Transcript the islamic world

THE ISLAMIC
WORLD
GARDINER CHAPTER 13-1
PP. 341-349
THE ISLAMIC WORLD BACKGROUND

Religion of Islam arose among the peoples
of the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century

ISLAM = Arabic word meaning “submission to
God”

Arabs were desert nomads and caravan
merchants -> on the margins of the
Byzantine and Persian empires

In a little over one century Islam and the
Arabs conquer the Middle East, Egypt,
Persia, N. Africa, and moved into Spain -> in
732 Charles Martell stops the Muslim
advance in France

Sophisticated culture is established w/Arab
scholars making great contributions in math,
astronomy, medicine, and the natural
sciences
EARLY ISLAMIC ART

Like Islam itself, Islamic art spread rapidly
eastward and westward from the lands of
the ancient Near East

In the Middle East and N. Africa Islamic
art replace Late Antique art

From the Iberian Peninsula Islamic art will
influence Western medieval art

South Asia will also be center of Islamic
art

in the early centuries of Islamic history the
political and cultural center of the Muslim
world is the Fertile Crescent
ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE – THE DOME
OF THE ROCK

Aerial view of the Dome of the Rock,
Jerusalem, 687-692

The first great Islamic is the Dome of the
Rock in Jerusalem

A domed octagon resembling San Vitale
in Ravenna -> double-shelled wooden
dome sixty feet across & seventy-five feet
high dominates the elevation as to
reduce the octagon to function merely
as its base

Tiling now replaces the original mosaic on
exterior ->vivid, colorful patterning that
wraps the walls like a textile is typical of
Islamic ornamentation.

The interior’s rich mosaic ornament has
been preserved and provides insight into
how the exterior was once decorated.

Sacred rock where Adam was buried, Abraham nearly
sacrificed Isaac, Temple of Jerusalem was located, and
Muhammad ascended to heaven
MUHAMMAD AND ISLAM

MUHAMMAD = founder of Islam

Born in the city of Mecca -> received revelations from
God/Allah in 610

Muhammad is forced to flee Mecca and escape to
Medina in 622 = “the Hijra”

Eight years later Muhammad conquers and converts
Mecca -> the symbolic center of the Islamic world is
Mecca -> the Kaaba/the cube

Essential meaning of Islam is acceptance and submission
to Allah’s will

THE KORAN = Islam’s sacred book

THE FIVE PILLARS OF WISDOM
1. faith in one God, Allah
2. pray 5 times a day facing Mecca
3. give alms to the poor
4. fast during the month of Ramadan
5. once in a lifetime make pilgrimage to Mecca
GREAT MOSQUE, DAMASCUS

Aerial view of the Great Mosque, Damascus, Syria, 706715

The UMMAYADS (r. 661-750) were the first Islamic dynasty
and ruled from their capital in Damascus

CALIPH = “successors” -> title of the Muslim rulers

Great Mosque owes much to Roman and Early Christian
architecture -> builders incorporate stone blocks,
columns and capitals from earlier structures

Pier arcades like Roman aqueducts frame the courtyard

Minarets -> two at southern corners and one at the
northern side

Grand prayer hall -> taller than the rest of structure ->
façade with pediment and arches -> façade faces
courtyard like a Roman forum temple

Figure 13-4 Detail
of a mosaic in the
courtyard arcade
of the Great
Mosque,
Damascus, Syria,
706–715.

Islamic mosaics
avoid any
zoomorphic forms =
no people or
animals
THE MOSQUE



Muslim religious architecture is
closely related to Muslim prayer,
an obligation laid down in the
Quran for all Muslims
Prayer as a private act requires
neither prescribed ceremony nor a
special locale. But prayer is also a
communal act and the mosque
developed with that in mind.
All mosques, wherever they are
built and whatever their plan, are
oriented/facing towards Mecca
and the faithful worship facing the
qibla wall thus facing Meccas

The QIBLA the direction (towards Mecca)
Muslims face while praying -- is important.

The IMAM, or leader of a collective worship,
stands on a stepped pulpit known as a MINBAR
near the qibla wall which faces Mecca

Another key feature is the MIHRAB , a
semicircular niche usually set into the qibla wall,
often with a dome over the bay in front of it.

In some mosques, the mihrab is preceded by a
screened area called the maqsura, an area
reserved for the ruler or his representative.

The MINARET where the muezzin sends the call
to prayer out to worshippers, is perhaps the most
recognizable feature of Islamic architecture.

The essential features of a mosque might be
modeled after the Prophet’s house in Medina
UMAYYAD PALACE, MSHATTA

Frieze of the Umayyad palace,
Mshatta, Jordan, ca. 740-750,
limestone, 16 ½ feet tall

Long stone frieze richly carved
w/geometric, plant and animal
motifs -> but, no animals appear
on the exterior wall of the palace’s
mosque

Figure 13-5 Plan of the
Umayyad palace,
Mshatta, Jordan, ca.
740–750

[Key: 1. Entrance gate; 2.
Mosque; 3. Small
courtyard; 4. Large
courtyard; 5. Audience
hall.]

The fortified palace at
Mshatta resembled
Diocletian’s palace at
Split and incorporated
the amenities of Roman
baths but also housed a
mosque in which the
caliph could worship five
times daily
BAGHDAD

In 750 ABBASIDS overthrew the
Umayyad caliphs -> capital is
moved from Damascus to
Baghdad

For nearly 3 centuries Baghdad is
the hub of Arab power and Islamic
culture
GREAT MOSQUE, KAIROUAN

Aerial view of the Great Mosque,
Kairouan, Tunisia, ca. 836-875
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Hypostyle mosque resembling the
plan of Muhammad’s house in
Medina
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Tall tower in front is a minaret

Two domes on hypostyle hall -> the
first is over the entrance bay -> the
second is over the bay the fronts the
mihrab set into the qibla wall

Plan of the Great
Mosque, Kairouan,
Tunisia, ca. 836–875.
One of the finest
hypostyle mosques,
still in use today. The
precinct takes the
form of a slightly
askew
parallelogram of
huge scale, some
450 feet by 260 feet.
MALWIYA MINARET, SAMARRA

Malwiya Minaret, Great Mosque,
Samarra, Iraq, 848-852

Minarets can take a variety of
forms -> unique spiral Malwiya
(snail shell) Minaret is 165 feet tall

Stepped spiral ramp

Suffered some damage in the
during the Iraqi insurgency in 2005
SAMANID MAUSOLEUM, BUKHARA

Mausoleum of the Samanids, Bukhara,
Uzbekistan, early 10th century

Samanid dynasty ruled the Eastern realms
of the Abbasid Empire -> mostly
independent but pledged loyalty to the
Caliph in Baghdad

Monumental tombs were virtually
unknown in the early Islamic period -> this
is one of the oldest and first examples

Constructed of baked bricks -> dome on
cube structure -> half round engaged
columns -> squinches support the dome
GREAT MOSQUE, CORDOBA

Prayer hall of the Great Mosque,
Cordoba, Spain, 8th to 10th
centuries

Unique system of double tiered
arches -> lower arches are
horseshoe shaped
 Interior of the Mosque ->
hypostyle prayer hall with some of
the 36 piers and 514 columns
 The Spanish Umayyad dynasty
lasted almost three centuries
became the center of a brilliant
culture rivaling that of the
Abbasids in Baghdad & exerted
major influence on the civilization
of the Christian West.
 The jewel of the capital at
Cordoba was the mosque which
was expanded in the late 900s &
became the largest in the Islamic
West.
 The mosaicists & the tessserae
were brought to Spain from
Constantinople by the caliph.
Exterior view
Mosque of Córdoba
Moorish Portal:
Arabesque above portal,
South side of the
Mezquita
The pointed arch and
multilobed arches are
characteristic of mosques.

Maqsura of the Great Mosque,
Cordoba, Spain, 961-965

MAQSURA = area of the mosque
reserved for the caliph -> at
Cordoba it connected to his
palace by a corridor in the qibla
wall

Highly decorative, multilobed
arches

Dome in front of the mihrab of the
Great Mosque, Cordoba, Spain,
961-965

Dome rests on an octagonal base
of arctuated squinches ->
crisscrossing ribs form an intricate
decorative pattern

Byzantine artists fashioned the
mosaic ornament
Dome in front of the
mihrab of the Great
Mosque, Córdoba, Spain,
961–965.