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The ongoing debate among practitioners and in academia about the meaning and understanding of Islamic architecture will be energized by this book. It contains essays by architects and academics from various parts of the world which clarify how the carious disciplines of the design profession can be employed to build in the spirit of Islam. Divided into three sections the book covers: * meaning from Faith, which draws meaning from the Islamic faith in order to propose a built environment that is universally beneficial * analysis of History, which examines historical buildings and planning concepts, and suggest how to apply lessons learned to contemporary practice * contemporary Trends, which discusses current trends in architecture, education and socio-economic aspects of various Muslim countries. Illustrated throughout, this book will appeal to students and scholars, practising architects and planners alike.

Winner of the American Publishers Association's Award for an outstanding Professional and Scholarly title and the Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion 1996 from the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain.In a dazzling display of erudition, Robert Hillenbrand surveys the major building-types of the Islamic World: religious architecture (the mosque, the minaret, the madrasa), the mausoleum 'between Heaven and Earth', and the caravansarai and the palace representing the secular side.All the building-types are discussed in art-historical terms, with the interplay of form and function taken as the underlying theme of the analysis. All are comprehensively illustrated with a full range of colour and black-and-white photographs, analytical drawings, thumbnail comparative assemblies and ground plans.This major reference work, covering from Spain to Afghanistan and c. 700 to c. 1700, is a source of fascination for all seeking to appreciate the rich heritage of the Islamic World. Recurrent themes and patterns take on a wider significance - a persistent reminder that the Islamic faith and the particular type of society which it engendered makes light of vast gulfs of time and space.Features:*24 colour plates*300 black-and-white photographs*1246 line drawings*Section of composite drawings and ground plansAvailable in Hardback (originally published in 1994) and a revised paperback edition published in 2000.This new paperback edition includes a previously unpublished index, designed to make the book more user-friendly.

What was ribāṭ in early Islamic Ifrīqiya and what was its primary function? The answer often differs depending on the sources that are used, and whether they focus on the building or the institution more generally. Rather than approaching the question through either of these aspects, this study will consider the expectations, reflected in textual sources, about the behavior of the murābiṭūn, or the men who inhabited them. Analyzing expectations about the character of the murābiṭūn and the activities carried out in the ribāṭ offers an insight into how the writer of the text viewed the institution, including its function and significance in early Islamic society. By comparing the expectations reflected in various texts, it is also possible to recognize different views of the ribāṭ building and institution and to relate these to the historical context or the perspective of the writer. The analysis in this study will focus on the ribāṭ in the Ifrīqiyan tradition but will relate some of the developments to the significance of the institution in the wider Islamic Empire and its intellectual tradition.

This beautifully illustrated volume looks at the spaces created by and for Jews in areas under the political or religious control of Muslims in regions such as Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and Spain.

What was ribāṭ in early Islamic Ifrīqiya and what was its primary function? The answer often differs depending on the sources that are used, and whether they focus on the building or the institution more generally. Rather than approaching the question through either of these aspects, this study will consider the expectations, reflected in textual sources, about the behavior of the murābiṭūn, or the men who inhabited them. Analyzing expectations about the character of the murābiṭūn and the activities carried out in the ribāṭ offers an insight into how the writer of the text viewed the institution, including its function and significance in early Islamic society. By comparing the expectations reflected in various texts, it is also possible to recognize different views of the ribāṭ building and institution and to relate these to the historical context or the perspective of the writer. The analysis in this study will focus on the ribāṭ in the Ifrīqiyan tradition but will relate some of the developments to the significance of the institution in the wider Islamic Empire and its intellectual tradition.

It is often argued that a very special sort of consciousness went into creating Islamic art, that Islamic art is very different from other forms of art, that Muslims are not allowed to portray human beings in their art, and that calligraphy is the supreme Islamic art form. Oliver Leaman challenges all of these ideas, and argues that they are misguided. Instead, he suggests that the criteria we should apply to Islamic art are identical to the criteria applicable to art in general, and that the attempt to put Islamic art into a special category is a result of orientalism. Leaman criticizes the influence of Sufism on Islamic aesthetics and contends that it is generally misleading regarding both the nature of Islam and artistic expression. He discusses issues arising in painting, calligraphy, architecture, gardens, literature, films, and music and pays close attention to the teachings of the Qur'an. In particular he asks what it would mean for the Qur'an to be a miraculous literary creation, and he analyzes two passages in the Qur'an-those of Yusuf and Zulaykha (Joseph and Zuleika) and King Sullayman (Solomon) and the Queen of Sheba. His arguments draw on examples from history, art, philosophy, theology, and the artefacts of the Islamic world, and raise a large number of difficulties in the accepted paradigms for analyzing Islamic art.

A glimpse of the history of Islamic art indicates that Sufism and mysticism have long been among the most important intellectual and spiritual currents influencing Persian art and architecture. Accordingly, re-reading the symbolic concepts as well as the mystical and spiritual semiotics and seeking their reflection in the body of architecture is an obligatory instruction that should be considered in the process of architectural design. In this research, the authors endeavor to investigate the semiology in the physical elements of Sheikh Lotf-Allah Mosque in Isfahan and its relationship with Rumi’s mysticism using inferential–analytical methods and based on library studies and empirical observations. This research found that the Sheikh Lotf-Allah Mosque was constructed according to the mystical opinions of Rumi in order to demonstrate the semantic values of different levels of the universe in its physical form, structure and configuration. According to the findings, the use of Rumi’s mysticism propagates a God-centered semantic spirit to the body of Persian architectural elements, which always reminds human beings of their true home, which is the heavenly world. According to Rumi, the nature of architecture is beyond the material, and it is God-centered contemplation that turns the architecture into magnificent buildings.

The maqṣūrah commissioned by Caliph al-Hakam II in the 10th-century Mosque of Córdoba epitomizes the blend of sacred grandeur and political symbolism in Islamic architecture. This structure enhances aesthetic experiences, allowing worshippers to connect with divinity during Friday prayers. A distinctive feature is its qibla wall, divided into three parts, with a central empty miḥrāb symbolizing sacred force. This spatial organization, reminiscent of Late Antique basilicas in the Iberian Peninsula and the Mediterranean, persisted in peninsular mosques even after the Christian conquest of al-Andalus. Mudejar Islamic communities replicated this design in smaller mosques, perhaps to preserve al-Andalus’s memory amidst growing repression. Following the 17th-century expulsion of the Moriscos, similar architectural elements appeared in Testour, Tunisia, built by Morisco exiles. These visual codes, shared among Hispanic Islamic communities, reflect the enduring memory of the exile.

During the first millennium of Christian presence in Ethiopia (from the fourth century), church architecture was first in accordance with, and later partially based on, the basilica plan. Circa the early sixteenth century, a new and unique church plan appeared, circular, concentric, and with a square sanctuary, and became the dominant church plan in the northwestern Ethiopian Highlands. This church plan has been referred to in scholarship as an innovation, and its sources of inspiration have not yet been definitively established. In this article, I will argue that this plan is a culmination of a process with roots in the Late Antique and Medieval Holy Land, by which the concentric prayer house plan came to be associated with the Jerusalem Temple. This process transcended religious boundaries and is expressed in the religious architecture of three monotheistic religious traditions.

Over the course of the Almoravid (1040–1147) and Almohad (1121–1269) dynasties, medieval Marrakesh evolved from an informal military encampment into a thriving metropolis that attempted to translate a local and distinctly rural past into a broad, imperial architectural vernacular. In Marrakesh and the Mountains , Abbey Stockstill convincingly demonstrates that the city’s surrounding landscape provided the principal mode of negotiation between these identities. The contours of medieval Marrakesh were shaped in the twelfth-century transition between the two empires of Berber origin. These dynasties constructed their imperial authority through markedly different approaches to urban space, reflecting their respective concerns in communicating complex identities that fluctuated between paradigmatically Islamic and distinctly local. Using interdisciplinary methodologies to reconstruct this urban environment, Stockstill broadens the analysis of Marrakesh’s medieval architecture to explore the interrelated interactions among the city’s monuments and its highly resonant landscape. Marrakesh and the Mountains integrates Marrakesh into the context of urbanism in the wider Islamic world and grants the Almoravid and Almohad dynasties agency over the creation and instantiation of their imperial capital. Lushly illustrated and erudite, Marrakesh and the Mountains is a vital history of this storied Moroccan city. This is a must-have book for scholars specializing in the Almoravid and Almohad eras and a vital volume for students of medieval urbanism, Islamic architecture, and Mediterranean and African studies.