ISLAM
BACKGROUND: ARABS
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Semitic – speaking
Nomads
Arabian peninsula
Tribes ruled by sheikh
Caravan trade Persian Gulf to
Mediterranean; by 640 ruled Syria,
Palestine and Iraq;642 Lower Egypt; 711 S
Spain and 732 the advance was stopped
• Allah symbolized by a sacred stone in each
tribe
• All tribes worshipped The Black Stone in
the Kabah in Mecca
• Trade shift directed trade through Mecca
• Result=conflict between merchants and
Bedouins
MUHAMMED
• Born in Mecca
• Worried by humility of Bedouins and greed
of merchants
• Knew of Moses and Jesus
• Cave visit-believed he heard final
revelations from Allah
• Written form=QURAN
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Began preaching for conversion
Moved from Mecca to Medina
Became religious and political leader
630AD conquered Mecca
ISLAM: “submission to the will
of Allah”
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Holy book=QURAN
One god=Allah=monotheistic
Prophets=Moses, Jesus, Muhammed
Hegira=journey to Medina=year 1
No separation between religious and
political authority
• Belief in salvation and afterlife
Dome of the Rock
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Jerusalem
1st great Islamic building
Caliph Abd al-Malik ( patron)
Tribute to the triumph of Islam when the
Byzantines were driven from the city
• Rises from the Noble Enclosure ( site of the
Temple of Solomon, burial of Adam,
Abraham’s preparation for sacrifice of Isaac
• Rock is the site where Muhammed
journeyed to heaven and returned to Mecca
• Domed (60X75) octagon (similar to?)
• Church of the Holy Sepulchre is nearby
• Exterior renovated with tile (once mosaic)
Great Mosque Damascus
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New capital 661
Patron: caliph al-Walid
On the site of a Christian church
Church destroyed but Roman precinct used
Essential terms
• Mosque
• Maqsura: area reserved for the caliph &
family
• Mihrab: niche in the qibla wall
• Mihrab dome
• Minbar:pulpit on which the iman stands
• Minaret: tower to call to prayer
• Muqarna: stucco decoration with stalactielike forms which break the solidity
• Qibla wall: wall in the direction of Mecca
toward which Muslims pray
Mosque = place of prostration
(worship)
Great Mosque, Cordoba, Spain
• Abd al-Rahman=founder of the Ummayad
dynasty
• Capital = Cordoba
• Hypostyle hall with 36 piers and 514
columns with double tiered arches for roof
support
• Caliph al-Hakam II renovated and expanded
it
• Tesserae (tiles) for mosaics were brought
from Constantinople as were the mosaicists
• Dome over the mihrab is on octagon of
squinches
• Mosaics are by same mosaicists who
completed the maqsura
• Ribs crisscross to form intricate decoration
Portal of Cordoba
Cordoba Mosque
AlHambra: Granada, Spain
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Alhambra=‘the red’
Rose colored stone
14th = a city with 40,000 residents
Built by the Nasrids
Dome in the hall of Abencerrajes sits on
octagonal drum with supported by
squinches with 8 windows
• Covered with 5000 muquarnas to catch the
light and emulate heaven
• The walls have inscriptions from Ibn
Zamrak (court poet) who describes the
symbols
Court of the Lions, the Alhambra
Sinan, The Selimiye Cami, Edirne,
Turkey, 1570-74
Minaret, tower for muezzins
Dome of Masjid-i Shah
1200
1400
FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM
• BELIEF IN MUHAMMED AS PROPHET
• PRAY 5X PER DAY AND PUBLICLY AT
MIDDAY ON FRIDAY
• OBSERVE RAMADAN
• PILGRIMMAGE TO MECCA =HAJJ
• GIVING TO POOR AND
UNFORTUNATE
• SHARIAH=code of laws for ethical
behaviour: forbidden to gamble, forbidden
to eat pork, forbidden to drink alcohol,
forbidden to be dishonest
• Sexual standards = strict
• Marriage arranged
• Unmarried men and women’s contact
discouraged
Islamic Art
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Highest form of art
Holy task
Scribe had spiritual refinement
Earliest was kufic
Consonants with red
Chapter title
The Prophet Muhammad and his Companions
Traveling to the Fair
• Pigments and gold/paper
• Prophet’s face not shown
HOW DO THE ARABS
DEMONSTRATE CULTURAL
DIFFUSION AND
ASSIMILATION?
Taj Mahal
Arabic Calligraphy on large pishtaq of the Taj Mahal
Contributions
• 9th –13th centuries Arabic the language of
science
• Texts on math from India
• Introduced paper from China
• Numerical system with zero from India
• Created algebra
• Aware that Earth was round
• Perfected the astrolabe
• Ibn Sina=Avicenna: wrote medical
encyclopedia that stressed contagious nature
of disease
ISLAMIC ART
• What characterizes Islamic architecture
• What was forbidden in early Islamic art?
• For what was Cordoba known?
Sikh Golden Temple (India)