1.
Islamic calligraphy
–
Islamic calligraphy is the artistic practice of handwriting and calligraphy, based upon the alphabet in the lands sharing a common Islamic cultural heritage. It includes Arabic, Ottoman, and Persian calligraphy and it is known in Arabic as khatt Islami, meaning Islamic line, design, or construction. The development of Islamic calligraphy is strongly tied to the Quran, chapters, deep religious association with the Quran, as well as suspicion of figurative art as idolatrous has led calligraphy to become one of the major forms of artistic expression in Islamic cultures. As Islamic calligraphy is highly venerated, most works follow examples set by well established calligraphers, in antiquity, a pupil would copy a masters work repeatedly until their handwriting was similar. The most common style is divided into angular and cursive, each divided into several sub-styles. Some styles are often written using a metallic-tip pen, Islamic calligraphy is applied on a wide range of decorative mediums other than paper, such as tiles, vessels, carpets, and inscriptions. Before the advent of paper, papyrus and parchment were used for writing, the advent of paper revolutionized calligraphy. While monasteries in Europe treasured a few volumes, libraries in the Muslim world regularly contained hundreds. Coins were another support for calligraphy, beginning in 692, the Islamic caliphate reformed the coinage of the Near East by replacing visual depiction with words. This was especially true for dinars, or gold coins of high value, generally the coins were inscribed with quotes from the Quran. By the tenth century, the Persians, who had converted to Islam, so precious were calligraphic inscribed textiles that Crusaders brought them to Europe as prized possessions. A notable example is the Suaire de Saint-Josse, used to wrap the bones of St. Josse in the Abbey of St. Josse-sur-Mer near Caen in northwestern France, Kufic is the oldest form of the Arabic script. The style emphasizes rigid and angular strokes, which appears as a form of the old Nabataean script. The Archaic Kufi consisted of about 17 letters without diacritic dots or accents, afterwards, dots and accents were added to help readers with pronunciation, and the set of Arabic letters rose to 29. It is developed around the end of the 7th century in the areas of Kufa, Iraq, the style later developed into several varieties, including floral, foliated, plaited or interlaced, bordered, and squared kufi. There were no set rules of using the Kufic script, the common feature is the angular, linear shapes of the characters. Common varieties include square Kufic, a known as bannai. Contemporary calligraphy using this style is popular in modern decorations
Islamic calligraphy
–
Calligraphy
Islamic calligraphy
–
The phrase
Bismillah in an 18th-century Islamic calligraphy from the
Ottoman region.
Islamic calligraphy
–
9th century
Qur'an, an early kufic example from the
Abbasid period.
Islamic calligraphy
–
Bowl with
Kufic Calligraphy, 10th century.
Brooklyn Museum.
2.
Arabic script
–
The Arabic script is a writing system used for writing several languages of Asia and Africa, such as Arabic, dialects of Mandinka, Central Kurdish, Luri, Persian, Urdu, Pashto, and others. Until the 16th century, it was used to write some texts in Spanish. It is the second-most widely used writing system in the world by the number of countries using it, the Arabic script is written from right to left in a cursive style. In most cases the letters transcribe consonants, or consonants and a few vowels, the script was first used to write texts in Arabic, most notably the Qurʼān, the holy book of Islam. It is also the basis for the tradition of Arabic calligraphy, the Arabic script has been adopted for use in a wide variety of languages besides Arabic, including Persian, Malay and Urdu which are not Semitic. Such adaptations may feature altered or new characters to represent phonemes that do not appear in Arabic phonology, the modified version of the Arabic script originally devised for use with Persian is known as the Perso-Arabic script by scholars. In the cases of Bosnian, Kurdish, Kashmiri, and Uyghur writing systems, the Arabic script can therefore be used in both abugida and abjad, although it is often strongly, erroneously connected to the latter. Use of the Arabic script in West African languages, especially in the Sahel, to a certain degree the style and usage tends to follow those of the Maghreb. Additional diacritics have come into use to facilitate writing of sounds not represented in the Arabic language, the term ʻAjamī, which comes from the Arabic root for foreign, has been applied to Arabic-based orthographies of African languages. There is evidence that writing Arabic in this set of letters influenced the style of modern Arabic script. After this initial period, Garshuni writing has continued to the present day among some Syriac Christian communities in the Arabic-speaking regions of the Levant, Kazakh in China Kurdish in Northern Iraq and Northwest Iran. It is mainly used in Sri Lanka and the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu for religious purposes, arwi language is the language of Tamil Nadu Muslims. Malayalam language represented by Arabic script variant is known as Arabi Malayalam, the script has particular letters to represent the peculiar sounds of Malayalam. This script is used in madrasas of the South Indian state of Kerala. It is similar to Chittagonian language in neighboring Bangladesh and sometimes using the Roman script. Malay in the Arabic script known as Jawi, in some cases it can be seen in the signboards of shops or market stalls. In addition, some television programming uses Jawi, such as announcements, advertisements, news, social programs, Berber languages have often been written in an adaptation of the Arabic alphabet. The use of the Arabic alphabet, as well as the competing Latin, West Africa Zarma language of the Songhay family
Arabic script
–
Basic Arabic alphabet
Arabic script
–
Calligraphy
3.
Nabataean alphabet
–
The Nabataean alphabet is a consonantal alphabet that was used by the Nabataeans in the 2nd century BC. Important inscriptions are found in Petra, Jordan, and Sinai, the alphabet is descended from the Syriac alphabet, which was itself descended from the Aramaic alphabet. As compared to other Aramaic-derived scripts, Nabataean developed more loops and ligatures, the ligatures seem to have not been standardized and vary across time and space. There were no spaces between words, numerals in Nabataean script were built from characters of 1,2,3,4,5,10,20, and 100. Note that the Syriac and Arabic alphabets are always cursive and that some of their letters look different in medial or initial position, see Aramaic alphabet § Letters for a more detailed comparison of letterforms. The Nabataean alphabet was added to the Unicode Standard in June 2014 with the release of version 7.0
Nabataean alphabet
4.
Seljuk Turks
–
The Seljuqs established both the Seljuk Empire and Sultanate of Rum, which at their heights stretched from Anatolia through Iran and were targets of the First Crusade. During the 10th century, due to events, the Oghuz had come into close contact with Muslim cities. Around 985, Seljuq converted to Islam, in the 11th century the Seljuqs migrated from their ancestral homelands into mainland Persia, in the province of Khurasan, where they encountered the Ghaznavid empire. In 1025,40,000 families of Oghuz Turks migrated to the area of Caucasian Albania, the Seljuqs defeated the Ghaznavids at the battle of Nasa plains in 1035. Tughril, Chaghri, and Yabghu received the insignias of governor, grants of land, at the battle of Dandanaqan they defeated a Ghaznavid army, and after a successful siege of Isfahan by Tughril in 1050/51, they established an empire later called the Great Seljuk Empire. The Seljuqs mixed with the population and adopted the Persian culture. The Great Seljuqs were heads of the family, in theory their authority extended over all the other Seljuq lines, turkish custom called for the senior member of the family to be the Great Seljuq, although usually the position was associated with the ruler of western Persia. Muhammads son Mahmud II succeeded him in western Persia, but Ahmad Sanjar, the rulers of western Persia, who maintained a very loose grip on the Abbasids of Baghdad. Several Turkic emirs gained a level of influence in the region. Kerman was a province in southern Persia, between 1053 and 1154, the territory also included Umman. Kerman was eventually annexed by the Khwarezmid Empire in 1196, the Empire of the Steppes, a History of Central Asia. Early Seljuq History, A New Interpretation, New York, NY, Routledge,2010 Previté-Orton, C. W
Seljuk Turks
–
History of the Turkic peoples Pre-14th century
Seljuk Turks
–
Seljuq dynasty
Seljuk Turks
5.
Ottoman Empire
–
After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe
Ottoman Empire
–
Battle of Nicopolis in 1396. Painting from 1523.
Ottoman Empire
–
Flag (1844–1923)
Ottoman Empire
–
Battle of Mohács in 1526
Ottoman Empire
–
Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha defeats the
Holy League of
Charles V under the command of
Andrea Doria at the
Battle of Preveza in 1538.
6.
History of the Republic of Turkey
–
The Republic of Turkey was created after the overthrow of Sultan Mehmet VI Vahdettin by the new Republican Parliament in 1922. This new regime delivered the coup de grâce to the Ottoman state which had been wiped away from the world stage following the First World War. The history of modern Turkey begins with the foundation of the republic on October 29,1923, the government was formed from the Ankara-based revolutionary group, led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his colleagues. The second constitution was ratified by the Grand National Assembly on April 20,1924, chronology of Major Kemalist Reforms, November 1,1922, Abolition of the office of the Ottoman Sultan. October 29,1923, Proclamation of the Republic of Turkey, march 3,1924, Abolition of the office of Caliphate held by the Ottoman Caliphate. November 25,1925, Change of headgear and dress, November 30,1925, Closure of religious convents and dervish lodges. March 1,1926, Introduction of the new penal law, October 4,1926, Introduction of the new civil code. November 1,1928, Adoption of the new Turkish alphabet, June 21,1934, Introduction of the law on family names. November 26,1934, Abolition of titles and by-names, december 5,1934, Full political rights, to vote and be elected, to women. February 5,1937, The inclusion of the principle of laïcité in the constitution, the first party to be established in the newly formed republic was the Womens Party. It was founded by Nezihe Muhiddin and several women but was stopped from its activities. The actual passage to multi-party period was first attempted with the Liberal Republican Party by Ali Fethi Okyar, the Liberal Republican Party was dissolved on 17 November 1930 and no further attempt for a multi-party democracy was made until 1945. Turkey was admitted to the League of Nations in July 1932, atatürks successor after his death on November 10,1938 was İsmet İnönü. After failing in 1939 to get an alliance against Germany with Britain. Ambassadors from the Axis powers and Allies intermingled in Ankara, İnönü signed a non-aggression treaty with Nazi Germany on June 18,1941,4 days before the Axis powers invaded the Soviet Union. Nationalist magazines Bozrukat and Chinar Altu called for the declaration of war against the Soviet Union, in July 1942, Bozrukat published a map of Greater Turkey, which included Soviet controlled Caucasus and central Asian republics. In August 1942, during talks with the German ambassador, Turkish prime minister Şükrü Saracoğlu stated, in the summer of 1942, Turkish high command considered war with the Soviet Union almost unavoidable. An operation was planned, with Baku being the initial target, Turkey traded with both sides and purchased arms from both sides
History of the Republic of Turkey
7.
Turkey
–
Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country in Eurasia, mainly in Anatolia in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, parliamentary republic with a cultural heritage. The country is encircled by seas on three sides, the Aegean Sea is to the west, the Black Sea to the north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, Ankara is the capital while Istanbul is the countrys largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Approximately 70-80% of the countrys citizens identify themselves as ethnic Turks, other ethnic groups include legally recognised and unrecognised minorities. Kurds are the largest ethnic minority group, making up approximately 20% of the population, the area of Turkey has been inhabited since the Paleolithic by various ancient Anatolian civilisations, as well as Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians, Urartians and Armenians. After Alexander the Greats conquest, the area was Hellenized, a process continued under the Roman Empire. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, the empire reached the peak of its power in the 16th century, especially during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Assyrian, following the war, the conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was partitioned into several new states. Turkey is a member of the UN, an early member of NATO. Turkeys growing economy and diplomatic initiatives have led to its recognition as a regional power while her location has given it geopolitical, the name of Turkey is based on the ethnonym Türk. The first recorded use of the term Türk or Türük as an autonym is contained in the Old Turkic inscriptions of the Göktürks of Central Asia, the English name Turkey first appeared in the late 14th century and is derived from Medieval Latin Turchia. Similarly, the medieval Khazar Empire, a Turkic state on the shores of the Black. The medieval Arabs referred to the Mamluk Sultanate as al-Dawla al-Turkiyya, the Ottoman Empire was sometimes referred to as Turkey or the Turkish Empire among its European contemporaries. The Anatolian peninsula, comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest permanently settled regions in the world, various ancient Anatolian populations have lived in Anatolia, from at least the Neolithic period until the Hellenistic period. Many of these peoples spoke the Anatolian languages, a branch of the larger Indo-European language family, in fact, given the antiquity of the Indo-European Hittite and Luwian languages, some scholars have proposed Anatolia as the hypothetical centre from which the Indo-European languages radiated. The European part of Turkey, called Eastern Thrace, has also been inhabited since at least forty years ago. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date, the settlement of Troy started in the Neolithic Age and continued into the Iron Age
Turkey
–
Some
henges at
Göbekli Tepe were erected as far back as 12,000 BC, predating those of
Stonehenge,
England by almost ten millennia.
Turkey
–
Flag
Turkey
–
The Lion Gate in
Hattusa, capital of the
Hittite Empire. The city's history dates back to the 6th millennium BC.
Turkey
–
The
Library of Celsus in
Ephesus was built by the
Romans in 135 AD. The
Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, built by king
Croesus of
Lydia in the 6th century BC, was one of the
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
8.
Flag of Iraq
–
The flag of Iraq includes the three equal horizontal red, white, and black stripes of the Arab Liberation flag. This basic tricolor has been in use since 1963, with changes to the green symbols in the central white stripe. The first flag of modern Iraq was the Kingdom of Iraq and it was a black-white-green horizontal flag, with a red trapezoid extending from the mast side, inspired by the flag of the Arab Revolt. Two seven-point white stars on the triangle denoted the two peoples of the kingdom, the Arabs and the Kurds. The design also reflected the newly installed Hashemite Dynasty in Iraq, as such, it was similar to the flags of Hashemite Jordan, and the short-lived Kingdom of Hejaz. Prior to Iraqi independence in 1932, this flag was used by the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. Today, it is used by pro-Hashemite monarchists in Iraq, in 1958, in response to the merger of Egypt and Syria in the United Arab Republic, the two Hashemite kingdoms of Iraq and Jordan established the Arab Federation, a confederation of the two states. The flag of the union was essentially that of Jordan but without seven pointed star in the red chevron and this flag is identical to the flag of Palestine adopted in 1964, and almost identical to the flag of the Baath Party. The union lasted less than six months, being terminated by the Iraqi Revolution of 1958 in July, the black, white, green, and red are the pan-Arab colours, representing pan-Arabism, while the yellow sun represented the Kurdish minority. In addition, the red star was used to represent Iraqs ancient heritage, after Qassim was overthrown by the Baath Party in 1963, the new Baathist government adopted a modified version of the Arab Liberation flag as the new flag of Iraq on 31 July 1963. This horizontal tricolour of red, white, and black bands formed the basis of the flag of the United Arab Republic, though the UAR broke up in 1961, hopes for Arab unity persisted. Sharing this goal, Syria adopted the new Iraqi flag as its own later that same year and this remained the flag of Syria until 1971, when the green stars were replaced by the Hawk of Qureish. The Iraqi Flag Law No.28 of 1963 was replaced by Flag Law No, on 13 January 1991, the flag was modified by Flag Law No.6 of 1991. At the instigation of Saddam Hussein, the takbīr was added in green between the stars, the form of the takbīr was said to be Saddams own handwriting. As with other flags inscribed with Arabic script, the hoist is to the right of the obverse of the flag. The basic form of the flag was retained, however. The modified flag was unveiled at the marking the technical handover of power from the Coalition Provisional Authority occupation forces to the U. S. -appointed administration on 28 June 2004. On 22 January 2008, a new design for the flag was confirmed by Law 9 of 2008, in this current version, the three stars were removed
Flag of Iraq
–
Iraq
9.
Takbir
–
The Takbīr, also transliterated Tekbir or Takbeer, is the Arabic phrase Allāhu akbar, usually translated as God is greatest. The form Allāhu is the nominative of Allah, meaning God, in the context of Islam, it is the proper name of God. The form akbar is the elative of the adjective kabīr, meaning great, as used in the Takbīr it is usually translated as greatest, but some authors prefer greater. The phrase is often transliterated less accurately as Allah akbar, the term Takbīr itself is the stem II verbal noun of the triliteral root k-b-r, meaning great, from which Akbar greater is derived. The phrase is known in the West for its common use as a battle cry in Islamic extremism. This phrase is recited by Muslims in many different situations, the phrase is not found in the Quran, which does not refer to God as Akbar, but uses the name Al-Kabir or Kabir, commonly translated as Most Great. The phrase is said during each stage of both obligatory prayers, and supererogatory prayers, the Muslim call to prayer by the muezzin and to commence prayer also contains the phrase. This phrase is used in times of distress. Just before a Garuda Airbus A300B-4 crashed into the jungle near Medan, Indonesia and it was suspected that the crash may have been due to either disorientation or engine failure caused by local dense smog resulting from forest fires. As a multi-purpose phrase, it is used by Arab football commentators as an expression of amazement. The phrase is used after the birth of a child as a means of praising God, in the hadith, Muhammad is reported to have spoken the Takbīr after a funeral. During the festival of Eid al-Adha and the days preceding it and this is particularly the case on the Day of Arafa. The phrase is known in the West for its common use as a battle cry in Islamist protests, Islamic extremism. It included a checklist of final reminders for the 9/11 hijackers, an excerpt reads, When the confrontation begins, strike like champions who do not want to go back to this world. Shout, Allahu Akbar, because this strikes fear in the hearts of the non-believers. and giving out boxes of halva, imam Samudra, who was sentenced to death for his role in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, chanted the phrase upon hearing his sentence. In the video of Nick Berg being beheaded in Iraq in 2004, in 2008, Aafia Siddiqui is alleged to have fired at US interrogators while yelling Allah Akbar. During the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, witnesses reported that gunman Nidal Malik Hasan shouted Allahu Akbar before opening fire, killing 13 people, times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad smiled and said Allahu Akbar after receiving a life sentence in 2010 for his attempted bombing. During the incident aboard American Airlines Flight 1561 in 2011, the person attempting to bash his way into the cockpit was heard shouting Allahu Akbar, mohammed Merah recorded himself shouting Allahu Akbar as he killed three French paratroopers in the 2012 Midi-Pyrénées shootings
Takbir
–
Allah Jalla Jalālah in
Arabic calligraphy
Takbir
–
A
Muslim raises both of his hands to recite the Takbīr in prayer.
10.
Flag of Iran
–
The current flag of Iran was adopted on 29 July 1980, and it is a reflection of the changes brought about by the Iranian Revolution. Its field is a tricolour comprising equal horizontal bands of green, white, the parliament, per the 1980 constitution, changed the flag and seal of state insofar as the Lion and Sun were replaced by the red emblem in the centre of the flag. Above the central stroke is a tashdid resembling W and this emblem is somewhat similar to the Khanda but has no relation to Sikhism and its meaning to that religious community. Written in white and repeated eleven times on the edges of each the green. This writing renders the flag non-reversible, in the Iranian culture, it symbolizes growth, happiness, unity, nature, vitality, and the Persian language. Historically, a green and white flag in a form used to be the flag of the Persians. The traditional colour of white stands for freedom, because white is blank, in the Iranian culture, it symbolizes bravery, fire, life, love, warmth, and sophistication. Historically, a red and white flag in a form used to be the flag of the Medes. Since Cyrus the Great, a Persian, defeated his grandfather Astyages the High Judge of the Medes and founded Iran by uniting the Persians, the Iranian flag symbolized this unity and victory as the flag of the people of Iran. Physical requirements for the Iranian flag, the shape of the emblem. Flags, standards, and banners have always been important national and imperial symbols for Iranians, xenophon reports that Cyrus the Greats standard was a golden eagle with spread wings, mounted on a long shaft. Late in the century the Lion and Sun motif was combined with an earlier scimitar motif and superimposed on a tricolour of green, white. With minor modifications, this remained the flag until the revolution of 1979. The oldest flag found in Iran is the Bronze Age Shahdad Standard, found in Shahdad, Kerman Province, dating back to c.2400 BC and it features a seated man and a kneeling woman facing each other, with a star in between. This iconography can be found in other Bronze Age pieces of art in the area as well, the Old Persian word for banner, standard was derafš. Xenophon in Cyropaedia describes the standard of Artaxerxes II at Cunaxa as an eagle, with outspread wings. Since the flag being described is different from the flag made by Cyrus the Great, according to Herodotus, each Persian army division had its own standard, and all officers had banners over their tents. One such banner, a plaque in saltire, is depicted on a Greek vase
Flag of Iran
–
Tawhid is emblem of I.R.Iran
Flag of Iran
–
Islamic Republic of Iran
Flag of Iran
–
Current flag of Iran since 1980
Flag of Iran
–
Derafsh Kaviani appearing in a coin of a local Persian dynasty that arose near
Persepolis during the
Seleucid reign.
11.
Pseudo-Kufic
–
Pseudo-Kufic appears especially often in Renaissance art in depictions of people from the Holy Land, particularly the Virgin Mary. It is an example of Islamic influences on Western art, some of the first imitations of the Kufic script go back to the 8th century when the English king Offa produced gold coins imitating Islamic dinars. These coins were copies of an Abbasid dinar struck in 774 by Caliph Al-Mansur and it is clear that the moneyer had no understanding of Arabic as the Arabic text contains many errors. The coin may have produced in order to trade with Islamic Spain. In Medieval southern Italy from the century, imitations of Arabic coins, called tarì, were widespread. Examples are known of the incorporation of Kufic script and Islamic-inspired colourful diamond-shaped designs such as a 13th French Limoges enamel ciborium at the British Museum, the band in pseudo-Kufic script was a recurrent ornamental feature in Limoges and had long been adopted in Aquitaine. Numerous instances of pseudo-Kufic are known from European art from around the 10th to the 15th century, pseudo-Kufic would also be used as writing or as decorative elements in textiles, religious halos or frames. Many are visible in the paintings of Giotto, from around 1450, northern Italian artists also started to incorporate pseudo-Islamic decorative devices in their paintings. Francesco Squarcione started the trend in 1455, and he was followed by his main pupil. The exact reason for the incorporation of pseudo-Kufic or pseudo-Arabic in Medieval or early Renaissance painting is unclear, pseudo-Hebrew is also sometimes seen, as in the mosaic at the back of the abse in Marco Marziales Circumcision, which does not use actual Hebrew characters. It was especially common in German works, finally pseudo-Arabic elements became rare after the second decade of the 16th century. According to Rosamond Mack, The Eastern scripts, garments, ISBN 978-0-631-22637-6 Grierson, Philip Medieval European Coinage Cambridge University Press,2007 ISBN 0-521-03177-X, ISBN 978-0-521-03177-6 Mack, Rosamond E
Pseudo-Kufic
–
Left image: Pseudo-Kufic script on the hem of the Virgin's mantle in
Filippo Lippi 's 1438
Pala Barbadori.
Louvre Museum. Right image: At the top, detail of the Virgin's mantle hem in
Antonio Vivarini 's
Saint Louis de Toulouse, 1450. At the bottom, detail of Virgin's mantle hem in
Jacopo Bellini 's
Virgin of Humility, 1440.
Louvre Museum.
Pseudo-Kufic
Pseudo-Kufic
–
A
mancus or gold
dinar of the English king
Offa (r. 757–796), a copy of the dinars of the
Abbasid Caliphate (774). It displays the Latin legend Offa Rex ("King Offa") between the pseudo-Kufic lines.
Pseudo-Kufic
–
Pseudo-Kufic script in medallion on
Byzantine shroud of Saint Potentian, 12th century.
12.
Middle Ages
–
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
Middle Ages
–
The
Cross of Mathilde, a
crux gemmata made for
Mathilde, Abbess of Essen (973–1011), who is shown kneeling before the Virgin and Child in the
enamel plaque. The body of Christ is slightly later. Probably made in
Cologne or
Essen, the cross demonstrates several medieval techniques:
cast figurative sculpture,
filigree, enamelling, gem polishing and setting, and the reuse of Classical
cameos and
engraved gems.
Middle Ages
–
A late Roman statue
depicting the four Tetrarchs, now in
Venice
Middle Ages
–
Coin of
Theodoric
Middle Ages
–
Mosaic showing
Justinian with
the bishop of
Ravenna, bodyguards, and courtiers
13.
Renaissance
–
The Renaissance was a period in European history, from the 14th to the 17th century, regarded as the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages and modern history. It started as a movement in Italy in the Late Medieval period and later spread to the rest of Europe. This new thinking became manifest in art, architecture, politics, science, Early examples were the development of perspective in oil painting and the recycled knowledge of how to make concrete. Although the invention of movable type sped the dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century. In politics, the Renaissance contributed to the development of the customs and conventions of diplomacy, the Renaissance began in Florence, in the 14th century. Other major centres were northern Italian city-states such as Venice, Genoa, Milan, Bologna, the word Renaissance, literally meaning Rebirth in French, first appeared in English in the 1830s. The word also occurs in Jules Michelets 1855 work, Histoire de France, the word Renaissance has also been extended to other historical and cultural movements, such as the Carolingian Renaissance and the Renaissance of the 12th century. The Renaissance was a movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life in the early modern period. Renaissance scholars employed the humanist method in study, and searched for realism, however, a subtle shift took place in the way that intellectuals approached religion that was reflected in many other areas of cultural life. In addition, many Greek Christian works, including the Greek New Testament, were back from Byzantium to Western Europe. Political philosophers, most famously Niccolò Machiavelli, sought to describe life as it really was. Others see more competition between artists and polymaths such as Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Donatello, and Masaccio for artistic commissions as sparking the creativity of the Renaissance. Yet it remains much debated why the Renaissance began in Italy, accordingly, several theories have been put forward to explain its origins. During the Renaissance, money and art went hand in hand, Artists depended entirely on patrons while the patrons needed money to foster artistic talent. Wealth was brought to Italy in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries by expanding trade into Asia, silver mining in Tyrol increased the flow of money. Luxuries from the Eastern world, brought home during the Crusades, increased the prosperity of Genoa, unlike with Latin texts, which had been preserved and studied in Western Europe since late antiquity, the study of ancient Greek texts was very limited in medieval Western Europe. One of the greatest achievements of Renaissance scholars was to bring this entire class of Greek cultural works back into Western Europe for the first time since late antiquity, Arab logicians had inherited Greek ideas after they had invaded and conquered Egypt and the Levant. Their translations and commentaries on these ideas worked their way through the Arab West into Spain and Sicily and this work of translation from Islamic culture, though largely unplanned and disorganized, constituted one of the greatest transmissions of ideas in history
Renaissance
–
David, by
Michelangelo (
Accademia di Belle Arti,
Florence) is a masterpiece of Renaissance and world art.
Renaissance
–
Renaissance
Renaissance
–
Leonardo da Vinci 's
Vitruvian Man (c. 1490) shows clearly the effect writers of Antiquity had on Renaissance thinkers. Based on the specifications in
Vitruvius '
De architectura (1st century BC), Leonardo tried to draw the perfectly proportioned man.
Renaissance
–
Portrait of a young woman (c. 1480-85) (
Simonetta Vespucci) by
Sandro Botticelli
14.
Arab culture
–
Language, literature, gastronomy, art, architecture, music, spirituality, philosophy, mysticism are all part of the cultural heritage of the pan-Arab world. The Arab world is divided into separate regions including Nile Valley, Al-Maghrib Al-Arabi, Fertile Crescent and the Arabian Peninsula. The Arab culture is divided into three parts, the urban culture, the rural culture, and the nomad culture. Typically, most of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, along parts of Jordan. Other countries countrysides such as Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and their cities are considered to be urban cultures. In fact, most of the Arab major cities are recognized with urban cultures, like Jaffa, Cairo, Jerusalem, Beirut, Baghdad, Alexandria, Damascus, etc. The Levant, particularly Palestine, Lebanon, Syria as well as Egypt are known to have an urban culture history. Arabic literature is the writing produced, both prose and poetry, by speakers of the Arabic language and it does not include works written using the Arabic alphabet but not in the Arabic language such as Persian and Urdu literature. The Arabic word used for literature is adab which is derived from a meaning to invite someone for a meal and implies politeness, culture. Arabic literature emerged in the 6th century, with fragments of the written language appearing before then. The Quran, from the 7th century, had the greatest, al-Khansa, a female contemporary of Muhammad, was an acclaimed Arab poet. The Muallaqat is the given to a series of seven Arabic poems or qasida that originated before the time of Islam. Each poem in the set has a different author, and is considered to be their best work, Muallaqat means The Suspended Odes or The Hanging Poems, and comes from the poems being hung on the wall in the Kaaba at Mecca. The seven authors, who span a period of around 100 years, are Imru al-Qais, Tarafa, Zuhayr, Labīd, Antara Ibn Shaddad, Amr ibn Kulthum, all of the Mu’allaqats contain stories from the authors’ lives and tribe politics. This is because poetry was used in time to advertise the strength of a tribe’s king, wealth. The stories are told over a period of one thousand and one nights, the individual stories were created over several centuries, by many people from a number of different lands. The nucleus of the collection is formed by a Pahlavi Sassanid Persian book called Hazār Afsānah, during the reign of the Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid in the 8th century, Baghdad had become an important cosmopolitan city. Merchants from Persia, China, India, Africa, and Europe were all found in Baghdad, during this time, many of the stories that were originally folk stories are thought to have been collected orally over many years and later compiled into a single book
Arab culture
–
Antara and Abla, the Arab
Romeo and Juliet
Arab culture
–
Fresco from
Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbî,
Syria,
Ummayad caliphs Palace, built in the early 7th century
Arab culture
–
The
Riq is widely used in the Arabic Music
Arab culture
–
An anchor on
Al-Arabiya Television, in Jerusalem
15.
Islamic architecture
–
Islamic architecture encompasses a wide range of both secular and religious styles from the foundation of Islam to the present day. What today is known as Islamic architecture was influenced by Persian, Roman, Byzantine, further east, it was also influenced by Chinese and Indian architecture as Islam spread to Southeast Asia. The principal Islamic architectural types are, the Mosque, the Tomb, the Palace, from these four types, the vocabulary of Islamic architecture is derived and used for other buildings such as public baths, fountains and domestic architecture. Symbolic views of scholars on Islamic architecture have consistently been criticized by historians for lacking historical evidence. The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem is one of the most important buildings in all of Islamic architecture and it is patterned after the nearby Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Byzantine Christian artists were employed to create its elaborate mosaics against a golden background. The great epigraphic vine frieze was adapted from the pre-Islamic Syrian style, the Dome of the Rock featured interior vaulted spaces, a circular dome, and the use of stylized repeating decorative arabesque patterns. Desert palaces in Jordan and Syria served the caliphs as living quarters, reception halls, and baths, the horseshoe arch became a popular feature in Islamic structures. After the Moorish invasion of Spain in 711 AD the form was taken by the Umayyads who accentuated the curvature of the horseshoe. The Great Mosque of Damascus, built on the site of the basilica of John the Baptist after the Islamic invasion of Damascus, certain modifications were implemented, including expanding the structure along the transversal axis which better fit with the Islamic style of prayer. The Abbasid dynasty witnessed the movement of the capital from Damascus to Baghdad, the shift to Baghdad influenced politics, culture, and art. The Great Mosque of Samarra, once the largest in the world, was built for the new capital, other major mosques built in the Abbasid Dynasty include the Mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo, Abu Dalaf in Iraq, the great mosque in Tunis. Abbasid architecture in Iraq as exemplified in the Fortress of Al-Ukhaidir demonstrated the despotic, the Great Mosque of Kairouan is considered the ancestor of all the mosques in the western Islamic world. Its original marble columns and sculptures were of Roman workmanship brought in from Carthage and it is one of the best preserved and most significant examples of early great mosques, founded in 670 AD and dating in its present form largely from the Aghlabid period. The Great Mosque of Kairouan is constituted of a square minaret, a large courtyard surrounded by porticos. The Great Mosque of Samarra in Iraq, completed in 847 AD, the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul also influenced Islamic architecture. When the Ottomans captured the city from the Byzantines, they converted the basilica to a mosque, the Hagia Sophia also served as a model for many Ottoman mosques such as the Shehzade Mosque, the Suleiman Mosque, and the Rüstem Pasha Mosque. Domes are a structural feature of Islamic architecture. Domes remain in use, being a significant feature of many mosques, the distinctive pointed domes of Islamic architecture, also originating with the Byzantines and Persians, have remained a distinguishing feature of mosques into the 21st century
Islamic architecture
–
The interior side view of the main dome of
Selimiye Mosque in
Edirne, Turkey.
Islamic architecture
–
The large Hypostyle prayer hall in the
Great Mosque of Kairouan, dating in its present form from the 9th century, in Kairouan,
Tunisia.
Islamic architecture
–
The
Great Mosque of Touba,
Senegal.
Islamic architecture
–
The
Great Mosque of Xi'an in
Xi'an,
China.
16.
Mashrabiya
–
The mashrabiya is an element of traditional Arabic architecture used since the Middle Ages up to the mid-20th century. It is mostly used on the side of the building, however. Mashrabiyas were mostly used in houses and palaces although sometimes in buildings such as hospitals, inns, schools. They are found mostly in the Mashriq – i. e. the eastern part of the Arab world and they are very prevalent in Iraq, the Levant, Hejaz and Egypt. They are mostly found in settings and rarely in rural areas. Basra is often called the city of Shanasheel, Mashrabiya is derived from the triliteral root Š-R-B, which generally denotes drinking or absorbing. There are two theories for its name, the most common one is that the name was originally for a small wooden shelf where the drinking water pots were stored, the shelf was enclosed by wood and located at the window in order to keep the water cool. Later on, this shelf evolved until it became part of the room with a full enclosure, the second theory is that the name was originally mashrafiya, derived from the verb Ashrafa, to overlook or to observe. During the centuries the name changed due to changing accents. Whatever is left in Arabic cities is mostly built during the late 19th century, in Iraq in the 1920s and 1930s, the designs of the latticework was affected by the Art Deco and Art Nouveau movements of the time. This was evident in Al Rasheed street Mashrabiyas up to the late 1960s before most of them were demolished, traditionally, houses are built of adobe, brick or stone or a combination of that. Wooden houses are not popular and hardly ever found, building heights in urban setting range from two to five floors with the Mashrabiyas on the second level and above. The roofs are built using wooden or steel beams with the areas between filled with brick in a semi vault style. These beams were extended over the street, enlarging the footprint of the upper floor, the upper floor is then enclosed with latticework and roofed with wood. The projection is cantilevered and does not bear the weight of building materials. There are different types of Mashrabiyas, and the designs differ from region to region. One of the purposes of the Mashrabiya is privacy, an essential aspect of Arabic culture. A good view of the street can be obtained by the occupants without being seen, the wooden screen with openable windows gives shade and protection from the hot summer sun, while allowing the cool air from the street to flow through
Mashrabiya
–
Restored mashrabiya from the
Aljafería palast (10th century), in
Spain.
Mashrabiya
–
Egyptian style Mashrabiya, projecting alone from part of the room and not reaching to the room floor, hence allowing for a
Dakkah or sitting area in front of the window.
Mashrabiya
–
Shanasheel of the old part of
Basra city, 1954
17.
Muqarnas
–
It is used for domes, and especially half-domes in entrances, iwans and apses, mostly in traditional Islamic and Persian architecture. Where some elements project downwards, the style may be called mocárabe, these are reminiscent of stalactites, Muqarnas developed around the middle of the 10th century in northeastern Iran and almost simultaneously — but apparently independently — in North Africa. Examples can be found across Morocco and by extension, the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, the Abbasid Palace in Baghdad, Iraq, and the mausoleum of Sultan Qaitbay, Cairo, Egypt. Large rectangular roofs in wood with muqarnas-style decoration adorn the 12th century Cappella Palatina in Palermo, Sicily, Muqarnas is also found in Armenian architecture. Muqarnas is typically applied to the undersides of domes, pendentives, cornices, squinches, arches, Muqarnas is a downward-facing shape, that is, a vertical line can be traced from the floor to any point on a muqarnas surface. It is also arranged in courses, as in a corbelled vault. The edges of surfaces can all be traced on a single plan view, architects can thus plan out muqarnas geometrically. Muqarnas does not have a significant structural role, Muqarnas need not be carved into the structural blocks of a corbelled vault, it can be hung from a structural roof as a purely decorative surface. Muqarnas may be made of brick, stone, stucco, or wood, the individual cells may be called alveoles. Some modern muqarnas elements have been designed, if not built, with upwards-facing cells, Architecture of Iran Islamic architecture Islamic geometric patterns Mathematics and art Ottoman architecture Muqarnas, A Three-dimensional Decoration of Islam Architecture. Contains a database of over a thousand plans of extant muqarnas, indexed by location and geometry
Muqarnas
–
Muqarnas in the
iwan entrance to the
Shah Mosque in
Isfahan,
Iran
Muqarnas
–
Muqarnas on the underside of an arch,
Alhambra Palace,
Granada,
Spain, likely in carved plaster. Note down-ward-projecting "stalactites".
Muqarnas
–
Muqarnas
corbel,
Qutb Minar, India
Muqarnas
–
High-resolution detail from the Alhambra, showing horizontal
courses; the clearer one zigzags across at about 1/3 of the way down.
18.
Arabesque (Islamic art)
–
Another definition is Foliate ornament, used in the Islamic world, typically using leaves, derived from stylised half-palmettes, which were combined with spiralling stems. It usually consists of a design which can be tiled or seamlessly repeated as many times as desired. Interlace and scroll decoration are used for most other types of similar patterns. Arabesques are an element of Islamic art but they develop what was already a long tradition by the coming of Islam. The past and current usage of the term in respect of European art can only be described as confused, some Western arabesques derive from Islamic art, but others are closely based on Ancient Roman decorations. At the popular level such theories often appear uninformed as to the context of the arabesque. The case for a connection with Islamic mathematics is much stronger for the development of the patterns with which arabesques are often combined in art. The arabesque developed out of the traditions of plant-based scroll ornament in the cultures taken over by the early Islamic conquests. Early Islamic art, for example in the famous 8th century mosaics of the Great Mosque of Damascus, often contained plant-scroll patterns, in that case by Byzantine artists in their usual style. The plants most often used are stylized versions of the acanthus, with its emphasis on leafy forms, the evolution of these forms into a distinctive Islamic type was complete by the 11th century, having begun in the 8th or 9th century in works like the Mshatta Facade. In the process of development the plant forms became increasing simplified and stylized, typically, in earlier forms there is no attempt at realism, no particular species of plant is being imitated, and the forms are often botanically impossible or implausible. Leaf forms typically spring sideways from the stem, in what is called a half-palmette form, named after its distant and very different looking ancestor in Ancient Egyptian. New stems spring from leaf-tips, a type often called honeysuckle, the early Mshatta Facade is recognisably some sort of vine, with conventional leaves on the end of short stalks and bunches of grapes or berries, but later forms usually lack these. Flowers are rare until about 1500, after which they more often, especially in Ottoman art. In Ottoman art the large and feathery leaves called saz became very popular, eventually floral decoration mostly derived from Chinese styles, especially those of Chinese porcelain, replaces the arabesque in many types of work, such as pottery, textiles and miniatures. The arabesques and geometric patterns of Islamic art are often said to arise from the Islamic view of the world, the depiction of animals and people is generally discouraged, which explains the preference for abstract geometric patterns. There are two modes to arabesque art, the first recalls the principles that govern the order of the world. These principles include the basics of what makes objects structurally sound and, by extension
Arabesque (Islamic art)
–
Part of a 15th-century ceramic panel from
Samarkand with white calligraphy on a blue arabesque background.
Arabesque (Islamic art)
–
Islamic relief panel from
Medina Azahara,
Córdoba, Spain, c. 940. The central panel pattern springs from a central base and terminates within the space; most later ones do neither.
Arabesque (Islamic art)
–
Complex Arabesque inlays at the
Agra Fort in the
Mughal Empire.
Arabesque (Islamic art)
–
Byzantine capital in
Hagia Sophia - pre-Islamic
19.
Windcatcher
–
A windtower is a traditional Persian architectural element to create natural ventilation in buildings. Windcatchers come in designs, uni-directional, bi-directional, and multi-directional. The devices were used in ancient Egyptian architecture, central Iran shows large diurnal temperature variation with an arid climate. Most buildings are constructed from thick ceramic with high insulation values, towns centered on desert oases tend to be packed very closely together with high walls and ceilings, maximizing shade at ground level. The heat of direct sunlight is minimized with small windows that face away from the sun, the windcatchers effectiveness had led to its routine use as a refrigerating device in Persian architecture. Many traditional water reservoirs are built with windcatchers that are capable of storing water at near freezing temperatures during summer months, a small windcatcher is called a shish-khan in traditional Persian architecture. Shish-khans can still be seen on top of ab anbars in Qazvin and these seem to function more as ventilators than as the temperature regulators seen in the central deserts of Iran. Windcatchers were used in traditional ancient Egyptian architecture, one such device was found at the Pharaonic house of Neb-Ammun, Egypt, which dates from the 19th Dynasty, c.1300 BC. It was revived in Neoislamic architecture as the works of Hassan Fathy, in Egypt the windcatchers are known as malqaf pl. malaaqef. Windcatchers tend to have one, four, or eight openings, in the city of Yazd, all windcatchers are four- or eight-sided. The construction of a windcatcher depends on the direction of airflow at that location, if the wind tends to blow from only one side. This is the style most commonly seen in Meybod,50 kilometers from Yazd, to keep buildings free of dust and sand blown in from the desert, windcatchers were built facing away from the wind. One of the most common uses of the windcatcher is to cool the inside of the dwelling, it is used in combination with courtyards and domes as an overall ventilation. It is essentially a tall, capped tower with one open at the top. This open side faces the wind, thus catching it. It does not necessarily cool the air itself, but rather relies on the rate of airflow to provide a cooling effect, windcatchers have been employed in this manner for thousands of years. Windcatchers are also used in combination with a qanat, or underground canal, in this method, the open side of the tower faces away from the direction of the prevailing wind. By keeping only this tower open, air is drawn using the Coandă effect
Windcatcher
–
An
ab anbar (water reservoir) with double domes and windcatchers (openings near the top of the towers) in the central desert city of
Naeen, Iran
Windcatcher
–
Ancient Egyptian House miniature showing windcatchers, dating from
Early Dynastic Period of Egypt, found in Abou Rawsh near Cairo. Now in
Louvre.
Windcatcher
–
Model of an Ancient Egyptian house with windcatcher,
Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim
Windcatcher
–
The windcatcher of Dowlatabad in Yazd, Iran—one of the tallest existing windcatchers
20.
Islamic garden
–
Traditionally, an Islamic garden is a cool place of rest and reflection, and a reminder of paradise. Famous Islamic gardens include those of the Taj Mahal in India, the general theme of a traditional Islamic garden is water and shade, not surprisingly since Islam came from and generally spread in a hot and arid climate. Unlike English gardens, which are designed for walking, Islamic gardens are intended for rest. For this reason, Islamic gardens usually include places for sitting, fairchild Ruggles refers to the universal nature of gardening, and the basic human needs it fulfills, the needs to cultivate, to master the wild landscape, and to bring order to it. The spiritual aspects of gardening, according to this view, were a later development, clifford A. Wright, an author on Mediterranean cuisine, describes different garden types for different purposes, The Muslims had different kinds of gardens serving different purposes. The bustan was the garden of the court of a house. The jannah was an orchard with palms, oranges, and vines irrigated by canals, the rawdah referred in particular to the vegetable garden that produced foods for the cooks. After the Arab invasions of the 7th century CE, the design of the Persian garden was used in the Islamic garden. Persian gardens after that time were enclosed by walls and were designed to represent paradise. In the Charbagh, or paradise garden, four water canals typically carry water into a pool or fountain, interpreted as the four rivers in paradise, filled with milk, honey, wine. Hellenistic influences are apparent, the Western use of straight lines in the plan is blended with Sassanid ornamental plantations and fountains. Many of the gardens of Islamic civilization are lost to us today, while most others may retain their forms, the original plantings have been replaced with modern ones. The garden is a transient form of architectural art dependent upon the climate, evliya Çelebis 17th century CE Seyahatname contains descriptions of Paradise Gardens around the towns of Berat and Elbasan, Albania. According to Dr. Robert Elsie, an expert on Albanian culture, Çelebi describes the town of Berat, It is a huge open town, entirely outside the walls of the fortress. It is situated in an area along the bank of the river to the east and south of the upper fortress and is covered in vineyards, rose gardens. There are 5,000 one- and two-story stonework houses with red-tiled roofs and they are well built and attractive houses with gardens and are spread over seven verdant hills and valleys. Among them are over 100 splendid mansions with cisterns and fountains, Çelebi describes the town of Elbasan, The open town outside the walls extends on all sides of the fortress to the foot of the hills at a distance of one hours march. The prosperous and cheerful-looking mansions in the town are adorned with beautiful vineyards, paradisiacal gardens and parks with their pavilions
Islamic garden
–
Nishat Gardens, a
Mughal garden in
Kashmir
Islamic garden
–
The Gardens Generalife in the Alhambra, Granada.
Islamic garden
–
Bird's Eye View of the Taj Mahal at Agra.
Islamic garden
–
Eram Garden, Shiraz, Iran.
21.
Minaret
–
A minaret, from Arabic, منارة manāra, lit. lighthouse, also known as Goldaste, is a distinctive architectural structure akin to a tower and typically found adjacent to mosques. Generally a tall spire with a conical or onion-shaped crown, usually either free-standing or taller than associated support structure, the basic form of a minaret includes a base, shaft, and gallery. Styles vary regionally and by period, minarets provide a visual focal point and are traditionally used for the Muslim call to prayer. The purpose of minarets in traditional Eastern region architecture is to serve as a system for a building in very hot climates. That buildings of middle eastern origins have such outstanding features is architecturally intentional, however in modern times, with the invention of the modern air conditioners, the purpose of minarets has changed to traditional symbol. The minaret would be equipped with a speaker that would call people to prayers in Muslim countries. In addition to providing a visual cue to a Muslim community, the call to prayer is issued five times each day, dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and night. In most modern mosques, the adhān is called from the musallah via microphone to a system on the minaret. Around 80 years after Muhammads death, the first known minarets appeared, minarets have been described as the gate from heaven and earth, and as the Arabic language letter aleph. The massive minaret of the Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia is the oldest standing minaret and its construction began during the first third of the 8th century and was completed in 836 CE. The imposing square-plan tower consists of three sections of decreasing size reaching 31.5 meters, considered as the prototype for minarets of the western Islamic world, it served as a model for many later minarets. The tallest minaret, at 210 metres is located at the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, the tallest brick minaret is Qutub Minar located in Delhi, India. In some of the oldest mosques, such as the Great Mosque of Damascus, the basic form of minarets consists of three parts, a base, shaft, and a gallery. For the base, the ground is excavated until a foundation is reached. Gravel and other supporting materials may be used as a foundation, minarets may be conical, square, cylindrical, or polygonal. Stairs circle the shaft in a fashion, providing necessary structural support to the highly elongated shaft. The gallery is a balcony that encircles the upper sections from which the muezzin may give the call to prayer, styles and architecture can vary widely according to region and time period. Here are a few styles and the localities from which they derive, Tunisia Quadrangular, turkish 1,2,4 or 6 minarets related to the size of the mosque
Minaret
–
The oldest standing minaret is in
Tunisia 's
Great Mosque of Kairouan.
Minaret
–
Minaret (malwiya) of the
Great Mosque of Samarra
Minaret
–
Square three-tiered minaret (the oldest in existence) of the
Mosque of Uqba (Great Mosque of
Kairouan),
Tunisia
22.
Iwan
–
An iwan is a rectangular hall or space, usually vaulted, walled on three sides, with one end entirely open. Since the definition allows for some interpretation, the forms and characteristics can vary greatly in terms of scale, material. Iwans are most commonly associated with Islamic architecture, however, the form was invented much earlier and fully developed in Mesopotamia, the root for this term is Old Persian apadana where king Darius I declares in an inscription, I Darius. This is a given to this particular palace in modern literature, although the name simply implies a type of structure—the iwan. The term in Old Persian stand for unprotected, since the design allows for the structure to be open to the elements on one side, whence the term. At Persepolis, however, the apadana takes the form of a veranda, a comparable structure would be found 2000 years later in Isfahan at the Palace of Chehel Sotoun. This development reached its peak during the Seljuki era, when iwans became a unit in architecture. The form is not confined to any function, and is found in buildings for either secular or religious uses. Ivan is a form of the name, used in Iran. Many scholars including Edward Keall, André Godard, Roman Ghirshman, and Mary Boyce, discuss the invention of the iwan as developing in Mesopotamia, the area around todays Iraq. Although debate remains among scholars as to how the developed, there is a general consensus that the iwan evolved locally. The feature which most distinctly makes the iwan a landmark development in the history of Ancient Near Eastern architecture is the incorporation of a vaulted ceiling, a vault is defined as a ceiling made from arches, known as arcuated, usually constructed with stone, concrete, or bricks. Earlier buildings would normally be covered in a manner, with post. However, vaulted ceilings did exist in the ancient world before the invention of the iwan, outside Mesopotamia, a number of extant vaulted structures stand, including many examples from Ancient Egypt, Rome, and the Mycenaeans. For example, the Mycenaean Treasury of Atreus, constructed around 1250 BCE, egyptian architecture began to use vaulting in their structures after the Third Dynasty, after around 2600 BCE, constructing very early barrel vaults using mud brick. Although some scholars have asserted that the form may have developed under the Seleucids. One of the earliest Parthian iwans was found at Seleucia, located on the Tigris River, other early iwans have been suggested at Ashur, where two buildings containing iwan-like foundations were found. The first building, located near the ruins of a ziggurat, the proximity of the building to a ziggurat suggests that it may have been used for religious preparations or rituals
Iwan
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Iwan of the
Āmeri House in Kashan, Iran.
Iwan
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Yazd, Iran
Iwan
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Corbeled Dome of the Treasury of Atreus,
Mycenae, 1250 BCE
Iwan
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Taq-i Kisra,
Ctesiphon, c. 540
23.
Sebil
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A sebil or sabil is a public water fountain, often decorated with stone carvings. Sebils were built at crossroads and outside mosques throughout the Ottoman Empire to provide drinking water for travelers, the construction of many sebils was considered the hallmark of a beneficent ruler. In 16th century Istanbul, sebils were a symbol of public possession, the attempt to add spigots was opposed because this was perceived as limiting public access to the blessings of nature. Endowing money for the construction of sebils was considered an act of piety, initially, they functioned as kiosks where water was distributed to passersby. Often they were decorated in the Ottoman Rococo style and inscripted with Ottoman Turkish verses that formed a chronogram using the Abjad numbers to date the construction. Until the spread of inhouse plumbing by the end of the 20th century, they were essential for the daily life of the inhabitants of Istanbul
Sebil
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An ancient sebil in
Lod,
Israel
Sebil
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Sebil in
Jaffa,
Israel
Sebil
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Sebil in
Tel Aviv
Sebil
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Sultan
Ahmed III Fountain at
Topkapı Palace in
Istanbul
24.
Mosaic
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A mosaic is a piece of art or image made from the assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It is often used in art or as interior decoration. Most mosaics are made of small, flat, roughly square, pieces of stone or glass of different colors, some, especially floor mosaics, are made of small rounded pieces of stone, and called pebble mosaics. Others are made of other materials, mosaics have a long history, starting in Mesopotamia in the 3rd millennium BC. Pebble mosaics were made in Tiryns in Mycenean Greece, mosaics with patterns and pictures became widespread in classical times, Early Christian basilicas from the 4th century onwards were decorated with wall and ceiling mosaics. Mosaic fell out of fashion in the Renaissance, though artists like Raphael continued to practise the old technique, Roman and Byzantine influence led Jews to decorate 5th and 6th century synagogues in the Middle East with floor mosaics. Mosaic was widely used on buildings and palaces in early Islamic art, including Islams first great religious building, the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Mosaic went out of fashion in the Islamic world after the 8th century, modern mosaics are made by professional artists, street artists, and as a popular craft. Many materials other than stone and ceramic tesserae may be employed, including shells, glass. The earliest known examples of made of different materials were found at a temple building in Abra, Mesopotamia. They consist of pieces of colored stones, shells and ivory, excavations at Susa and Chogha Zanbil show evidence of the first glazed tiles, dating from around 1500 BC. However, mosaic patterns were not used until the times of Sassanid Empire, mythological subjects, or scenes of hunting or other pursuits of the wealthy, were popular as the centrepieces of a larger geometric design, with strongly emphasized borders. Pliny the Elder mentions the artist Sosus of Pergamon by name, describing his mosaics of the left on a floor after a feast. Both of these themes were widely copied, most recorded names of Roman mosaic workers are Greek, suggesting they dominated high quality work across the empire, no doubt most ordinary craftsmen were slaves. Splendid mosaic floors are found in Roman villas across North Africa, in such as Carthage. The tiny tesserae allowed very fine detail, and an approach to the illusionism of painting, often small panels called emblemata were inserted into walls or as the highlights of larger floor-mosaics in coarser work. The normal technique was opus tessellatum, using larger tesserae, which was laid on site, there was a distinct native Italian style using black on a white background, which was no doubt cheaper than fully coloured work. In Rome, Nero and his architects used mosaics to cover surfaces of walls and ceilings in the Domus Aurea, built 64 AD
Mosaic
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Irano-Roman floor mosaic detail from the palace of
Shapur I at
Bishapur.
Mosaic
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Cone mosaic courtyard from
Uruk in
Mesopotamia 3000 BC
Mosaic
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Ancient Greek mosaic of a deer hunt, in the House of the Abduction of Helen at
Pella, late 4th century BC
Mosaic
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Roman mosaic of
Ulysses, from Carthage. Now in the
Bardo Museum,
Tunisia
25.
Islamic art
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Islamic art encompasses the visual arts produced from the 7th century onward by people who lived within the territory that was inhabited by or ruled by culturally Islamic populations. The huge field of Islamic architecture is the subject of an article, leaving fields as varied as calligraphy, painting, glass, pottery. Islamic art is not at all restricted to art, but includes all the art of the rich. It frequently includes secular elements and elements that are frowned upon, if not forbidden, figurative painting may cover religious scenes, but normally in essentially secular contexts such as the walls of palaces or illuminated books of poetry. There are repeating elements in Islamic art, such as the use of floral or vegetal designs in a repetition known as the arabesque. The arabesque in Islamic art is used to symbolize the transcendent, indivisible. Mistakes in repetitions may be introduced as a show of humility by artists who believe only God can produce perfection. Human portrayals can be found in all eras of Islamic art, above all in the private form of miniatures. Human representation for the purpose of worship is considered idolatry and is forbidden in some interpretations of Islamic law. There are also depictions of Muhammad, Islams chief prophet. Small decorative figures of animals and humans, especially if they are hunting the animals, are found on pieces in many media from many periods. Other inscriptions include verses of poetry, and inscriptions recording ownership or donation, Islamic calligraphy in the form of painting or sculptures are sometimes referred to as quranic art. Large inscriptions made from tiles, sometimes with the letters raised in relief, complex carved calligraphy also decorates buildings. For most of the Islamic period the majority of coins only showed lettering, the tughra or monogram of an Ottoman sultan was used extensively on official documents, with very elaborate decoration for important ones. Other single sheets of calligraphy, designed for albums, might contain short poems, Quranic verses, or other texts. The main languages, all using Arabic script, are Arabic, always used for Quranic verses, Persian in the Persianate world, especially for poetry, calligraphers usually had a higher status than other artists. The tradition of the Persian miniature has been dominant since about the 13th century, strongly influencing the Ottoman miniature of Turkey, portraits of rulers developed in the 16th century, and later in Persia, then becoming very popular. Mughal portraits, normally in profile, are very finely drawn in a realist style, while the best Ottoman ones are vigorously stylized, album miniatures typically featured picnic scenes, portraits of individuals or animals, or idealized youthful beauties of either sex
Islamic art
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Detail of
arabesque decoration at the
Alhambra in Spain
Islamic art
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The Ardabil Carpet, probably the finest surviving
Persian carpet,
Tabriz, mid-16th century
Islamic art
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Part of a 15th-century ceramic panel from
Samarkand with
arabesque background
Islamic art
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Scene from the
Khamsa of Nizami, Persian, 1539–43
26.
Naskh (script)
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Naskh is a specific calligraphic style for writing in the Arabic alphabet, thought to have been invented by the calligrapher Ibn Muqlah Shirazi. The root of this Arabic term nasakh-a means to copy and it either refers to the fact that it replaced its predecessor, Kufic script, or that this style allows faster copying of texts. With small modifications, it is the style most commonly used for printing Arabic, Persian, Pashto and this type of script was derived from Thuluth by introducing a number of modifications resulting in smaller size and greater delicacy. It is written using a small, very fine pen known as a cava pen, naskhi was used in copying Qurans, Delails, En-ams and Hadiths. It was also used in commentaries on the Quran and in collections of poetry and it was and is a very widely used form of script. Naskh, along with Taliq, is famous for giving rise to the Nastalīq script, the script used for writing Urdu, Persian, Punjabi, Kashmiri. Computers typically use Naskh or a Naskh-like script, for instance, ruqʿah Nastaliq Arabic, Urdu, other Arabic keyboard layouts National Language Authority
Naskh (script)
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Al Fatihah - naskh script
27.
Diwani
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Diwani is a popular collection of eulogies of Prophet Muhammad written by Shaykh Ibrahim Niass in Arabic. It consists of eight books namely, - Taysirul wusuul, Iksiirus Saaadaat, Salwatus Shujuuni, Awsaqul Ura, Shifaaul Asqaami, Manaasiku Ahlul Widaad, Diwani is a calligraphic variety of Arabic script, a cursive style developed during the reign of the early Ottoman Turks. It was invented by Housam Roumi and reached its height of popularity under Süleyman I the Magnificent and it was labeled the Diwani script because it was used in the Ottoman diwan and was one of the secrets of the sultans palace. The rules of this script were not known to everyone, but confined to its masters and it was used in the writing of all royal decrees, endowments, and resolutions. A Diwani text adorned with a tugrah, a complex calligraphic seal, represented the authority of the Sultan, the Diwani script is divided into two types,1. The Riqa Diwani style, which is devoid of any decorations and whose lines are straight, the Jeli Diwani or clear style. This kind of handwriting is distinguished by the intertwining of its letters and it is punctuated and decorated to appear as one piece. The Diwani handwriting is known for the intertwining of its letters, which makes it difficult to read or write. Diwani is marked by beauty and harmony, and accurate small samples are considered more beautiful than larger ones and it is still used in the correspondence of kings, princes, presidents, and in ceremonies and greeting cards. And has an artistic value
Diwani
28.
Thuluth
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Thuluth is a script variety of Islamic calligraphy invented by Ibn Muqlah Shirazi. The straight angular forms of Kufic were replaced in the new script by curved, in Thuluth, one-third of each letter slopes, from which the name comes. An alternative theory to the meaning is that the smallest width of the letter is one third of the widest part and it is an elegant, cursive script, used in medieval times on mosque decorations. Various calligraphic styles evolved from Thuluth through slight changes of form, the second revolution resulted from the work of the Ottoman calligrapher Hâfız Osman in the 17th century. Finally, in the late 19th century, Mehmed Şevkî Efendi gave the script the distinctive shape it has today, Thuluth was used to write the headings of surahs, Quranic chapters. Some of the oldest copies of the Quran were written in Thuluth, later copies were written in a combination of Thuluth and either Naskh or Muhaqqaq. After the 15th century Naskh came to be used exclusively, the script is used in the Flag of Saudi Arabia where its text, Shahada al Tawhid, is written in Thuluth. An important aspect of Thuluth script is the use of harakat to represent vowel sounds, the rules governing the former are similar to the rules for any Arabic script. The stylistic marks have their own rules regarding placement and grouping which allow for great creativity as to shape, for example, one grouping technique is to separate the marks written below letters from those written above. Since its creation, Thuluth has given rise to a variety of used in calligraphy. Jeli Thuluth was developed for use in large panels, such as those on tombstones, Muhaqqaq script was developed by widening the horizontal sections of the letters in Thuluth. Naskh script introduced a number of resulting in smaller size. Tevki is a version of Thuluth. Ruqah was probably derived from the Thuluth and Naskh styles, the latter itself having originated from Thuluth. Ibn Muqlah Islamic calligraphy Mohammad Hosni Hatvesanat. com Thuluth Script Quranic Verses on Carpet Page, dates back to the 14th century and utilizes Thuluth script, from the World Digital Library
Thuluth
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A simple
Islamic prayer in the Thuluth script. Translation: the grasping of God brings the knowledge of His comfort.
Thuluth
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Taj Mahal, monumental calligraphy by Abd ul-Haq 1609
29.
Hijazi script
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As the name suggests, it is associated with the Hejaz region of Arabia. This type of script was already in use at the time of the emergence of Islam and it was one of the earliest scripts, along with Mashq and Kufic. The script is notably angular in comparison with other Arabic scripts, the script does not yet contain any dots or diacritical marks to indicate vowel sounds, but does differentiate consonants by the intermittent use of dashes above the graphic letter forms. Māʾil script is a calligraphic Hijazi script found in a number of the earliest Quranic manuscripts, the two terms are often used interchangeably. 2165 Early Quranic manuscript written in Mail script, 7th or 8th century CE British Library MS,2165 Mail manuscript from the Tareq Rajab Museum in Kuwait. Folio in an italic Hijazi script from the discoveries at the Great Mosque, Sanaa Fragment in a Makkan Hijazi script from the Vatican library
Hijazi script
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An Early Qur'anic Manuscript (1st century Hegira / 8th century AD).
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