Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Timothy Insoll, The Archaeology of 

Islam (Oxford, U.K.: Blackwell Publishers, 1999); Don-

ald Malcolm Reid, Whose Pharaohs? Archaeology, Muse-

ums, and Egyptian National Identity from Napoleon to 

World War I (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 

2002); Stephen Vernoit, “The Rise of Islamic Archaeol-

ogy.” Muqarnas 14 (1997): 1–10.

architecture

Architecture is an area of human activity that 

involves the design, creation, modification, and 

use of the built environment. The study of Islamic 

architecture follows the historical development of 

the study of Islamic 

art

 and is generally included 

with it by scholars.

As is the case with art, the history of the field 

gave rise to notions that made use of religious and 

racial characteristics to capture architectural ten-

dencies. Among these is the idea of the cultivated 

garden as the 

paradise

 of former desert nomads 

and the image of the reward of every good Muslim 

or of the courtyard house as the type best suited 

to Islamicate societies intent on secluding their 

Women

. These notions often closed the door on 

further questioning and investigation and allowed 

earlier scholars to concentrate on classifying and 

describing buildings and other structures. In con-

trast, the courtyard house is currently understood 

as a shared Mediterranean type that responded to 

environmental factors ranging from climatic con-

ditions to societal mores. And scholars are begin-

ning to explore the agricultural and economic 

functions of gardens as well as their organization, 

cultivation, and imagery. These specialized studies 

go along with new research in the areas of urban-

ism, the rise of markets and settlements, and the 

patterns that are currently creating Islamicate 

architecture in areas that were not historically 

populated by Muslims, such as is found in Europe 

and North America.

As is the case with Islamic art, some histori-

ans of Islamic architecture question the linkages 

Ibn Tulun Mosque (ninth century) in Cairo, Egypt 

(Juan 

E. Campo)

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