Islamic Architecture

         Islam was practiced throughout Arabia and was soon adapted into the cultures of the Middle East and beyond. Islamic architecture was comprised of mausoleums and mosques. At first, Islam had no architectural tradition of their own, so they borrowed extensively from the styles, forms, and methods that already existed in order to create their own architectural traditions that followed strict beliefs and values of Islam. The assimilation of Islam gave way to a beautiful mixture of beliefs and cultures that was reflected in the architecture.

The Islamic religion is a monotheistic religion where God is called “Allah”, and was first practiced in Mecca, Arabia around the year of 610. People who practiced this religion were called Muslims. Muslims believed that their faith was the “final revelation of God’s truth- the first and second manifestations being Judaism and Christianity” (text pg. 256). Muhammad was the most prolific Islamic prophet that received his calling to “recite” the word of God at the age of forty. He continued to recite the word of Allah for the next twenty years, traveling from Mecca and ending in Medina. He repeated the messages he received from Allah to scribes so that they could be written down. The Quran is composed of those messages, and are the religious scriptures of Islam.

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Allah’s greatest creation was mankind, who has the capability to live with God in the afterlife if their lives on earth followed the Islamic teachings. These teachings state that a Muslim must follow the five pillars of Islam. The five pillars of Islam include: belief in Allah as the only supreme being, repeating the Islamic creed at least once in a lifetime with conviction, reciting the daily prayer five times a day, helping the needy through charity, fasting during Ramadan, and a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime is required for all able bodied adult Muslims.          

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