Dictionary of islamic architecture

See also:
Banbhore, India, Lahore, mihrab,
Mughals
Further reading:
A.H.Dani, 
Thatta-Islamic Architecture,
Islamabad 1982.
J.Kalter, 
The Arts and Crafts of the Swat Valley: Living
Traditions in the Hindu Kush,
London 1991.
A.N.Khan, 
Uchch History and Architecture,
Islamabad
1983.
F.A.Khan, 
Architecture and Art Treasures in Pakistan,
Karachi.
K.K.Mumtaz, 
Architecture in Pakistan,
London 1985.
A.B.Rajput, 
Architecture in Pakistan,
Karachi 1963.
N.I.Siddiqui, 
Thatta,
Karachi 1963.
Palestine
Small country on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean
comprising an area of 26,650 square km.
Physically it is divided into four main regions; a low-
lying coastal strip along the Mediterranean, a central
hilly or mountainous area running north to south
through the centre of the country, the Jordan Rift
Valley containing the Sea of Galilee and the Dead
Sea, and the Negev desert which covers most of the
southern part of the country.
Until 1918, when it was conquered by Britain,
the country was part of the Ottoman Empire. At
present the land is divided between the state of
Israel and the occupied territories of Gaza and the
West Bank. Israel is a new state created in 1948 with
a largely immigrant population, whose architecture
is alien to the region. However the people of Gaza
and the West Bank are mostly the indigenous
inhabitants of the country, whose architecture has
developed within the landscape for at least the last
two thousand years.
Palestine was one of the first areas to be
conquered by the Arab armies of Islam in 637 and
from that point onwards has remained one of the
main centres of Islamic culture. For some time
during the seventh century Muslims were expected
to pray towards Jerusalem rather than Mecca, thus
establishing Jerusalem’s position as one of the
holiest sites of Islam. However, throughout the
Umayyad period the culture of the area remained
predominantly Byzantine and there was only
gradual change to a new Islamic culture. With the
Abbasid revolution in 750 Palestine was no longer
near the centre of the empire and consequently was
exposed to a number of competing forces including
the Tulunids and Ikhshids. In the tenth century
Palestine came under the control of the Fatimids
who ruled the area from their newly founded
capital at Cairo. During the following century the
country was fought over by Byzantines and the
Fatimids, but it was eventually conquered by the
European Crusaders at the end of the eleventh
century. For the next two hundred years, parts of
Palestine were ruled by a series of Crusader kings.
The Crusaders were gradually expelled through a
series of wars conducted first by the Ayyubids
under Nur al-Din and Salah al-Din, and later by
the Mamluks under Baybars and his successors.
Cultural, spiritual and commercial life flour-ished
under the Mamluks until the late fifteenth century
when internal problems and external pressures
allowed the conquest of the area by the Ottoman
Turks in 1516. For the next four hundred years
Palestine was part of the Ottoman province of
Damascus. However, during this period various
local governors were able to achieve semi-
independent status. During the eighteenth century
Dhahir al 
Umar ruled a large area of northern
Palestine and amassed a great deal of wealth from
Palestine

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the cotton trade. Dhahir was succeeded by Ahmad
al-Jazzar Pasha the governor of Sidon who
reestablished the city of Acre as one of the major
ports of the Mediterranean. During the nineteenth
century the country was subjected to increasing
European influence with colonies established in
Haifa and Jerusalem. The British defeat of the
Ottomans in 1918 led to the establishment of the
British Mandate which ruled the country until 1948.
In 1948 Palestine was divided between Jordan,
Israel and Egypt; in 1968 Israel occupied the entire
country.
The main building materials in Palestine are
stone and unbaked mud brick. Wood and baked
brick are hardly ever used. Three main types of
stone are used, depending on the region of the
country. Along the Mediterranean coast kurkar, a
silicous limestone, is used for building. This has
the property that it can easily be cut from the
outcrops near the seashore, although it also
weathers easily and is difficult to dress to a fine
finish. Both the cities of Acre and Jaffa are built of
this material. In the northern part of the Jordan
Rift Valley and around the Sea of Galilee, basalt
blocks are used in construction. Basalt is extremely
hard and is consequently difficult to cut or carve,
although once shaped it does not weather much.
As a consequence basalt is often used in
combination with limestone which is used for
architectural details. The cities of Tiberias and
Beisan (Bet Shean) have the best examples of basalt
architecture. The best-quality building stone comes
from the central hilly region. In this area various
types of limestone can be found. Limestone is
fairly easy to cut and does not erode as much as
kurkar stone. Limestone cut and dressed to a fine
finish is known as ashlar masonry and is used in
some of the finest buildings in the country.
Limestone occurs in a variety of colours from
white to honey yellow and pink; some of the best
examples can be found in Jerusalem, Hebron and
Ramla. In addition various types of marble are
obtained from the hills around Jerusalem, whilst
Dolomite (hard limestone with magnesium) is
used in areas of Galilee.
Until recently a large number of buildings were
made out of mud brick and pisé particularly in the
Jordan valley and the coastal plain where building
stone was not so readily available as in the hills. Mud
brick has the advantages of being cheap, easy to work
with good thermal insulating properties.
Unfortunately mud brick also requires a high degree
of maintenance and it has mostly been replaced with
reinforced concrete which has some of the same
plastic qualities. The best examples of mud-brick
architecture still surviving are in Jericho, where a
wide variety of buildings, including mosques and
cinemas, are built out of this material.