UNIT IV INTRODUCTION TO ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE AND EARLY ISLAMIC

ARCHITECTURE IN INDIA

Brief history of Islam. Islamic architecture of the world as rising from Islam as a socio-cultural
and political phenomenon. Evolution of building types in terms of forms and functions.
Principles and characteristics of Islamic architecture - to include aspects of religion,
geometry, structure, materials, decoration, light. Early political history of Islam in India.
Evolution of Islamic architecture under the Delhi Sultanate - Slave, Khaji, Tughlaq, Sayyid
and Lodi dynasties. Study of important monuments. Early Islamic architecture of Punjab.

Brief history of Islam. Islamic architecture of the world as rising from Islam as a socio-cultural and
political phenomenon

• Around the year 610 , Mohammed , a native of the thriving commercial centre of Makkah received a
message from God ( Allah) through the angel Gabriel) As more revealations asked him to proclaim the
oneness of God universally, the Prophet Mohammed’s following grew.
• In 622, learning of an assassination plot against him the prophet led his followers to the town of Yatrib,
which was later named Madinat Al Nabi ( City of the prophet)and now known simply as Medinah.This was
Hijrah or migration which marks the beginning of the Islamic Calender.
• Within the next few years several battles took place between the followers of Prophet and the pagans of
Makkah.by 628 when Madinah was entirely under the hands of the Muslims the prophet had unified the
tribes so successfully that he and his followers entered Makkah without blood shed.
• Less than 100years of the birth of Islam , the Islamic Empire extended from Spain to parts of India and
China.
Political aspects of Islam are derived from the Quran, ḥadīth literature,
and sunnah (accounts of the sayings and living habits attributed to the Islamic
prophet Muhammad during his lifetime), the history of Islam, and elements of political
movements outside Islam.
Traditional political concepts in Islam include leadership by elected or selected successors to
Muhammad, known as Caliphs in Sunnī Islam and Imams in Shīʿa Islam; the importance of
following the Islamic law (sharīʿa); the duty of rulers to seek consultation (shūrā) from their
subjects; and the importance of rebuking unjust rulers.
Political history of Islam in India

The Taj Mahal in Agra, India. It was built under Mughal emperor Shah
Jahan in the 17th century, and represents Indo-Islamic architecture.

Muhammad bin Qasim (672 CE) at the age of 17 was the first
Muslim general to invade the Indian subcontinent, managing to
reach Sindh. In the first half of the 8th century CE, a series of
battles took place between the Umayyad Caliphate and the Indian
kingdoms; resulted in Umayyad campaigns in India checked and
contained to Sindh.[51][c] Around the 10th century, Muslim Central
Asian nomadic empire, the Ghaznavids, under Mahmud of
Ghazni (971–1030 CE), was the second, much more ferocious
invader, using swift-horse cavalry and raising vast armies united by
ethnicity and religion, repeatedly overran South Asia's north-
western plains. Eventually, under the Ghurids, the Muslim army
broke into the North Indian Plains, which lead to the establishment
of the Islamic Delhi Sultanate in 1206 by the slaves of the Ghurid
dynasty.[52] The sultanate was to control much of North India and to
make many forays into South India. However, internal squabbling
resulted in the decline of the sultanate, and new Muslim sultanates
such as the Bengal Sultanate in the east and the Deccan
sultanates in the southern territory breaking off.[53] In 1339, Shah
Mir became the first Muslim ruler of Kashmir, inaugurating
the Salatin-i-Kashmir or Shah Mir dynasty.[54]
Under the Delhi Sultanate, there was a synthesis of Indian
civilization with that of Islamic civilization, and the integration of the
Indian subcontinent with a growing world system and wider
international networks spanning large parts of Afro-Eurasia, which
had a significant impact on Indian culture and society.[55] The time
period of their rule included the earliest forms of Indo-Islamic
architecture,[56][57] increased growth rates in India's
population and economy,[58] and the emergence of the Hindustani
language.[59] The Delhi Sultanate was also responsible for repelling
the Mongol Empire's potentially devastating invasions of India in the
13th and 14th centuries.[60] The period coincided with a greater use
of mechanical technology in the Indian subcontinent. From the 13th
century onwards, India began widely adopting mechanical
technologies from the Islamic world, including water-raising
wheels with gears and pulleys, machines
with cams and cranks,[61] papermaking technology,[62] and
the spinning wheel.[63]
In the early 16th century, northern India, being then under mainly
Muslim rulers,[64] fell again to the superior mobility and firepower of a
new generation of Central Asian warriors.[65] The resulting Mughal
Empire did not stamp out the local societies it came to rule, but
rather balanced and pacified them through new administrative
practices[66] and diverse and inclusive ruling elites,[67] leading to more
systematic, centralised, and uniform rule.[68] Eschewing tribal bonds
and Islamic identity, especially under Akbar, the Mughals united
their far-flung realms through loyalty, expressed through a
Persianised culture, to an emperor who had near-divine
status.[67] The Mughal state's economic policies, deriving most
revenues from agriculture[69] and mandating that taxes be paid in the
well-regulated silver currency,[70] caused peasants and artisans to
enter larger markets.[68] The relative peace maintained by the
empire during much of the 17th century was a factor in India's
economic expansion,[68] resulting in greater patronage of painting,
literary forms, textiles, and architecture.[71] The Mughal Empire was
the world's largest economy in the 17th century, larger than Qing
China and Western Europe, with Mughal India producing about a
quarter of the world's economic and industrial output.[72][73]
In the 18th century, Mughal power had become severely limited. By
the mid-18th century, the Marathas had routed Mughal armies and
invaded several Mughal provinces from the Punjab to Bengal.[74] By
this time, the dominant economic powers in the Indian subcontinent
were Bengal Subah under the Nawabs of Bengal and the South
Indian Kingdom of Mysore under Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, before
the former was devastated by the Maratha invasions of
Bengal,[75][76] leading to the economy of the Kingdom of
Mysore overtaking Bengal.[77] The British East India
Company conquered Bengal in 1757 and then Mysore in the late
18th century. The last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah II, had
authority over only the city of Old Delhi (Shahjahanabad), before he
was exiled to Burma by the British Raj after the Indian Rebellion of
1857

PRINCIPLES OF ISLAM
The most important concept of the Islamic system is the unity of Godhead. The unity of godhead is calledas
Tawhid( oneness of God) in Arabic. It is the backbone of Islam and of all Islamic principles. It is the basis of
unification of mankind and the only acceptable way for God for the progress and salvation of human
civilisation , establishing justice, dignity and freedom for all.

WHAT DOES ONE MEAN BY ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE?

The word Islamic is not defining religious belief or quality , it is a word defining a special kind of Architecture,that
architecture of a civilisation that reflects or is determined by the special qualities inherent in Islam as a cultural
phenomenon.
INFLUENCES ON ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE
Islamic Architecture has encompassed a wide range of both secular and religious styles from the foundation of Islam
to the present day.
Islamic Architectural style developed soon after the time of the prophet mohammed, developing from Roman,
Egyptian, Byzantine and Persian /Sassanid models
The start of the Delhi Sultanate in 1206 under Qutb ud-Din
Aibak introduced a large Islamic state to India, using Central Asian
styles.The important Qutb Complex in Delhi was begun
under Muhammad of Ghor, by 1199, and continued under Qutb al-Din
Aibak and later sultans.
THE SLAVE KINGS OF DELHI :
• QUTBUDDIN AIBAK (1206-1210 AD)
• ARAM SHAH QUTBUDDIN (1210-1211 AD)
• ILTUTMISH (1211-1236 AD)
• RUKHUDDIN FIROZ SHAH (1236 AD)
• RAZZIYA SULTAN (1236-1240 AD)
• MUIZUDDIN BAHRAM (1240-1242 AD)
• GHIYASUDDIN BAIBAN (1266-1286 AD)
• MUIZUDDIN KAIQUABAD (1287- 1290 AD)

IMPORTANT BUILDINGS BUILT DURING SLAVE DYNASTY:

• THE QUTUB COMPLEX
• QUTUB MINAR
• QUWAIT-UL-ISLAM MOSQUE
• ADHAI DIN KA JHONPARA
• TOMB OF ILLTUTMISH
• TOMB OF NASIR-UD-DIN MOHAMMAD
• TOMB OF BALBAN