Islamic urban planning and architecture during the Umayyad and Abbasid periods

Middle East Civilization I (HIS 251-01N)

Cities-

The Umayyad, Abbasid, and early Middle Periods of Islamic history were some of the greatest in its history marked by significant technological and cultural progress. Known as the Golden Age of Islam, most Middle Easterners lived in cities during these periods that were constructed along Byzantine and Roman models with towers and gates along each wall and two perpendicular axial streets that intersected at a small square. Sometimes this square was covered by a dome on pillars. The rest of the city was laid out according to the grid that the two main streets established. The cities themselves possessed a local identity, which its inhabitants enforced with their sense of responsibility of keeping order and peace. Dwellings were constructed in a manner so as to give each citizen maximum privacy. Each city had a mosque with an open courtyard and colonnade. What was unique about these cities were minarets that dominated the skyline.

The central presence of the mosque also signifies that religion acted as the web of interest that linked governing elite to the people, particularly since these eras were still so closely connected to Muhammad and fervently religious, and indeed the religious leaders (the Imams) were the ones who acted as medium between citizens and rulers. The governing elite and the citizens were also linked by the government's need for tax revenues and the merchants' need for market inspectors to regulate their business within the city. The government itself functioned with the help of local leaders of the city, leading merchants, leaders elected by the Dhimmis and Islamic scholars. All of these different sectors helped the government monitor the pulse of the city.

2. Mosques and Other Architecture

The common characteristics of the mosque are the following: The minaret and dome as well as a square enclosure or a courtyard (shan) where Muslims can pray or perform salat. A mihrab, a semi-circular alcove set into the wall which points to the qiblah or the direction of the Kabba. A minbar near the mihrab where the imam lectures. Inline with the mihrab is a platform (dikka) where the muezzins chant with the Imam. Finally, there is the wudhu khana (the basin) used for washing hands and feet before prayer

Islam's first mosque was the courtyard of Muhammad's house that was located in Medina, Saudi Arabia. Later important mosques during the Classical Period included the Umayyad mosque of Damascus, the Mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo, the Great Mosque of Qairawan, the Great Mosques of Cordoba, the Friday Mosque, and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. The latter is an Islamic shrine built on the original site of the Jewish Second Temple in Jerusalem. The Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan initiated the project and the two engineers Yadzid Ibn Salaam led it from Jerusalem and Raja ibn Haywah from Baysan. Its construction was not only to proclaim the supremacy of Islam (thus the site chosen) but also to ensure that Muslims would not be tempted by Christianity. This site was the former Roman temple to Jupiter and the two Jewish temples. It was also believed that Mohammed had ascended from this site to heaven, hence building the temple at this spot.

The Alhambra, another famous Islamic site, was a fortified citadel and palace built in Granada, Spain, whilst general constructions that Muslims of that period built included palaces, mausoleums, shrines, public baths, libraries, hospitals, forts, and bazaars. Although these were constructed out of ornate material, the Ghaznavids and Seljuks in the medieval period built their buildings out of baked or mud bricks that were decorated with stucco or stone.

3. Islamic Art

The decorative arts as practiced by the Muslims -- otherwise called iconoclastic - are where people refrain from recreating the image of animals or humans for religious reasons, and, therefore, focus their attention on creating intricate designs comprised of other imagery. Muslims excelled in ornate and intricate designs since they rejected drawing and sculpting the human image for fear of idolatry. Their artistic style consists of rugs, silks, leatherwork, metal work, cotton textiles, highly glazed ceramics, and fine glass, as well as wall hangings, tiles, inlaid metalwork, carved wood, and furniture. Another art polished to sheen by Muslims was calligraphy, or stylized form of penmanship that developed into a form of the lesser arts and with which they decorated their manuscripts and books. Calligraphy was also used to beautify mosques, palaces, mausoleums, and shrines (as illustrated by the Alhambra and the Dome of the Rock) where painted and highly glazed tiles decorated the interior and the exterior of their buildings, whilst gold leafing and gold ink were used to decorate the Quran, and floral designs and geometric patterns, with bold borders on each page, employed to enhance Muslim books and manuscripts.

5. Agriculture

The most important resource for successful agriculture in the Middle East was water. Irrigation techniques were perfected to bring water to the field, and one of the crops (one of the earliest in fact- that most profited from this method) was dates which Muslim families took great pride in and evaluated according to flavor, sweetness, and moisture. Dates, mentioned in the Koran more than 20 times, are in fact important to a Muslim diet, since they are healthy and filling and are used much of the time during Ramadan. Irrigation technology, seeds, and cutting were introduced from India by sailors and merchants from Oman and Yemen, since Muslims would take specimens of crops on their travels including on their pilgrimage to Mecca. Arabs also used pollination - the sprinkling of pollen on the field to assist fertilization of plants -- in order to insure production of strong crops.

Agricultural knowledge passed to Christian Europe by Arabs writing manuals on farming and botany which were then taken as far West as Muslim Spain, which, in turn, introduced that knowledge to its neighboring Christian countries. It was in this manner that Europeans of the Middle Ages, impressed by Islamic agricultural developments, studied and acquired the knowledge.