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:
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.
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!
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?
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.
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.
That is interesting. The title leads one to believe the article is only about mosques and the pictures have no captions explaining what or where they are.
AFAIK the only thing that's expressly forbidden in Quran is worshipping of any likeness, be it an image, a sculpture, or whatnot. The rest is interpretations of different schools. Though all my knowledge is hearsay, as an irreligious son of a mostly non observant family.
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
2 A Vision of the Fatemiyeen: https://amzn.com/0953927016