ISLAM

Introduction
History of Architecture 03

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 03 Ar. Diane A. Jose, MBA

OVERVIEW
 Islam is the second largest religion in the world. Only
Christianity has more followers.
 People who follow the religion of Islam are called
Muslims.
 Most Muslims live in a string of countries that extends
from Morocco in North Africa to Indonesia in Southeast
Asia.

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 03 Ar. Diane A. Jose, MBA

BIRTH OF ISLAM
 An Arab trader named Muhammad was the founding
prophet of Islam.
 He lived in Mecca, a busy trading town in Arabia (now
called Saudi Arabia).
 Mecca had temples built to honour various pagan gods.
Pilgrims visited these temples to worship statues of the
gods.

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 03 Ar. Diane A. Jose, MBA

Mecca

Kaaba

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 03 Ar. Diane A. Jose, MBA

BIRTH OF ISLAM
 One day, while fasting in a cave, Muhammad had a vision.
He returned to Mecca to preach a new religious message.
He said there is only one god, not many, and no one
should worship idols (statues of gods). He called on the
people of Mecca to surrender themselves to Allah, as he
called God.

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 03 Ar. Diane A. Jose, MBA

ISLAM GAINS POWER
 Muhammad’s message angered some Meccans. In the year
622, they forced him to flee to another city, now known
as Medina. That journey—or Hegira, as Muslims call it—
marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar.

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 03 Ar. Diane A. Jose, MBA

ISLAM GAINS POWER
 In Medina, Muhammad became the head of the
community. Soon, he led his Muslim followers back to
Mecca.
 After a battle, the Meccans accepted Islam. Within a
century, Muslims ruled an empire that stretched from
India to Spain.
 Throughout this empire, Islam took root. The empire
crumbled after a few centuries, but many people of these
lands remained Muslims.

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 03 Ar. Diane A. Jose, MBA

Muslims ruled an empire that stretched from India to Spain.

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 03 Ar. Diane A. Jose, MBA

ISLAM DIVIDES
 After Muhammad’s death in 632, Muslims disagreed about
how the next leader should be chosen. One group came
to be known as Sunnis and the other as Shias. Islam
remains divided into these two branches.

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 03 Ar. Diane A. Jose, MBA

ISLAM DIVIDES
 By the year 900, a Muslim movement called Sufism had
developed. Sufis seek a personal experience of God. Many
great Muslim poets have been Sufis. Sufis helped to spread
Islam long after the Islamic empire crumbled.

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 03 Ar. Diane A. Jose, MBA

WHAT DO MUSLIMS BELIEVE?
 The Muslim faith centres on five beliefs and practices.
These are known as the Five Pillars of Islam.

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 03 Ar. Diane A. Jose, MBA

The Five Pillars of Islam
According to the five pillars, Muslims must Accept that
only one God exists and Muhammad was his messenger.
 Shahadah: sincerely reciting the Muslim profession of
faith
 Salat: performing ritual prayers in the proper way five
times a each day.
 Zakat: paying an alms (or charity) tax to benefit the poor
and the needy.
 Sawm: Fast from dawn to dusk during a month called
Ramadan
 Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 03 Ar. Diane A. Jose, MBA
WHAT DO MUSLIMS BELIEVE?
 These practices are based on the holy book of Islam, the
Qur’an (also spelled Koran).
 Muslims believe that the Qur’an is the word of God,
delivered through Muhammad. Muslim practices are also
based on the Hadith—Muhammad’s own deeds and
sayings as reported by his companions.

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 03 Ar. Diane A. Jose, MBA

ISLAMIC LAWS AND CUSTOMS
 In the early Islamic empire, the government and the
religion were the same.
 All questions that came up were decided by religious
scholars.
 Their decisions filled in a set of laws called the Sharia.
These laws, which are also drawn from the Qur’an and
Hadith, cover every aspect of life.
 They tell what crimes should be punished and how. They set
the rules for marriage, contracts, and inheritance.

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 03 Ar. Diane A. Jose, MBA

ISLAMIC LAWS AND CUSTOMS
 Islam is thus a complete way of life. In this
way of life, men and women generally have
different roles.
 Their activities are often kept quite
separated.
 Families sometimes arrange marriages.
 Women are expected to be well covered
when they go outdoors. In some countries,
they have to wear a veil covering their body.
In Arab countries, such a covering is called a
burka.

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 03 Ar. Diane A. Jose, MBA

ISLAMIC LAWS AND CUSTOMS
 The mosque is the traditional place of worship for
Muslims.
 Friday is their holy day, or day of worship.
 Islam teaches that all Muslims are equal before God. This
teaching gives Muslims around the world a sense of
community, no matter what country or social class they
come from.

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 03 Ar. Diane A. Jose, MBA