Scholars Index: Symbol of Professional Status: Articles

Published by Noman Gulzar On Date 2017-05-31 02:45:37

Author : Noman Gulzar (University Of Sargodha)

Muslim Art

The religion of Islam was founded by The Holy Prophet MUHAMMAD (PBUH) (died 632) in the Arabian cities of Makkah and Madinah .The Arabic word ‘ISLAM’ literally means ‘submission’.

The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was born in Makkah, around 570. Orphaned at a young age, he (PBUH) was raised by his extended family, a minor clan of the powerful Quraysh tribe. Makkah was a merchant city with an important pilgrimage sanctuary at its heart Kaaba.

the sanctuary was dedicated to a pantheon of pagan deities. As a young Muhammad (PBUH) travelled widely beyond his hometown. He (PBUH) married Khadija ,a wealthy merchant.

The Emergence Of Islam:

Revelations came the Prophet (PBUH) periodically over the rest of his life, for the next 22 years. They were carefully remembered and retained by the Prophet (PBUH) and his growing community of Muslim converts, and together these revealed passages of constitute the Quran, the Holy Book of Islam. As such, Muslims consider the Quran to be of divine authorship, a perfect text.

Quran

Time Period:

The Umayyad Period :

The Umayyads were the first Islamic rulers to establish a dynasity (661-750). Their buildings promoted the authority of the reigning family, as well as the young faith of Islam.

The first member of the Umayyad family to become caliph was Muawiyah 1, a provincial governor who challenged the authority of Ali Ibn Abi Talib, the Prophet cousin and son-in-law, as ruler of the Islamic world.

Muawiyah did not take power until 29 years after the Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) death, in 632. Abu Bakr, a companion of the Prophet and an early convert to Islam, had been chosen as the caliph, or successor, to be both religious leader of Muslims and the political ruler of Islamic world. Shortly before his death in 634, Abu Bakr nominated Umar ibn al-Khattab as the next ruler. In 644 , Umar’s successor as caliph, Uthman Ibn-affan, was elected by a committee of religious elder. On uthman’s murder in 656, Ali ibn Abu Talib, one of the elders who had elected Uthman, assumed control. Muawiyah was among those who did not accept Ali’s authority.

Architectural Glories:

The Umayyad rulers, especially Abd al-Malik (reigned 685-705), al Walid I (reigned 705-15),Sulayman (reigned 715-17), Hisham (reigned 743-44), financed an imperial building programme, primarily in Syria. They established a splendid court in Damascus and built a series of grand places on country estates nearby.

DOME OF THE ROCK

The imposing of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, completed in 691-92 By Umayyad Caliphs Abd Al-Malik, is the world’s oldest surviving Islamic sacred Building.

By buildings the Dome Of Rock, Abd al-Malik made a bold statement of the power of the Umayyad caliphs and the wealth of the spreading Islamic empire. He diverted the entire taxation revenue of Egypt for 7 years to pay for the project moreover he chose a position and form of building that would give Islam a highly visible and spiritually resonant presence in Jerusalem, challenging the two rival Abrahamic faiths of Judaism and Christianity. Neither a mosque nor a mausoleum, the dome encloses an area of rock, known as the foundation stone, that is sacred in Islam because of its association with prophets before Muhammad (PBUH) and because Muslims believe that it was the place from which Muhammad (PBUH) rose to heaven in the course of his blessed night journey in 620.Muslim call the precinct Haram-al-Sharif (‘The Noble Sanctuary’)

Qibla and Mosque:

Muslim pray in the direction of (Qibla) Mecca. In Islamic architecture, the Qibla is marked by the Mehraab in the wall.

Interior of the Mosque Mosque is the place of worship for followers of Islam. Mosques contain Mehraab in the wall made of part of wall. The imam and other prayer leader prayers infront of Mehraab. The first Mehraab was used by Prophet (P.B.U.H). the interior of the Mehraab.

The Madrasa:

Madrissa Arabic word which means ‘a place where teaching and learning takes place’ and refers to a religious school, university or college. One of the oldest Madrasa is in the al-Qarawiyyin Mosque

The Great Mosque of Damascus:

Contemporaries hailed The Umayyad Mosque in Damascus as one of the wonders of the world. They praised its grand prayer hall, courtyard and Golden Mosaics.

The sixth Umayyad Caliph, al-Walid 1, built the great Mosque in Damascus in 705-15, when the empire he controlled was expanding fast in size, power and wealth. In 711, during the construction of the monumental Mosque, Islamic armies crossed from Africa in to the Iberian peninsula, swept away the power the visigothic rulers and extended Islam and Umayyad power into the Spain. In Damascus, al-Walid set out _ like his father Abd al-Malik, builder of The Dome Of The Rock to make an impressive statement of Umayyad rising imperial Power and to promote Islam as a major world religion.

Design of the Mosque:

Using the model of Prophet’s Mosque in Makkah, which was the prototype for all early Mosques, the builder laid out a vast enclosed courtyard with a prayer hall along in southern side, containing a mihrab wall arch, indicating the required direction of prayer toward the Kaabah in Makkah. They filled the temple area of ancient Roman temple: the Mosque and the courtyard measured 100m by 157.5m (328ft by 517ft). At each corner of the enclosure they raised a minaret, or watchtower _ these were initially lookout towers, but in time they were used for calling the faithful to Prayers The Great Mosque of Damascue

The Fatimid Caliphate:

The Fatimid capital of Al-Qahira (the victorious), now known as Cario, was a walled places city centerd on the Caliph’s residence and a congregational Mosque.

The Fatimid emerged as Ismaili sectarian movement in Tunisia. There, in 909, Ubayd Allah declared himself the Mahdi, or Holy one, and founded a Fatimid Caliphate in their temporary Capital, Raqqada. The claimed sacred descent from Ali, the Prophet’s son-in-law, and his wife Fatima, the Prophet’s daughter _ from whom the name Fatimid derives.

Supported by missionary activity around the Islamic world, the caliphate quickly grew, and in 921 Ubayd Allah built the splendid place city of Mahdia on the Tunisian coast. He was succeeded as ruler by al-Qasim (934-46), al-Mansur (953-75). The masque Al-Hakim of sixth Chalip.

The Ottoman Architecture:

The Ottomans gained a new prestigious capital when they took Constantinople in 1453. The city also provided their builders with the prototype for their great Mosque.

Istanbul, the Turkish version of Greek words eis ten polin ,or to the city ‘became the official name of the city on the Bosphorus only as late as 1930. Until that date, it was still called Constantinople, the city of constantine’ a name is reflecting its Roman and Byzantine imperial past. The grandeur of this capital of three successive empires inspired several sieges by Muslim rulers, but the prize of conquest was reserved for Sultan Mehmet II (reigned 1444-46 , 1451-81), who consequently assumed the epithet of faith, ‘the Conqueror’.

The Hagia Sophia:

This effect was undoubtedly inspired by the patriarchal church of Byzantine Constantinople and eventually mosque of the Ottomans, Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya), a building laden with imperial connotations. Built between 532 and 537, it was an inventive and short-lived answer to the problem of a large floor area sheltered by a domed roof. The Hagia Sophia plan was popular with Ottomans builders and characterized 16^th century Mosque architecture.

The original Hagia Sophia plan’ as in 6^th century cathedral, was finished with a second semi dome opposite , creating an elongated oval shell. The complete version first appeared in the Sultan Bayezid mosque in Istanbul, built for Bayezid II (reigned 1481-1512) around the turn of the century, in which the central core (semidome-dome-semidome) was flanked to the right and left by eight domes arranged over eight bays.

The most faithful Ottoman version of the plan was erected between 1550 and 1557 by Sinan.

Lahore:

The city of Lahore in northern India reached a peak of Architectural glory during the rule of Mughals. From 1584 to 1598, it served as the imperial city.

During the most of the Mughals dynasty, the imperial capital was moved to different cities. When the emperor and his army set off on compaign, his entire establishment went with him, from the ladies of the harem to the treasury and from the court artists to the menagerie. However, several cities did become _ and remained for a while _ the official Mughal capital (Akbar reigned 1556-1605).

Badshahi Mosque:

Set in vast courtyard, the Badshahi Mosque was built in 1674 by Aurangzeb (reigned 1658-1707).

With its trio of white domes, octagonal minarets and imposing arched portal, the Mosque is the largest place of prayer constructed during the Mughal era. Some wall are covered with intricate geometric patterns, others with a mass of tiny flowers and floral sprays springing from vases. Badshahi Mosque

Modern Architectural:

Some of the most dynamic architecture of the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries was created in the Islamic world, using modern designs that honour the Islamic tradition.

Faisal Masque:

The vast King Faisal Mosque in Islamabad is a symbol of modern Pakistan. Built in 1976-86 under the supervision of Turkish architect Vedat Delakoy, it combines the modern and treaditional: it is based on the design of central dome with spindle minarets used over centuries by the Ottomans, but here the main dome is opened out into a great folded roof resem_bling a tent. It is made of concrete without external decoration. The scale is vast: the Mosque is part of a complex covering 5,000sq m (53,820sq ft) that can hold 300,000 members of the faithful.

The prayer hall contains a large chandelier, calligraphy by Pakistani artist Sadeqain Naqqash and tiles by Turkish artist Menga Ertel. On the west wall the Kalimah (the affirmation of faith) is written Kufic script set in mosaic. Faisal Mosque