Dictionary of islamic architecture

particular the complex is thought to recall the
country residence of Abd al-Rahman, the first
Spanish Umayyad, at Rusafa in Syria.
See also:
Córdoba, Córdoba Great Mosque, Spain
M

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Further reading:
F.Hernandez Gimenéz, 
Madinat al Zahra
: Arquitectura y
Decoración,
Granada 1985.
B.Pavon Malddonao, 
Memoria de la Excavatión de la
Mezquita de Medinat al-Zahra,
No. 50 of Excavaciones
Arqueologicas en Espagne, Madrid 1966.
madrassa
Building which functions as a teaching institution
primarily of Islamic sciences.
It is thought that the earliest madrassas were built
by the Seljuks in eleventh-century Iran and that the
design was derived either from contemporary house
plans or Buddhist teaching structures, known as
viharas, which survived in Afghanistan and Central
Asia. The oldest extant madrassa is the
Gumushtutigin Madrassa in Bosra built in 1136. This
is a small structure (20 by 17 m) with a domed
courtyard and two lateral iwans. However, the
majority of early madrassas are found in Anatolia
where two main types occur, based either on an open
or a closed courtyard building. The domed
madrassas are usually smaller buildings whilst those
with an open courtyard are generally larger and have
central iwans surrounded by arcades. The first
Egyptian madrassas date from after 1160 when Sunni
orthodoxy was returned to the country. The
significance of the Egyptian madrassas is the four-
iwan plan where each iwan represented one of the
four orthodox schools of law. This design later spread
to other countries and can be seen in the Mustansriya
Madrassa in Baghdad. Another significant
development which took place in Egypt is the
madrassa becoming the dominant architectural form
with mosques adopting their four-iwan plan.
Although it is traditionally thought that madrassas
provide sleeping and working accommodation for
students, the extant examples show that this was not
a rule and it is only later on that student facilities
became an accepted part of a madrassa.
mahal
Arabic term for place or location. In Mughal
architecture it is used to describe the palace pavilion,
or more specifically the women’s quarters.
Mahdiya
Fatimid capital of North Africa located on the east coast
of Tunisia.
The city of Mahdiya occupies a defensive position
on the peninsula of Ras Mahdi. The city was
established in 913 by the Fatimid Mahdi (leader)
Ubaid Allah on the site of the destroyed Carthigin-
ian port of Zella. The city functioned as a port from
which the Fatimids were able to launch their
campaign to conquer Egypt.
Architecturally the most significant building in
the town is the Great Mosque built in 916. This is
the earliest surviving example of a Fatimid mosque.
The design of the mosque differs considerably from
earlier North African mosques as it had no minarets
and only one monumental entrance giving it the
appearance of a fortress rather than a mosque. This
view is reinforced by the massive square corner
buttresses and the stark simplicity of the design.
The internal layout of the mosque is similar to
earlier mosques of the region with nine aisles
running perpendicular to the qibla wall and a
transverse aisle parallel with the qibla wall. In the
eleventh century erosion by the sea destroyed the
original qibla wall which was subsequently rebuilt
further back thus reducing the space of the prayer
hall.