Dictionary of islamic architecture

See also:
Azerbayjan
Balkh, Hajji Piyadi Mosque (also
known as Masjid-i Tarikh, Nuh
Gunbad or Masjid-i Ka’b al-Akhbar)
Site of a badly damaged mosque, believed to date from the
early Islamic period.
Balkh, Hajji Piyadi Mosque

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The mosque is situated north-east of the city walls
of Balkh in Afghanistan. Most scholars agree that the
monument should be dated to the ninth century CE.
Although the roof itself has collapsed the building
is regarded as one of the earliest examples of a nine-
domed mosque.
The mosque is built out of a combination of baked
and unbaked brick and pise. The extant remains
include massive round piers and smaller engaged
columns typical of Abbasid architecture.
Further reading:
L.Golombeck, ‘Abbasid mosque at Balkh’, 
Oriental Art
NS
15 (3): 173–89, Autumn 1969.
J.D.Hoag, 
Islamic Architecture,
New York 1977, 48–9.
Banbhore
Major early Islamic site in Pakistan.
Banbhore is located on the north bank of the Gharro
Creek near the Indian Ocean coast in the Pakistani
state of Sind. Archaeological work at the site has
revealed a long-term occupation from the first century
to the thirteenth century CE which includes three
distinct periods, Scytho-Parthian, Hindu-Buddhist
and early Islamic. It seems probable that the site is
the ancient city of Debal referred to in early Muslim
accounts of the area and conquered by the Arab
general Mohammed ibn al-Qasim in 711.
The city comprises a large area enclosed by a stone
and mud wall strengthened by solid semi-circular
bastions with three main gateways. The walled area
is divided into two parts, an eastern and a western
section separated by a fortified stone wall. In the
middle of the eastern sector is the congregational
mosque. The mosque has a roughly square plan, built
around a central courtyard, two arcades on each of
the sides except the qibla side which is three bays
deep. The mosque has been dated by an inscription
to 727 CE, two years after the capture of Debal.
Significantly there is no trace of a concave or projecting
mihrab which confirms the mosque’s early date as
the first concave mihrab was introduced at Medina
between 707 and 709 (see also Wasit and mihrab).
Remains of houses and streets have been found
both within the walls and outside to the north and
east. Large houses were built of semi-dressed stone
or brick, the smaller houses of mud brick.