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| Koran page, 9th/10th century, ink and gold on vellum |
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| Ewer shaped as a Bird, creator: Sulyaman, 796, Iran |
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| Great Mosque at Cordoba Spain, 8th-11th century |
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| Ceiling of Great Mosque at Cordoba, Spain, 8th-11th century |
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Maqsura of Great Mosque at Cordoba, Spain Cordoba III, Al-Hakam II, 961-65 |
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| Great Mosque at Damascus, Syria 706-715, for Al-Walid |
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Facade of Great Mosque at Damascus, Syria 706-715, Al-Walid |
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Great Mosque at Kairouan, Tunisia 836-75, Abbasid dynasty |
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| Great Mosque at Kerouian, Tunisia, 836-75 |
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| Malwiya Minaret, Great Mosque of Samarra, Iraq, 848-52 |
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| Great Mosque Isfahan, Aerial view, Isfahan, Iran, 11th/17th century |
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| Muqarna of the Great Mosque, Isfahan, Iran, 11th/17th C. |
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| Aerial view Great Mosque Cordoba, Spain, 8th-11th century |
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| detailed floor plan, of the great mosque of Cordoba spain, 8th-11th century |
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| Mosque, Edirne, Turkey, Sinan (architect), Sultan Selim II (patron) 1568-71 |
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| Mihrab from Madrasa, Imami, Isfahan, Iran, 1345 |
| Koran/Qur’an |
| The holy book of the Islamic faith |
| Surahs |
| a chapter of the Koran, divided into verses |
| Hijra |
| The Flight of Muhammed from Mecca to Medina in 622, the year from which Islam dates its beginnings |
| Caliph/Caliphate |
| Islamic Ruler’s considered successors of Muhammed |
| Kaaba/Ka’ba |
| Arabic Cube. A small cubic building in Mecca, Islamic world’s symbolic centre. |
| Mecca |
| Where Mohammad was born, a holy city for Muslims |
| Medina |
| The “city of the prophet”, where Mohammad went after exile |
| Mosque |
| The Islamic building for Collective worship. From the Arabic word masjid, meaning “a place for bowing down” |
| Hypostyle hall |
| A hall with a roof supported by columns. |
| Qibla |
| the direction (toward Mecca) Muslims face when praying (the qibla wall is the wall in this direction) |
| Mihrab |
| semi-circular niche set into the qibla wall of a mosque |
| Minaret |
| a distinctive feature of mosque architecture, a tower from which the faithful are called to worship |
| Minbar |
| the pulpit on which an imam stands in a mosque (usually steps up to a platform) |
| Maqsura |
| a screened area in front of the mihrab reserved for the ruler (in some mosques) |
| Friday Mosque |
| A city’s main mosque designed to accommodate the entire Muslim population for Friday noon prayer (prayer can occur on any day of the week, thus Friday implies communal prayer) |
| Iwan |
| In Islamic architechture: a vaulted rectangular recess opening onto a courtyard |
| Muhaqqaq |
| a cursive style of Islamic calligraphy |
| Muqarnas |
| stucco decorations of Islamic buildings in which stalactite forms break a structure’s solidity |
| Animated Naskhi |
| A type of stylized Arabic script/calligraphy that uses faces at the end of characters |