Islamic architecture

Islamic architecture is the set of architectural styles used for buildings linked to Islamic civilization. It includes both secular (non-religious) and religious styles. These styles have been used from the early history of Islam up to today. The Islamic world covers a very large area, from Western Africa and Europe to Eastern Asia. Islamic architectural styles share some common features across these regions. Over time, though, each region developed its own style. Local materials, techniques, rulers, and art centers all shaped these styles, and so did different religious affiliations.

Early Islamic architecture was influenced by Roman, Byzantine, Iranian, and Mesopotamian architecture. It was also influenced by other lands that the early Muslim conquests reached in the seventh and eighth centuries. Later, it developed its own special features. These can be seen in the shapes of buildings and in the decoration of surfaces. Decorations include Islamic calligraphy, arabesques, and geometric motifs. New architectural elements were also invented, such as minarets, muqarnas, and multifoil arches.

Common and important types of Islamic buildings include mosques, madrasas, tombs, palaces, hammams (public baths), and Sufi hospices. Sufi hospices include khanqahs and zawiyas. Other examples are fountains and sabils, commercial buildings like caravanserais and bazaars, and military fortifications.

Early history (up to 10th century)

The Islamic era began when Muhammad led the formation of Islam in early 7th-century Arabia. In 622, Muhammad built the first mosque in Medina, after his Hijrah (migration) from Mecca. It was a simple courtyard building made of unbaked brick. Over the next years it grew into a large hypostyle hall with columns. Its prayer direction, the qibla, first faced Jerusalem and was changed to face Mecca in 624. As the Arab-Muslim conquests spread, new cities such as Fustat and Kufa were founded. Their central congregational mosques were built in the same column style. Early mosques had no minaret.

Umayyad era

Main article: Umayyad architecture

The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750) mixed ideas from Byzantine architecture and Sasanian architecture. It became known for rich decoration, including mosaics. The Umayyads were the first to add the mihrab, a niche in the qibla wall, to mosque design. Two major Umayyad buildings were the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and the Great Mosque of Damascus.

Abbasid era

Main article: Abbasid architecture

The Abbasid Caliphate (750–1513) was strongly influenced by Sasanian architecture. Its political center moved east to Baghdad. The Abbasids also built the city of Samarra in the 9th century. The Great Mosque of Samarra was one of their famous mosques. The first true minarets are believed to have appeared in this period.

Early regional styles

Further information: Aghlabid architecture and Fatimid architecture

In al-Andalus, the Great Mosque of Córdoba was built in 785–786. It is the earliest major monument of Moorish architecture in the Iberian Peninsula. In Egypt, the Ibn Tulun Mosque was completed in 879. It remains one of the best-preserved examples of 9th-century architecture from the Abbasid Caliphate. In 970, the Fatimid Caliphate founded Cairo, where the al-Azhar Mosque was built at the same time as the city.

Characteristics

Main articles: Islamic garden, Islamic ornament, Muqarnas, Qibla, Mihrab, minaret

See also: Qubba, Early medieval domes, High medieval domes, and Late medieval domes

See also: Persian domes

See also: South Asian domes

Islamic buildings often have courtyards, both in homes and in mosques. A home usually has a central private courtyard or walled garden. A mosque courtyard, called a ṣaḥn, is open to the sky. It is surrounded by halls and rooms. People use it for washing before prayer and for resting or meeting. Mosques also have hypostyle halls. These are open halls held up by columns. Builders found many ways to cover spaces with vaulting, and domes became an important feature. Large domes appear in famous buildings such as the Taj Mahal and the Hagia Sophia. Later, the Ottoman architecture builders also used the Hagia Sophia as a model. The Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan designed some of the most important domed mosques.

Gardens and water have long been important in Islamic culture. They are often compared to the garden of Paradise. Buildings are decorated with geometric patterns and floral designs, such as the arabesque. They also use calligraphic writing. Religious buildings have a rule against showing living figures, so their decorations are mostly non-figural. Decorations called muqarnas look like small, layered niches. Balconies and lattice screens, such as the mashrabiya and the jali, let people see outside while staying private. They also help keep buildings cool. The mihrab is a niche that shows the direction of prayer. The minaret is a tower where the call to prayer, the adhān, is made. Mosques are built so that one side faces toward Mecca, the qibla.

Towns and cities

Early Muslim rulers founded military settlements in newly conquered lands, called a misr (plural amṣār). At first these were simple collections of tents, perhaps a little like Roman legionary camps. They were often built outside existing cities without walls. Many grew into busy government and trade centers, such as Kufa, Basra, Fustat, and Kairouan. More often, the new rulers took over existing towns and changed them to suit Islamic life, adding mosques and other Islamic buildings. In Damascus and Aleppo, for example, the cities had come from Roman-Byzantine times and changed slowly. Jerash shows how the Umayyads changed a city's layout.

Some early cities were planned using older ideas. Two main roads, the cardo and decumanus, crossed at the center. A few cities built during the Umayyad Caliphate followed the ideal city idea of ancient Rome. One such city was dug up at Anjar in Lebanon. The early Arab leaders came from city life in places like Ta'if and Yemen. Islamic towns also differ from European towns, which grew out of efforts to win town privileges during the Middle Ages. An Islamic town keeps daily life and religious life together. Palaces, homes, madrasas, hospitals, and mosques sit side by side. Streets lead to cul-de-sac lanes and private areas. Houses often face an inner atrium behind plain walls, unlike the decorated façades of European buildings. This reflects the nomadic tradition of family groups held together by asabiyyah, or family loyalty. Access to different areas depends on how private they are, which makes this style quite different from the oriental town idea.

Influences

Early Islamic architecture was shaped by two old traditions. In the Greco-Roman tradition, the Byzantine Empire lands of southwestern Anatolia, Syria, Egypt, and the Maghreb were taken over by new Islamic rulers. These lands supplied architects, stonemasons, mosaic makers, and other craftsmen. They had learned Byzantine style, which grew out of Hellenistic and ancient Roman architecture.

In the Eastern tradition, Mesopotamia and Persia kept their own building traditions. These came from Sasanian architecture and earlier styles, though they also borrowed some Hellenistic and Roman ideas. The mix of these influences can be seen in the Bilad al-Sham (Levant region). There, older Christian building traditions blended with the pre-Islamic heritage of the Arab conquerors.

Architecture in Arabia before Islam had only a small influence on early Islamic architecture. This was especially true compared with the traditions of the lands that were conquered. An older idea said that the Arabs were herders who moved from place to place and had no strong building traditions. Scholars now think this idea is out of date, because a rich building tradition existed before Islam. The main building contribution made in Arabia during the early Islamic period was a special kind of mosque for Muslims. The hall-style mosque built by Muhammad in Medina became a model for mosques across the Islamic world. The Umayyad Mosque in Damascus copied this model on a very large scale. Some scholars also suggest that the Umayyads kept an older Arabian custom of building tall palaces to show the ruler's power.

Regional styles (after the 10th century)

Main article: Iranian architecture

See also: Architecture of Central Asia and Architecture of Azerbaijan

See also: Ayyubid dynasty § Architecture

Main article: Anatolian Seljuk architecture

Main article: Mamluk architecture

Main article: Ottoman architecture

Main article: Moorish architecture

Main article: Architecture of Yemen

Main articles: Indo-Islamic architecture and Mughal architecture

Main article: Mosque architecture in Indonesia

Main article: Chinese Islamic architecture

Main article: Tatar mosque

Main article: Sudano-Sahelian architecture

Further information: Swahili architecture and Somali architecture

From the 10th century on, the eastern Islamic world, including Iran and Central Asia, often shared a common architectural style. Builders often used brick, along with arcades, colourful tiles on the outside of buildings, domes, and a decorative feature called muqarnas. Under the Seljuk Turks, the Jameh Mosque of Isfahan was expanded and changed. Later, the Timurids and the Safavid dynasty built grand domes. In Isfahan, the domes were covered in blue tiles. In Syria and Mesopotamia, rulers such as the Zengids and the Ayyubid dynasty built madrasas, hospitals, and castles. In Anatolia, the Seljuks often built with stone. The Mamluks ruled Egypt and built many monuments in Cairo. The Ottoman Empire mixed Turkish traditions with other influences. Mimar Sinan designed famous mosques, such as the Süleymaniye Mosque.

In the far west, the Moorish style developed in al-Andalus and North Africa. It used horseshoe arches and courtyard gardens. One example is the Alhambra in Granada. In Yemen, buildings combined older and Islamic features, and tower-houses were common. In India, the Mughal architecture style produced the Taj Mahal, completed in 1648. In the Malay and Indonesian regions, existing building forms were adapted for mosques. In China, mosques blended local styles. The Volga Tatars built mosques with gabled roofs. In West Africa, mud and stone were the main building materials. In East Africa, mosques and palaces were built with materials such as coral stone.

In modern times

Islamic buildings have changed in modern times, including buildings that are not religious. New designs often do not keep the same basic features as older ones. Mosques still usually have a miḥrāb (مِـحْـرَاب), minarets, a four-iwan plan, and a pishtaq. Some new mosques have no domes, although most older mosques had them. These newer mosques often focus on how they work more than how they look. In most cases, people who are not Muslim build them. Islam still shapes how these buildings are designed, and modern Islamic architects often include ideas from other cultures, such as European styles.

Architects have also started mixing modern city design with Islamic styles. This has created a new style called 'neo-Islamic'. Examples include the Marrakesh Menara Airport, the Mazar-e-Quaid, and other buildings that show Islamic influence together with modern ideas such as minimalism. Some people argue about whether Islamic architecture can really be called a style. Others feel that moving away from older traditions is causing it to lose its identity. Some scholars say that a building is known as a mosque mainly by what happens inside it, not by how it looks. Modern Muslim architects include Fazlur Khan, Abdel-Wahed El-Wakil, Vedat Dalokay, Kamran Afshar Naderi, Abdulhusein M. Thariani, Muzharul Islam, Nabih Youssef, Bashirul Haq, Zaha Hadid, Nayyar Ali Dada, Habib Fida Ali, and Hassan Fathy.

Connections and deeper meanings

Islamic architecture is often overlooked when people study buildings around the world. It can be hard for historians to find hidden meanings in mosques. Few old writings explain why builders made certain choices. Mosques also look very different from place to place. Some writers have suggested mystical or mathematical meanings, but these ideas may only fit some buildings.

Unlike Christianity, Islamic art usually does not show living beings, because this is seen as going against the Qur'an. Instead, it uses complex geometric shapes and patterns. Calligraphy, or decorative writing, is often found in mosques and often shares verses from the Qur'an and teachings of Muhammad. The layout of a mosque can also show rank. The areas near the entrance are the least important, and the deeper areas are more important. Special places for royalty might be placed where everyone can see them, at the center of the artwork, or behind a maqsurah, even though all Muslims are equal in Islamic belief. The mihrab is a wall niche that shows the direction of prayer. It guides worshippers toward the qibla.