islam history art & architecture

7/24/2019 Islam History Art & Architecture

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AntoniouBooks

ON LINE LIBRARY

(PDF)

,

PhD(Hon), FRCS, ,

, site

www.antonioubooks.blogspot.gr

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, . 2121/1993 (

. 100/1975).


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Contents

5

1. Islamic History..7

2. Historic Maps of the Islamic World41

3. Islamic Art and Aesthetics (essays).99

4. Islamic Painitng and Calligraphy..117

5. Persian Miniatures.131

6. Ottoman Miniatures..136

7. Mughal miniatures139

8.

Islamic Mettalic Art.. 144

9. Glass Art 151

10.Ivory Art..152

11.Islamic Pottery.. 153

12.Islamicn Calligraphy164

13.Islamic Frontispieces.183

14.Islamic Carpets. 185

15.

Islamic Aesthetics.

19116.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


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Islamic History

7

(external sources)

Muhammad and the First Four Caliphs, 570-661

The Prophet Muhammad was born in Mecca in around 570. The major caravan routes wentthrough the town, and the Kaaba made it the most important place of pilgrimage on theArabian Peninsula. This cube-shaped shrine held the images and statues of some of themany gods worshipped by the regions Arab tribes. This is where Muhammad began topreach Islam, the new religion with only one god.

At first, the Meccans opposed the spread of Islam, and in 622, Muhammad had to flee withhis 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 toIslam within a few years. Mecca was also taken, and the Kaaba was purged of its manyidols 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): AbuBakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali. All were related to the Prophet by marriage, but only hiscousin Ali was his blood relative. These four successors are also called the rightly guidedcaliphs, 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 feltthat only Alis descendants could be Muhammads legitimate heirs (the Shia Muslims).

The caliphs were both religious and political leaders, and the territory under Islamicdominance expanded with enormous speed under their rule. Within two decades, Syria andgrain-rich Egypt were conquered from the Byzantine Empire. In Iraq and Iran, the SasanianEmpire was overrun by the Arab armies, which exploited disputes over succession andinternal strife.

The conquered territories were divided into provinces, with an Arab governor and soldierswho 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 differentpeoples in the great new realm, Jews and Christians were for the most part allowed tokeep their religion and way of life. They were considered People of the Book, whoseholy 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 froma 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


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Islamic History

9

The Umayyad Caliphate, 661-749

When Ali, the fourth caliph and last Islamic religious and political leader with closepersonal ties to the prophet Muhammad, died in 661, the Arab governor in Syria seizedpower. Muawiya came from the Umayya clan in Mecca and founded the first hereditaryIslamic dynasty, the Umayyads.

The Umayyads continued the rapid conquest of new territories, and the caliphate reacheda size that has never been surpassed by a single Islamic realm. The Muslim armies invadedAfghanistan and penetrated into the Indus Valley in northern India and far into Central Asiato Chinas borders. In the west, they took all of North Africa, occupied the IberianPeninsula, and continued on expeditions deep into central France. They maintainedpressure on the Byzantine Empire, both on the Mediterranean Sea and on land. Islamicarmies invaded Anatolia and besieged Constantinople, but were later forced back toeastern Anatolia.

The center of the Umayyad Caliphate was Damascus, where the caliph resided. Thelanguage of the court, the civil service, and the religious class was Arabic, but the realmwas administered according to principles adopted from the Byzantine and Sasanianempires. Partly because of conflicts among the Arab tribes, the realm did, however, lackinternal 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 newIslamic culture also slowly began to take form. At the same time, the realms new subjectsadopted the Arabic language and Islam. A powerful symbol of the new empire was thedevelopment of a special Islamic coinage. Large-scale building projects, such as the Domeof the Rock in Jerusalem and the Great Mosque in Damascus, demonstrated the Umayyadsartistic and political ambitions. They were built on sites where the temples and churchesof other religions had stood before, and were embellished with extensive mosaicdecorations and monumental Koranic sayings. The Umayyads palaces and hunting lodges inSyria were also richly ornamented, both inside and out. Sculptures and murals with princesand 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 theyare closely related to Late Antique, Byzantine, and Sasanian art. Works of art are oftenembellished with figurative elements such as animals and plants, frequently found as partsof 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


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Islam, History, Art and Architecture

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Iraq under the Abbasids, 750-1055

Toward the middle of the 8th century, a revolt broke out against the Umayyads when therecently converted Muslims in the provinces became dissatisfied with their limitedopportunities in Islamic society. The Abbasids, who now seized power, were able to tracetheir lineage back to Muhammads uncle al-Abbas. This gave them far greater legitimacy asIslamic rulers than the Umayyads.

Under the Abbasids, the capital of the realm was moved from Syria to Iraq, first toBaghdad in 762 and then to Samarra in 836. The move eastward also meant growinginfluence from Iranian culture at the expense of the Mediterranean Byzantine culture. Thisperiod, considered a golden age, reached its culminations under the caliphs Harun al-Rashid (786-809) and al-Mamun (813-833). Literature, theology, philosophy, and thenatural sciences flourished, and the House of Wisdom (Bayt al-hikma), where Hellenisticworks from Antiquity were translated into Arabic, was founded in Baghdad. The caliphs hadenormous palaces and palace-cities built that were decorated with legendarymagnificence.

The caliphate was not expanded under the Abbasids, and in fact experienced increasingpressure from Byzantine forces in the eastern Mediterranean. In the 9th century, theempire also started to break up from within. A renegade Umayyad had founded anindependent realm on the Iberian Peninsula, and in North Africa, the Abbasids hegemonywas soon only a matter of form. There were similar developments in parts of Iran, wherelocal 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 945and took over the Abbasids Iraqi and Iranian holdings. The Buyids were originallymercenaries 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 SunniMuslims. The Buyids stayed in power for nearly a century, until they were defeated by theSeljuk Turks in 1055.

A distinctive Islamic form of decoration was developed under the Abbasids: the Samarrastyle, featuring geometric and vegetal patterns. Like the Arabic script, the Samarra stylewas to play an important role in artistic decoration in many contexts, from stucco andstone in buildings to woodcarvings, glass, metal, and ceramics, which also underwentimportant technical improvements. The new guidelines in art and architecture thatemerged from Baghdad and Samarra were copied throughout the Islamic world from theAtlantic coast to Central Asia.

Links:


http://www.davidmus.dk/en/collections/islamic/dynasties/abbasiderne


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Islamic History

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Al-Andalus, Muslim Spain, 756-1492

A single member of the Umayyad family, Abd al-Rahman, managed to escape the bloodyconflict that ensued after the Abbasids seized power. He fled to Spain, the Islamicempires westernmost province, which the Muslims called al-Andalus. This is where heestablished the Spanish Umayyad Emirate in 756, with its capital in Cordoba. The city soongrew into western Europes largest, with more than 500,000 inhabitants. It became acenter of Islamic culture, and its schools and libraries attracted Muslim, Christian, andJewish intellectuals. The Spanish Umayyads reached their political and culturalculmination in the 10th century, when Abd al-Rahman III (912-961) assumed the titles ofcaliph and Prince of the Believers to show that the realm wasautonomous in relation tothe 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-cityoutside 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 dissolvedinto many little states, called the Taifa kingdoms, which fought one another and also cameunder increasing pressure from the minor Christian kingdoms that had survived in northernSpain. An appeal for help from abroad led to the North African Almoravids and later theAlmohads seizing power. At the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212, the Almohads weredecisively defeated by the combined forces of the kingdoms of Aragon and Castile. TheIberian 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 obligedto pay tribute to the Christian kingdom of Castile and Leon. Many expelled Muslims soughtrefuge with the Nasrids, whose capital of Granada, in particular, developed into the lastflourishing stronghold of Islamic culture in Spain, financed among other things by silkmanufacture. A unique complex of palaces, watercourses, and gardens was created in thesultans palace-city, the Alhambra, which was surrendered intact when the sultanate fellin 1492.

Muslim culture survived on the Iberian Peninsula through Muslim craftsmen, whoseproduction of inlaid woodwork, polychrome tiles, and luster-decorated ceramics remainedin demand among the Christian ruling elite.

Links:


http://www.davidmus.dk/en/collections/islamic/dynasties/spain


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Islamic History

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Eastern Iran, Afghanistan and Northern India, 10th-12thcentury-The Ghaznavids andGhurids

The eastern part of the Samanid Empire was ruled by governors, who like most of the armywere slaves captured among the Central Asian Turkic peoples. Under Sebktigin, a processto sever ties began that was completed by his son Mahmud (998-1030). The city of Ghaznabecame 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 theOxus River in the north. Mahmuds military operations were also directed to the east andsouth, and he carried out a total of 17 campaigns into northern and central India. Theywere 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 backrich 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 Empirereached its greatest size under Mahmud. Soon it came under pressure from new Turkicdynasties, such as the Seljuks and the Ghurids.

The mountainous region of Ghur in Afghanistan was inhabited by a Turkic people that hadbeen used as slaves in Muslim armies for years. Under the Ghaznavids, however, theGhurids became Muslims and vassals, but soon gained their independence and grew into anew and expanding power. They captured and plundered Ghazna in 1150 and drove the lastGhaznavids into Punjab, where the dynasty was annihilated in 1186. Their leader was theGhurid Muizz al-Din Muhammad, who continued the Ghaznavid jihadtradition and

penetrated farther into India, where he took Delhi in 1193. He ruled the realm inpartnership with his brother Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad, whose army in the west invadedKhorasan, 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, partlybecause of pressure from the Mongols.

Although these Turkic dynasties, the Ghaznavids and the Ghurids, took Persian culture astheir ideal in many respects, the effect of Indian culture was also felt in art. This can beseen both in details that were adopted directly from Indian art and in a penchant forfigurative, fairly true-to-life depictions.

Links:


http://www.davidmus.dk/en/collections/islamic/dynasties/ghaznavids-and-ghurids


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Islamic History

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Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan and Southern Russia, c. 1250-1400- The Mongol Empire, Il-Khanids and the Golden Horde

The Mongols were a nomad people, and their colossal conquests started under GenghisKhan (c. 1167-1227), who invaded China in 1213, marking the beginning of the Mongol Yuandynasty. The Mongol cavalry then moved westward and by 1223 had already conqueredCentral Asia, Afghanistan, and northern Iran. A few years later, Genghis Khans grandsonHleg Khan penetrated even farther west into Iraq, where Baghdad was destroyed and thelast Abbasid caliph, al-Mustasim, was murdered in 1258. The seemingly invincible Mongolsadvance was only stopped when they met the Mamluks in the battle of Ayn Jalut, inPalestine, in 1260. Hleg now ruled over the part of the Mongol empire that was centeredon western Iran and extended across Iraq, into Anatolia, and up to the Aral Sea. He tookthe 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 underthe Il-Khanids. As a whole, the new rulers largely adopted their subjects culturaltraditions. The Il-Khanids, who converted to Islam beginning in 1295, had their newly builtpalaces, mosques, and sepulchral monuments covered with tiles that were more colorfulthan those favored by the Seljuks. Gold and silver were used lavishly for weaving intotextiles 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. Thearea 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-liveddynasties underwent violent internal and external power struggles, but many of theirprinces also became important patrons of the arts and culture.

The area east of the Il-Khanid realm was ruled by the Mongolian Chagatay dynasty, whileother Mongol cavalries had already invaded Russia and Siberia, and penetrated far into theBalkans under Genghis Khan. These conquered territories were stabilized into a singlekhanate, or empire, under the clan that became known as the Golden Horde. The Mongolssoon relinquished their nomad existence and founded large cities, such as their capital ofSaray on the Volga River. The leaders of the Golden Horde were Muslims from 1313, whiletheir 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 formand choice of motif to the Mongols eastern origins.

Links:


http://www.davidmus.dk/en/collections/islamic/dynasties/il-khanids


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Islamic History

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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 localTurkic ruling family in northwestern Anatolia whose ancestor was named Osman (Othman/Uthman). Invoking jihad(holy war), the Ottomans expanded their holdings intoByzantine Anatolia and soon also occupied large parts of the Balkans. Only the Byzantinecapital of Constantinople held out until Mehmed II the Conqueror took the city in 1453 andput an end to the Byzantine Empire. Constantinople became the capital of the OttomanEmpire under the name of Istanbul. Conquests continued at the beginning of the 16thcentury, when Iraq was soon taken, along with Mamluk Syria and Egypt and theMediterranean ports in North Africa. The Ottomans now dominated most of theMediterranean 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 peakcoincided more or less with the long rule of Suleyman the Magnificent (1520-1566). TheOttoman 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 afinal attempt at expansion in Central Europe failed in 1683, when the Ottomans wererebuffed before Vienna and then abandoned Hungary. The lack of booty from new,conquered lands combined with weak state government increasingly drained the empiresfinances throughout the 17th and 18th century. Although the Ottoman Empire remainedvery 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, withpower concentrated in the sultans capital of Istanbul. Most of the administrations leadingofficials 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 patternsfor tiles, woodwork, metalwork, and textiles used for the courts many construction anddecoration 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 theprovinces that were commissioned from Istanbul. From having a close kinship with Timuridart, Ottoman art soon developed a number of new and unique forms of decoration, withboth more abstract patterns and naturalistic decorations based on local flora.

Links:


http://www.davidmus.dk/en/collections/islamic/dynasties/ottomans


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Islamic History

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Mughal India, 1526-1707

The Indian Mughals take their name from the Mongols, since the family traced its ancestryback 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, heturned his army to the southeast and invaded India, where he conquered the DelhiSultanate in 1526. During his grandson Akbars long reign (1556-1605), the Mughalsestablished themselves as the Indian subcontinents dominant power. The realm wasexpanded 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 withthe Ottoman Empire, Iran, and Europe.

Under Akbar, the Mughal Empire was given a strong central administration, followingtraditional Islamic models. The ruling elite consisted of Turks, Afghans, Persians, andIndian Hindus. Akbar was a great statesman and commander, and he was open to thedifferent cultures found in his realm. In the newly built capital of Fatehpur Sikri, nearAgra, 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. AlthoughAkbar himself could not read, he founded a large workshop to produce books andminiatures. Its artists were Persians, Indian Hindus, and Indian Muslims, and their differentbackgrounds were reflected in their output. The missionaries European art proved animportant source of inspiration, since naturalism and perspective fit in well with the localpictorial 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 severalcenturies. He also established a tradition in the field of art that lived on under his sonJahangir (1605-1627) and grandson Shah Jahan (1628-1657). Both were great art-lovers andthe latter was an active builder, who commissioned the Taj Mahal as a mausoleum for hiswife. The Mughal Empires period of greatness ended with Aurangzeb, who came to powerin 1658. In his later years, he was gripped by religious orthodoxy and devoted himself tobuilding mosques, while pictorial art suffered. The Mughal Empire reached its greatestgeographical extent under Aurangzeb. He vanquished the last Shia Muslim sultanates in theDeccan 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


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Islamic History

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The Prophet Muhammad

The Prophet Muhammad is considered by Muslims to be the last in a long succession ofprophets that also includes Moses and Jesus. In contrast to Christianitys description ofJesus, however, there is no direct link between God and Muhammad. Neither the ProphetMuhammad 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 ofMecca on the Arabian Peninsula. From various statements in the Koran we can concludethat Muhammad was orphaned at an early age and grew up among relatives, including hisuncle Abu Talib. We can also surmise from the Koran that as a young man, he worked as acaravan merchant for a widow named Khadija, whom he married at some point andbecame the father of four daughters and two sons. The boys both died in infancy, and thelast 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 theKoran. According to his own account, Muhammad had received these revelations from Godthrough the Archangel Gabriel in the mountains near Mecca. In the beginning, a fewadopted Muhammads new teachings and became Muslims, but as a whole, his preaching asa prophet did not make a major impact in the city of his birth.

When he was confronted with growing opposition from Meccas leading families, whofeared that the new doctrine of the one and omnipotent God could develop into a threatagainst the citys status as a multi-religious place of pilgrimage, Muhammad decided in 622to 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 eightyears and many battles, the Muslim forces were able to take the city in 630. This markedthe 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.


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Islamic History

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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 Muslimsociety as a whole when confronted by new challenges to follow the rules for livingthat the Prophet himself practiced. Sunni imams consult the traditions (_hadith) thathave been written down on the words and deeds of Muhammad when they need to findsolutions to problems that are not expressly described in the Koran.

While Sunni Islam emphasizes the importance of Muhammads customs, Shia Islamemphasizes the special authority of the Prophets relatives (ahl al-bayt). Male descendantsof 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 therightful succession led to Shiism being divided into many branches, each with its line oflegitimate 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 thedisagreements about the rightful successor (khalifa) for the position of supreme leader ofthe 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 theMuslim community later called the Sunni Muslims insisted on succession in keeping withold 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 faithfuladherents, and not only among his blood relatives. The fourth caliph elected, Ali, who infact was a blood relative, ruled for five years.

When Ali died in 661, what proved to be a long and bloody struggle began between Shiaand Sunni Muslims over who was to rule the Islamic world. While the fortunes of warchanged from time to time, only a minority of the Islamic worlds many dynastic stateshave 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 onlycountry in the world where Shiism is the state religion.


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Islamic History

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The Religious Prohibition Against Images

A conspicuous feature of art in the Islamic world is the limited use of naturalistic images ofliving 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 hasalways been interpreted in very different ways.

The Koran provides no specific guidelines for the use of images. The hadiththe traditionsof the words and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad do, in contrast, express a clearantipathy towards figurative depictions. Some hadithsmake it absolutely clear that aperson who tries to emulate Gods creative force will be hard pressed on the Day ofJudgment.

He who creates pictures in this world will be ordered to breathe life into them on the Dayof 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 Muhammadhimself demonstrated when he purified the Kaaba of sculptures and idols, it was animportant aspect of the new doctrine that no one should be induced to worship an objector an image instead of God.

The removal of idolatrous images did not, however, put an end to all interest in figurativeart. The magnificent buildings and desert palaces of the Umayyad caliphs were decoratedin the style of Christian Late Antiquity, which abounded in images. Later Muslim rulers indifferent periods and in both east and west surrounded themselves with monumentalpaintings, figurative stone reliefs, sculptures, and miniature paintings. But wherefigurative decorations were used, rarely were they the dominant form of expression andnever were they used in religious contexts.

The non-figurative character of religious decoration has remained a fundamental principlethroughout the history of Islam. At no point have images found their way into the interiorsof mosques; as far as we know, no Muslim artist has endeavored to depict God; the Koranhas never been illustrated; and depictions of the Prophet Muhammad are rare. With thereform of coinage carried out by the caliph Abd al-Malik in 696, even the portraits of rulerswere removed from Islamic coins and replaced by calligraphic decoration.

The result of restraint in the use of figurative depictions in time led Muslim artists, morethan those in other cultures, to concentrate on abstract forms of expression. In traditionalIslamic art, vegetal ornamentation, geometric patterns, and a fascination with script calligraphy reached unprecedented heights.


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Historic Maps of Islamic World

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Susa Kingdom in 13 ce. B.C.

http://www.google.gr/imgres?start=258&hl=el&client=firefox-a&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-m8N-PQ0QX_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


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Sassanian Persian Empire at 500 AD.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Asia_500ad.jpg


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The Spread of Islam 622-750. Caliphate of Muhammad (622-632), first 4 Rightly GuidedCaliphs (632-661) and Umayyad Caliphs (661-750). Byzantine Empire and Franks`, plusItalian Lombard kingdoms in Europe.

http://www.google.gr/imgres?hl=el&client=firefox-a&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/visual.php&docid=QOjFUyokcx_dgM&imgurl=http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/medieval/images/islam.jpg&w=512&h=428&ei=cjX1T5HyKsKi8QPO5dG-Bw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=573&vpy=311&dur=3084&hovh=205&hovw=246&tx=136&ty=126&sig=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 (661-750), Byzantine Empire and Franks` plus Italian Lombard kingdoms in Europe.

http://www.google.gr/imgres?hl=el&client=firefox-a&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:el:official&channel=np&biw=1230&bih=853&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=xw82_MrvFuMs_M:&imgrefurl=http://studyabroad.blogs.bucknell.edu/2011/03/28/cordoba-and-its-proud-historical-legacy/&docid=3jlBm6uuRshzxM&imgurl=http://www.wall-maps.com/Classroom/Atlas/worldSpreadOfIslam750.gif&w=900&h=693&ei=cjX1T5HyKsKi8QPO5dG-Bw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=677&vpy=403&dur=5646&hovh=197&hovw=256&tx=135&ty=125&sig=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 UmayyadCaliphs (661-750), Byzantine Empire and Franks` plus Italian Lombard kingdoms in Europe.

http://www.google.gr/imgres?hl=el&client=firefox-a&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:el:official&channel=np&biw=1230&bih=853&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&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=cjX1T5HyKsKi8QPO5dG-Bw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=108&vpy=333&dur=10261&hovh=161&hovw=314&tx=189&ty=94&sig=109826678027353175186&page=1&tbnh=107&tbnw=209&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0,i:85


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GREAT and ANATOLIA SELJUKS AND THE KHWARAZM-SHAHS

Seljuks:Turkish nomadic tribes originated in Central Asia and spread west from the 8thce. 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 (1038-1063),crossed Khorasan towards west to Afghanistan, where the cities of Merv in 1037, Heart andNishapur 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), becamethe King of Kings of Northern Afghanistan (with royal seats in Balkh and Merv) and his olderbrother Tughril Beg (1038-1063) established himself in Nishapur, from where he expanded towardswest, first defeated the Ghaznavidsin 1040 and then occupied western Persia, including Rayy(1042), Khwarazmia(1042), provinces bordering the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan and Khuzistan (1052-54). 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 GreatSeljuk State (Empire). In 1071 in Mantzikert,Armenia, Alp Arslan defeated Byzantine EmperorRomanos IV Diogenesand settled in Nicaea, Anatolia (Asia Minor). Next, Alp Arslan, crossed OxusRiver in the east. He was assassinated in 1072. His son, Malik Sah (1072-92), established a culturalgolden era for Seljuks and the Empire reached its zenith. He conquered Damascus from the Fatimidsin 1076, Konya in 1077 and became ruler of Syria and Palestine in 1078. During his reign the SeljukEmpire extended from the borders of China in the East (including Transoxiana), all the way toAnatolia in the West (including Syria and Diyarbacit) and the whole of Arabia in the south (includingthe island of Bahrain and Yemen). After Malik`s death, the Empire entered in a decline path, underpower 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 ofKhwarazmian Empire, inside Seljuk Empire territory (Shah Qutb al-DinMuhammad. Capital Khiva). The Empire included mainly, the current Persia, Uzbekistan and westAfghanistan states.1117: End of the Seljuk rule in Syria1118-1157:Sultanate of Seljuk Sanjar1157:Disintigration of the Seljuk Empire,after the death of Sanjar. Battles against Byzantines,Khwarazmians Turksand Crusades who, under Friederick Barbarossa of Germany, conquered Konyain 1190.1194:Khwarazmians Tukrs ended the rule of Seljuks in Persia, destroyed Samarqand in 1212 andfinally 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`shands.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.


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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). Shaybaniddynasty (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 Companyfrom 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).


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The Deccan sultanateswere 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_Schwartzberg_Atlas.jpg/349px-Deccan_sultanates_from_Schwartzberg_Atlas.jpg


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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, rullingBabur).

http://www.google.gr/imgres?hl=el&client=firefox-a&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:el:official&channel=np&biw=1230&bih=853&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=UvYTskalyo3MbM:&imgrefurl=http://euroheritage.net/pecsgallery.shtml&docid=TGnE2ViuOKjptM&imgurl=https://reader009.{domain}/reader009/html5/0321/5ab27f33d8371/5ab27f45bd6b41T5HyKsKi8QPO5dG-Bw&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


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JERUSALEM: Contemporary period: British Mandate:Today, the status of Jerusalem remains oneof the core issues in the IsraeliPalestinian conflict. In 1917after the Battle of Jerusalem,during

the WWI, between the British and Ottoman armies, the British Army, led by General EdmundAllenby, captured the Jerusalem, and in 1922,the League of Nations at the Conference of Lausanneentrusted the United Kingdomto administer the Mandate for Palestine, the neighbouring mandateof Transjordan to the east across the River Jordan, and the Iraq Mandate beyond it. From 1922 to1948 the total population of the city rose from 52,000 to 165,000 with two thirds of Jews and one-third 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 arecircled, 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


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Plato`s Politea and Oriental Despotism

In his dialogue Politia Plato dreams of a State (politea) been governed by an Idea, whichtakes various names (is realized by) such as King, wise man, philosopher, denyingthus entirely the ordinary no-wise people of any political power and authority. Platoargues for a political leader bearing divine features, identifying thus the political leaderwith 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 eternalincarnation circle, echoing thus the similar widespread ontologic doctrine in the East, fromInduism 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 asAnaxagoras, Parmenides, Heraclitos, were the first Monist Realist, who believed in theunity 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 contradictorydialectic, 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, Pyrhagorasand Plato were the first Dualist Realist who introduced the exclusion duality between themental-living and the nature. The mental for Pythagora was the number for Plato theIdea. The Dualism dominated the Western philosophical though up to our days, greatlydeveloped by great thinkers such as Aristotele, Descartes, Hegel. On contrary, in the Eastthe 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 deeplyinfluenced first the Garden-City conception of Howard in late 19th ce, and the ModernWestern Architecture of the 20th ce, in the hands of great architects such as the GermanW. 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 Westernthought!Here, unity of mind and nature should be conceived as stressing the importance of naturein the development of human (mental) nature.


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ASSIGNMENT 2: Types to Mosques

Introduction: There are two main types of mosques: i) Those in which their functionalitydetermines their architectural form. Functionality here should be undestood as theprovision of faccilities and possibilites for the satisfaction of the religious esoteric andexoteric needs and attitudes of the faithfull, but not only (see below). Such a determiningfactor, is the avalaibility of enough space in the domain of the mosque. Such mosques arethe Couryard mosques, ii) Those in which their Form determines their meaning andfunction. These are the Mosques-Symbols, such as the Sanctuaries and Shrines of Islam,which expicitly communicate a Divine message (meaning) through their Symbolic, orSemiotic Form. Such mosques are the Haram in Mecca and the Dome of the Rock inJerousalem, Similarly, such mosques-symbols are also those which communicate theirmeaning 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 canlastly distinguish a type of mosque which combines features of the above two types, suchas the Ottoman type, which, along with the veneration to God, aims also to symbilize theauthoritative power, dominance, richness and piousness of its Sultan founder. Such mosqueis 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 wallaround it, with enormous round towers at each corner of the latter and semi-circulartower-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 Mihraband storehouses for provisions and weapons. They are buitl for prepartaion fot the hollywar (jihad) and as a defence against the Crusades, as meeting places of the warriors (al-marabitum), as places of refuge and treasure strorage. They are really militantmosques. 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 hollyplaces for the main Friday pray of a large number of followers, but also as places in whichthe Islamic community exercises and develop its social-political and even economic (suchas tax-collections) relations among its members and generally as places of strengthening

the Islamic social and religious brotherhood bonds and consciousness. We can distinguishtwo types of courtyard mosques: i) the Christian Basilika-like Ummayad featuring a threeaisle prayer hall (haram), and ii) the mutli-aisle prayer hall of the hypostyle typemosques, mainly of the Abbasid rule, Fatimid reigh in Northern Africa and the Ummayaddynasty in Islamic Spain.Examplesof the basilika-like type are the Great Mosques of Damascus (707-714) and GreatMosque 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 byambulatories around its three sides. On its 4thside there is the prayer hall consisting ofthree aisles running parallel to the Mecca oriented qibla wall with the Michrab Nicheinside it. The aisles are bordered by two columns with ancient Corinthians capitals

suppotting round arches parallel to the qibla wall. The entablature formed above theconvexes of the arches, supports shorter arched colonades wich in turn support the above


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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 frontof the qibla wall and Mihrab, instituting thus the T shape of the mosque. At the crossingpoin of the transept with the aisle in front of the Mihrab enclosure, a prominent dome istowered giving prominence to the side of the magsura. The ambulatory around the threesides of the cortyard (cloister) consists of a single aisle with two stories of archways. In thesoutn side of the the courtyard there exists a pavillon-like ritual fountain and on the northside a small ocatgonal domed treasury annex on eight classical colonades.

The hypostyle typeof mosque features a preyer hall consisting of many aisles, runningparallel 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 thcourtyard. Examplesof the type i) are the Great Mosques of al Mutawakki at Samara (848-852), of Kairouan (Aglabids-9thce), 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 typeii) the G.M. of Sousse (850), the mosques of Damghan, Nayin (9thce), Aby Dal af in Samara(with timber roof) and the Ukhaldir palace Mosque (8thce), Great Mosque of Cordoba, 785-988 (Umayyads), G.M. of Tlemcen in Algeria (Mahreb), 1082 (Almoravids), G.M. ofMarakech (Kutubiya), 1158, Morocco (Almohads), Friday Mosque of Gulbarga, Deccan(1365-70).

Ottoman style: Agias Sophia, Istanbul, 532-537, built by Ictions and Isidoros, rulingEmperor Justine I and the Suleymaniye Mosque 1550-1557, bilt by Sinan, rulling Suleymanthe Magnificent (1520-1566). This consistis of cross-in-a rectangle ground plan, featuring acompact 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 hugepointed masonry arches. The apexes of the arches and the bases of the triangularsprandels formed between the adjacent arches, form the supporing bases upon which theenormous 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 semi-domes, 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 tripartiteniches, of which the two side ones are domed with pseudo-domes, while the easterncentral niche of the tripartite complex contains the Mirhab. All the pre-mentionedauxillary 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 isan immitation of its predecessors Byzantine Cathedral of Agias Sophia, Istanbul, 532-537,by Ictions and Isidoros.


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arranged around a hollowed courtyard and opened off the latter through large portalfacades 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 thestandard transitional zone mode, which, in elevation plan, consists of the transformationof the base square dome chamber into an octagon, which in turn supports a 16-sided zonethat supports the hemispheric base (drum) of the dome (see Veramin Mosque, Ilkanidperiod in Iran1322-1326, south of Tehran). The other 3 iwan halls are barrel-vaulted in thestandard mode. The 4-iwan halls are inter-comminicating by mutlistoried vaulted niches-cells, quarters, rooms and halls, all open off to open, arcaded on collumns, two storiedgalerries, around the inner-coryard. The 4-iwan commplex layout allocate its 3 lessprominnet iwans as madrassas (legal scholls), the 4thas a prayer hall and a Michrab in itand the niched cells between them as student residence and libraries. Similarly it cancomprise 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 Mamlukera in Egypt, the 4-iwan laytout was originally reuced to a 2-iwan style, or the 3 side iwan-halls of the 4-iwan style, are spatially reuced to swallow niches. Eventually a roof is placedover the couryard, rendering the 4-iwan cortyard layout to a closed cubic-like builidng verysimilar to other secular builidngs, functioning as a madrassa with a Mihrab in it. The latterclosed 4-iwan laytout was also adjoined by a mausloleum,constituting thus a mutli-functional complex of builidngs, which could also include a 2-iwan mosque. Themausoleum 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. Themausloleums had religious character, featured by their qibla wall with Mihrab and theirspacious 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 theclosed 4-iwan complexes are adjoined to the mausoleum as a salient closed projectionfrom its qibla wall. As such, in thse mausoleum complexes, is the mausoleum the structurewith the most prominent significance, not the mosque per ce (if it exists). The mausoleumscan thus be classified as Symbolic Religious Complexes, communicating the political orreligious 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 qiblaiwan)(1611-1630), rec. by Shah Abas (1587-1629), which replaced the old Seltzuk FridayMosque of 1121/22, Friday Mosque of Heart (1200, Ghurids), Madrass complex al Fridaus inAllepo (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, butcoutyad 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 ofEmir Hairback in Cairo (1502, Mamluk), Kwasau Pasha`s Mosque complex in Cairo (1537-1546, 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 (14-15thce. Tombs of Timur and hisdescendants), Mir-I Arab Mausoleum Complex in Bukhara (1535-6, Timurids), PakhlaMahmud (poet) Mausoleum in Khiva (14-20thce, Timurids), Akbar`s Mausoleum (withgarden), Sikandra(1612-1614), Mughal India, Ibrahim Rauza Mausoleum Comlex (with

garden) (1626), Bijanpur, Deccan, Mughal India, Taj Mahal Masoleum (with garden andpool), (1632-1643), Agra, Mughal India.


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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 (6thcentury B.C.) the God is mathematics and numbers: All things aremade of numbers. Plato, by analogy, introduced in his ontology the Ideas (Forms),abstract entities which constitute the unesperienced and unconceived logically, RealWorld, 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. Platoconsideres as God the Idea of all Ideas which he identified with the Idea of theTruth, which further is identified with the Idea of Beaty and Morality (). The Ideasare self-determined and as such do not correspond to anything else in the physical worldand thus they are meaningless,since they are the source of the meaning of everything inthe world. Ideas (such as the greatest of all, i.e. the Idea of God) are not eitherperceptible by experience, or even by logical concpetion. We can approach them vaguelyonly through instict andmystical, ecstatic union, such as when we have been fallen inlove (eros), meaning here the erotic hapiness rather than the erotic passion. Plato,following Pythagora, identified finally the Idea of God and Beuaty, with that ofMathematics and Geometry. But now Platonicn Geometry should be conceived not in theusual figurative manner- but as been expressed in terms of Cartesian Analytical Geometry,that is, geometry which is expressed in terms of abstarct trigonometric algebra. ThusPlatonicn Geometry is not geometric figures, but instead abstract algebraic relations.

Thus Platonic Geometry loses any element of the common physical realism. Geometry isthe essence of God and any attemtp to immiate and represent it with any pepceptiblephyscial figure is unacceptable and constitutes an offense to God himself. The sameapplies 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 ofthe Soul, of Divine Substance and origin. Hence Plato`s low appreciation for representativarts, considering them a copy of a copy, or a third removal from the truth. And forthese reasons, Plato favored only music amongst the arts, as being a type of purelyabstract art. Plato`s Ideas were continued by Plotinus (200-269 A.D.), been Born inAlexandria of Egypt, and spread all over the early Arab world. Hence the considerableinfluence of Plato`s ideas on Islamic philosophy, mysticism (Sufism) and Aesthetic.

Accordingly, in the Arabic intellectual domain, philosophy was reformulated to theologicalsensibilities, 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 ideas-argus that the Beautifull Body is not only this which express perfect Geometric qualities,such as harmony, proportinality, symmetria, but this which behaves and acts Morallyintact. That body carries a morally perfect soul (of Divine substance), which is theabstract form of the material body. In the end: A moral soul constructs (inhabits) abeautifull body (in Geometric terms), which as such behaves morally perfectly. But stillthe 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.


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The psychoanalysis of (an)Iconism

An essential requirement for the images (painting, or sculpture) to be classified as real artworks, is the attitude of their art-creator, during their creation, to be overwhelmed bythe pseudo-illusion that he is a real creator of life who is breathing life into his/hers workof art. From this view then, the images, as real art-works, are living existences. This isan archetype instinct and belief of all artists in the whole history of art. And it isimpressive that this attitude has passed on to the non-artist humans as well. Hence themagic and influencial power the images are exercising on humans in ritual and religiousfestives and actions, up to nowadays, in primeval or civilized societies. We all know themyth of Narcissus who fell in love with its river image and was drawn in his attempt to kissit. We also know that Pygmalion fall in love with his female sculpture, which, with the aidof 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, isimpressively exhibited in the following passages:

1) Lucian Freud (a British painter of German origin, born in 1922 and one of the greatestexpressionistic artist of 20-21st ce, the grandson of Sigmund Freud), wrote: A moment ofcomplete happiness never occurs in the creation of a work of art. The promise of it is feltin 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 almostdared 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 allthings. If the painter wished to see beauties to fall in love with, it is in his power to bringthem forth and if he wants to see monstrous things that frighten or are foolish orlaughable, 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 andliveliness, which we find in objects seen in the mirror.but it is impossible for a paintingto 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 ofcompletion 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 flyingmachine as a live flying bird.

But it is that artist`s pseudo-illusion of been a creator of living images, which constituteshis rivalry with Religion of all monotheistic dogmas (including to some extent even theeastern Orthodox Christians, who ban sculptures from churches as been too real!). It hasbeen argued that the Old Testament`s ban on graven images is connected non only witha fear of idolatry, but with the more universal fear of encroaching on the Creator`sprerogatives.


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Islamic Painting and Calligraphy

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The assignment1 that follows has been written by, and is entirely the work of,

Two Lovers, 1630Riza Abbasi,(c. 15651635).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Twolovers.jpg

Riza Abbasi,Riza yi-Abbasior Reza-e Abbasi, (c. 15651635) was the leading Persian miniaturist ofthe 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 hissingle miniatures for muraqqaor albums, especially single figures of beautiful youths.


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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 Perso-

Islamic 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 pre-

Islamic 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


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Safavids, 16thce.


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132

Saki, album miniature, 1609, by Reza Abbasi (c. 15651635).

An illuminated manuscriptis a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition ofdecoration, such as decorated initials, borders (marginalia) and miniature illustrations. In the moststrict definition of the term, an illuminated manuscript only refers to manuscripts decorated withgold or silver.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Saki_-_Reza_Abbasi_-_Moraqqa%E2%80%99-e_Golshan_1609_Golestan_Palace.jpg


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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


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Mughal Miniatures

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1561-The Submission of the rebel brothers Ali Quli and Bahadur Khan-Akbarnama.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1561-The_Submission_of_the_rebel_brothers_Ali_Quli_and_Bahadur_Khan-Akbarnama.jpg


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Mughal Miniatures

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Nur JahanBegum 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 Mahalwas made.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nurjahan.jpg


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Islamic Metallic Art

149

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

Ewer, Iran, 12thce.Bronze casted ewer with repouse foliage medallion in the neck and engraved body.Decorative casted mythical creature in the neck.

Crystal Fatimid Ewer, Louvre.


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Islamic History, Art and Architecture

150

If by eternity is understood not endless (inside time) temporal duration, but timelessness (outsidetime), 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. 6.4311ii) The solution of the riddle of life (in conjunction with the problem of the temporal immortali tyof 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 figurativesculpture to survive.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Pisa-Opera_del_Duomo-Grifone_islamico000.jpg/576px-Pisa-Opera_del_Duomo-Grifone_islamico000.jpg


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Islamic Pottery

155

The Book of Human`s Philosophy in the Formof a humble Ceramic clay earthenware-II

This is white tin-glazed earthenware with one short and yet not-deciphered under-glazedKuffic script in blue, belonging to the white and blue era commencing in the 9thce, inIraq. 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 andunobserved Divine Form (Platonic Idea), which (ontologically) exists as a mind-independent substance, timeless, eternal and spaceless.And I also conceive and see the Kuffic script inblueas a symbol of the finite human

wisdom and mind. Form and meaning, divine and physical coexist in absolute harmony inthis earthenware. The Essence and absoluteness of the World condensed in one simplehumble piece of clay! The book of human being`s philosophy in the form of a humble pieceof earth. Indeed it is calling us into a philosophical dialogue with it, rising question assuch: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 anearthly physical referred counterpart?. Does this Divine`s physical reference requires theintervention of the logic of the mind or not?. First the non-speculative metaphysicalPhilosophers, such as Plato and Heidegger, would say that the Divine (Form-Idea) is truthself-determined. On contrary, the speculative philosophers would agree that a truth self-


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Islamic Pottery

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The monumentalstyle,characterised by centrally arranged bold motifs reserved in whiteon a solid lustre background.

The miniaturestyle,characterised by designs that are painted in lustre on the whitebackground, while the designs are also smaller and sometimes organised in natural settingsor divided registers.

The Kashan style,characterised by a lustre background with scratched motifs and figuresdrawn in reserve and filled with lustre motifs.

Inv. no. 50/1966: Fritware dish painted in lustre overan opaque, white tin-glaze;outside glazed blue. Iran, Kashan; end of twelfth century. Height: c. 11 cm; diameter: 47.5cm. Inv. no. 50/1966. It is of the monumental style, in which the unpainted in reservewhith motif emerged on a brown luster background after firing.


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Islamic Pottery

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1) Fritware bowl in minai style with in and under glaze polychrome figural painting inhaftrag palette.


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Thuluthscript is characterized by curved letters written with barbed heads. The lettersare linked and sometimes intersecting, thus engendering a cursive flow of ample and oftencomplex proportions. Thuluth is known for its elaborate graphics and remarkableplasticity. It is still the most important of all the ornamental scripts.

Deewani script is an Ottoman development parallel to Shikasteh (broken style). The scriptwas largely developed by the accomplished calligrapher Ibrahim Munif in the late 15thcentury 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 andunconventionally joined together. It uses no vowel marks. Deewani also developed anornamental variety called Deewani Jali which also was known as Humayuni (Imperial). Thedevelopment of Deewani Jali is credited to Hafiz Uthman. The spaces between the lettersare spangled with decorative devices which do not necessarily have any orthographicvalue. 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 Thuluthbut are smaller with more curves. Riq'a is rounded and densely structured with shorthorizontal stems, and the letter alif is never written with barbed heads. Riq'a was one ofthe favourite scripts of Ottoman calligraphers and underwent many improvements at thehand of Shaykh Hamdullah al-Amasi. Later, Riq'a was revised by other calligraphers andwent on to become the most popular and widely used script. Today, Riq'a is the preferredscript for handwriting throughout the Arab world.

Farsi.Ta'liq (hanging) script is believed to have been developed by the Persians from anearly and little known Arabic script called Firamuz. Ta'liq, also called Farsi, is anunpretentious cursive script apparently in use since the early 9th century.

The calligrapher Abd al-Hayy, from the town of Astarabad, seems to have played animportant role in the scripts early development. He was encouraged by his patron, ShahIsma'il, to lay down the basic rules for the writing of Ta'liq. The script is currently in greatfavour with Arabs, and it is the native calligraphic style among the Persian, Indian, andTurkish Muslims.

The Persian calligrapher Mir Ali Sultan al-Tabrizi developed from Ta'liq a lighter and moreelegant variety which came to be known as Nasta'liq.However, Persian and Turkishcalligraphers continued to use Ta'liq as a monumental script for important occasions.


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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.


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Page of a 12th century Qur'an written in the Andalusi script.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c4/AndalusQuran.JPG/514px-AndalusQuran.JPG


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Islamic Carpets

187

17th century Ottoman velvet cushion cover, with stylized carnation motifs. Floral motifswere common in Ottoman art.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ottoman_cover.jpg


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Islamic Aesthetics

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in Islam;doctrines that affirmed a divine unity, such as those of Plato and Aristotlewere, naturally, more favourably received.

The Neoplatoniststhemselves traced their roots back to the semi-legendary Pythagoras(6thcentury B.C.)and the school that developed his ideas. The Pythagoreans were thefirst to believe that the structure of the universe was to be found inmathematicsAllthings are made of numbers- and it can be fairly said that they laid the foundations ofboth 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 mysticalproperties to both numbers and geometrical figures. For the Pythagoreans, numbers andproportions 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 devotionor prayer.

Platowas greatly influenced by these theories and adopted their belief that number andform were the keys to a deeper understanding of the universe. He was also sympathetic totheir perception of the gross material world as a place of corruption and illusion. Platosphilosophical ideas are extensive and not easily summarised, but one consistent theme wasthat of a supersensible realm of Forms, of which the world of ordinary experience wasan 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 Platonicview the world of Forms or Ideas is separate and superior to our world of ordinaryexperience and free of its illusions.

This proposition, the existence of a place, beyond our immediate sense-experience, oftimeless perfection, colours the whole range of Platos thought. He had a very low regardfor the art of representation, seeing this as a copy of a copy, or a third removal fromthe truth. For Plato the truly beautiful could not be conveyed by any work ofrepresentation or imagination;at best these could only ever beconditionallybeautiful.True beauty had to express at least some of the eternal quality of his Forms, theterms of which he seems only to have foundin geometry.

Philosophy in Islam

The Neoplatonists,who conveyed Platos philosophical ideas to the Islamic world, had infact elaborated his philosophical system into a complex cosmology of their own. Thismovement originated in Alexandria in the 3rdcentury A.D. (long after the decline ofClassical Athens). It was eclectic and was influenced by Pythagoras, Aristotle and theStoics as well as Plato. In its later development it absorbed Jewish and Christianprecepts. The main aim of its founder, Plotinus (200-269 A.D.),was to connect with thesupreme unity, the source of all existence and all knowledge, through mystical, ecstaticunion. In this system, the lower, material levels of existence are a sort of overflow of thedivine fullness. These, and later Neoplatonic speculations, exerted a considerableinfluence on Islamic philosophy, and on Islamic mysticism (Sufism).

In time, as they became more discriminating, Muslim scholars were able to separate outthe older Classical philosophies from later accretions, and to make their own


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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, wereoriginally adopted as the identifiable style of a renascent, Sunni orthodoxy.

Classical philosophy,always treated with suspicion by the narrowly religious, could notthrive in the spiritual and political turmoil that characterised the Islamic world from the12th/6thcentury on. But pure Geometrycould never be considered as heretical, and theinterplay of Platonic figures on the Euclidean plane, clearly did not violate anyinjunction in the Holy Quran or the Hadith.But the connection with the Classical past wasnever entirely forgotten. In a revealing passage in the Introduction to his History of theWorld, 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, carpentryneeds a good deal of geometry of all kinds. It requireseither a general or specialised knowledge of proportion and measurement in order to bringforms from potentiality into actuality in the proper manner, and for the knowledge ofproportions one must have recourse to the geometrician. Therefore the leading Greekgeometricians 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 ofthe 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 anIslamic context. It would also be a mistake to assume that all Muslims are in agreement onthe use of art in religious observance, the proper place of art in society, or the relationbetween secular art and the demands placed on the secular world to conform to religiousprecepts. Islamic art frequently adopts secular elements and elements that are frownedupon, if not forbidden, by some Islamic theologians.

According to Islam, human works of art are inherently flawed compared to the work ofGod; thus, it is believed by many that to attempt to depict in a realistic form any animalor person is insolence to God. This tendency has had the effect of narrowing the field ofartistic possibility to such forms of art as Arabesque, mosaic, Islamic calligraphy, andIslamic architecture, as well as more generally any form of abstraction that can claim thestatus 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 thedecorative function of art, or its religious functions via non-representational forms such asGeometric patterns, floral patterns, and arabesques.


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Great Mosques, Shrines, Madrasas, Mausoleums

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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/640px-Kaaba_mirror_edit_jj.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_famous_mosques


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Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, built in 691.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e7/110409_042.jpg/640px-110409_042.jpg


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Great Mosque of Damascus,built in 715.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Umayyad_Mosque%2C_Damascus.jpg/640px-Umayyad_Mosque%2C_Damascus.jpg

Great Mosque of Damascus,built in 715.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Umayyad_Mosquee_panoramic.jpg/640px-Umayyad_Mosquee_panoramic.jpg


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Great Mosque of Damascus,built in 715.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/640px-StJohnInUmmayad.jpg


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Shrine of Ali ar-Ridha, the 8th Twelver Shia Imam, built in end of 9thce., in Mashhad, Iran.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/RezaShrine.jpg/640px-RezaShrine.jpg


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Mosque of Uqba (Kairouan), Tunisia, built from 670 by Abbasids and Aghlabids (9thcentury). 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


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(800-909, conquered by Fatimids)

The Ribbat of Monastir, Tunisia, founded in 796, under Aghlabids (800-909, conquered byFatimids).

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/TUNISIE_MONASTIR_RIBAT_02.jpg/681px-TUNISIE_MONASTIR_RIBAT_02.jpg


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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 fromJamkaran well at the appointed time.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f0/Jamkaran_Mosque-3855.jpg/640px-Jamkaran_Mosque-3855.jpg


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The Kharghn twin towers, in Iran,is the burial of Seljuk princes.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/Kharaghan.jpg/610px-Kharaghan.jpg


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Great Mosque (Cathedral) of Cordoba, Spain, built from 750 (Umayyads). Now a cathedralknown as the Mezquita.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/15/Mosque_Cordoba.jpg/640px-Mosque_Cordoba.jpg


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Great Mosques, Shrines, Madrasas, Mauso

islam history art & architecture

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