
The Mesmerizing Architecture of Mosques (2014) - snake117
https://medium.com/vantage/the-mesmerizing-architecture-of-mosques-385d1e5e14c0#.4q9jjkxke
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ignoramous
Interesting to see this come up on Hacker News. The Islamic Art has been
mesmerizing and amazing to me ever since I've started taking note of the skill
on display.

Arabic Calligraphy is central to Islamic Art, and usually verses from Qur'an
are intricately carved out on the walls and doors. Islamic architecture also
has subtle hints-- like 5 windows might represent the infallible 5 of Shi'a
Islam; or a 100 pillars might represent the 100 exalted names of God. There's
a lot of thought that goes into those patterns as well as choice of Qur'anic
verses, and placement of decorations.

My favourite books on the topic are analysis of two Grand Mosques built in
Fatimid Architectural style, by an Indian scholar:

1 A Living Testimony to the Fatemiyeen:
[https://amzn.com/0953927008](https://amzn.com/0953927008)

2 A Vision of the Fatemiyeen:
[https://amzn.com/0953927016](https://amzn.com/0953927016)

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lexicality
Since the article doesn't link to it, you can see more of his work here:
[http://gravity.ir/](http://gravity.ir/)

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kweks
I've been fascinated by mosque architecture for the last few years - and have
been fortunate enough to visit each one photographed in the the article, and
others in the Turkey, UAE, Iraq, Tunisia, Morocco, etc.

So far, Iranian mosques take the cake for me - often inside they make their
mosaics from mirrors. The effect is startling - the reflections are nothing
short of dazzling, you have the feeling to be in an Escher arrangement. The
'best' part, is that in photographs, the effect is totally lost.

Very recently, I traveled across China, and specifically to its muslim
regions. What was fascinating was the variety and beauty of their mosques.
It's totally crazy to see minarets built in a Chinese temple style.

For those interested: [http://imgur.com/a/AXhma](http://imgur.com/a/AXhma)

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saiya-jin
Iran is an amazing experience, sadly it has bad rep due to politics and
western media focusing on worst things happening there. it's getting slightly
better, which will mean more tourists and the unique atmosphere will slowly
vanish. visit as soon as possible!

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gjkood
Can someone who is knowledgeable on the topic enlighten me?

I was under the impression (very possibly mistaken) that you couldn't depict
human or animal forms in Islamic Art/Architecture and hence the prevalence of
amazingly intricate geometry and calligraphy adorning Mosques.

However I see some elaborate murals with human and animal depictions in the
5th and 9th photos in the article.

Am I mistaken in my assumption? Are there restrictions on what can or cannot
be depicted in Islamic Art?

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skissane
In Sunni Islam, your assumption is largely true today. The majority of
contemporary Sunni Islam takes a negative view of images of humans or animals
in religious contexts, or even in art in general. However, historically, that
hasn't always been the uniform Sunni position, miniature painting was very
popular in the Ottoman Empire even among Sunnis.

By contrast, Shi'a Islam tends to take a much more lenient view on this issue.
In Sunni Islam, making images of Muhammad is considered gravely wrong, whereas
many Shi'a authorities consider it permissible so long as the image is made
out of respect and devotion.

Much of Sufism also takes a more lenient view of religious iconography.

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schoen
There's also a fairly long discussion at
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aniconism_in_Islam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aniconism_in_Islam),
but I bet it could stand to be expanded quite a lot.

I remember that when I was in elementary school my class had a teaching intern
who was an observant Muslim woman and consistently wore a hijab. Our regular
teacher told us that we students should refrain from drawing pictures of the
intern out of respect to her religious beliefs (this being the 1980s, the
prospect of taking cell phone camera photos didn't really come up). I never
found out whether this request was something that she specifically asked for,
or something that the teacher had assumed or guessed at.

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noelwelsh
If you like this, you might find an interesting read in these papers on
generating Islamic star designs via computer:

[http://www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/csk/projects/starpatterns/](http://www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/csk/projects/starpatterns/)

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aphextron
Every time I see something like this posted it deeply saddens me that, as an
American, I will never be able to safely visit Iran.

