Early Religious Architecture and City Planning

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Early Religious Architecture and City Planning

Preservation . Most surviving medieval Muslim buildings are masjids (mosques). As with churches and cathedrals in Europe and the temples of ancient civilizations, Muslim religious buildings have survived in better condition and in far greater numbers than Muslim secular structures. The much higher survival rate for masjids than secular buildings may be attributed to several factors. It is suggested in the Qur’an (22: 40 and 72:18) and established in Muslim law that once a masjid has been used for worship, it should never be alienated, sold, or turned to any other purpose. Furthermore, because of the respect people have for houses of worship in general, they tend to invest more money in them and build them with better materials and better engineering than secular structures. As a result, people feel obliged to spend more effort maintaining them as significant investments and cultural artifacts. Masjids were clearly the most important public spaces in medieval Islam. Since Islam was often the religion and ideology of the state, Muslim rulers financed much masjid construction, established charitable trusts for their maintenance, and also sought to preserve the buildings of their predecessors. The rulers were no doubt motivated by a Prophetic hadith stating that a Muslim’s charities continue to intercede with God even for him or her after that Muslim has died. Rewards for those who build masjids are also suggested in the Qur’an (9: 18) and specified in the hadiths. Other religious structures that have survived are madrasahs (religious schools), which in the majority of cases are part of a masjid, khanqahs (buildings for Sufi meditational retreats and congregational chants), and tekkes (tombs).

Masjids (Mosques) . The motivation for having a specific place assigned for worship in Islam grew directly from the requirement that all Muslims offer five fixed prayers, or salats, each day to worship God. It is preferable that, if possible, these prayers be performed in congregation. The prayers consist of standing, bowing, and prostrating oneself (sujud) with the forehead touching the ground a prescribed number of times, while reciting certain phrases in Arabic, including passages from the Qur’an. In order to be able to perform the prayers, a worshiper has to be in a state of purity, which may require either major ablution (ghusl), a shower or bath, or the minor one (wudu’), washing the hands, face, arms, and feet and wiping the head. To be ready to pray, the worshiper must also be properly dressed.

One then must face in the direction of the Ka‘bah, God’s Holy House in Makkah. All Muslim prayers are done toward the Ka‘bah, whether one is standing, sitting, bowing, or kneeling with face on the ground. This direction is known as the qiblah, and the tradition of facing Makkah is based on the Qur’an (2: 144, 149–150). Whenever the Muslims settled in a new land, they determined the correct direction to Makkah, and it then became established for the inhabitants of that place to face that way when praying. In Egypt, for example, people generally pray toward the southeast, since Egypt is northwest of Makkah.

Locations for Prayer . As for the place for prayer, any location that is clean and dry is considered fit. No particular building or house of worship is required, nor are any furniture or ritual implements. Early tradition urged worshipers to prostrate themselves on earth, gravel, or straw mats, which probably reveals the simple conditions of earliest Madinah. Later, however, masjids generally became equipped with carpets. In its original essence, the Arabic word masjid refers to a place of prostration, or sujud. Indeed—as implied in the Qur’an (2:115) and clearly stated in the hadiths—the whole earth is a masjid suitable for the performance of prayers. Beginning in the time of the Prophet Muhammad, however, Muslims have always felt the need of a space specifically for worship and religious teachings. There is no evidence that there was a space dedicated solely for Muslim prayers during the period of the Prophet’s public preaching at Makkah (612–622), but one of his first acts on his arrival at Madinah after his hijrah (migration) from Makkah in 622 was to establish a masjid, a place dedicated to Muslim worship, in the courtyard of his house. The tradition of facing Makkah during prayer was established in 624. Before that time, worshipers faced Jerusalem. The space was used first for the five daily prayers, second for the important Friday congregational prayer, which included a sermon (Qur’an 62: 9–11), and third as an center for religious lessons, which may be alluded to in Qur’an 9: 122. The first masjid seems to have served other purposes as well. It was a meeting place for the community, where problems and concerns were discussed; the place where the Prophet received delegations, which came to Madinah with increasing frequency toward the end of his life; the place where the troops were mustered and from which military campaigns were launched; and also, perhaps, a place for visitors to stay and a shelter for the poor. The original masjid built by the Prophet at Madinah was a building of great simplicity. It consisted mostly of an open courtyard a little more than fifty meters square. This space was large enough to accommodate several thousand worshipers packed closely together at one time, thus setting the trend for early masjids to have large, unobstructed open areas. The whole building was surrounded by a wall of mud brick a little over a meter high and with a base of stone. A colonnade made of palm trunks lined the north side and supported a roof of thatched palm leaves, for shading worshipers and guests from the midday sun. When the qiblah was changed from Jerusalem to Makkah in 624, the front of the masjid was moved from the north wall to the south wall, and a second shaded colonnade was constructed on the south side of the courtyard. At first, the Prophet used to give the Friday sermon beside one of the palm-trunk columns, but in 628 he had minbar (a pulpit), consisting of three steps, built for delivering his sermons. Despite its simplicity and the humble conditions from which it arose, the Prophet’s masjid in Madinah became a model for all later Muslim houses of worship, especially the great courtyard masjids that have remained one of the major styles of masjid buildings.

Masjid Plans . In the subsequent development of the masjid, there came to be two main designs that, with some secondary variations, have been employed through history: the arcaded plan and the iwan (arched hall) plan. Regardless of which plan is used, all masjids have the following features in common: a main sanctuary that houses the mihrab (prayer niche), which marks the qiblah and is normally built into the qiblah wall. A minbar from which an imam delivers the Friday sermon is placed on the right side of the mihrab. Traditionally, the roofed “sanctuary” area by the qiblah wall has been larger and more impressively decorated than the rest of a masjid.

Arcaded Masjids . Deriving from the masjid the Prophet built in Madinah, the arcaded plan (also known as the hypostyle plan) is the earlier of the two masjid designs. In the arcaded plan the masjid has a large sahn (courtyard) in its center, and columns or pillars form arcades or colonnades that are covered by a wood-beamed roof. The side facing Makkah usually has more rows of columns and is thus deeper. The arcade plan was used for all the large early masjids and has continued in use because of its simplicity and versatility. It allows a building to be constructed from expensive materials or just palm trunks, depending on the availability of raw materials and the builder’s financial means. Because it requires only repetitions of post-and-lintel structures, the execution of an arcaded masjid is cheaper and requires less engineering skill than other possible plans. Because it is supported by a forest of columns, it does not require the spanning of wide spaces to hold up the roof, and the many columns produce a dignified and pleasing appearance. Also, an arcaded building can easily be enlarged by demolishing one wall and adding more rows of columns. The Prophet’s masjid and most of the other great early masjids have been enlarged by this method several times each. Eventually domes were added to the original arcaded-masjid plan. It became common to have a small dome above the center aisle of the roofed sanctuary area, at the place where it meets the courtyard, to create a central axis leading to the mihrab. Also—or instead—in many instances a dome was erected on top of the mihrab itself. In other cases, three small domes were placed at the qiblah wall, one on top of the mihrab, and two on either side at the lateral corners of the sanctuary. These domes project up from the otherwise flat roof, looking from above like large bubbles on a flat surface. Eventually, large dome chambers, usually housing mausoleums, were attached to one side of the masjid structure, in defiance of Islamic rules prohibiting tombs in masjids. Adding a dome gives more structural variety and beauty to the outside and inside of a building and windows in the drum of the dome admit more light to the interior.

Iwan Masjids . When roofs covered large areas of masjids, lighting became a problem. One solution was the second major masjid design, the iwan plan, which has two to four iwans, or large arched halls, open on the side facing a courtyard. This kind of structure thus shares the courtyard feature of arcaded masjids but has higher, soaring halls with pointed or “cathedral” ceilings. The iwan plan was introduced and developed in Iran by Muslim builders who were following the example of pre-Islamic Sassanian architecture, and it was likely transferred via Muslim Spain to Europe, where it influenced Romanesque architecture. Building a vaulted iwan requires more architectural knowledge and technical skill than constructing an arcaded masjid. As time passed, domes were also added to iwan masjids. In some countries, such as Egypt, arcaded and iwan masjids eventually came to exist side by side. In other places one plan was employed to the exclusion of the other. For example, iwan-style masjids were rarely built in North Africa and Spain, while in Iran they predominate.

Models for Islamic Architecture and Design . The Muslim state expanded rapidly during last few years of the Prophet Muhammad’s life. By the time he died in 632, he had gained control over most of western Arabia and Yemen and had been extending his influence into eastern Arabia as well. Islam not only survived the crisis of the Prophet’s death but immediately began a long political expansion under his successors, the khalifahs. Right after his death, Muslim armies were sent to the various neighboring lands to the north to claim them for the rule of God’s religion (Qur’an 2: 193, 9: 33, 48: 28, and 61: 9). Everywhere the Muslims settled they erected a central arcaded masjid. Generally, these earliest arcaded masjids fit into two subtypes. In the new cities founded by Muslims, such as Kufah and Basrah in Iraq, huge new masjids were erected on the model of the Prophet’s Masjid in Madinah and performed the same functions. The main difference was that the new masjids of Kufah and Basrah were one hundred meters square or ten thousand square meters, more than four times the size of the masjid in Madinah. Islam had grown, but Muslims still believed that all the male population of a place should attend the Friday congregation together at the same time. This concept has left its trace in Muslim law. Both Sunnis and Shi’is acknowledge the preferability of having only one Friday congregation in a given city. Despite the difficulty of gathering everyone in one place once a week, as late as the time of Salah al-Din (ruled 1171–1193) and the Ayyubids in Egypt, for example, the ruler was still trying to hold the Friday congregation in only one place. Later, numbers and practicality forced the Sunnis to allow multiple congregations in a city if the largest masjid could not hold all the worshipers, but the Shi’is still follow the old way. Obviously, requiring only one congregation in a city had a profound effect on

architecture. The digging of trenches around the new masjids suggests that they were also built to double as military bastions of last resort, and indeed that need has arisen occasionally in Muslim history. When a masjid was established in a city that already existed, Muslim builders usually borrowed from the local population and their indigenous traditions. For example, when the Muslims settled in Syria, they were influenced by the great architecture they saw around them, which attested to the prowess of the Roman and Byzantine builders and artisans. Yet, even when they adopted ideas from the earlier structures and adapted them to their own use, Muslims created a formula for building and decoration that is distinctively Islamic in its spirit and expressiveness. The structures that the Muslim patrons commissioned, even when they bear resemblance to existing, pre-Islamic edifices, were meant from the beginning to serve a different function, which necessitated some adaptations from the start, particularly in public religious buildings. Thus, early masjids in Syria have the usual masjid features, but the form and arrangement of the arcades of columns, the roof, the windows, and the walls were all influenced by existing structures. One particular addition that appears to have come from Syrian church structures is the minaret, the tower from which the muezzin calls the worshipers to prayer five times a day. The origin of this structure appears to be Syrian church towers, and the wide and square form of the minaret prevailed for centuries in much of North Africa and Spain as well as Syria. Another feature adopted from earlier Syrian architecture was the use of mosaic for decoration. Besides the major types of masjids, there are also smaller, humbler local masjids that do not necessarily follow either of the major plans. Such minor masjids were first built in Madinah, which is a large oasis where it quickly proved impossible for all Muslims to go to the central masjid five times a day to pray. Thus, smaller, local masjids were established near the dwellings of the various clans. The existence of such masjids even in the Prophet’s lifetime is indicated in the Quran, in which masjids are mentioned in the plural (2: 187, 22: 40, 72: 18). Eventually, and probably quite early, these smaller masjids were used for Friday prayers as well. Smaller masjids to serve local districts or quarters in a city were soon built elsewhere as well. The survival of these humble structures has been rare, so little is known about their design. Some may have been only open places marked off by on the ground a mere semicircle of stones, with an indentation indicating the qiblah. Others were buildings with small rooms. Some may have been originally built for other purposes and then later turned into masjids.

The Harams of Makkah, Madinah, and Jerusalem . Like all other great religions, Islam has holy sites that function

THE MAQAMA OF THE YELLOW ONE

Ahmad Badi al-Zaman al-Hamadhani (968–1008) was the originator of the literary form known as maqamat (assemblies; singular: tnaqama) for literary gatherings in which eloquence and wit in Arabic was prized. Maqamat anecdotes consist of prose passages often combined with poetry and feature a rogue hero whose exploits reveal much about Muslim life of the time, “The Maqama of the Yellow One” is a riddle whose solution is “a pair of gold coins”; their child is “a reputation for generosity”:

‘Isa ibn Hisham tells the following story. When I was about to start for home after the Pilgrimage, a man came to me saying, “I have with me a lad of yellow paternity, who’d tempt me to join the ungodly fraternity; he dances on the fingertips, and much travel has polished him up. Charity impels me to come to you, to present his plea unto you; he seeks from you a yellow bride, admired beyond measure, to all eyes a pleasure. If you consent, there will be born of them a child that will reach all lands and all ears, and when you’re bent upon return and have wound up your concern, hell be before you in your homeland, so will you please display what’s in your hand?” This speech I relished, and the wit of his demand, so I did what he wished. In reply he declaimed: “The begging hand puts paid to pride, but generosity has all on its side.”

Source: Maqamat al-Hamadhani, quoted in Abbasid Belles Lettres, edited by Julia Ashhtiany, T. M. Johnstone, J. D. Latham, R. B. Sargeant, and G, Rex Smith (Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 1990), pp. 131–132,

as focal points for worship. There are three places of special significance to Muslims: the cities of Makkah, Madinah, and Jerusalem. As primary centers of worship and pilgrimage from the inception of Islam to the present, each of these cities has an important sacred enclosure set aside for worship. Although they share certain common features with arcaded masjids, they encompass larger areas than other masjids and have some special features. These sacred enclosures are known as “inviolable sanctuaries,” or harams. The word haram is an Arabic term for a holy place. In Islam a haram is a sanctuary holy to God, and special rules guarantee and honor its sanctity. While Makkah and Madinah are associated specifically with the mission of the Prophet Muhammad, the third Muslim holy city, Jerusalem, is also sacred to Judaism and Christianity, the other two main monotheistic religions. Occasionally, the main masjid of al-Khalil (Hebron) in the West Bank, said to have been established by the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham), is also considered a haram, but it is not designated as such in either in the Qur’an or the hadiths.

Makkah as a Muslim city . The Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, was born in Makkah around 569, and when he was about forty he received his first revelation of the Qur’an there. Makkah is mentioned or alluded to in many Qur’anic verses, and its exalted rank is further emphasized in hadiths. Moreover, Makkah houses the Ka‘bah, the House of God. According to the Qur’an, the Ka‘bah was built by the Prophet Ibrahim and his son Isma’il (2:127). It has been restored several times both in pre-Islamic times and after the advent of Islam. By 624, when Muslims began prostrating themselves toward it for prayers, the Ka‘bah had become the focal point of worship. The Ka‘bah is also the primary destination of both the hajj (greater pilgrimage) and the ‘umrah (or lesser pilgrimage). Many of the pilgrims’ rituals are performed near the Ka‘bah, especially the tawaf (circumambulation) around the Ka‘bah. These pilgrimages became standard Muslim practices soon after 628, when the Prophet Muhammad attempted to lead Muslim pilgrims from Madinah to Makkah on the first lesser pilgrimage. Although turned back that time, the Prophet did successfully lead a lesser pilgrimage in 629. Then, after the surrender of Makkah to him, he made a lesser pilgrimage again in 630 and sent others to lead greater pilgrimages in 630 and 631, leading a greater pilgrimage himself only once, in 632, the year of his death. That pilgrimage became the exemplar for all future Muslim pilgrimages. The Ka‘bah had been a venerable sanctuary for years before the advent of Islam, and pilgrims from all over the Arabian peninsula traveled to it. By the time the Prophet was born, pilgrims were coming annually to pay homage to the many pagan deities worshiped by the various tribes, and statues in their honor had been placed all around the Ka‘bah. According to Islam, this practice was a corruption in the original monotheistic religion of Ibrahim. When the residents of the city of Makkah finally surrendered to the Prophet and accepted Islam as their religion, the idols were demolished, and the Ka‘bah and its sanctuary were purified and dedicated to the worship of Allah alone. The present Ka‘bah dates to 692, when it was completely rebuilt; it underwent a further, partial reconstruction in 1627. The existing building is believed to follow closely the plan of the Ka‘bah at the time of the Prophet Muhammad. The whole building, a cube-shaped structure built of huge, rough-hewn stones, measures about eleven by thirteen meters at its base and is sixteen meters high. It has a door but no windows, and the inside contains only pillars, lamps, and inscriptions. The interior is not used for worship. Thus, the Ka‘bah itself is not a masjid. It is draped with a huge, gold-embroidered black cloth, the kiswah, which is changed annually. Because the Ka‘bah is the focal point of Muslim worship, its surrounding enclosure, the Inviolable Sanctuary (al-Masjid al-Haram) has many distinctive features, but its architecture in general is similar to that of other arcaded masjids. All around the Ka‘bah is a giant courtyard large enough to accommodate several hundreds of thousands of people. This courtyard is enclosed by a colonnade built originally by the Abbasid khalifah al-Mahdi (ruled 775–785). In this courtyard, because the Ka‘bah itself is the focal point of Muslim worship, the worshipers perform their prayers facing it in concentric circles rather than in straight rows. Thus, the Inviolable Sanctuary lacks a qiblah wall and mihrab.

Madinah . Madinah, short for Madinat al-Nabi, or the City of the Prophet, was known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib. Its inhabitants welcomed the Prophet and his companions in 622, when they fled persecution by unbelievers in Makkah. The site of the first masjid built by the Prophet after the founding of Islam, Madinah was the place where he resided during the last ten years of his life, teaching and establishing the norms of Islamic practice. When he died in 632, he was buried in his first masjid, and the first two khalifahs were subsequently buried beside him. Visiting the Prophet’s tomb is a meritorious act that a devout Muslim usually performs before or after a pilgrimage to Makkah.

Jerusalem . Jerusalem was the first qiblah until 624, when God ordered the believers to face Makkah instead during prayers. This change is alluded to in the Qur’an (2: 144). In addition, Jerusalem has a degree of sanctity for Muslims because it was the focus of worship for the Israelite prophets, who are also recognized as prophets of Islam. Also, the Prophet Muhammad allowed pilgrimages to three masjids: the harams of Makkah, Madinah, and Jerusalem although only the pilgrimage to Makkah is required. Early Muslim texts identify the entire area within the walls of the haram area in Jerusalem as al-Masjid al-Aqsa (the Farthest Place of Worship). Muslims believe that verse 17: 1 of the Qur’an, which refers to the Prophet’s miraculous night journey, is about the sanctuary in Jerusalem. They hold that the Prophet was transported to this site in Jerusalem, where he led all of the previous prophets in prayer. Then, accompanied by the archangel Gabriel, he ascended into heaven, where he spoke to various prophets and the angels, and finally he was returned to Makkah—all in the same night. When the Muslims took Jerusalem from its Byzantine rulers in 638, they considered al-Masjid al-Aqsa sacred both on account of the Prophet’s ascension from that spot to heaven and because of his leading a communal prayer in the same vicinity. When the Muslims took Jerusalem, they found the haram site in ruins and completely abandoned, without any functioning buildings or habitations. They cleaned and restored the site as a place for the worship of God.

The Noble Sanctuary of Jerusalem . Known as al-Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary, the haram of Jerusalem consists of a quadrilateral area almost five hundred meters long and three hundred meters wide. Located atop a long hill running north to south, the area is enclosed by high stone walls on all sides and consists of a large platform paved with giant stones. The al-Aqsa Masjid, located at the south end of the platform on the qiblah wall, is constructed with rows of columns and a flat roof with a small silver dome, according to the arcaded-masjid design, with the rest of the platform acting as its courtyard. In the middle of the haram area stands the oldest building commissioned by the early Muslim rulers that is still substantially intact: the Dome of the Rock, which is also one of the most beautiful and fascinating buildings in the world. Completed in 691, fewer than sixty years after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, the Dome of the Rock is believed to retain much of its original decoration and overall appearance, having undergone far fewer reconstructions than the older, adjacent al-Aqsa Masjid, which was originally constructed under Khalifah ‘Umar (634–644) in about 643–644 and was later rebuilt and enlarged several times. Both buildings have been in continuous use as masjids since their construction, except when they were converted into Christian churches during the first Crusader occupation of Jerusalem (1099–1187). The Dome of the Rock stands on a stone platform built above the level of the rest of the haram and is built over and around an irregular rock outcropping that protrudes above the foundation. This rock takes up space that otherwise would be devoted to prayers and worship, making the Dome of the Rock unique among Muslim buildings. The reason for including the rock as a vital part of the building is a puzzle that has not been solved, though it has aroused much speculation. Octagonal in shape, the building is surmounted by a large golden dome, which is supported by columns arranged in a circle around the rock outcropping, outside of which is an unobstructed ambulatory, which is also used for prayers. The interior walls are richly decorated with mosaics in geometric and vegetational patterns. Outside, the building is adorned with glazed blue tiles decorated with Qur’anic verses in decorative calligraphy. The design and color scheme of the outside dates to early Ottoman restorations of the sixteenth century. Medieval sources give much information about the reasons behind the erection of the Dome of the Rock, including the exact dates for the initiation and completion of its construction. One of the earliest descriptions was written in 903 by Ibn al-Faqih, who wrote: “In the Dome every night they light 300 lamps. It has four gates roofed over, and at each gate are four doors, and over each gate is a portico of marble. The building is covered with white marble, and its roof with red gold. In its walls, and high in (the drum of its dome), are fifty-six windows, glazed with glass of various hues. The Dome, which was built by the Umayyad Khalifah Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (ruled 685–705), is supported on twelve piers and thirty pillars.” This description closely accords with the present appearance of the Dome. One of the most noticeable features of the building is the long Arabic inscription in mosaic on the inside, which was placed there by the Khalifah Abd al-Malik. Except for the date and founder’s name, it consists entirely of Qur’anic verses and, in fact, is the earliest dated Qur’an text. The verses are an integral part of the building and help to establish the legitimacy of Islam in relation to other religions in the holy city of Jerusalem, especially Byzantine Christianity.

Development of Architecture . Like the original masjid of the Prophet in Madinah, the earliest masjids are described in literary sources as having been plain and unadorned. Indeed, the Prophet is said to have warned about placing any decoration in masjids because it might detract from the concentration of the worshipers. Nevertheless, it did not take long for the Muslim rulers to commission elaborate and costly structures. The third khalifah, ‘Uthman (ruled 644–656), is said to have begun enlarging the Prophet’s masjid and was criticized for it. The Umayyad dynasty (ruled 661–750) began a great program of masjid expansion and adornment, and several examples of their work survive, setting a precedent for later rulers, whatever popular or religious opinion might have been. Defending his decision to build the opulent Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, the Khalifah Abd al-Malik said that the Christians had impressive churches and that he was afraid that some Muslims would be distracted by the beauty of those churches. Thus, he said that Muslims needed equally impressive structures of their own. Muslim rulers spared no expense when commissioning masjids and other structures. Generally, from the first century of Islam, rulers in all the lands where Muslims settled initiated huge building campaigns, ordering the construction of masjids, schools, palaces, public baths, markets, hospitals, hotels, walls, fortifications, and even in a few cases whole cities with streets, roads, and all the necessary infrastructure to support them. The production and development of great works of art and architecture coincided with the establishment of new dynasties of rulers, who took control of vast amounts of territory. From the eighth century onward, as the khilafah fell apart, regional states were established, leading to greater variety and production of art. The capital of each new regional state became a center of artistic production— among them Samarra’ in Iraq, Fez in Morocco, and Cairo in Egypt. Cairo was the center of power for several successive dynasties of rulers, and it still has hundreds of monuments built before 1500 in a relatively good state of preservation. Examples of Egyptian woodwork, metalwork,

glass, ceramics, and jewelry from before 1500 may be found in many museums. Syria was the domain of the first Muslim dynasty, the Umayyads, who were avid builders. In addition to their masjids, they left palaces and fortifications, several of which are located in the desert area of present-day Jordan, including Mushatta, Khirbat al-Mafjar, Qusayr ‘Amrah, Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi, and Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi. The best known of these secular remains is the bath that is thought to have belonged to the palace of Qusayr ‘Amrah. The bath is a small domed structure, whose architectural style is indebted to Byzantine construction techniques. On the interior are fresco paintings and mosaic decorations. The themes of the frescoes are not typical of other Islamic wall painting because they depict naturalistically painted human beings—providing a glimpse of the private domain, away from the scrutiny of the religious establishment and the general populace. A scene on one of the walls represents the Muslim ruler enthroned, with the rulers of the other major empires standing around him submissively.

Great Masjids . Perhaps the best-known Umayyad monument is the Great Masjid of Damascus, which was the chief masjid of the whole khilafah. This magnificent building was part of the construction program of the Khalifah al-Walid I (ruled 705–715), who governed at the zenith of Umayyad power. He also undertook the reconstruction and expansion of the masjids of Makkah, Madinah, al-Ta’if, Jerusalem, and San‘a’—and probably others of which all traces have been lost. Al-Walid’s masjid in Damascus, which is still nearly intact, is known especially for its beautiful Byzantine-style mosaics, which show their Muslim character by portraying only buildings, vegetation, and landscapes. Another feature it has—which probably appeared for the first time in an earlier masjid of Damascus— is the maqsurah, a part of the masjid designated for the khalifah and his entourage and partitioned off from the rest of the sanctuary by a wooden screen. This innovation has been attributed to either Mu’awiyah (ruled 661–680) or Marwan I (ruled 684–685).

Abbasid Architecture. When the Abbasids succeeded the Umayyads as the ruling dynasty in 750, the seat of power was moved from Syria to Iraq. Baghdad was built as the new capital in 762 and quickly acquired a reputation as an important cultural center. Located on the west bank of the Tigris River, the new city was founded mainly as a royal residence for the khalifah, his family, and his legions of troops, supporters, and servants. The city plan is in the form of a large circle with the ruler’s palace and a great masjid at the center. Inspired by earlier Sassanian constructions, this round city was surrounded by high walls, which the builders thought would be easier to defend because they lacked corners. Within fewer than fifty years other quarters grew up in the vicinity of the original round city, and most of Baghdad moved to the east bank of the Tigris. Eventually, the khalifahs followed, building new palaces farther east and abandoning the round city, which vanished without a trace. In 1258 Baghdad was severely sacked by the Mongols, and it was sacked again by Timur (Tamerlane) in 1393. In addition to the loss of the khalifal library, which had been catalogued in detail by Ibn al-Nadim (circa 936— 995), most architectural monuments in Baghdad did not survive. Another early Abbasid city, Samarra’, was founded in 836 by the Abbasid khalifah al-Mutasim (833–842) to house his army. The city contained a great masjid (built 849–851), one of the largest ever built, measuring 240 by 156 meters, more than 37,000 square meters in area, enough to accommodate 60,000 worshipers. Unlike the round city of Baghdad, much of this masjid has survived, including its outer walls, foundations and an outline of its interior, and its minaret. It was built on the arcaded plan, with rows and rows of pillars surrounding a large courtyard on four sides. The walls were made of mud brick, a building material readily available in Iraq—thanks to the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers—and commonly used for most construction since the days of Sumer and Akkad in the fourth millennium B.C.E. The minaret, also built of baked bricks and located just outside the walls, had a particularly unusual spiral design created by a wide ramp wrapped around it and leading to the top. The design of that minaret was copied only twice, once in Iraq and once in Egypt. Sometimes this design is viewed as a throwback to the “stairways to heaven” built by the ancient Sumerians and Babylonians on their ziggurats. Actually, it seems to bear little resemblance to any known previous structure and may be seen as an example of creativity in engineering and design. Another important structure in Samarra’ was the palace of the ruler, which had intricate decorative designs of molded plaster and carved wood. Although many grand palaces were built, few have survived. The most notable example may be the desert fortress-palace of Ukhaydir, built for an Abbasid prince circa 778. A ruin in a fair state of preservation, it reveals a continuity with Sassanian building techniques and the architectural design of the earlier Umayyad desert palaces.