A Singular Gift: an Islamic Predatory Bird at Mount Sinai

A Companion to Islamic Art and Architecture, edited by Finbarr Barry Flood and Gülru Necipoğlu, 2017

Arts of Allusion: Object, Ornament, and Architecture in Medieval Islam, 2018

E. Baboula and L. Jessop (eds), Art and Material Culture in the Byzantine and Islamic Worlds. Essays in Honour of Erica Cruikshank Dodd. Leiden: Brill, 2021

Even though I have only met Erica Cruikshank Dodd once, I consider her as a mentor who earlier walked the same path that I later followed. Both of us trained in Byzantine art history, and we have both spent a long time teaching at the American University of Beirut. In Beirut, we also both turned our attention to Islamic art. Most important for me, however, is her approach to that subject, perfectly captured in the title of her book, The Image of the Word. In that work, she examined the carved inscriptions appearing on many Islamic buildings from a unique perspective. Whereas most other scholars studied the content and meaning of those inscriptions, Erica performed an art historical analysis on them, inquiring what their visual form might signify as well. In this chapter, I follow Erica closely in this regard, believing, too, that a close, visual reading of Islamic art is essential in order to do justice to its many subtle complexities. I dedicate the following essay to her in admiration not only of that approach, but of all her work carried out in the Levant, now more important than ever, since so much of what she examined has subsequently suffered such degradation. The subject of this article is the geometrical interlace pattern, also known as girih, that occurs in many different settings within the Islamic world.1 It features prominently in architectural settings in mosques and frequently appears on minbars and in mihrabs. Two examples that will be used in this paper are the minbar of the mosque in the funerary complex of Sultan Faraj ibn Barquq (r. 1399-1412) in Cairo, built in the early fifteenth century, and a nearby dome from the funerary complex of Sultan Al-Ashraf Barsbay (r. 1422-38), from the early 1430s (Figs.

This article outlines the tradition of Islamic figural sculpture from the early 8 th c. to 1300, citing both surviving examples and the record of those many examples that no longer survive from areas as diverse as Syria-Palestine, Iraq, N. Africa, Afghanistan, Iran, Andalusia and Anatolia, in relief and in the round, figurines and larger sculptures in a variety of materials. Attention is drawn to the 'statue of the lancer figure' that was placed on top of al-Qubbah al-Khadra, the hall of audience of the Caliph, Abu Ja'far al Mansur, in Bagdad and which remained in-situ until 941 and which was recorded by Ibrahim b. 'Ali al-Khutabi in the 10 th c. as, 'the crown of Bagdad, a guidepost for the region and one of the great achievements of the Abbasids'. A clearly visible landmark sculpture and a Caliphal model for Islamic rulers in the use in public, as well as in private spaces, of sculpture. Özet: Bu makale, erken VIII. yüzyıldan XII. yüzyılın sonlarına değin İslami figüratif heykeltıraşlık geleneğini antik kaynaklar ışığında inceleyerek, Suriye-Filistin, Irak, Kuzey Afrika, Afganistan, İran, Endülüs ve Anadolu gibi farklı coğrafyalardan günümüze ulaşabilmeyi başaran ya da kayıtlara geçen örnekler ışığında ele almaktadır. Özellikle Bağdat'ta halife Abu Ja-far al Mansur'un kabul salonunu örten al-Qubbah al Khadra'nın (Yeşil Kubbe) tepesine konuşlandırılan ve X. yüzyılda yaşayan İbrahim bin Ali al-Khutabi tarafından " Bağdat'ın tacı, bölgenin sembolü ve Abbasilerin gerçekleştirdiği en önemli eserlerden biri " olarak kabul edilen 'atlı mızraklı süvari' 941 yılına kadar yerinde in-situ şeklinde durmuştur. Bu yönüyle İslami yöneticilerin halife örneğinde de izlenebildiği üzere, kamu alanlarında olduğu kadar özel alanlarda da halk tarafından görülebilen nirengi noktalarında heykellerinin yer aldığı iddia edilmektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Erken İslamik Heykeller, Kabartmalar, Abbasi haraketli heykelleri

The initial influence of Islam on art was not profound, however its impact became conspicuous in the ways that artists began to create art within the frame of Islamic theocracies. From the earliest beginnings of Islam, there have been rules and obligations regarding the depiction of human body in illustration and painting in general. After the coming of Islam, the interest of artists in religion and art with religious references make a substantial part of artistic production by using Quran and its verses in their works in different innovations. Those Islamic approach influence art and has been used for centuries including illuminated calligraphic texts, geometric and vegetal patterns, and figural representations between or around the verses of Quran, miniatures, ceramic tiles, etc. This paper examines if Islamic obligations led artists to be more creative while trying to find their way around the restrictions of using figural representation. While arguing if it's appropriate to accept religious values as a norm of art.

The Religious Architecture of Islam Volume I Asia and Australia, 2022

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religon, 2024

Relics can be found in every era of Islamic history, throughout the Islamic world. In line with other religious traditions of the Near East, the Qur'an mentions several objects endowed with special power (e.g., Joseph's coat, the Ark of the Covenant). The earliest Islamic literature, preserving the life and mission of Muḥammad, presents details of several revered objects. These include objects handed down from pre-Islamic prophets as well as the discards of Muḥammad's person, including clothing, weapons, and hair. Saintly figures, descendants of the Prophet, and his companions have also been sources for relics. Relics are displayed and venerated in devotional contexts such as shrines, tombs, mosques, madrasas, and museums. Relics have been paraded on special occasions such as the festival days of the Muslim calendar, in medieval protest marches, as part of the rituals for relief from drought, and as talismans in battle. Despite the occasional objection from austere doctors of law, devotion to relics has remained commonplace. While a full inventory is impossible, five categories may be proposed for the Islamic relic: (a) Bodily relics include the blood of martyrs, hair, and fingernail parings. Shrines have been built over severed heads-the most famous being that of Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī (d. 680). (b) Contact relics, having collected the baraka (blessing) of their one-time owners, pass those blessings on to any pilgrim who touches them. Several staffs, lances, bows, shields, turbans, cloaks, and sandals attributed to the Prophet have been preserved, some of which were presented as symbols of authority in the early caliphate. (c) Impressions in stone made by feet, hands, fingers, posteriors, and even hooves are preserved. Muḥammad's footprints saw a brisk trade in the medieval period, and his sandal inspired a minor tradition of devotional iconography first in manuscript copies and later in modern mass production. (d) Inanimate objects, miraculously endowed with speech or locomotion, constitute a fourth category. These animated relics could be speaking stones or moving trees, particularly in the sacred topographies of Medina and Mecca. (e) Many revered places which were the site of important events have been marked off and preserved. More than commemorations, these "stage relics" anchored sacred history and holy bodies in the landscape. The location of Muḥammad's birthplace in Mecca was until recently a revered stage relic.