ISLAMIC

ARCHITECTURE

BY

PROF. SATTAR KHEIRI, M. A.

LONDON

JOHN TIRANTI AND COMPANYM A P L E S T R E E T , T O T T E N H A M C O U R T R O A D

I 9 2 3

TOMY CHILDREN ZEINEB AND ABDUR-RAHMAN

Printed in Germany by Ernst Wasmuth A.-G., Berlin

“Verily, God is beautiful und He loves Beauty.״״ Muhammad.

Those, who are well aware of the results of five years of propaganda during the Great War against the nations, who have the same religion, are almost of the same race and possess practically the same culture and civilisation as the people of the enemy countries, will not find it strange at all that all sorts of falsehoods and lies against the Moslems and Islam have become proverbial in Europe and America, where the people will not, in fact cannot, see the truth, after a damaging propaganda lasting for one thousand three hundred years.

There have been occasional scholars in both Europe and America, who have recognized the truth more or less and called attention to the contribution of Islam and the Moslem to the real welfare of humanity. But theirs has been a voice crying in the wilderness. Age-long prejudices cannot be banished in a score of years.

Islam is regarded in the West as a stumbling-block in the way of progress. It is a common belief that according to Islam, woman has no soul. Charges have been brought against Islam that it is an enemy of science and art. It has been also alleged that its morality is rather of a low type. All this has been and is being said in the face of contradictory facts.

Pursuit of sciences and the search after Truth is indeed a religious duty for every Moslem, man and woman. The Koran is full of such commands, and the Prophet’s exhortations in this respect. are very emphatic: “Teach science, whoever teaches it fears God; whoever desires it adores God; whoever speaks of it praises God; whoever diffuses it distributes alms; whoever possesses it becomes an object of veneration and respect. Science preserves us from error and from sin; it illuminates the road to paradise; it is our protector in travel, our confident in the desert, o!ur companion in solitude. It guides us through the pleasures and sorrows of life; it serves us alike as an ornament among our friends and as a shield against our enemies; it is through its instrumentality that the Almighty raises up those whom He has appointed to determine the good and the true. The memories of such are the only ones which shall survive. Science is a potent remedy for the infirmities of ignorance, is a brilliant beacon in the night of injustice. The study of letters is as meritorious as fasting; their com-

57424 !

Islamic Architecture4

mimi;:ation is not inferior' tb prayer; in a generous heart they awaken the most sublime Sfcnthnentsr to the wicked they impart the corrective and humanizing precept of virtue.”

In introducing the reader to Islamic architecture it would not be out of place to say a few words about Islam itself. In the first place it differs from all other religions in that it gives complete unity to life. It is not a religion in the narrow sense as religion is understood now-a-days in Europe and America. It is not a private affair. It is not going to church or the mosque and performing certain ceremonies. It permeates the whole activity of life. It is life itself. It is what the Germans call Erlebnis. Praying, fasting, pilgrimages, etc. is not Islam. These are only the so-called pillars of Islam. They are the helps to preserve Islam, the life of love and duty to Allah, His creations and oneself.

Secondly Islam is the religion, as stated in the Koran, which was taught by Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad; in fact all the prophets in every part of the world throughout the ages. Allah has sent His Messengers to all the peoples of the earth. So there is in reality only one religion, though taught by different Messengers, in different countries, at different times. This religion is called by Allah, Islam. As Goethe said: “If Islam means resignation to God, then we all live and die in Islam.” And further: “The chief aim of the Koran seems to have been to unite the believers of the three different religions/’ Kant says: “ There is only one (true) religion.” Indeed, according to Islamic doctrines, all the prophets have taught the same religion. But the original teachings were lost because they were mixed with many doctrines of various origins. For this reason it has become impossible to distinguish the true from the false. Only what Muhammad has taught has come down to us unalloyed in its original form. No enemy of Islam has yet been able to prove, in spite of every possible endeavour, that the Koran does not contain the original teachings of Islam. Therefore the teachings of all the Messengers of God are preserved in the Koran. The greatest thing in Islam is that it recognises, in principle, all the great teachers of Truth. It is therefore the only religion in which all religions are submerged and re-emerge as the one true religion of humanity, as Kant has said.

Thirdly, Islam does not require its followers to believe in anything irrational. A Moslem need not believe anything which is against reason. The only dogma, if it can be called so, is this: “There is no God except Allah, and Muhammad is His Messenger.” This is the Moslem formula of Faith. Its simple repetition makes a man Moslem. If then he does hot follow the practices of Islam he is a bad Moslem. From the belief in God follows the belief in all the other prophets, the belief in a life after death, in rewards and punishments. This belief does not contradict reason. It is ultra-rational, not irrational.

5Islamic Architecture

Fourthly, Islam is not only the religion of the individual, but also of the community. It is the only religion which socialism can adopt, if it knows enough about it. It alone can give bread to all. It alone can abolish war. It alone can make of the world a great family. It not only teaches those social virtues, without which no society can thrive for long, but encourages, in fact makes obli­gatory the establishment of those institutions, which make the practice of such virtue a necessity. In this sense Islam is an organization for the good of humanity.

It is not possible to enter into details. I know how many more questions the reader could ask me, how differently he sees Islam in the world. Woman, for instance, far from -being denied a soul in Islam, is always mentioned in the Koran as the equal of man. For “woman” the Koran uses the word “Sahibeh”, which means “comrade”. In Islam a woman is a fully independent being, a per­fect individual. No religion has raised her to such a high position as Islam. But, as I saidy the details cannot be given here. My aim is only to stimulate interest in further study.

Muhammad, the man, who was chosen by Allah, to declare to man His latest message, was born in Mecca, in April 569 or 570. His whole life from childhood on was the most exemplary. He was the trusted man of the city. A t the age of twenty-five he married a widow almost double his own age, with whom alone he lived till her death. A t the age of forty Allah’s Revelation came to him. At first he had little success and much opposition. He was soon violently perse­cuted. He was invited by the people of Medina where he went in 622. The hostility of the Meccans was extented to the people of Medina. Some fighting resulted. Twice Medina was attacked and besieged. 'This laid the foundation of the Islamic state, and Muhammad finally became the founder of a religion, a state, and a culture.

Soon the whole of Arabia adopted Islam and came under its sway. Muham­mad died in 632 and was succeeded by Abou Bekr, as the head of the Islamic community. Abou Bekr was the first Caliph, the president of the Moslem republic, the first real democratic state in the world. He was followed by the Great Omar, under whom the whole of Persia and the greater part of the former Roman Empire were incorporated in the rapidly growing Islamic republic. It was not long before the Moslem cry of “Allaho-Akbar” (God is Great) rang from the shores of the Atlantic to the Pacific. Thus hundreds of nations of various grades of culture and civilizations came under the sway of Islam. The seed of Islam, sown in so many countries, produced the most won­derful fruit. The great heterogeneous mass of peoples was fused into a more or less homogeneous whole. From this sprang the uniform culture of Islam. Islamic culture is the result of synthesis of many cultures. The Moslem world to-day is the most wonderful phenomenon of uniformity in variety.

Islamic Architecture6

II.

Islamic institutions have th־eir origin in the fact that they were needed. Necessity is the mother of invention. It has been said that the Moslem have contributed little original matter to culture and civilization. This reminds me of a funny but instructive story told by Mark Twain. He once ·heard a celebrated preacher. At the end of the service he was introduced to Mark Twain who praised his sermon, but declared that there was nothing new in it. He had a book at home in which every word of his sermon could be found. The clergy­man, of course, protested vehemently, saying that it was his original sermon, that he had only prepared it the night before, that it was impossible to find it anywhere. Mark Twain only remarked that he would send the book. By the next mail the clergyman recieved a dictionary.

The Moslems are the most tolerant people the world has ever seen. They were always ready to adopt whatever they found useful. They did not disdain to learn from strangers. Their Prophet has said: “Wisdom is the stray camel of the Faithful, take hold of it wherever you find it”. — But whatever they took frbm others, they gave it a colouring of their own, so that it could be regarded as their own work./The Taj Mahal at Agra is a product of Islam and India, as the Alhambra is the result of the genius of Islam in Spain. Both are not imita­tions of anything known. Both are original in conception, in design and in composition. One is in the East, the other in the West. How different they are from one another! Yet the very spirit of Islam breathes in them and makes them the product of a uniform culture.

What Europe and its civilisation owe to Islam is little known to the world. On the contrary wholly wrong ideas are prevalent about Islam and the Moslem Islam is also regarded as the enemy of art. I can refute this if I only repeat the saying of the Prophet: “Verily, God is beautiful, and He loves beauty”, and point to the art creations produced by the Moslem under the direct influence of their religion. Professor Sarre, the greatest specialist of Moslem art in Europe, has very justly remarked: “It is astonishing, how little the art of the IslamicOrient is know n......... One no longer remembers that it was from the IslamicOrient that during the Middle Ages Europe received all its luxuries and costly things, that the Orient had long been regarded the home of every fine comfort and higher scientific and artistic activity, that the silk stuffs and carpets coming out of the East partly determined the decorative forms of the West and have exercised a significant influence on the development of colour in Italian painting at the time of the Renaissance.”

7Islamic Architecture

If I were to enumerate the contributions of the Moslem to the various sciences and arts, how they have given a new meaning to life, what tremendous additions they have made to our daily comforts, I should far transgress the space at my disposal. Imagine life without paper, scales, the compass, sugar, chemi­stry, and underclothings, and then perhaps we can form a slight idea of the vast debt modern civilisation owes to Islam. But let us now turn our attention to the subject of this little book: Islamic Architecture.

III.

“As in the architectural monuments of every people can be read the chronic­les of their religion, its government, and its manners, so the existing buildings of the Moslems constitute an invaluable record of the canons of their faith, the customs of their social and intellectual life, the growth and consolidation of their wonderful empire.” (Scott.)

As Islam is an all-embracing religion, so the mosque, its so-called house of worship, is the centre of Moslem life. The first building raised by the Moslem was the Mosque in Medina in 623, in the building of which the Prophet himself took part. This mosque was at the same time the meeting place of the Islamic Community. It also served as the home where strangers were received and entertained. The Prophet s own house was attached to it, and here he lies buried, together with Abou Bekr and Omar. Since then this first house of worship, the symbol of the union of religion and secularism, of soul and body, of faith, and reason, has been very often repaired and considerably enlarged, so that only the old site of the original building can be identified. It has nevertheless been the model after which other mosques have been built.

To a Moslem mosque are usually attached a library, school, college or a uni­versity, a boarding-house for students and travellers, a dining-hall for the needy, bathing and washing rooms, and sometimes a hospital, accordin&to whether the mosque is large or small. A cemetery with tomb of the founder ,̂ is sometimes a part of it. It has, of course, been the most important place *pf meeting. The district council usually meets here. Here too are the premises for polling for the election of the deputies.

The mosques and the tombs are the most extant of Moslem architectural monuments, as the sanctity attached to them has often helped to spare them. Of the secular buildings very little indeed remains. But we have still enough to form a very accurate idea of Moslem architecture. It is of course impossible to enter into any details here. The subject, to use an oriental expression, is as vast as an ocean, it is not possible to contain it into a vase. The field is too wide, reaching

Islamic Architecture8

from the shores of the Atlantic to those of the Pacific, comprising a population estimated from 270 to 350 Millions people, as different from one another as the Moors, the Arabs, the Turks, the Berbers, the Indians, the Negroes, the Chinese, and the Javanese. The subject is very complex indeed. It cannot thouroughly be dealt with in a few, nor even in some hundred pages. My aim is only to give hints and to create interest and sympathy in the readers for a very little known and much misunderstood subject: Islamic culture. The principles of this culture are even now daily gaining ground in the West, and slowly and unconsciously spreading over the world. Almost all the reform movements in politics, in legislation and morals point to this fact. The West is rapidly moving uncon­sciously towards it. W ould it therefore be not wiser to know whither one is going ?

Islam is international, so is its art, and consequently its architecture. Its study in the spirit of learning can be of the utmost importance for the well-being of humanity.

Saladin has divided Islamic Architecture into the follwing five schools: Syro-Egyptian, Moghrib (West), including Spain and all Nothern Africa, Per­sian, Ottoman, and Indian.

At the beginning the Moslem made use of existing buildings and adapted them to their needs. Thus churches were turned into mosques. They then made use of materials taken from old buildings and ruins. When this was exhausted, they were forced to make use of their own unaided genius. “Thus was developed that peculiar style, which differing in its arrangements in every country, yet preserved a general resemblance in all, a type suggestive of the poetic Rhapso­dies of the Koran and the exigencies of a system of domestic seclusion and mysteries; whose legends breathed a spirit of pious resignation and gratitude; whose adornments bewildered the eye with their complexity of form and colour! The intimate connection and the common belief of the different portions of the great Moslem Empire disseminated far and wide the various stores of learning and experience acquired by each; the principles of every branch of art became more thoroughly understood and their application facilitated and promoted through the encouragement afforded by increasing wealth and royal liberality. The early predilection displayed by the Arab student for exact science con­tributed largely to the development of perfection of architectural excellence.” (Scott.)

If one considers all the differences of country and climate, one may assert that Moslem architecture is homogeneous and uniform, and possesses a number of characteristic features of its own. The greatest stress laid on the Unity of God and the express interdiction of the worship of images almost prevented the production of pictures and statuary in Islamic art. But this led to the discovery of still higher forms of decorative styles in architecture and art

9Islamic Architecture

handicrafts: for instance, the arabesque. The Arabic alphabet was used in decorations from Spain to India and produced the most distinguished calli- graphists. The pointed arch is another feature which is especially characte­ristic of Moslem art. “No people ever attained to greater distinction in the graceful outlines, the exquisiti beauty, the elaborated decoration of their edifices. Stucco is a speciallity of their mural decoration in the west. The secret of its making has been unfortunately lost.” The use of glazed tiles was also a peculiarity of Islamic art. Niches, in spite of some contradictions of opinions, are a peculiar speciality of their buildings. Stalactitic pendants are only the accumulation of a number of niches together. The semi-domed portal, so very much praised by Fergusson as a perfectly satisfactory solution of a problem, which exercised the ingenuity of architects in all ages, but was more successfully treated by Saracenic (Moslem) architects than by others in only the most admirable structural application of the niche, arch and dome, play the most important part in Islamic architecture. In both the strengthening and embellish­ment of his work no artist ever made use of the arch with greater effect than the Moslem. They had the horse-shoe arch, the engrailed arch, slightly pointed arch, polyfoil arch, and the ogival arch. The weight of authority is on the side that the “Ogival arch, whose adaption is so prominent a feature of the Gothic construction, was introduced into Europe through Sicily or Spain.” (Scott.)

Moslem architecture is mostly the result of inspiration from religious ideals, Islam is stern and simple. So is the true Islamic life. There are many extant buildings testifying to this marvellous strength and force.

The theory of Islamic life is based on work and duty. The motive power for this work is derived from the zeal created out of the love of God, the result of it is the love for His creations. It is only after his work has been finished, and his duty done that the Moslem has any right to artistic enjoyment. Thus Islamic aesthetics are founded on the theory of the pause in life of work. Hence, the Moslem Paradise is an aesthetic ideal. It is a garden with water flowing under the most beautiful pavilions. There the highest aesthetic enjoyment will be the sight of the perfect beauty of Allah Himself. Moslem poets and writers have written very much about the beauties and joys of this paradise. The Koran, however, says that Allah has prepared for His dutiful creatures such a paradise that the eye of man has not seen, nor e!ar heard, or mind imagined. But the mind of man for all that, has tried to conceive it. Thus the ideal Moslem Paradise has exercised very great influence on the minds of men, including princes and sovereigns. Great rulers have called the most famous architects and artisans, from every part of the world to help in the building of edifices resembling this ideal paradise. We know the name and nationality of every architect and artist employed in the building of the Taj at Agra by the Emperor Shah Jehan. We

Islamic Architecture10

know that Timur engaged the masters of crafts from every country in beau״ tifying his capital Samarkand. We know how the best men of science and *arts flocked to the courts of the Muslim princes in Spain. This also explains to a great extent the uniformity existing in the buildings of the Moslem throughout the world. But beautiful as the edifices of Spain, Cairo and Constantinople are, the buildings raised by the Moslem in India surpass them all. Nowhere do the Moslem edifices show such a proportionate harmony with structural intentions as they do in India .. The parts are so “finely proportioned and perfectly ad­justed to the whole building as never to disturb the balance or structural design.”

Islamic Architecture reached its climax in India. The Alhambra in Spain is wonderfully beautiful, some mosques in Cairo are really sublime, but as Havel has said: “All the great monuments of Saracenic art in India surpass those of Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, and Spain . . . The mosques of Cairo and Constantinople seem to be almost expressionless in plan and weak in construction in compari­son with those of Bidjapur, Delhi, Fatehpur*Sikri and Ahmedabad. The coloured stucco and the sharp geometry of Alhambra appear cold and monotonous by the side of the extravagant strength and richness of ideas of the Mughal palaces in India.”

Just as Islamic architecture in India has reached its highest aesthetic point, so is Islam still more vital there than anywhere else. I do not say so because I am an Indian. On the contrary, being dissatisfied with India, I had left it as long ago as 1904. Since then I have lived in the most important parts of the Moslem world, and have learned to know it as few have done. I have worked hand in hand with the people in those countries for the intellectual and spiritual exal­tation, have studied them together with their aspirations and methods. I look to India for the revival of Islamic culture and its further development. Arabs too have all the capabilities, and naturally much better opportunities, but as they are at present, I cannot conceive of any inner development for many years to come. Perhaps they do not have the courage to stand for bold ideals, perhaps they have lost those ideals, perhaps they see the impossibility of realising them. As far as the Turks are concerned, they never understood Islam, and to-day are as far from it as they ever were. The majority of their educated people have hardly anything to do with Islam. Few ,people have exploited Islam more than those often at the heads of affairs in Turkey. Without the slightest doubt there are no people in the world, who are ever so ready to sacrifice all for their ideals as the people of India.

India has been the land of wisdom and philosophy. The seed of Islam has not been sown in its soil in vain. The Islamic-Indian spirit can perform wonders. The world must study it. It may save humanity.

11Islamic Architecture

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Al-Makkari: History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain. London, 1840.Borrmann, R.: Vom Stadtebau im islamiscjien Osten. Berlin, 1918,Davenport: An Apology for Mohammed and the Koran. London, 1869.Delitzsch, F.: Die Welt des Islam. Berlin, Wien, 1915.Dieulafoy, M.: L’art antique de la Perse. Paris 1884—89.

— Die Kunst in Spanien und Portugal. Stuttgart, 1913.Diez, E.: Die Kunst der islamischen Volker. Berlin-Neubabelsberg, 1915.

— Churasanische Baudenkmaler. Berlin, 1918.— und Gluck, H.: Alt-KonstantinopeL Miinchen-Pasing, 1920.

Djemal-Pasqha, A.: Alte Denkmaler aus Syrien, P alas tin a und Arabien. Berlin.Dozy: Essai sur l’Histoire de Tlslamisme. Leyde, 1879.

— Histoire des Musulmans d'Espagne. Leyde, 1861.Edhem Pascha, unter dem Schutz: Ottomanische Baukunst. Konstantinopel, 1873. Endres, F. C.: Die Tiirkei. Miinchen.Fergusson, J.: History of Indian and Eastern Architecture. London, 1876—1910.Flandin, E. et Coste, P.: Voyage en Perse. Paris, 1846—54.Franz: J.: Die Baukunst des Islam. Darmstadt,1887 ׳.Gliick, H.: Der Breit- und Langhausbau in Syrien. Heidelberg, 1916.

— Probleme des Wolbungsbaues. Die Bader in Konstantinopel. Wien, 1921.Goury, J. and Jones, O.: Plans, elevations, sections and details of the Alhambra. London,

1842—45.Griggs, W.: Photographs and Drawings of Historical Buildings in India. London 1896. Gurlitt, C.: Die Baukunst Konstantinopels. Berlin, 1912.Havell, I. B.: Handbook to Agra and the Tadj, etc. London, 1912.

— Indian Architecture. London, 1913.Hielscher, K.: Das unbekannte Spanien. Berlin, 1922.Hover, O.: Kultbauten des Islam. Leipzig, 1922.Kremer: Culturgeschichte des Orients. Wien, 1875.Von Kremer: Geschichte der herrschenden Ideen des Islams. Leipzig, 1868.Kutschmann, R.: Die Meisterwerke saracenisch-normannischer Kunst in Sicilien und

Unteritalien. Berlin, 1910.Langenegger, F.: Die Baukunst des Iraq. Dresden, 1911.Le Bon: La Civilisation des Arabes. Paris, 1884.Marcais, W. et G.: Les Monuments arabes de Tlemcen. Paris, 1903.Montani Effendi: Architecture ottomane.Much, H.: Islamik. Hamburg, 1921.Muller, A.: Der Islam im Morgen- und Abendland. Berlin, 1885—87.Murphy, J. C.: The Arabian Antiquities of Spain. London, 1815.Musil, A.: Kuseir Amra. Wien, 1907.

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Grault de Prangey: Monuments arabes et moresques de Cordoue, Seville et Granade Paris, 1833—37.

Rivoira, G. T.: Architettura musulmana. Milano, 1914.De la Roche, E.: Indische Baukunst. Miinchen, 1921.Saladin, H.: Manuel d’art Musulman, Band I. L’architecture. Paris, 1907.Sarre, Fr.: Konia, Seldschukische Baudenkmaler. Berlin, 1921.

— Denkmaler persischer Baukunst. Berlin, 1901—1908.— Mokam Ali am Euphrat. Berlin, 1918.

Schack, A.F. Graf von: Poesie undKunst der Araber inSpanien undSicilien. Stuttgart, 1877. Schubert, von, Zdenko Ritter. Die Baudenkmaler in Bochara. Wien, 1899.

— Die Baudenkmaler in Samarkand. Wien, 1898.Schulz, W. Ph.: Welt des Islam. Miinchen-Pasing, 1917.Scott, S. P.: History of the Morish Empire in Europe. London, Philadelphia, 1904.Smith Bosworth: Mohammed and Mohammedanism. London, 1876.Syed Amir Ali: A short History of the Saracenes. London.

.The Spirit of Islam. London, 1922 ׳—Thiersch: Pharus, Antike, Islam, Okzident. Leipzig, 1909.Uhde, C.: Baudenkmaler in Spanien und Portugal. Berlin, 1892.Weltzel, Frd.: Islamische Grabbauten in Indien 1320—1580. Leipzig, 1918.

Plan of the Mosque in Medina (from a drawing by Saladin)

13Islamic Architecture

LIST OF PLATES.Picturer l . Cordova. Interior of the Great Mosque. Founded in 785 by the first Caliph in

Spain, Abd-er-Rahman. Enlarged by Hisham L (793—796), Hakem II. and Hakem III (988—1001). It is 167 metres long and 119׳ (967—961)metres broad, has 20 doors, 1 tower and 100 cupolas supported by 1106 pillars each 50 cm thick and 4 metres high, of marble, porphyry, jasper and breccia.

2. Toledo. Interior of Santa Maria la Blanca. Built in the XII Century.3. Seville. Alcazar (Palace). Court of the Ladies, Hall of the Ambassadors. Con־־

structed for Mohammed-en-Nasser by the architect Jaloubiinll99—1200, restored in 1353 and 1403.

4. Granada. Mihrab in the Tower de las Damas of Alhambra, the world-famons palacebult by the Muslims during the XIV and XV centuries, regarded as the pure creation of their genius.

5. Granada. Tower of Myrtle in the Alhambra, under Yussuf I and Mohammed V(1333—1391).

6. Near Seville. Burg Alcala de los Panader, constructed by Abou Yakub in 1472—73.7. Tangier (Morocco). Hall of Justice in a castle. Late Moorish Style about 1550.8. Tlemcen (Algier). Side entrance to the Mosque of Side Bu Medine. Built in 1339,

restored in the XVIII Century.9. Cairo. Minaret of El*Azhar Mosque. The mosque was founded by Jafer, the

slave of the first Fatimite Sultan of Egypt in 978. Great additions were made by Kait Bey (1468—96) and Abd-er-Rahman Katkhoda etc. (XVIII Century).

10. Cairo. Mosque with tomb of Kait Bey, built in the XV century. It is regardedas one of the most beautiful and the purest monument of Egypt.

11. Cairo. A street in the Tulun Quarter.12. Redda (Yemen). Cupolas of the Turriya Mosque.13. The Town of Ibb (Yemen) with water canal.

^14. Jerusalem. View from north of the Harem Sharif. In the background is seen the Kubbetes-Sakhra (rock-dome). It was built by order of the Caliph Abdel M̂ alik in 694.

15. Damascus. Court of the Ommiade Mosque. This was often destroyed by fire; lastrepaired in 1893. Only the general form of the mosque built by the Caliph Walid, the son of Abdel-Malik, in 707 has remained.

16. Constantinople. Interior of the Mosque of Sultan Ahmed, build by the architectSadefkiar Ahmed Agha in 1609—1616. It has been considered to possess the highest artistic value.

17. Constantinople. Exterior View of the Mosque of Sultan Ahmed, the only mosquewith six minarets.

18. Constantinople. Fountain in Osei.19. Constantinople. Fountain in Eyyub.

Islamic Architecture14Picture20. Constantinople. Chinili Kiosk (Porcelain Pavilion) in Topkapu Serai (Old Seraglio),

built by order of Sultan Muhammed II, the conqueror of Constantinople, from 1466—70, by the architect Kemaleddin, restored in 1590 under Murad III.

21. Constantinople. Fountain in the Court of Aya Sophia Mosque, a charming work ofold style, unsurpassed in the beauty of composition.

22. Konia. Gate of the Mosque of Sahib-i-Ata. The mosque is supported on woodenpillars, but this gate is constructed of sandstone, the imposing minaret of bricks. The architect was Mamluk (or Mallum ibn Abdulla), built about XIII Century.

23. Isfahan. Pavilion on the north end of the Chahar Bagh, built under Shah Abbas Ithe Grea^ (1587—1629).

24. Samarkand. Medresseh (School) of Ulugh Beg, one of the three schools whichbound the three sides of the Market Square called Registan. This is on the western side and was built by Ulugh Beg, the grandson of Timur, in 1447-49.

25. Kascan. Livan in the Meidan Mosque, a remnant of the XIII—XIV Centuries.26. Samarkand. Mausoleum of Timur, said to have been built in 1370 by the architect

Muhammed ibn Mahmud of Isfahan.27. Isfahan. Minaret of Hodja Alam, built about the end of XIII or the beginning of

the XIV Century.28. Bostam. Tower near the Masjid (mosque) Juma, known as the tomb of a saint,

built at the command of the Mongol Ghasan Khan (1295—1301).29. Jurjan. Gumbed-i־Qabus, the tomb of the Amir Shams-el־Ma*ali, of the Amir

Shamklir (997?) the interior is empty, height 49 metres, circumference 19 m, diameter inside 9,64 m, diameter outside 15,64 m,

30. Bukhara. Minaret Kalyan, about 60 metres high, built about XIII—XIV Centuries?31. Old Delhi. Qutub Minar. Minaret of the Quwwat-el-Islam Mosque, commenced by

Qutub־ed־Din Aibek, the conqueror of Delhi, in 1200 and completed by his successor Shams-ed-Din Altamesh in 1220. Restored by Firoz Shah and others.

32. Delhi. Juma Mesjid (Great Mosque), built by order of the Emperor Shah Jehan,in 1644—58, on a rock.

33. Delhi. The Pearl Mosque in the Royal Palace, built by the Emperor Shah Jehan,between 1638 and 1648, an exceedingly charming and exquisite piece of architecture.

34. Ahmedabad (India). To the left the tomb, to the right the mosque of Rani Sipari,completed in 1514. The minarets, according to Fergusson, are “Surpassing in beauty of outline and richness of detail those of Cairo״״.

35. Ahmedabad (India). Glorious marble lattice in the Sidi Sayyeds Mosque, built inthe early part of the XVI century. In this kind of window-tracery India stands alone.

36. Agra. The Taj Mahal, with mosque and Jama*at Khana, from the side of theriver Jumma, built by the Emperor Shah Jehan, from 1631 to 1648 and 1653, as the last resting place of his beloved wife Mumtaz MahaL Regar* ded as the most beau iful building of the world. It is a great ideal concept tion, which belongs more to sculpture than to architecture.

15Islamic Architecture

ire

Sikandra, near Agra. Mausoleum of Akbar, the Great, planned by himself and completed by his son Jnhangir in 1613.

Agra. Mausoleum of Itimad-ed-Daula, the prime-minister and father-in-law e*t the Emperor Jehangir, built by his daughter the famous Nur Jehan, the Light of the World. Completed in 1628.

Near Delhi. The tomb of Shah Akbar.Door of an Indian middle-class house.Delhi. The Royal Palace. Interior of the Diwan-i-Khas (Hall of Audience) With

marble throne pedestal, built by Shah Jehan between 1638 and 1648. The roof was originally of silver and the pillars were studded with precioys stones. The whole is built out of the finest marble.

Ajmer. Facade of a house.Lucknow. Gateway of the Husainabad Bazar, built in the XVIII century.Old Delhi. Partial view of the Alauddin Gate, built by Alauddin Khilji in 1310,

regarded as one of the most beautiful specimen of external polychromatic decoration, not only in India, but in the whole world.

Delihi Palace. The Interior of Delhi-gate, built by Shah Jehan between 1638 and 1648. The two great and historical (restored) statues of elephants are said to be of those belonging to Jai Mai and Fatta, the two Rajput warriors of Chittor, against Akbar.

Agra. The Entrance to the fort and palace, built by Akbar and considerably improved by his son Jehangir and grandson Shah Jehan.

Bantam (Java). A typical mosque.Yarkand (Chinese Turkestan). Mausoleum of Raisi Beck.

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