Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Great Mosque, 706-715. Damascus, Syria. (Photo: G. Lewis via Smarthistory) Built under the Umayyad dynasty, this Islamic house of worship was designed to accommodate the large crowds of the growing faith.
Origins and the life of Muhammad the Prophet
Islam, Judaism and Christianity are three of the world’s great monotheistic faiths. They share many of the same holy sites, such as Jerusalem, and prophets, such as Abraham. Collectively, scholars refer to these three religions as the Abrahamic faiths, since Abraham and his family played vital roles in the formation of these religions.
Islam was founded by Muhammad (c. 570-632 CE), a merchant from the city of Mecca, now in modern-day Saudi Arabia. Mecca was a well-established trading city. The Kaaba (in Mecca) is the focus of pilgrimage for Muslims.
The Qur’an, the holy book of Islam, provides very little detail about Muhammad’s life; however, the hadiths, or sayings of the Prophet, which were largely compiled in the centuries following Muhammad’s death, provide a larger narrative for the events in his life. Muhammad was born in 570 CE in Mecca, and his early life was unremarkable. He married a wealthy widow named Khadija. Around 610 CE, Muhammad had his first religious experience, where he was instructed to recite by the Angel Gabriel. After a period of introspection and self-doubt, Muhammad accepted his role as God’s prophet and began to preach word of the one God, or Allah in Arabic. His first convert was his wife.
Muhammad’s divine recitations form the Qur’an; unlike the Bible or Hindu epics, it is organized into verses, known as ayat. During one of his many visions, in 621 CE, Muhammad was taken on the famous Night Journey by the Angel Gabriel, traveling from Mecca to the farthest mosque in Jerusalem, from where he ascended into heaven. The site of his ascension is believed to be the stone around which the Dome of the Rock was built. Eventually in 622, Muhammad and his followers fled Mecca for the city of Yathrib, which is known as Medina today, where his community was welcomed. This event is known as the hijra, or emigration. 622, the year of the hijra (A.H.), marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar, which is still in use today.
Between 625-630 CE, there were a series of battles fought between the Meccans and Muhammad and the new Muslim community. Eventually, Muhammad was victorious and reentered Mecca in 630.
One of Muhammad’s first actions was to purge the Kaaba of all of its idols (before this, the Kaaba was a major site of pilgrimage for the polytheistic religious traditions of the Arabian Peninsula and contained numerous idols of pagan gods). The Kaaba is believed to have been built by Abraham (or Ibrahim as he is known in Arabic) and his son, Ishmael. The Arabs claim descent from Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar. The Kaaba then became the most important center for pilgrimage in Islam.
In 632, Muhammad died in Medina. Muslims believe that he was the final in a line of prophets, which included Moses, Abraham, and Jesus.
After Muhammad’s death
The century following Muhammad’s death was dominated by military conquest and expansion. Muhammad was succeeded by the four “rightly-guided” Caliphs (khalifa or successor in Arabic): Abu Bakr (632-34 CE), Umar (634-44 CE), Uthman (644-56 CE), and Ali (656-661 CE). The Qur’an is believed to have been codified during Uthman’s reign. The final caliph, Ali, was married to Fatima, Muhammad’s daughter and was murdered in 661. The death of Ali is a very important event; his followers, who believed that he should have succeeded Muhammad directly, became known as the Shi’a, meaning the followers of Ali. Today, the Shi’ite community is composed of several different branches, and there are large Shi’a populations in Iran, Iraq, and Bahrain. The Sunnis, who do not hold that Ali should have directly succeeded Muhammad, compose the largest branch of Islam; their adherents can be found across North Africa, the Middle East, as well as in Asia and Europe.
During the seventh and early eighth centuries, the Arab armies conquered large swaths of territory in the Middle East, North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, and Central Asia, despite on-going civil wars in Arabia and the Middle East. Eventually, the Umayyad Dynasty emerged as the rulers, with Abd al-Malik completing the Dome of the Rock, one of the earliest surviving Islamic monuments, in 691/2 CE. The Umayyads reigned until 749/50 CE, when they were overthrown, and the Abbasid Dynasty assumed the Caliphate and ruled large sections of the Islamic world. However, with the Abbasid Revolution, no one ruler would ever again control all of the Islamic lands.
The Qur’an
by Dr. Mustafa Shah (excerpted)
When was the Qur’an written down?
According to Muslim literary sources, when the Prophet passed away in 632 the Qur’an did not formally exist as a fixed text but was “written down on palm-leaf stalks, scattered parchments, shoulder blades, limestone and memorised in the hearts of men.” During the rule of one of Muhammad’s later successors, the caliph Uthman (r. 644–656), a standardised copy of the Qur’an was compiled and distributed to the main centres of the Islamic Empire. Although the caliph’s original codices have not survived, his introduction of a fixed text is recognised as one of his enduring achievements. One of the oldest copies of the Qur’an, which is dated to the 8th century, is held in the British Library; it includes over two-thirds of the complete text (Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\)).
Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): The Ma’il Qur’an, 700-799. Ink on vellum. British Library, London. (Photo: British Library, public domain)
Due to the fact that written Arabic was not fully developed, the earliest Qur’an manuscripts were transcribed in what is termed a scriptio defectiva. The script lacked a system for the annotation of long and short vowels, and diacritics were used only occasionally to identify individual letters. In later manuscripts scholars developed notations to represent short vowels in the form of carefully placed red dots. These were eventually replaced by small vowel markings in the shape of diminutive characters and strokes (Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\)).
Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\): An early Kufic Qur’an, c. 850. Manuscript. British Library, London (Photo: British Library, public domain)
Despite these improvements to help readers, the oral transmission of the Qur’an retained its primacy. The fact that formal daily prayers, in which the recitation of the Qur’an is central, are performed in Arabic underlines the devotional value of the recitation of the text; even the word Qur’an is actually derived from the Arabic verb “to recite.” The requisite practice of committing the whole text to memory has an extended history, and still forms an integral part of the curriculum followed in seminaries throughout the Islamic world. The preservation and study of the Qur’an led to the flourishing of literary traditions of learning, including grammar, philology and even poetry, as scholars used insights from such scholarship to interpret the Qur’an....
Themes and contents of the Qur’an
The Qur’an comprises 6,236 verses (ayahs) which are divided into 114 chapters or surahs, each of which takes its name from a prominent event, theme or topic relevant to the chapter. Hence, the first chapter of the Qur’an is referred to as “The Opening” (al-Fatihah) (Figure \(\PageIndex{4}\), Figure \(\PageIndex{5}\)), while chapter twenty-six, “The Poets” (al-Shuʿaraʾ), derives its name from a reference to the conduct of ancient poets with which the chapter concludes.
Figure \(\PageIndex{4}\): Qur’an manuscript from Aceh showing Surat al-Fatihah, early 19th century. Ink on paper. British Library, London. (Photo: British Library, public domain)
Each chapter (with the exception of chapter nine) is preceded by an introductory formula, ‘In the Name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful’, referred to as the basmalah.
Figure \(\PageIndex{5}\): Muhammad ibn al-Wahid [calligrapher], Abu Bakr, known as Sandal [master illuminator], Sultan Baybars’ Qur’an showing the whole of ‘the Opening’ (al-Fatihah), 1304. British Library, London. (Photo: British Library, public domain)
The traditional view is that the Qur’an’s contents were revealed piecemeal. Revelation identified with the early Meccan years focussed primarily on the accentuation of God’s unity and transcendence, a theme encapsulated in the following chapter:
Say God is One; He is Eternal;
He was not begotten nor does he beget;
and he has no peer or equal (Q. 112.1–4)
The language of the Meccan verses is composed in a form of eloquent prose which is concise and rhythmic, employing an intricate range of figurative expressions and rhetorical devices. In terms of content, theological and ethical themes are intertwined. Early Qur’anic revelation includes declarations about the omnipotence and omniscience of God, the resurrection of the dead, the impending Day of Judgement and rewards and punishment in the hereafter. The theme of personal morality and piety is also promoted, while polytheism and idolatry are condemned. Also connected with revelation of this period are the so-called “disjointed letters” of the Qur’an. This designation is due to the fact that twenty-nine of the Qur’an’s chapters open with either a single letter of the Arabic alphabet or a combination of these letters, which are recognized as individual verses; indeed, a number of chapters are actually named after these letters. The chapter shown in Figure \(\PageIndex{6}\) begins with the letters T.S.M. (Ṭā Sīn Mīm). The precise meaning of these individual letters remains a mystery as the commentary tradition that developed around the study of the Qur’an seemingly offers no decisive clues as to their actual import.
Figure \(\PageIndex{6}\): Spanish Qur’an from the 13th century. British Library, London. (Photo: British Library, public domain)
The imposition of a detailed system of ritual practices and laws occurs in the post-Hijrah period. Set times for prayer, fasting, the giving of alms, and the performance of pilgrimage were made obligatory by the Qur’an at Medina. A range of legal measures was introduced, including rules for inheritance and dietary guidelines, the proscription of usury, laws on marriage and divorce and a penal code. Religious polemics with Jews and Christians are also a feature of Qur’anic revelation of this later period.
What does the Qur’an say about Christianity and Judaism?
In the Qur’an, Muhammad is designated as being the final prophet sent to mankind and is hailed as being one of a distinguished line of divinely appointed messengers who were sent to proclaim the message of God’s unity. It states:
Indeed, those who believe, the Jews, the Christians, and the
Sabians – all those who acknowledge God and the Last Day and
perform good works – will be granted their rewards with their Lord.
Fear shall not affect them, nor shall they grieve (Q. 2.62)
Confirming the shared spiritual heritage with Judaism and Christianity, the tribulations and triumphs of biblical personalities are also portrayed in the narratives of the Qur’an. Teachings on Jesus emphasize his human nature, although the Qur’an upholds the notion of his immaculate conception and the miracles he performed. However, it rejects the claim that Jesus was the Son of God and also the concept of the divine Trinity; the Qur’an also denies the Crucifixion. Jesus is lauded as a prophet to the Children of Israel, and his mother Mary is held in great esteem, even having a chapter of the Qur’an named after her. It is significant to note that in deference to the sacred status of their revealed scripture, the Qur’an describes Jews and Christians as being “the People of the Book.”
Figure \(\PageIndex{7}\): Murad [scribe], Qur’an manuscript from Daghistan, 1778. Manuscript. British Library, London. (Photo: British Library, public domain) From the museum: "The Islamic manuscript culture of the Daghistani cultural region, centred on the republic of Dagestan in Russia, is hardly known. The most immediately striking feature of Daghistani manuscript illumination is the bright palette of red, yellow, green, purple and brown, which contrasts strongly with the predominantly blue and gold colours of the Ottoman and Indo-Persianate manuscript traditions to the south. A greater understanding and awareness of Daghistani manuscripts can help to illustrate the tremendous variety encountered in book cultures across the Islamic world."
This essay originally appeared in Discovering Sacred Texts at the British Library (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Arts of the Islamic world
by Dr. Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis
Figure \(\PageIndex{8}\): Taj Mahal, Agra, India. (Photo: David Castor, public domain)
What is Islamic Art?
The Dome of the Rock, the Taj Mahal (Figure \(\PageIndex{8}\)), a Mina’i ware bowl, a silk carpet, a Qur‘an; all of these are examples of Islamic Art. But what is Islamic Art?
Islamic Art is a modern concept, created by art historians in the nineteenth century to categorize and study the material first produced under the Islamic peoples that emerged from Arabia in the seventh century.
Today Islamic Art describes all of the arts that were produced in the lands where Islam was the dominant religion or the religion of those who ruled. Unlike the terms Christian, Jewish, and Buddhist art, which refer only to religious art of these faiths, Islamic art is not used merely to describe religious art or architecture, but applies to all art forms produced in the Islamic World.
Thus, Islamic Art refers not only to works created by Muslim artists, artisans, and architects or for Muslim patrons. It encompasses the works created by Muslim artists for a patron of any faith, including Christians, Jews, or Hindus, and the works created by Jews, Christians, and others, living in Islamic lands, for patrons, Muslim and otherwise.
One of the most famous monuments of Islamic Art is the Taj Mahal, a royal mausoleum, located in Agra, India. Hinduism is majority religion in India; however, because Muslim rulers, most famously the Mughals, dominated large areas of modern-day India for centuries, India has a vast range of Islamic art and architecture. The Great Mosque of Xian, China (Figure \(\PageIndex{9}\)), is one of the oldest and best preserved mosques in China. First constructed in 742 CE, the mosque’s current form dates to the fifteenth century CE and follows the plan and architecture of a contemporary Buddhist temple. In fact, much Islamic art and architecture was—and still is—created through a synthesis of local traditions and more global ideas.
Figure \(\PageIndex{9}\): View of the Great Mosque of Xi’an, China. (Photo: chensiyuan, CC BY-SA 4.0)
Islamic Art is not a monolithic style or movement; it spans 1,300 years of history and has incredible geographic diversity—Islamic empires and dynasties controlled territory from Spain to western China at various points in history. However, few if any of these various countries or Muslim empires would have referred to their art as Islamic. An artisan in Damascus thought of his work as Syrian or Damascene—not as Islamic.
As a result of thinking about the problems of calling such art Islamic, certain scholars and major museums, like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, have decided to omit the term Islamic when they renamed their new galleries of Islamic art. Instead, they are called “Galleries for the Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and Later South Asia,” thereby stressing the regional styles and individual cultures. Thus, when using the phrase, Islamic Art, one should know that it is a useful, but artificial, concept.
In some ways, Islamic Art is a bit like referring to the Italian Renaissance. During the Renaissance, there was no unified Italy; it was a land of independent city-states. No one would have thought of one’s self as an Italian, or of the art they produced as Italian, rather one conceived of one’s self as a Roman, a Florentine, or a Venetian. Each city developed a highly local, remarkable style. At the same time, there are certain underlying themes or similarities that unify the art and architecture of these cities and allow scholars to speak of an Italian Renaissance.
Themes
Similarly, there are themes and types of objects that link the arts of the Islamic World together. Calligraphy is a very important art form in the Islamic World. The Qur’an, written in elegant scripts, represents Allah’s (or God’s) divine word, which Muhammad received directly from Allah during his visions. Quranic verses, executed in calligraphy, are found on many different forms of art and architecture. Likewise, poetry can be found on everything from ceramic bowls to the walls of houses. Calligraphy’s omnipresence underscores the value that is placed on language, specifically Arabic.
Geometric and vegetative motifs are very popular throughout the lands where Islam was once or still is a major religion and cultural force, appearing in the private palaces of buildings such as the Alhambra (in Spain) as well as in the detailed metal work of Safavid Iran. Likewise, certain building types appear throughout the Muslim world: mosques with their minarets (Figure \(\PageIndex{10}\) and Figure \(\PageIndex{11}\)), mausolea, gardens, and madrasas (religious schools) are all common. However, their forms vary greatly.
Figure \(\PageIndex{10}\): View of the minarets of the Blue Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo via Smarthistory)
One of the most common misconceptions about the art of the Islamic World is that it is aniconic; that is, the art does not contain representations of humans or animals. Religious art and architecture, almost from the earliest examples, such as the Dome of the Rock, the Aqsa Mosque (both in Jerusalem), and the Great Mosque of Damascus, built under the Umayyad rulers, did not include human figures and animals. However, the private residences of sovereigns, such as Qasr ‘Amra or Khirbat Mafjar, were filled with vast figurative paintings, mosaics, and sculpture.
Figure \(\PageIndex{11}\): Minarets of Al-Azhar Mosque, Cairo, Egypt. (Photo via Smarthistory)
The study of the arts of the Islamic World has also lagged behind other fields in Art History. There are several reasons for this. First, many scholars are not familiar with Arabic or Farsi (the dominant language in Iran). Calligraphy, particularly Arabic calligraphy, as noted above, is a major art form and appears on almost all types of architecture and arts. Second, the art forms and objects prized in the Islamic world do not correspond to those traditionally valued by art historians and collectors in the Western world. The so-called decorative arts—carpets, ceramics, metalwork, and books—are types of art that Western scholars have traditionally valued less than painting and sculpture. However, the last fifty years has seen a flourishing of scholarship on the arts of the Islamic World.
Arts of the Islamic World
Here, we have decided to use the phrase “Arts of the Islamic World” to emphasize the art that was created in a world where Islam was a dominant religion or a major cultural force, but was not necessarily religious art. Often when the word “Islamic” is used today, it is used to describe something religious; thus using the phrase, Islamic Art, potentially implies, mistakenly, that all of this art is religious in nature. The phrase, “Arts of the Islamic World,” also acknowledges that not all of the work produced in the “Islamic World” was for Muslims or was created by Muslims.
Arts of the Islamic world: The early period
by Glenna Barlow
The caliphates
The umbrella term “Islamic art” casts a pretty big shadow, covering several continents and more than a dozen centuries. So to make sense of it, we first have to first break it down into parts. One way is by medium—say, ceramics or architecture—but this method of categorization would entail looking at works that span three continents. Geography is another means of organization, but modern political boundaries rarely match the borders of past Islamic states.
A common solution is to consider instead, the historical caliphates (the states ruled by those who claimed legitimate Islamic rule) or dynasties. Though these distinctions are helpful, it is important to bear in mind that these are not discrete groups that produced one particular style of artwork. Artists throughout the centuries have been affected by the exchange of goods and ideas and have been influenced by one another.
Umayyad (661-750)
Four leaders, known as the Rightly Guided Caliphs, continued the spread of Islam immediately following the death of the Prophet. It was following the death of the fourth caliph that Mu’awiya seized power and established the Umayyad caliphate, the first Islamic dynasty. During this period, Damascus became the capital and the empire expanded West and East.
Figure \(\PageIndex{12}\): Map indicating the phases of expansion under the Prophet Mohammad, the Rashidun caliphate, and the Umayyad Dynasty. (Image via Smarthistory)
The first years following the death of Muhammad were, of course, formative for the religion and its artwork. The immediate needs of the religion included places to worship (mosques) and holy books (Korans) to convey the word of God. So, naturally, many of the first artistic projects included ornamented mosques where the faithful could gather and Korans with beautiful calligraphy.
Because Islam was still a very new religion, it had no artistic vocabulary of its own, and its earliest work was heavily influenced by older styles in the region. Chief among these sources were the Coptic tradition of present-day Egypt and Syria, with its scrolling vines and geometric motifs, Sassanian metalwork and crafts from what is now Iraq with their rhythmic, sometimes abstracted qualities, and naturalistic Byzantine mosaics depicting animals and plants (Figure \(\PageIndex{13}\)).
Figure \(\PageIndex{13}\): Base of the dome, Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, 687. (Photo: Virtutepetens, CC BY-SA 4.0)
These elements can be seen in the earliest significant work from the Umayyad period, the most important of which is the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. This stunning monument incorporates Coptic, Sassanian, and Byzantine elements in its decorative program and remains a masterpiece of Islamic architecture to this day.
Remarkably, just one generation after the religion’s inception, Islamic civilization had produced a magnificent, if singular, monument. While the Dome of the Rock is considered an influential work, it bears little resemblance to the multitude of mosques created throughout the rest of the caliphate. It is important to point out that the Dome of the Rock is not a mosque. A more common plan, based on the house of the Prophet, was used for the vast majority of mosques throughout the Arab peninsula and the Maghreb. Perhaps the most remarkable of these is the Great Mosque of Córdoba (784-786) in Spain, which, like the Dome of the Rock, demonstrates an integration of the styles of the existing culture in which it was created.
Abbasid (750-1258)
Figure \(\PageIndex{14}\): Territory of the Abbasid Caliphate at its greatest extent (green), c. 850. (Map via Smarthistory)
The Abbasid revolution in the mid-eighth century ended the Umayyad dynasty, resulted in the massacre of the Umayyad caliphs (a single caliph escaped to Spain, prolonging Umayyad work after dynasty) and established the Abbasid dynasty in 750. The new caliphate shifted its attention eastward and established cultural and commercial capitals at Baghdad and Samarra.
Figure \(\PageIndex{15}\): Bowl, c. 9th century. Lusterware, 28.5 cm diameter, 8cm height. Abbasid Caliphate. British Museum, London. (Photo: British Museum via Smarthistory)
The Umayyad dynasty produced little of what we would consider decorative arts (like pottery, glass, metalwork), but under the Abbasid dynasty production of decorative stone, wood and ceramic objects flourished. Artisans in Samarra developed a new method for carving surfaces that allowed for curved, vegetal forms (called arabesques) which became widely adopted. There were also developments in ceramic decoration. The use of luster painting (which gives ceramic ware a metallic sheen; see Figure \(\PageIndex{15}\)) became popular in surrounding regions and was extensively used on tile for centuries. Overall, the Abbasid epoch was an important transitional period that disseminated styles and techniques to distant Islamic lands.
The Abbasid empire weakened with the establishment and growing power of semi-autonomous dynasties throughout the region, until Baghdad was finally overthrown in 1258. This dissolution signified not only the end of a dynasty, but marked the last time that the Arab-Muslim empire would be united as one entity.
Folio from a Qur’an
by Alex Brey
Figure \(\PageIndex{16}\): Qu’ran fragment, MS M. 712, fols 19v-20r, in Arabic, possibly Iraq, before 911. Vellum, 23 x 32 cm. The Morgan Library and Museum, New York. (Photo: The Morgan Library and Museum via Smarthistory)
The Qur’an: From recitation to book
The Qur’an is the sacred text of Islam, consisting of the divine revelation to the Prophet Muhammad in Arabic. Over the course of the first century and a half of Islam, the form of the manuscript was adapted to suit the dignity and splendor of this divine revelation. However, the word Qur’an, which means “recitation,” suggests that manuscripts were of secondary importance to oral tradition. In fact, the 114 suras (or chapters) of the Qur’an were compiled into a textual format, organized from longest to shortest, only after the death of Muhammad, although scholars still debate exactly when this might have occurred.
This two-page spread (or bifolium) of a Qur’an manuscript, which contains the beginning of Surat Al-‘Ankabut (The Spider), is now in the collection of The Morgan Library and Museum in New York (Figure \(\PageIndex{16}\)). Other folios that appear to be from the same Qur’an survive in the Chester Beatty Library (Dublin), the Topkapı Palace Museum and the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art (Istanbul), and the National Museum of Syria (Damascus). One page includes an inscription, which states that ʿAbd al-Munʿim Ibn Aḥmad donated the Qur’an to the Great Mosque of Damascus in 298 A.H. (July, 911 CE), although we do not know where or how long before this donation the manuscript was produced.
Figure \(\PageIndex{17}\): Qur’an fragment (detail showing folio 20r), MS M.712, before 911. The Morgan Library and Museum, New York. (Photo: The Morgan Library and Museum via Smarthistory)
A roadmap for readers
The main text of the mushaf (pronounced muss-hoff), as manuscripts of the Qur’an are known, is written in brown ink. Arabic, the language of the divine word of Islam, is read from right to left. Several consonants share the same basic letterform, and these are usually distinguished from each other by lines or dots placed above or below the letter. Short vowels such as a, u, and i, are not normally written in Arabic, but in order to avoid misreadings of such an important text it quickly became standard to include vowels in the Qur’an. In this manuscript, these short vowels are marked with red circles positioned above, next to, or below the consonants, depending on the vowel.
Figure \(\PageIndex{18}\): Sura, Qur'an fragment (detail showing dots that distinguish between letter forms and indicate vowels and the five gold circles at the end of each verse), MS M.712, fol. 20r, before 911. The Morgan Library and Museum, New York. (Photo: The Morgan Library and Museum via Smarthistory)
The text of each sura is further divided into verses by triangles made up of 5 gold circles located at the end of each verse (Figure \(\PageIndex{18}\)).
The title of each sura is written in gold ink, and surrounded by a rectangle, filled here with an undulating golden vine (Figure \(\PageIndex{19}\)). Combined with a rounded palmette extending into the margin of the folio, it allows readers to quickly locate the beginning of each sura.
Because figural imagery such as human or animal forms was considered inappropriate for the ornamentation of sacred monuments and objects, artists relied on vegetal and geometric motifs when they decorated mosques and sacred manuscripts. Vines and palmettes like the ones that surround the sura heading here appear alone in sacred contexts, but they also accompanied animal and human forms in the secular decoration of palaces and textiles.
Figure \(\PageIndex{19}\): Sura title, Qur’an fragment (detail with the sura title in a gold rectangle and rounded palmette), MS M.712, fol. 20r, before 911. The Morgan Library and Museum, New York. (Photo: The Morgan Library and Museum via Smarthistory)
Planning the proportions of the page
The art of producing a mushaf began well before a pen was ever dipped into ink. The dimensions of each page were calculated before the parchment was cut, and the text was carefully situated relative to the edges of the pages. Each page of costly parchment (or vellum) in this Qur’an is larger than a standard sheet of printer paper, and contains only nine lines of calligraphy. These materials suggest both the dignity of the sacred text and the wealth of its patron, who was probably a member of the aristocratic elite.
Figure \(\PageIndex{20}\): Diagram of proportions, showing a 2:3 ratio. Single folio, Qur’an fragment, MS M.712, fol. 19v, before 911. The Morgan Library and Museum, New York. (Photo: The Morgan Library and Museum via Smarthistory)
In addition to the high quality and large quantity of materials used, the deliberate geometric planning of the page conveys the importance of the text that it contains. As in many of the mushafs produced between 750 and 1000 CE, the pages of this manuscript are wider than they are tall.
The text-block of this manuscript (Figure \(\PageIndex{20}\)) has a height-to-width ratio of 2:3, and the width of the text-block is approximately equal to the height of the page. The height of each line of text was derived from the first letter of the alphabet, alif, which was in turn derived from the width of the nib of the reed pen used by the calligraphers to write the text.
Figure \(\PageIndex{21}\): Interlines, Single folio, Qur’an fragment (detail), MS M.712, fol. 19v, before 911. The Morgan Library and Museum, New York. (Photo: The Morgan Library and Museum via Smarthistory)
Each line was further divided into a set number of “interlines,” which were used to determine the heights of various parts of individual letters. There is no ruling on the parchment, however, so scribes probably placed each sheet of the semi-transparent parchment on a board marked with horizontal guidelines as they wrote. Memorizing and producing the proportions of each pen stroke, however, must have been part of the training of every scribe.
Figure \(\PageIndex{22}\): Kufic script in folio from a Qur’an, probably made in Tunisia, Qairawan, c. 900-950 CE. Gold leaf, silver and ink on parchment with indigo, 28.5 x 37.5 cm. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California. (Photo: public domain)
Kufic script and the specialization of scribes
Writing in the tenth century CE, the Abbasid court secretary Ibn Durustuyah noted that letters of the alphabet were written differently by Qur’anic scribes, professional secretaries, and other copyists. The calligraphic style used by these early scribes of the Qur’an is known today as Kufic. Only two or three of the more than 1300 fragments and manuscripts written in Kufic that survive contain non-Qur’anic content.
Kufic is not so much a single type of handwriting as it is a family of 17 related styles based on common principles, including a preference for strokes of relatively uniform thickness, short straight vertical lines and long horizontal lines, and a straight, horizontal baseline.
Various types of kufic were popular from the seventh century CE until the late tenth century CE. Scribes used a wide reed pen dipped in ink to write. In some letters the angle of the pen was adjusted as the scribe wrote in order to maintain an even thickness throughout the entire letterform, but in others the angle could be held constant in order to produce both very thick and very thin lines. Although letters and even entire words at first appear to consist of a single stroke of the pen, in fact individual letters were often formed using multiple strokes.
Figure \(\PageIndex{23}\): Qur’an fragment (detail showing the regular and precise Kufic calligraphy), MS M.712, fos. 19v, before 911. The Morgan Library and Museum, New York. (Photo: The Morgan Library and Museum via Smarthistory)
The regularity and precision of the penmanship in the fragment from The Morgan Library (Figure \(\PageIndex{23}\)) reveals the skill of the scribes who produced it. Each of them deliberately imitated a single style in order to produce a unified finished product.
Scribes also had some freedom in composing a page. They could emphasize individual words and balance the widths of lines of different length by elongating certain letters horizontally (a technique known as mashq). They could also adjust spacing between words and letters, and even split words between two lines, in order to balance positive and negative space across the page.
Figure \(\PageIndex{24}\): Graphic showing negative space within (above) and between (below) words. Qu’ran fragment (detail), before 911. The Morgan Library and Museum, New York. (Photo: The Morgan Library and Museum via Smarthistory)
In this mushaf, the spaces between non-connecting characters within a word are as wide as the spaces that separate different words (sometimes even wider!). For readers unfamiliar with the text, it is therefore difficult to figure out which letters should be grouped together to form words. This deliberate obfuscation would have slowed down readers, and it suggests that anyone who read aloud from these manuscripts had probably already memorized the text of the Qur’an and used the lavish manuscript only as a kind of mnemonic device.
The Kaaba
by Dr. Elizabeth Macaulay Lewis
Figure \(\PageIndex{25}\): The Kaaba, Mecca, Saudi Arabia, pre-Islamic monument, multiple renovations, rededicated by Muhammad in 631-32 CE. Granite masonry, covered with silk curtain and calligraphy in gold and silver-wrapped thread. (Photo: Muhammad Mahdi Karim, GNU Free Documentation GNU 1.2 only, via Smarthistory)
Prayer and pilgrimage
Pilgrimage to a holy site is a core principle of almost all faiths. The Kaaba, meaning cube in Arabic, is a square building, elegantly draped in a silk and cotton veil. Located in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, it is the holiest shrine in Islam.
In Islam, Muslims pray five times a day and after 624 CE, these prayers were directed towards Mecca and the Kaaba rather than Jerusalem; this direction (or qibla in Arabic), is marked in all mosques and enables the faithful to know in what direction they should pray. The Qur‘an established the direction of prayer.
All Muslims aspire to undertake the hajj, or the annual pilgrimage, to the Kaaba once in their life if they are able. Prayer five times a day and the hajj are two of the five pillars of Islam, the most fundamental principles of the faith.
Upon arriving in Mecca, pilgrims gather in the courtyard of the Masjid al-Haram around the Kaaba. They then circumambulate (tawaf in Arabic) or walk around the Kaaba, during which they hope to kiss and touch the Black Stone (al-Hajar al-Aswad), embedded in the eastern corner of the Kaaba.
Figure \(\PageIndex{26}\): From left to right, increasingly closer views of the eastern corner of the Kaaba with the embedded Black Stone, al-Hajar al-Aswad. (Photos: Saudi Arabia General Presidency of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque, via Smarthistory)
The history and form of the Kaaba
The Kaaba was a sanctuary in pre-Islamic times. Muslims believe that Abraham (known as Ibrahim in the Islamic tradition), and his son, Ismail, constructed the Kaaba. Tradition holds that it was originally a simple unroofed rectangular structure. The Quraysh tribe, who ruled Mecca, rebuilt the pre-Islamic Kaaba in c. 608 CE with alternating courses of masonry and wood. A door was raised above ground level to protect the shrine from intruders and flood waters.
Muhammad was driven out of Mecca in 620 CE to Yathrib, which is now known as Medina. Upon his return to Mecca in 629/30 CE, the shrine became the focal point for Muslim worship and pilgrimage. The pre-Islamic Kaaba housed the Black Stone and statues of pagan gods. Muhammad reportedly cleansed the Kaaba of idols upon his victorious return to Mecca, returning the shrine to the monotheism of Ibrahim. The Black Stone is believed to have been given to Ibrahim by the angel Gabriel and is revered by Muslims. Muhammad made a final pilgrimage in 632 CE, the year of his death, and thereby established the rites of pilgrimage.
Modifications
The Kaaba has been modified extensively throughout its history. The area around the Kaaba was expanded in order to accommodate the growing number of pilgrims by the second caliph, ‘Umar (ruled 634-44). The Caliph ‘Uthman (ruled 644-56) built the colonnades around the open plaza where the Kaaba stands and incorporated other important monuments into the sanctuary.
During the civil war between the caliph Abd al-Malik and Ibn Zubayr who controlled Mecca, the Kaaba was set on fire in 683 CE. Reportedly, the Black Stone broke into three pieces and Ibn Zubayr reassembled it with silver. He rebuilt the Kaaba in wood and stone, following Ibrahim’s original dimensions and also paved the space around the Kaaba. After regaining control of Mecca, Abd al-Malik restored the part of the building that Muhammad is thought to have designed. None of these renovations can be confirmed through study of the building or archaeological evidence; these changes are only outlined in later literary sources.By the seventh century, the Kaaba was covered with kiswa, a black cloth that is replaced annually during the hajj.
Under the early Abbasid Caliphs (750-1250), the mosque around the Kaaba was expanded and modified several times. According to travel writers, such as the Ibn Jubayr, who saw the Kaaba in 1183, it retained the eighth century Abbasid form for several centuries. From 1269-1517, the Mamluks of Egypt controlled the Hijaz, the highlands in western Arabia where Mecca is located. Sultan Qaitbay (ruled 1468-96) built a madrasa (a religious school) against one side of the mosque. Under the Ottoman sultans, Süleyman I (ruled 1520-1566) and Selim II (ruled 1566-74), the complex was heavily renovated. In 1631, the Kaaba and the surrounding mosque were entirely rebuilt after floods had demolished them in the previous year. This mosque, which is what exists today, is composed of a large open space with colonnades on four sides and with seven minarets, the largest number of any mosque in the world. At the center of this large plaza sits the Kaaba, as well as many other holy buildings and monuments.
The last major modifications were carried out in the 1950s by the government of Saudi Arabia to accommodate the increasingly large number of pilgrims who come on the hajj. Today the mosque covers almost forty acres.
Figure \(\PageIndex{27}\): The Kaaba with surrounding colonnades and minarets, Mecca, Saudi Arabia, pre-Islamic monument, multiple renovations, rededicated by Muhammad in 631–32 CE. (Photo: marviikad, CC BY-NC 2.0)
The Kaaba today
Today, the Kaaba is a cubical structure, unlike almost any other religious structure. It is fifteen meters tall and ten and a half meters on each side; its corners roughly align with the cardinal directions. The door of the Kaaba is now made of solid gold; it was added in 1982. The kiswa, a large cloth that covers the Kaaba, which used to be sent from Egypt with the hajj caravan, today is made in Saudi Arabia. Until the advent of modern transportation, all pilgrims undertook the often dangerous hajj, or pilgrimage, to Mecca in a large caravan across the desert, leaving from Damascus, Cairo, or other major cities in Arabia, Yemen or Iraq.
The numerous changes to the Kaaba and its associated mosque serve as good reminder of how often buildings, even sacred ones, were renovated and remodeled either due to damage or to the changing needs of the community.
Only Muslims may visit the holy cities of Mecca and Medina today.
Introduction to mosque architecture
by Kendra Weisbin
Figure \(\PageIndex{28}\): King Abdullah I Mosque, Amman, Jordan, built 1982-1989. (Photo: Dr. Cerise Myers, CC BY) This mosque features a patterned dome, largely in turquoise tile, flanked by two matching minarets.
From Indonesia to the United Kingdom, the mosque in its many forms is the quintessential Islamic building. The mosque, masjid in Arabic, is the Muslim gathering place for prayer. Masjid simply means “place of prostration.” Though most of the five daily prayers prescribed in Islam can take place anywhere, all men are required to gather together at the mosque for the Friday noon prayer.
Mosques are also used throughout the week for prayer, study, or simply as a place for rest and reflection. The main mosque of a city, used for the Friday communal prayer, is called a jami masjid, literally meaning “Friday mosque,” but it is also sometimes called a congregational mosque in English. The style, layout, and decoration of a mosque can tell us a lot about Islam in general, but also about the period and region in which the mosque was constructed.
Figure \(\PageIndex{29}\): Diagram reconstruction of the Prophet’s House, Medina, Saudi Arabia. (Image via Smarthistory)
The home of the Prophet Muhammad is considered the first mosque. His house, in Medina in modern-day Saudi Arabia, was a typical 7th-century Arabian style house, with a large courtyard surrounded by long rooms supported by columns. This style of mosque came to be known as a hypostyle mosque, meaning “many columns.” Most mosques built in Arab lands utilized this style for centuries.
Common features
The architecture of a mosque is shaped most strongly by the regional traditions of the time and place where it was built. As a result, style, layout, and decoration can vary greatly. Nevertheless, because of the common function of the mosque as a place of congregational prayer, certain architectural features appear in mosques all over the world.
Sahn (courtyard)
The most fundamental necessity of congregational mosque architecture is that it be able to hold the entire male population of a city or town (women are welcome to attend Friday prayers, but not required to do so). To that end congregational mosques must have a large prayer hall. In many mosques this is adjoined to an open courtyard, called a sahn. Within the courtyard one often finds a fountain, its waters both a welcome respite in hot lands, and important for the ablutions (ritual cleansing) done before prayer.
Figure \(\PageIndex{30}\): Courtyard, Mosque of Muhammad Ali, Cairo, Egypt. (Photo: Dr. Cerise Myers, CC BY) The arches of the stone structure over the fountain mirrors the colonnades that border the courtyard.
Mihrab (niche)
Figure \(\PageIndex{31}\): Mihrab and minbar (pulpit), Mosque of Muhammad Ali, Cairo, Egypt. (Photo: Dr. Cerise Myers, CC BY) The mihrab and surrounding walls are covered in richly-veined marble revetment, as is the minbar, a pulpit accessed by a flight of attached stairs.
Another essential element of a mosque’s architecture is a mihrab—a niche in the wall that indicates the direction of Mecca, towards which all Muslims pray. Mecca is the city in which the Prophet Muhammad was born, and the home of the most important Islamic site, the Kaaba. The direction of Mecca is called the qibla, and so the wall in which the mihrab is set is called the qibla wall. No matter where a mosque is, its mihrab indicates the direction of Mecca (or as near that direction as science and geography were able to place it). Therefore, a mihrab in India will be to the west, while a one in Egypt will be to the east. A mihrab is usually a relatively shallow niche, as in the example from Egypt, above.
Minaret (tower)
One of the most visible aspects of mosque architecture is the minaret, a tower adjacent or attached to a mosque, from which the call to prayer is announced.
Figure \(\PageIndex{32}\): Mimar Sinan, Minaret, Süleymaniye Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey, 1558. (Photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Minarets take many different forms—from the famous spiral minaret of Samarra, to the tall, pencil minarets of Ottoman Turkey (Figure \(\PageIndex{32}\)). Not solely functional in nature, the minaret serves as a powerful visual reminder of the presence of Islam.
Qubba (dome)
Figure \(\PageIndex{33}\): Sedefkâr Mehmed Ağa, Dome, Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque), Istanbul, Turkey, completed 1617. (Photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Most mosques also feature one or more domes, called qubba in Arabic. While not a ritual requirement like the mihrab, a dome does possess significance within the mosque—as a symbolic representation of the vault of heaven. The interior decoration of a dome often emphasizes this symbolism, using intricate geometric, stellate, or vegetal motifs to create breathtaking patterns meant to awe and inspire. Some mosque types incorporate multiple domes into their architecture (as does the Blue Mosque in Figure \(\PageIndex{10}\) and Figure \(\PageIndex{33}\) ), while others only feature one. In mosques with only a single dome, it is invariably found surmounting the qibla wall, the holiest section of the mosque. The Great Mosque of Kairouan, in Tunisia (not pictured) has three domes: one atop the minaret, one above the entrance to the prayer hall, and one above the qibla wall.
Because it is the directional focus of prayer, the qibla wall, with its mihrab and minbar, is often the most ornately decorated area of a mosque. The rich decoration of the qibla wall is apparent in this image of the mihrab and minbar of the Mosque of Sultan Hasan in Cairo, Egypt (Figure \(\PageIndex{31}\)).
Furnishings
Figure \(\PageIndex{34}\): Mosque lamp, Egypt or Syria, 14th century. Blown glass, enamel, gilding, 31.8 x 23.2 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. (Photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain) The museum writes, "One of the conventions of Mamluk mosque lamp decoration was to execute one inscription band in blue and the other in reserve against a blue ground. On this lamp, the neck and foot repeat the phrase al‑'alim ("The Wise"), punctuated by an as yet unassigned emblem, while the body bears a formulaic dedicatory inscription but no name."
There are other decorative elements common to most mosques. For instance, a large calligraphic frieze or a cartouche with a prominent inscription often appears above the mihrab. In most cases the calligraphic inscriptions are quotations from the Qur’an, and often include the date of the building’s dedication and the name of the patron. Another important feature of mosque decoration are hanging lamps, also visible in the photograph of the Sultan Hasan mosque (Figure \(\PageIndex{31}\)). Light is an essential feature for mosques, since the first and last daily prayers occur before the sun rises and after the sun sets. Before electricity, mosques were illuminated with oil lamps. Hundreds of such lamps hung inside a mosque would create a glittering spectacle, with soft light emanating from each, highlighting the calligraphy and other decorations on the lamps’ surfaces. Although not a permanent part of a mosque building, lamps, along with other furnishings like carpets, formed a significant—though ephemeral—aspect of mosque architecture.
Mosque patronage
Figure \(\PageIndex{35}\): Mihrab, Madrasa Imami, Isfahan, Iran, just after the Ilkhanid period, 1354–55. Polychrome glazed tiles, 343.1 x 288.7 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. (Photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Most historical mosques are not stand-alone buildings. Many incorporated charitable institutions like soup kitchens, hospitals, and schools. Some mosque patrons also chose to include their own mausoleum as part of their mosque complex. The endowment of charitable institutions is an important aspect of Islamic culture, due in part to the third pillar of Islam, which calls for Muslims to donate a portion of their income to the poor.
The commissioning of a mosque would be seen as a pious act on the part of a ruler or other wealthy patron, and the names of patrons are usually included in the calligraphic decoration of mosques. Such inscriptions also often praise the piety and generosity of the patron. For instance, the mihrab now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Figure \(\PageIndex{35}\)), bears the inscription:
And he [the Prophet], blessings and peace be upon him, said: “Whoever builds a mosque for God, even the size of a sand-grouse nest, based on piety, [God will build for him a palace in Paradise].”
The patronage of mosques was not only a charitable act therefore, but also, like architectural patronage in all cultures, an opportunity for self-promotion. The social services attached the mosques of the Ottoman sultans are some of the most extensive of their type. In Ottoman Turkey the complex surrounding a mosque is called a kulliye. The kulliye of the Mosque of Sultan Suleyman, in Istanbul, is a fine example of this phenomenon, comprising a soup kitchen, a hospital, several schools, public baths, and a caravanserai (similar to a hostel for travelers). The complex also includes two mausoleums for Sultan Suleyman and his family members.
Hypostyle Mosque Architecture
The Great Mosque of Kairouan, Tunisia, is an archetypal example of the hypostyle mosque. The mosque was built in the ninth century by Ziyadat Allah, the third ruler of the Aghlabid dynasty, an offshoot of the Abbasid Empire. It is a large, rectangular stone mosque with a hypostyle (supported by columns) hall and a large inner sahn (courtyard). The three-tiered minaret is in a style known as the Syrian bell-tower, and may have originally been based on the form of ancient Roman lighthouses. The interior of the mosque features the forest of columns that has come to define the hypostyle type.
Figure \(\PageIndex{36}\): Sahn and minaret, Great Mosque of Kairouan, Tunisia, c. 836-75. (Photo: Andrew Watson, CC BY-SA 2.0)
The mosque was built on a former Byzantine site, and the architects repurposed older materials, such as the columns—a decision that was both practical and a powerful assertion of the Islamic conquest of Byzantine lands. Many early mosques like this one made use of older architectural materials (called spolia), in a similarly symbolic way.
Figure \(\PageIndex{37}\): Ancient capitals (spolia), Great Mosque of Kairouan, Tunisia. (Photo: Jaume Ollé, CC BY 2.5)
On right hand side of mosque’s mihrab is the maqsura, a special area reserved for the ruler found in some, but not all, mosques. This mosque’s maqsura is the earliest extant example, and its minbar (pulpit) is the earliest dated minbar known to scholars. Both are carved from teak wood that was imported from Southeast Asia. This prized wood was shipped from Thailand to Baghdad where it was carved, then carried on camel back from Iraq to Tunisia, in a remarkable display of medieval global commerce.
The hypostyle plan was used widely in Islamic lands prior to the introduction of the four-iwan plan in the twelfth century. The hypostyle plan’s characteristic forest of columns was used in different mosques to great effect. One of the most famous examples is the Great Mosque of Cordoba, which uses bi-color, two-tier arches that emphasize the almost dizzying optical effect of the hypostyle hall.
Figure \(\PageIndex{39}\): Interior of the Great Mosque of Cordoba, Spain, 8th-10th centuries. (Photo: Timor Espallargas, CC BY-SA 2.5)
The Umayyads, an introduction
by Dr. Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis
The Dome of the Rock. The Great Mosque in Damascus. The Great Mosque in Córdoba. These remarkable architectural and artistic achievements are associated with the Umayyads, “first” dynasty of the Islamic World.
After the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 CE, there was a series of four rulers, known as the Rightly Guided Caliphs: Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘Uthman, and, lastly, Muhammad’s son-in-law, ‘Ali.
While the Sunni and Shia branches of Islam dispute the order of succession (specifically whether ‘Ali should have rightfully been Muhammad’s first successor), ‘Ali’s assassination marked a crossroad for early Muslims and resulted a series of civic wars (or fitnas).
Figure \(\PageIndex{40}\): View of the Courtyard of the Great Mosque of Damascus, Syria. (Photo: Eric Shin, CC BY-NC 2.0)
Mu‘awiya and ‘Abd al-Malik
Mu‘awiya, then governor of Syria under ‘Ali, seized power after ‘Ali’s death. After a number of victories, Mu‘awiya emerged as the sole ruler of the Muslim world. He consolidated the early Muslim conquests in the Middle East and expanded the empire. Mu‘awiya established his capital at Damascus, shifting his power base north of Mecca and Medina in the Arab heartland. Mu‘awiya also instituted political and bureaucratic systems that allowed for the effective rule of the nascent Islamic empire and the expansion of the economy.
Figure \(\PageIndex{41}\): Map showing Damascus, Medina, and Mecca. (Image via Smarthistory)
Mu‘awiya’s death in 680 resulted another wave of civil and religious wars, during which the Umayyads lost control of Mecca and Medina. Mu‘awiya’s son, ‘Abd al-Malik, eventually emerged victorious. Like the Roman emperors before him and his Byzantine contemporaries, ‘Abd al-Malik saw architecture and art as a means to express his authority and to provide the new religion of Islam with a powerful visual language that could convey the theology, values, and ideas of Islam to both Muslims and those who had been conquered.
‘Abd al-Malik built the Dome of the Rock on the Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem, which employed inscriptions, gold and blue mosaics, and innovative architecture to create one of the world’s most exceptional buildings. Adjacent to the Dome of the Rock, he also erected a permanent mosque (replacing an earlier temporary mosque), known as the Aqsa mosque. It is the third holiest mosque in the Islamic world after those at Mecca and Medina.
Figure \(\PageIndex{42}\): Al-Aqsa Mosque, Temple Mount, Jerusalem. (Photo: Andrew Shiva, CC BY-SA 4.0)
During ‘Abd al-Malik’s reign, Arabic took hold as the language of bureaucracy and of the elite. The stability afforded by his reign also meant that trade flourished, as goods and people moved with ease within the boundaries of the Islamic world. ‘Abd al-Malik also undertook public works, constructing roads, canals, and dams.
‘Abd al-Malik also radically reformed coinage. Until 697 CE, Islamic coinage deployed figural imagery, which was modeled on Byzantine and Sasanian coins. These coins included images, such as the standing caliph type (Figure \(\PageIndex{43}\), and were accompanied by Arabic inscriptions (or, in the case of coins minted in Iran, Pahlavi, or Middle Persian inscriptions).
However, after 697 CE, coins were minted with religious inscriptions in Arabic, the date, and the mint’s location (see Figure \(\PageIndex{44}\). Since coins circulated widely, the coins helped articulate the new faith and political authority to both Muslims and the peoples that they had conquered. The uniform coinage also facilitated trade, as there was now a single currency with standardized iconography and denominations.
The inscription on the obverse (on the left in Figure \(\PageIndex{44}\)) announces the creed of Muslims, the central inscription reads: There is no God but God, He is alone, He has no associate. The marginal inscription reads: Muhammad is the Messenger of God. He sent him with Guidance and the true religion that he might overcome all [religions even though the polytheists hate it]. Translation: British Museum. ‘Abd al-Malik was succeeded by his son, al-Walid I, who built the Great Mosque in Damascus (see photo near top of page)—another of the most important surviving monuments from the early Islamic period. Built using the tax revenue of Syria for seven years, the Great Mosque proclaimed the achievements of Islam in architectural and artistic form.
“Desert Castles”
al-Walid was succeeded by a series of male relatives who ruled until 749 CE. Their main artistic and architectural achievement was the construction of what scholars have traditionally called the “Desert Castles.” These “castles” are better described as imperial or aristocratic residences that took the form of hunting lodges, rural residences, and urban palaces. Like the Dome of the Rock and the Great Mosque of Damascus, these residences expressed the authority and status of the Umayyad rulers; however, they use a distinctively secular architectural language.
Figure \(\PageIndex{45}\): The exterior of the bathhouse, Qusayr ‘Amra, Jordan. (Photo: Otto Nieminen/Manar al-Athar, via Smarthistory)
These residences included audience halls, baths, and mosques, as well as extensive grounds. The residences were richly decorated with figural mosaics, paintings, and sculpture, which helped to create a luxurious environment for feasting, hunting, and the recitation of poetry and other courtly pursuits. These famous residences include Qusayr ‘Amra, Khirbat al-Mafjar, Mshatta, and others.
Built by al-Walid II, Qusayr ‘Amra (in Jordan) is composed of an audience hall and bath complex with rich wall paintings. Khirbat al-Mafjar, located outside Jericho in the West Bank, has rich floor mosaics, including deer and a lion under a tree, as well as an extensive program of figurative sculpture. A statue of the caliph, standing on a base decorated with lions (a symbol of royal power) greeted visitors (Figure \(\PageIndex{46}\)), a clear articulation of authority and power. While the form of the standing caliph was no longer on Islamic coins, the image was still potent.
Figure \(\PageIndex{46}\): Statue of a standing caliph originally displayed above the main entrance to Khirbet al-Mafjar .(Photo: Judith McKenzie/Manar al-Athar via Smarthistory)
The frieze from Mshatta (Figure \(\PageIndex{46}\)), an unfinished residence in Jordan, is now in the Museum for Islamic Art in Berlin. These residences are particularly important, as they confirm that since the inception of Islamic art figurative representation has been an important aspect of Islamic Art. However, figurative art is almost always used in the secular realm, while religious art is aniconic (without the representation of human figures).
Figure \(\PageIndex{46}\): Mshatta façade detail, c. 743-44. Museum for Islamic Art, Berlin, Germany. (Photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
The glory of the Umayyads was not to last; almost all of the Umayyad princes were massacred in 749 by their rivals, the Abbasids, in what scholars call the “Abbasid Revolution.”
The only Umayyad prince to survive was ‘Abd al-Rahman I, and he escaped to found his own dynasty in Spain. Rooted in the Syrian traditions of his forefathers (and supported by Syrian immigrants), he established an alternative caliphate to the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad.
In 786, he founded the Great Mosque in Córdoba. Although little of his original foundation survives, the later modifications and decoration, particularly the use of mosaics on the domes of mihrab and maqsura, were a clear evocation of the glorious Syrian past.
Global Connections: International Coinage
When Theodoric minted a coin on which he declared himself king, he also conveyed his understanding not only of the important iconographic tradition of Roman emperors and coinage, but also of northern aesthetic traditions in his depiction on the coin. And when Abd al-Malik radically transformed Islamic coins in 697, moving away from figural depictions to calligraphic religious inscriptions, he understood both the power of monetary circulation and the importance of recognizable and repeated messages on pocket-size coins. International coins and currency across the world offer historians great insight into the political, social, and cultural events of the times during which the coins were made and minted.
In western and central Asia, the Sasanians (also known as Eranshahr, the Empire of the Iranians) were the last pre-Islamic Iranian dynasty. As Dr. Betty Hensellek observes, Sasanian rulers depicted themselves on the front of the coin and placed important iconography on the back, all while emphasizing the king as central not only to the Sasanians, but also to world cosmology. Coins and their images circulate, and in large kingdoms and empires such as those of Aksum, Rome, and the Sasanian Empire, these coins circulated widely because of trade routes. Hensellek notes that archaeologists have found Sasanian coins far afield—“across Eurasia, from Chinese tombs to Scandinavian hoards. Islamic dynasties furthermore used Sasanian coin imagery as a prototype until eventually transitioning to wholly calligraphic imagery.”
This idea of using earlier coins as prototypes was common. In the fifth century, after the Huns invaded former Sasanian territories, they copied the designs of coins from the people they conquered. As the British Museum explains, the Silver dinar of the Alchon Huns appropriates imagery that would be familiar to the people in the conquered lands. Flame-like plumes emanating from the back of the ruler portrayed on the silver dinar (possibly the Hun ruler Khingila), were thought to depict a common flame motif that Kushan and Kushano-Sasanian people would understand and interpret as the king’s divine right to rule (think of the much-older image of Shamash on the Law Code Stele of Hammurabi).
Figure \(\PageIndex{48}\): Alchon Huns coin imitating Sasanian king Shahpur II, c. 400-440 CE. Silver. (Photo: CNG Coins, CC BY-SA-3.0)
Earlier in this chapter, Dr. Elizabeth Macaulay underscores the importance of coinage circulation as integral to the dissemination of religious and political beliefs, along with the standardization of currency. She notes that the Arabic inscriptions on Abd al-Malik’s coins "also facilitated trade, as there was now a single currency with standardized iconography and denominations.” Similarly, much later in the seventeenth century, The United Dutch East India Company issued official coins for trade in its colonies, again emphasizing the importance of a unified, standardized, and recognized coinage and currency.
The Dome of the Rock (Qubbat al-Sakhra)
by Dr. Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis
Figure \(\PageIndex{49}\): The Dome of the Rock (Qubbat al-Sakhra), Jerusalem, Umayyad, 691-2. Stone masonry, wooden roof, decorated with glazed ceramic tile, mosaics, and gilt aluminum and bronze dome, with multiple renovations, patron the Caliph Abd al-Malik. (Photo: Brian Jeffery Beggerly, CC BY 2.0)
The Dome of the Rock is a building of extraordinary beauty, solidity, elegance, and singularity of shape… Both outside and inside, the decoration is so magnificent and the workmanship so surpassing as to defy description. The greater part is covered with gold so that the eyes of one who gazes on its beauties are dazzled by its brilliance, now glowing like a mass of light, now flashing like lightning. —Ibn Battuta (14th century travel writer)
A glorious mystery
One of the most iconic images of the Middle East is undoubtedly the Dome of the Rock shimmering in the setting sun of Jerusalem. Sitting atop the Haram al-Sharif, the highest point in old Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock’s golden-color Dome and Turkish Faience tiles dominate the cityscape of Old Jerusalem and in the 7th century served as a testament to the power of the new faith of Islam. The Dome of the Rock is one of the earliest surviving buildings from the Islamic world. This remarkable building is not a mosque, as is commonly assumed, and scholars still debate its original function and meaning.
Figure \(\PageIndex{50}\): Interior of the Dome of the Rock. (Photo: Robert Smythe Hitchens, public domain, via Smarthistory)
Between the death of the prophet Muhammad in 632 and 691/2, when the Dome of the Rock was completed, there was intermittent warfare in Arabia and Holy Land around Jerusalem. The first Arab armies who emerged from the Arabian peninsula were focused on conquering and establishing an empire—not building.
Thus, the Dome of the Rock was one of the first Islamic buildings ever constructed. It was built between 685 and 691/2 by Abd al-Malik, probably the most important Umayyad caliph, as a religious focal point for his supporters, while he was fighting a civil war against Ibn Zubayr. When Abd al-Malik began construction on the Dome of the Rock, he did not have control of the Kaaba, the holiest shrine in Islam, which is located in Mecca.
The Dome is located on the Haram al-Sharif, an enormous open-air platform that now houses Al-Aqsa mosque, madrasas and several other religious buildings. Few places are as holy for Christians, Jews and Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif. It is the Temple Mount, the site of the Jewish second temple, which the Roman Emperor Titus destroyed in 70 CE while subduing the Jewish revolt; a Roman temple was later built on the site. The Temple Mount was abandoned in Late Antiquity.
The Rock in the Dome of the Rock
At the center of the Dome of the Rock sits a large rock, which is believed to be the location where Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son Ismail (Isaac in the Judeo/Christian tradition). Today, Muslims believe that the Rock commemorates the night journey of Muhammad. One night the Angel Gabriel came to Muhammad while he slept near the Kaaba in Mecca and took him to al-Masjid al-Aqsa (the farthest mosque) in Jerusalem. From the Rock, Muhammad journeyed to heaven, where he met other prophets, such as Moses and Christ, witnessed paradise and hell and finally saw God enthroned and circumambulated by angels.
The Rock is enclosed by two ambulatories (in this case the aisles that circle the rock) and an octagonal exterior wall. The central colonnade (row of columns) was composed of four piers and twelve columns supporting a rounded drum that transitions into the two-layered dome more than 20 meters in diameter.
The colonnades are clad in marble on their lower registers, and their upper registers are adorned with exceptional mosaics. The ethereal interior atmosphere is a result of light that pours in from grilled windows located in the drum and exterior walls. Golden mosaics depicting jewels shimmer in this glittering light. Byzantine and Sassanian crowns in the midst of vegetal motifs are also visible.
The Byzantine Empire stood to the North and to the West of the new Islamic Empire until 1453, when its capital, Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Turks. To the East, the old Sasanian Empire of Persia imploded under pressure from the Arabs, but nevertheless provided winged crown motifs that can be found in the Dome of the Rock.
Mosaics
Wall and ceiling mosaics became very popular in Late Antiquity and adorn many Byzantine churches, including San Vitale in Ravenna and Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. Thus, the use of mosaics reflects an artistic tie to the world of Late Antiquity. Late Antiquity is a period from about 300-800, when the Classical world dissolves and the Medieval period emerges.
Figure \(\PageIndex{52}\): Mosaic detail from the Dome of the Rock, showing geometric, vegetal, and gem motifs. (Photo: public domain, via Smarthistory)
The mosaics in the Dome of the Rock contain no human figures or animals. While Islam does not prohibit the use of figurative art per se, it seems that in religious buildings, this proscription was upheld. Instead, we see vegetative scrolls and motifs, as well as vessels and winged crowns, which were worn by Sasanian kings. Thus, the iconography of the Dome of the Rock also includes the other major pre-Islamic civilization of the region, the Sasanian Empire, which the Arab armies had defeated.
A reference to burial places
The building enclosing the Rock also seems to take its form from the imperial mausolea (the burial places) of Roman emperors, such as Augustus or Hadrian. Its circular form and Dome also reference the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The circular Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem was built to enclose the tomb of Christ. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Dome of the Rock have domes that are almost identical in size; this suggests that the elevated position of the Dome of the Rock and the comparable size of its dome was a way that Muslims in the late 8th century proclaimed the superiority of their newly formed faith over Christians.
The inscription
The Dome of the Rock also contains an inscription, 240 meters long, that includes some of the earliest surviving examples of verses from the Qur‘an—in an architectural context or otherwise. The bismillah (in the name of God, the merciful and compassionate), the phrase that starts each verse of the Qu’ran, and the shahada, the Islamic confession of faith, which states that there is only one God and Muhammad is his prophet, are also included in the inscription. The inscription also refers to Mary and Christ and proclaim that Christ was not divine but a prophet. Thus the inscription also proclaims some of the core values of the newly formed religion of Islam.
Below the Rock is a small chamber, whose purpose is not fully understood even to this day. For those who are fortunate enough to be able to enter the Dome of the Rock, the experience is moving, regardless of one’s faith.
The Great Mosque of Damascus
by Dr. Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis
Figure \(\PageIndex{53}\): Distant view of the Great Mosque of Damascus, Syria. (Photo: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0)
To understand the importance of the Great Mosque of Damascus, built by the Umayyad caliph, al-Walid II between 708 and 715 CE, we need to look into the recesses of time. Damascus is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world, with archaeological remains dating from as early as 9000 BCE, and sacred spaces have been central to the Old City of Damascus ever since. As early as the 9th century BCE, a temple was built to Hadad-Ramman, the Semitic god of storm and rain. Though the exact form and shape of this temple is unknown, a bas-relief with a sphinx, believed to come from this temple, was reused in the northern wall of the city’s Great Mosque.
From Zeus to Saul
Alexander the Great marched through Syria on his way to Persia and India and while he likely passed through Damascus, it was his successors—the Ptolemies and the Selecuids—who would shape Syria. Until 63 BCE, Damascus would remain under the political control and cultural influence of these Greek dynasties. While almost nothing survives archaeologically from this period, Greek became the dominant language and the culture became Hellenized (influenced by Greek culture). At this time, the temple of Hadad was converted into a Temple of Zeus-Hadad. Zeus was a natural choice for assimilation; he ruled the Greek pantheon and was associated with weather and, of course, thunder bolts. Many Greek (and later Roman) gods were combined with local gods across the lands controlled by the Greeks and then the Romans. This allowed the conquering culture to integrate their new subjects into their religion, while also accepting local traditions—thus helping to make new foreign masters more agreeable to subjugated locals. The Zeus-Hadad temple dominated the Greek city and was connected by a main thoroughfare to the new agora, or market area, located to the east. At the center of a temenos, an enclosed and sacred precinct, stood the temple to Zeus-Hadad, which had a cella (the room in which a statue of the god stood).
After the Greeks came the invading Roman armies (led by Pompey in 63 BCE). Under Herod the Great (the local pro-Roman ruler), the city of Damascus was transformed. Herod built a theater whose remains can still be seen in the basement and ground floor of a house called Bayt al- ‘Aqqad (now the Danish Institute). The temple was modified at this time when two concentric walls were added to enclose the precinct (or peribolos) of the temple and two monumental gates, or propylaea, were added on the western and eastern ends of the precinct which now measured 117,000 square feet. At its center was the temple with a cella for the worship of Jupiter-Hadad. It was now a truly monumental temple. The western gate was refurbished and embellished under the Roman Severan dynasty (193–235 CE), additions that remain visible today.
Although the great temple to Jupiter marked the spiritual heart of the city for several centuries, just as it was completed, a new cult to a single God was developing: Christianity. Saul, or Paul as he is known after his conversion, is said to have converted on the road to Damascus (Acts 9.1–2; 9.5–6). Blinded by a light, he was led to the home of a Jew named Judas on Straight Street, the decumanus or main east-west street in Damascus. Ananias had a vision that told him to go and care for Paul and when he touched Paul at Judas’ house, the scales fell from Paul’s eyes and he could see.
Figure \(\PageIndex{55}\): View of the exterior of the Great Mosque of Damascus in 2008. (Photo: Ghaylam, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Unsurprisingly, once Christianity was widely adopted in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, the temple to Jupiter was once again converted, this time into a cathedral dedicated to John the Baptist. This church is attributed to the Emperor Theodosius in 391 CE. The exact location of the church is unknown, but it is thought to have been located in the western part of the temenos. It was probably one of the largest churches in the Christian world and served as a major center of Christianity until 636 CE. when the city was once again conquered, this time by Muslim Arabs. Damascus was a key city, as it provided access to the sea and to the desert. When it was clear that the city was going to fall, the defeated Christians and conquering Muslims negotiated the city’s surrender. The Muslims agreed to respect the lives, property and churches of the Christians. Christians retained control of their cathedral, although Muslim worshippers reportedly used the southern wall of the compound when they prayed towards Mecca.
Figure \(\PageIndex{56}\): View of the the prayer hall from the courtyard of the Great Mosque of Damascus (treasury at right). (Photo: Erik Shin, CC BY-NC 2.0)
al-Walid’s mosque
When Damascus became the capital of the Umayyad dynasty, the early 8th century caliph al-Walid envisioned a beautiful mosque at the heart of his new capital city, one that would rival any of the great religious buildings of the Christian world. The growing population of Muslims also required a large congregational mosque (a congregational mosque is a mosque where the community of believers, originally only men, would come to worship and hear a sermon on Fridays—it was typically the most important mosque in a city or in a neighborhood of a large city). The Great Mosque of Damascus was commissioned in 708 CE and was completed in 714/15 CE. It was paid for with the state tax revenue raised over the course of seven years, a prodigious sum of money. The result of this investment was an architectural tour de force where mosaics and marbles created a truly awe-inspiring space. The Great Mosque of Damascus is one of the earliest surviving congregational mosques in the world. The mosque’s location and organization were directly influenced by the temples and the church that preceded it. It was built into the Roman temple wall and it reuses older building materials (called spolia by archaeologists) in its walls, including a beam with a Greek inscription that was originally part of the church.
Figure \(\PageIndex{57}\): Courtyard fountain and the dome of the clock in the distance, Great Mosque of Damascus. (Photo: Thom May, CC BY-NC 2.0)
The complex is composed of a prayer hall and a large open courtyard with a fountain for ablutions (washing) before prayer. Before the civil war that began in 2011, the courtyard of the mosque functioned as a social space for Damascenes, where families and friends could meet and talk while children chased each other through the colonnade, and where tourists once snapped photographs. It was a wonderful place of peace in a busy city. The courtyard contains an elevated treasury and a structure know as the “Dome of the Clock,” whose purpose is not fully understood. There are tower-like minarets at the corners of the mosque and courtyard; the southern minarets are built on the Roman-Byzantine corner towers and are probably the earliest minarets in Syria. Again, the earlier structures directly influenced the present form.
Figure \(\PageIndex{58}\): Prayer hall, Great Mosque of Damascus with the shrine of Saint John the Baptist in the center. (Photo: Seier+Seier, CC BY 2.0)
From the courtyard, one would enter the prayer hall. The prayer hall takes its form from Christian basilicas (which are in turn derived from ancient Roman law courts). However, there is no apse towards which one would pray. Rather the faithful pray facing the qibla wall. The qibla wall has a niche (mihrab), which focuses the faithful in their prayers. In line with the mihrab of the Great Mosque is a massive dome and a transept to accommodate a large number of worshippers. The façade of the transept facing the courtyard is decorated on the exterior with rich mosaics.
Figure \(\PageIndex{59}\): Mosaic, Great Mosque of Damascus, 8th century. (Photo: american rugbier, CC BY-SA 2.0)
Although a fire in the 1890s badly damaged the courtyard and interior, much of the rich mosaic program, which dates primarily to the early 8th century, has survived. The mosaics are aniconic (non-figurative). Islamic religious art lacks figures, and so this is an early example of this tradition. The mosaics are a beautiful mix of trees, landscapes, and uninhabited architecture, rendered in stunning gold, greens, and blues. Later sources note that there were inscriptions and mosaics in the prayer hall, like the Umayyad mosque in Medina, but these have not survived.
Mediterranean influences
The architecture and the plants depicted in the mosaics have clear origins in the artistic traditions of the Mediterranean. Acanthus-like scrolls of greenery can be seen. Not only are they similar to those found in the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, but similar motifs can be seen in the sculpture of the ancient Roman Ara Pacis.
Figure \(\PageIndex{60}\): Arches with acanthus motif in mosaic, Great Mosque of Damascus. (Photo: Judith McKenzie/Manar al-Athar, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
There are other strong connections to the visual traditions of the Mediterranean world—to Ptolemaic architecture in Egypt, to the architecture of the Treasury at Petra, and the wall paintings of Pompeii. By using these well-established architectural and artistic forms, the Umayyads were coopting and transforming the artistic traditions of earlier, once dominant religions and empires. The use of such media and imagery allowed the new faith to assert its supremacy. The mosaics and architecture of the Great Mosque signaled this new prominence to an audience that was still predominantly Christian, that Islam was as powerful a religion as Christianity. The subject of the mosaics remains debated to this day, with scholars arguing that the mosaics either represent heaven, based on an interpretation of Quranic verse, or the local landscape (including the Barada River).
Scholars traditionally attributed the creation of these mosaics to artisans from Constantinople because a twelfth-century text claimed that the Byzantine emperor had sent mosaicists to Damascus. However, recent scholarship has challenged this as the text that made this claim was written from a Christian perspective and is much later than the mosaics. Scholars now think that the mosaics were either created by local artisans, or possibly by Egyptian artisans (since Egypt also has a long tradition of decorating domes with mosaics).
The influence of the mosque and its artistry can be seen as far as a way as Cordoba, Spain, where the 8th century Umayyad ruler, Abd al-Rahman (the only survivor of a massive family assassination that sparked the Abbasid Revolution), had fled. The mihrab and the dome above in the Great Mosque of Cordoba was decorated in blue, green and gold mosaics, evoking his lost Syrian homeland.
The Umayyad mosque of Damascus is truly one of the great mosques of the early Islamic world and it is remains one of the world’s most important monuments. Unlike many of Syria’s historic buildings and archaeological sites, the mosque has survived the Syrian Civil War relatively unscathed and hopefully, will one day again welcome Syrians and tourists alike.
The Vibrant Visual Cultures of the Islamic West, an Introduction
by Dr. Sabahat Adil
The Strait of Gibraltar, a narrow waterway that runs between Spain and Portugal to the north and Morocco to the south, separates Europe from Africa (see map below). Although water divides the two continents, the strait has served as a bridge—and has encouraged lively exchange and dynamic interaction throughout the region. We tend to think of bridges as physical structures that help to guide people over an obstacle such as a body of water, but by looking at the history of the region, especially in terms of art and architecture, we can see that the Strait of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean Sea actually served to unify, and were instrumental in shaping the people, cultures, and histories of adjacent regions on two continents.
Figure \(\PageIndex{61}\): Map of the Mediterranean and west Asia in the 9th century. (Map via Smarthistory)
This essay provides an overview of the art and architecture of the Islamic West, a term that refers to the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal today) when it was under Islamic rule, and what is today Morocco in northwest Africa. Not only will we look at art and architecture that was produced by Muslims, but we will also explore striking examples of visual culture from Iberia’s Jewish and Christian communities, work that highlights the rich diversity and multiculturalism of medieval Iberia. Examples drawn from different dynasties demonstrate the remarkable degree of cultural exchange and interaction that flourished there.
Constructing an Islamic Identity
The victory of Muslim forces against the Visigoths at the Battle of Guadalete in 711 marked a new era in the history of the Iberian Peninsula. In the centuries that followed, the Islamic presence in the Iberian Peninsula, particularly its southern reaches, increased considerably.
In 755, the Umayyad dynasty was reestablished on the Iberian Peninsula (when the last surviving member of the family fled west after the triumph of the Abbasid caliphate). Although it predates the Umayyads, the city of Córdoba (in what is now southern Spain) developed rapidly under the dynasty as one of its capital cities. Both Córdoba and its surroundings boast incredible monuments that shed light on the visual cultures of early Islamic Iberia, a period when the Islamic presence in the region was rapidly growing, and there was an effort to establish a coherent and shared sense of identity in this new land.
Figure \(\PageIndex{63}\): Aerial view of the Great Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain, begun 786; cathedral in the center added 16th century. (Photo: Toni Castillo Quero, CC BY-SA 2.0)
The Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba in the city’s urban center and Madinat al-Zahra, a palatial complex outside of the city in the countryside, are two important sites of early Islamic Iberia. While the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba is more frequently discussed, Madinat al-Zahra is worth considering in detail. It does not always get the same attention as other monuments in and around the city because it lies mostly in ruins and has been the subject of ongoing archaeological excavations.
Figure \(\PageIndex{64}\): Aerial view of Madinat al-Zahra, mid 10th century, Córdoba, Spain. (Photo: David Abián, CC BY-SA 3.0 ES)
Madinat al-Zahra
Madinat al-Zahra serves as a great example of monumental art and architecture in al-Andalus (the term used to refer to the parts of Iberia under Islamic rule). Its components reflect connections and continuity with both the Roman and Visigothic heritage in this area, as well as the Islamic and Byzantine heritage of the eastern Mediterranean. Madinat al-Zahra was built by the 10th-century ruler Abd al-Rahman III who proclaimed an Umayyad caliphate in Iberia. Although Abd al-Rahman III began the construction of the palatial complex, his successor al-Hakam II continued to modify and add to it.
The palace complex consists of numerous buildings, including reception halls, mosques, homes, kitchens, and more, constructed over an expansive terraced landscape. The highest terrace was reserved for the caliph, his family, and members of the royal administration. The second terrace featured gardens, pools, and orchards. The third and lowest layer was the most public-facing and inclusive, featuring mosques, markets, military quarters, and more.
One of the highlights of Madinat al-Zahra was the Salón Rico, which was centrally located on the second terrace. It was a reception room for the caliph to meet and entertain foreign political delegations. The room is structured by two rows of horseshoe arches, three aisles, and an ornamental wall at one end. The marble used in much of the complex, including Salón Rico, was sourced from the Estremoz quarries in Portugal. The style of the components in this space, such as the use of acanthus leaves on the capitals, point to a reliance on Late Antique visual traditions.
Figure \(\PageIndex{66}\): Horseshoe arches at the North Gate, Madinat al-Zahra, Córdoba, Spain. (Photo: Jeroen van Luin, CC BY 2.0)Figure \(\PageIndex{67}\): Voussoirs, detail of the horseshoe arches at the North Gate, Madinat al-Zahra, Córdoba, Spain. (Photo: Francisco Jesus Ibañez, CC BY-SA 2.0)
Horseshoe arches, which appear widely throughout the Iberian Peninsula, are thought to have been developed under the Visigoths, while the alternating colored stones on the arches can be found in Umayyad architecture on the eastern side of the Mediterranean at sites such as the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. The alternating red-and-white voussoirs on the horseshoe arches are a striking feature at Madinat al-Zahra, and they can also be found on the arches at the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba and elsewhere.
Figure \(\PageIndex{68}\): Capital from Madinat al-Zahra, Córdoba, Spain. Archaeological Museum, Madinat al-Zahra. (Photo: Ángel M. Felicísimo, CC BY 2.0)
Vegetal patterns found on column capitals at Madinat al-Zahra (Figure \(\PageIndex{68}\)) are reminiscent of the artistic heritage of Islamic art and architecture of the eastern Mediterranean as well, particularly in Syria, when it was under the rule of the Umayyads.
These various elements demonstrate the extent to which the visual heritage of early Islamic Iberia was a conglomeration of elements drawn from a variety of distinct places and eras. Ultimately, Madinat al-Zahra was destroyed during a revolt in the early eleventh century, a time when Umayyad power had waned.
Figure \(\PageIndex{69}\): Pyxis of al-Mughira, possibly from Madinat al-Zahra, Córdoba, Spain, AH 357/968 CE. Carved ivory with traces of jade, 16 x 11.8 cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France. (Photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Portable art objects, including a number of ivory containers, express the luxurious aspects of life under the Umayyads as well as the connections that the Iberian Umayyads maintained with their heritage in the eastern Mediterranean. These containers, which are often highly ornamented with vegetal decoration and Arabic calligraphy, are called pyxides (plural), and they would have held anything from perfumes to relics (Figure \(\PageIndex{69}\)).
Figure \(\PageIndex{70}\): Panel from a rectangular box, made in Spain, probably Córdoba, 10th–early 11th century. Ivory with traces of pigment, 10.8 x 20.3 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. (Photo: public domain)
A panel of a pyxis (Figure \(\PageIndex{70}\)), made out of a solid piece of elephant ivory, is intricately carved and would have required a skilled set of craftspeople and painstaking effort to design and produce. Many of these containers still exist, along with other similar luxury goods from medieval Iberia, so there was clearly a market for such work, one that crossed identity lines. The prevalence of luxuries such as the pyxis, demonstrates how art traveled widely beyond religious and political lines. Pyxides were coveted by people outside of the Islamic context. The pyxides that were produced under the Muslims were valued and often taken as booty. They were presented and became reliquaries in Christian contexts.
The Great Mosque of Córdoba
by Dr. Shadieh Mirmobiny
Figure \(\PageIndex{71}\): Aerial view of the Great Mosque of Cordoba, Córdoba, Spain, begun 786 and enlarged during the 9th and 10th centuries. (Photo: Ulamm, CC BY-SA 3.0)
Known locally as Mezquita-Catedral, the Great Mosque of Córdoba is one of the oldest structures still standing from the time Muslims ruled Al-Andalus (Muslim Iberia including most of Spain, Portugal, and a small section of Southern France) in the late 8th century. Córdoba is a two hour train ride south of Madrid, and draws visitors from all over the world.
Temple/church/mosque/church
The buildings on this site are as complex as the extraordinarily rich history they illustrate. Historians believe that there had first been a temple to the Roman god, Janus, on this site. The temple was converted into a church by invading Visigoths who seized Córdoba in 572. Next, the church was converted into a mosque and then completely rebuilt by the descendants of the exiled Umayyads—the first Islamic dynasty who had originally ruled from their capital Damascus (in present-day Syria) from 661 until 750.
A new capital
Following the overthrow of his family (the Umayyads) in Damascus by the incoming Abbasids, Prince Abd al-Rahman I escaped to southern Spain. Once there, he established control over almost all of the Iberian Peninsula and attempted to recreate the grandeur of Damascus in his new capital, Córdoba. He sponsored elaborate building programs, promoted agriculture, and even imported fruit trees and other plants from his former home. Orange trees still stand in the courtyard of the Mosque of Córdoba, a beautiful, if bittersweet reminder of the Umayyad exile.
Figure \(\PageIndex{72}\): Hypostyle hall, Great Mosque at Cordoba, Spain, begun 786 and enlarged during the 9th and 10th centuries. (Photo: wsifrancis, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
The hypostyle hall
The building itself was expanded over two hundred years. It is comprised of a large hypostyle prayer hall, a courtyard with a fountain in the middle, an orange grove, a covered walkway circling the courtyard, and a minaret (a tower used to call the faithful to prayer) that is now encased in a squared, tapered bell tower. The expansive prayer hall seems magnified by its repeated geometry. It is built with recycled ancient Roman columns from which sprout a striking combination of two-tiered, symmetrical arches, formed of stone and red brick.
Figure \(\PageIndex{73}\): Mihrab, Great Mosque at Córdoba, Spain (Photo: jamesdale10, CC BY 2.0)
The mihrab
The focal point in the prayer hall is the famous horseshoe arched mihrab or prayer niche. A mihrab is used in a mosque to identify the wall that faces Mecca—the birth place of Islam in what is now Saudi Arabia. This is practical as Muslims face toward Mecca during their daily prayers. The mihrab in the Great Mosque of Córdoba is framed by an exquisitely decorated arch behind which is an unusually large space, the size of a small room. Gold tesserae (small pieces of glass with gold and color backing) create a dazzling combination of dark blues, reddish browns, yellows and golds that form intricate calligraphic bands and vegetal motifs that adorn the arch.
The horseshoe arch
Figure \(\PageIndex{74}\): Mihrab and dome above the maqsura, Great Mosque at Cordoba, Spain. (Photo: bongo vongo, CC BY-SA 2.0)
The horseshoe-style arch was common in the architecture of the Visigoths, the people that ruled this area after the Roman empire collapsed and before the Umayyads arrived. The horseshoe arch eventually spread across North Africa from Morocco to Egypt and is an easily identified characteristic of Western Islamic architecture (though there are some early examples in the East as well).
The dome
In front of the mihrab, above the maqsura, is an equally dazzling dome. It is built of crisscrossing ribs that create pointed arches all lavishly covered with gold mosaic in a radial pattern. This astonishing building technique anticipates later Gothic rib vaulting, though on a more modest scale.
The Great Mosque of Córdoba is a prime example of the Muslim world’s ability to brilliantly develop architectural styles based on pre-existing regional traditions. Here is an extraordinary combination of the familiar and the innovative, a formal stylistic vocabulary that can be recognized as “Islamic” even today.
