Islamic architecture

thumb|The Prophet's Mosque in [[Medina, one of the holiest mosques in Islam]]

The Kaaba (), also spelled Kaba, Kabah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaba al-Musharrafa (), is a stone building at the center of Islam's most important mosque and holiest site, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is considered by Muslims to be the Baytullah () and determines the qibla () for Muslims around the world.

alt=|thumb|upright=1.25|The three madrasas at the Registan of [[Samarkand, built during the Timurid Renaissance]]

thumb|Muslims surrounding and facing the [[Kaaba for prayer]] The qibla () is the direction towards the Kaaba in the Sacred Mosque in Mecca, which is used by Muslims in various religious contexts, particularly the direction of prayer for the salah. According to Islamic tradition, the Kaaba is believed to be a sacred site built by prophets Abraham and Ishmael, and that its use as the qibla was ordained by God in several verses of the Quran revealed to Muhammad in the second Hijri year. Prior to this revelation, Muhammad and his followers in Medina faced Jerusalem for prayers. Most mosques conta

architectural style

thumb|The Izadkhast Caravanserai|Izadkhast caravanserai (early 17th century), [[Fars province, Iran]]

thumb|upright=1.2|Ali Gholi Agha hammam, [[Isfahan, Iran]] A hammam (), also often called a Turkish bath by Westerners, is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherited from the model of the Roman thermae. Muslim bathhouses or hammams were historically found across the Middle East, North Africa, al-Andalus (Islamic Iberia, i.e. Spain and Portugal), Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and in Southeastern Europe (notably Balkans and Hungary) under Ottoman rule.

architecture of the Ottoman Empire

a building designed specifically for gatherings of a Sufi brotherhood

architecture associated with Iran

Indo-Islamic architecture from 16th to 18th century India

main mosque of a city or state

thumb |An ab anbar (water reservoir) with windcatchers (openings near the top of the towers) in the central desert city of [[Yazd, Iran]] thumb |Aghazadeh Mansion in Abarkooh, [[Iran, has an elaborate 18-m windtower with two levels of openings, plus some smaller windtowers.]]

thumb|upright=1.3|Muqarnas as seen from below in the iwan entrance to the Shah Mosque in [[Isfahan, Iran (17th century)]] thumb|upright=1.3|Muqarnas dome in the Sala de Dos Hermanas at the Alhambra in [[Granada, Spain (14th century)]] Muqarnas (), also known in Iberian architecture as Mocárabe (from ), is a form of three-dimensional decoration in Islamic architecture in which rows or tiers of niche-like elements are projected over others below. It is an archetypal form of Islamic architecture, integral to the vernacular of Islamic buildings, and typically featured in domes and vaults, as well

distinct city section found in many North African cities

300px|thumb|upright=1.5|Kasbah of Sfax in [[Tunisia]]

architectural style historically developed in the western Islamic world

{|class="wikitable" align="right" |- ! colspan="2" align="center" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" | Husayniyya |- | colspan="2" align="center" | 250px A husayniyya in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania |- | colspan="1" align="left" | Arabic | colspan="1" align="right" | (ḥusayniyya) (maʾtam) |- | colspan="1" align="left" | Azerbaijani | colspan="1" align="right" | |- | colspan="1" align="left" | Hindi | colspan="1" align="right" | (imāmbāṛā) (āshurkhānā) |- | colspan="1" align="left" | Bengali | colspan="1" align="right" | (imāmbāṛā) |- | colspan="1" align="left" | Iranian Persian | colspan="1" align="right" |

Islamic religious school or monastery

thumb|Ribat of Monastir, [[Tunisia]]

thumb|300px|A mashrabiya in Tunisia

An imamzadeh () is a Persian term with two related meanings: a type of holy person in Shia Islam, and the shrine-tomb of such a person.

thumb|Jali at Taranga Jain temple|Ajitnath Jain Temple, 11th-century [[Gujarat]] thumb|A jali is typically open, but this example of a 17th-century jali from the last Mughal period was owned by a wealthy merchant and probably placed with the external portal. Basically, the impression is friendly and inviting as the inside of the palace, but secure to outside world. The iris (plant)|iris pattern at the top is a departure from the earlier geometry and indicates a Persian influence.

architecture prize

thumb|right|400px|Süleymaniye Mosque and Külliye in [[Istanbul]]

thumb|right|260px|Large sahn of the Great Mosque of Kairouan, surrounded by riwaq (arcades), in [[Tunisia.]]

thumb|The Tomb of Salim Chishti at [[Fatehpur Sikri, India was built in 1581 during the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar.]]

Islamic architecture in India

traditional Moroccan house or palace with an interior garden or courtyard

Egyptian architectural style (13th-16th centuries)

five tiles used in Islamic decorative art

thumb|257x257px|Typical Early Christian/Byzantine apse with a hemispherical semi-dome decorated in [[mosaic (Basilica di Sant'Apollinare in Classe in Ravenna)]] In architecture, a semi-dome (or half-dome) is a half dome that covers a semi-circular area in a building.

overview of the architecture in Morocco

thumb|The dikka in the Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hassan|Mosque of Sultan Hasan in [[Cairo]] thumb|The müezzin mahfili in the Selimiye Mosque, Edirne|Selimiye Mosque of [[Edirne, Turkey]] A dikka or dakka (), also known in Turkish as a müezzin mahfili, is a raised platform or tribune in a mosque from which the Quran is recited and where the muezzin chants or repeats in response to the imam's prayers. It is also used by the muezzin to chant the second call to prayer (iqama), which indicates to worshippers that the prayer is about to begin. On special occasions or evenings, such as during the mont

architecture of the Abbasid Caliphate

English architectural historian (1879–1974)

thumb|A mescit in Malatya Mescit (, ), also known as small mosque, is a small Muslim prayer space or mosque, typically used for daily prayers rather than large congregational gatherings such as the Friday (Jumu'ah) or Eid prayers. In Turkish usage, a mescit is smaller than a cami (mosque) and usually does not have a minbar (pulpit) or minaret.

type of palace

architectural element

thumb|right|350px|An architectural drawing of a typical Levantine house, with the liwan area in grey. Liwan (, , from Persian ) is a long narrow-fronted hall or vaulted portal in ancient and modern Levantine homes that is often open to the outside. An Arabic loanword to English, it is ultimately derived from the Persian , which preceded by the article al ("the"), came to be said as in Arabic, and later, English.

reception room type

Azerbaijani nationally significant historical-architectural monument

mosque in Edirne, northwestern Turkey

building style of the 10th to 12th centuries

academic journal

Was built in the 14th century in the Balakhani settlement by order of Shirvanshah Emir Khaja Zeynaddin.

alt=Screenshot of the Archnet homepage|thumb|Archnet homepage, March 8, 2018. right|thumb|Archnet logo (2002–2013) Archnet is a collaborative digital humanities project focused on Islamic architecture and the built environment of Muslim societies. Conceptualized in 1998 and originally developed at the MIT School of Architecture and Planning in co-operation with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. It has been maintained by the Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture since 2011.

small prayer space or mosque in Islamic tradition