Islamic art and architecture encompass religious and secular settings across many regions and centuries. Geometry, calligraphy and plant motifs are prominent, while the use of human and animal imagery depends on historical context and function.

The Mosque: Centerpiece of Islamic Design

The mosque is an important form of Islamic architecture, serving communal worship. Mosque plans vary; features often encountered include:

• A Mihrab (niche) indicating the direction of Mecca.
• A Minaret used for the call to prayer.
• An open courtyard often featuring a fountain or pool for ritual washing.
• A columned prayer hall with arcades or aisles.

Key Examples of Early Mosque Architecture

Great Mosque at Damascus (705–715 C.E.)

The Umayyad mosque was built on a site previously occupied by a Roman temple and a Christian church. It adapted the site to Muslim worship, with a prayer hall and courtyard. The shrine associated with John the Baptist is a feature of this particular mosque, not a standard element required in mosque plans.

Mosque of Ibn Tulun, Cairo (879 C.E.)

A textbook example of Islamic planning, this mosque features:

• A rectangular enclosure with a square open court.
• Five rows of arches forming the roofed prayer hall.
• A minaret with a spiral staircase.
• Decorative plaster arches with abstract, non-figurative ornament.

Its brick construction draws from earlier Iraqi examples, notably the Malwiya Mosque at Samarra.

Great Mosque of Córdoba, Spain (785–987 C.E.)

A columned hall using horseshoe arches built from alternating red and white voussoirs. The use of rhythmic arcades creates a vast, open, and seemingly infinite space. Later additions include complex interlocking arches and elaborately decorated wall arcades, emblematic of Islamic abstraction.

The Arch in Islamic Architecture

Islamic builders expanded upon Roman and Byzantine precedents, introducing new forms:

• Horseshoe Arches: A Moorish signature, often extending past the semicircle. Used extensively in Córdoba and later in the Alhambra.
• Pointed arches: found in several architectural traditions. Their shape alone does not establish a building’s religion or prove a direct line of influence.

These arches appear not just structurally but as ornamental framing devices, often within arcades surrounding courtyards.

Ornament and the Context of Figurative Imagery

Attitudes to human and animal imagery vary by period, region and setting. The Metropolitan Museum of Art explains that the Qur’an does not contain the often-claimed blanket ban on depicting people or animals; religious settings commonly avoid figures, while secular art includes them. Plant motifs are a major part of Islamic ornament, not a forbidden category. Common decorative forms include:

• Geometric patterns
• Calligraphic inscriptions, often drawn from the Koran
• Arabesque motifs and abstract plaster carvings

These elements appear in:

• Plaster wall panels
• Decorative tile (e.g., Iznik tiles in Istanbul)
• Carved stone
• Painted woodwork

The Alhambra: Apex of Moorish Design

The Alhambra in Granada developed as a Nasrid palace-city from the thirteenth century, with major work under Yusuf I and Muhammad V in the fourteenth century. Its features include:

• A complex arrangement of palaces, courtyards and gardens.
• Ornate horseshoe and pointed arches.
• Reflecting pools and fountains.
• Filigree-like surface carving.
• Brilliant color use: blues, greens, golds, and whites.

The Nasrid palaces belong to the architecture of Muslim-ruled Granada. They should not simply be labelled Mudéjar, a term commonly used for Islamic artistic traditions continued in Christian-ruled Iberian settings.

Legacy and Interaction with European Design

• Converted buildings: Byzantine churches like Hagia Sophia became mosques.
• Shared arch forms: horseshoe and slightly pointed arches appear in Spanish Romanesque.
• Mudéjar style: Islamic-inspired decoration in Christian Spanish buildings.

In furnishings, Islamic interiors focused on:

• Low benches, prayer rugs, and floor-level seating
• Elaborate textiles with geometric and calligraphic motifs

Islamic design left a profound imprint not only on its own regions but also on the evolving vocabulary of Western design, particularly in areas of cultural contact like Spain and the eastern Mediterranean.