pray, believers must recite
prayers while washing the following, three
times each, in order: hands, mouth, nose,
face, arms. Wash the following only once, in
order: hair, feet and ankles.
Arabesque
Arcaded courtyard
Beit - Private houses.
Features:
•Small windows covered with wooden
screens
•Large airy rooms
•Shady arcades and fountains
•Partitioned into separate male and female
zones
Calligraphy
Ceilings - Wood; carved with intricate
geometric patterns and then painted in rich
colors
Crescent moon - The crescent moon and
star is an internationally-recognized symbol
of the faith of Islam.
Crescent-shaped finial - found on many
Egyptian mosques
Hajj - The pilgrimage to Mecca that every
Muslim is required to make at least once in
his life, provided he has enough money and
the health to do so - the fifth of the Pillars of
Islam.
Horseshoe arch
Imam
1. the prayer leader of a mosque
2. a Muslim leader of the line of Ali held by
Shiites to be the divinely appointed, sinless,
infallible successors of Muhammad
3. any of various rulers that claim descent
from Muhammad and exercise spiritual and
temporal leadership over a Muslim region
Mashrabiyya - Screens that allow women to
look out without being seen
Mausoleum
Features:
•Crescent moon finial
•Decorative lattice paneling
•Pillars or stele
•Columns
Mihrab (MEE rub) - A niche in the wall of a
mosque or a room in the mosque that
indicates the direction of Mecca.
-A design in the shape of niche in a Muslim
prayer rug; during worship the niche must be
pointed toward Mecca
Minaret - A tall slender tower attached to a
mosque, having one or more projecting
balconies from which a muezzin summons
the people to prayer.
Minbar/member - In Islam, the pulpit from
which the sermon (khutbah) is delivered. In its
simplest form the minbar is a platform with
three steps; often it is constructed as a
domed box at the top of a staircase and is
reached through a doorway that can be
closed
Mocárabe - Mocárabe is a design utilizing
series of complex prism shapes that
resembles stalactites (below). It is usually
made of plaster and wood, since using stone
and other materials are impractical, though
not uncommon.
Moorish - Style of architecture used in Spain
from the 13th to 16th century
Moors - Muslim of the mixed Berber and Arab
people inhabiting NW Africa; a member of this
group that invaded Spain in the 8th century
a.d. and occupied it until 1492.
Mudéjar: - A fusion of Christian
(Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance) and
Islamic art created in the 12th to 16th
centuries by the Muslims who remained in
Christian territory after the gradual Christian
reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain
and Portugal).
Mosque - A Muslim place of worship, usually
having one or more minarets and often
decorated with elaborate tracery and texts
from the Koran. Many mosques have
elaborate domes, minarets, and prayer halls.
Muezzin (moo EZ in) - The Muslim official of
a mosque who summons the faithful to prayer
from a minaret five times a day
Ottoman Empire 1299-1923 (It was
succeeded by the Republic of Turkey.)
Constantinople (Istanbul) was its capital
city.
Prayer hall - The prayer hall, also known as
the musallah, rarely has furniture; chairs and
pews are generally absent from the prayer
hall so as to allow as many worshipers as
possible to line the room.
Qaa - Reception room, Sumptuous
centerpiece of wealthy merchants' houses
Rooftop wind catchers - Channel cool
breezes into rooms below.
Stalactite - A deposit, usually of calcium
carbonate, shaped like an icicle, hanging
from the roof of a cave or the like, and formed
by the dripping of percolating calcareous
water.
Mocárabe - Honeycomb work, or stalactite ;
Arabic: "the overhang" ; An ornamental
design used in certain types of Islamic
architecture that spread throughout the
Islamic world in the 12th century. The design
consists of a complex array of vertical prisms
resembling stalactites.