Contributions of Islam
Islamic art included wood, metal, cerramics, and textiles. They believed if they drew a person, people will start worshipping them. Carpets and walls were decorated with Arabesques. They used calligraphy which was a beautiful writing style.
Islamic architecture may be identified with the following design elements, which were inherited from the first mosque built byr hall
Islamic architecture may be identified with the following design elements, which were inherited from the first mosque built byr hall
- Minarets or towers (these were originally used as
torch-lit watchtowers, as seen in the Great
Mosque of Damascus; hence the derivation of the word from the
Arabic nur, meaning "light"). The minaret of the Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia is considered as the oldest surviving minaret in the world. It has the shape of a square massive tower of three superimposed sections.
- A four-iwan plan, with three subordinate halls and one
principal one that faces toward Mecca
- Mihrab or prayer niche on an inside wall indicating the direction to Mecca.
- The use of Islamic geometric patterns and foliage based arabesques.
- The use of mocárabe and muqarnas, a unique Arabic/Islamic space-enclosing
system, for the decoration of domes, minarets and portals, as used at the Alhambra.
- The use of decorative Islamic calligraphy instead of pictures
which were haram (forbidden) in mosque architecture. Note
that in secular architecture, human and animal representation was indeed
present.
- Central fountains used for ablutions