Dictionary of islamic architecture

See also:
Agades, Timbuktu, West Africa
Further reading:
G.J.Duchemin, ‘A propos des decorations murales des
habitations de Oualata (Mauretanie)’, 
Bulletin IFAN
12(4): 1095–110, 1950.
O.Du Puigaudeau, ‘Contribution à l’étude du
symbolisme dans le décor mural et l’artisanat de Walat’,
Bulletin IFAN
19(1–2): 137–83, 1957.
Oualata (also known as Walata, Iwalatan and Birou)

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Pakistan
Predominantly Muslim country in the north-west corner
of the Indian subcontinent
.
Pakistan is located in a strategic position with
Afghanistan and Iran to the west, India to the east,
the Sinkiang region of China to the north and the
Indian Ocean to the south. Running down the centre
of the country from the Chinese border to the Indian
Ocean is the Indus river which unites the diverse
regions and cultures through which it passes. In the
north and west the country is dominated by the
highest mountains in the world and includes parts
of Himalayas, the Hindu Kush and the Karakoram
mountain ranges. Officially the country is divided
into five regions, the Northern Areas, the North-
West Frontier, the Punjab, Baluchistan and Sind.
Each region has its own languages and cultures
reflecting a complex historical development. Most
of the population lives in the Indus valley which
comprises the states of Punjab and Sind. The valley
is home to one of the world’s oldest civilizations
based on the cities of Mohenjodaro and Harrapa
which flourished more than 4,000 years ago. During
the fourth century BCE the northern part of the
country was conquered by Alexander the Great who
established a Macedo-nian garrison at Taxilla. The
Greeks were soon defeated by the Mauryans who
later introduced Buddhism as the state religion. For
the next 400 years or more the region was the centre
of a Graeco-Indian Buddhist culture illustrated by
the great stupas of Taxilla. During the fifth century
CE there was a period of Hindu revival under the
Gupta dynasty, remains of which can be seen in
Hindu and Jain stone shrines.
The first Muslims in Pakistan were probably
Arab seafarers taking part in the extensive Indian
Ocean trade network. However, the first Muslim
conquest of the area was by Mohammad ibn al-
Qasim who captured the region of Sind in 711. For
the next one and a half centuries Sind was ruled by
Umayyad and later Abbasid governors until 873
when the province broke away from the caliphate.
The province was now divided into several
independent city states the most important of which
were Multan and Mansurah. During the tenth
century Sind developed as an important centre of
Ismaili and Khariji thought which was brought to
an abrupt end by the invasions of Mahmud of
Ghazni between 1004 and 1008. Several years later
the province of Punjab, then under Hindu control,
was captured by Mahmud who established a fort
and mint at Lahore. For the next 150 years much of
the present area of Pakistan was under Ghaznavid
control, until the invasions of Mahmud of Ghur at
the end of the twelfth century. Mahmud’s deputy
Qutb al-Din Aybak soon took over and ruled the
Punjab from his Indian capital of Delhi. For the
following 300 years with a few exceptions Pakistan
was under the control of the various dynasties
ruling from Delhi the most significant of which was
the Tughluqs. In the sixteenth century the Punjab
was incorporated into the Mughal Empire and
Lahore became one of the three main cities of the
empire. For a period of about fifty years in the early
nineteenth century the Punjab was under the
control of the Sikhs although by the end of the
century it was firmly incorporated into British
India. In 1947 the Muslim parts of India comprising
the modern states of Pakistan and Bangladesh were
made independent as one country despite the great
distances separating them. In 1970 the country
separated into two independent states, Pakistan and
Bangladesh.
The range of building materials and techniques
used in Pakistan reflects both the variety of its
natural environment and its long cultural history.
The scarcity of suitable building stone in the Indus
valley has meant that mud or clay has always been
the main building material. Mud may be used in
several forms: as mud brick, baked brick or pisé.
Mud brick was first used in the cities of Harrapa
and Mohenjodaro over 4,000 years ago and
continues to be used in many of the villages of the
P

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Punjab today. Baked brick is used for more
permanent structures such as wells, important
houses or mosques whilst pisé is used for structures
which need to be built cheaply and quickly. On the
coast of Sind mud is used as a thick plaster over a
wooden frame to produce wattle-and-daub
constructions. In the mountains of the North-West
Frontier the typical form of construction consists
of rubble stone walls set in mud mortar and covered
over with a mud-plaster finish. These buildings are
covered with flat roofs made of timber branches
overlaid with matting and then covered with earth.
The only region where timber is plentiful is in the
northern region of the Swat valley where there are
dense pine forests. The architecture of this region
is similar to its Indian neighbour, Kashmir with
finely carved wooden mosques covered by pagoda-
style roofs.
Archaeological work in Sind has revealed the
remains of several early Islamic sites, the most
significant of which is Bhambore, thought to be the
ancient city of Debal. The city was divided into two