Is there a particularly Islamic political space? This paper initiates this long-term research projectofspatializingearly Islamic history,drawing on the Qur’an’sown spatial discourse. The project seeks to articulate the roles spaceplays in early Islam’s political project. Within this framework, this paper defends the assertion that early Islam presents socio-political relationships which suggest al-madina –a particular conception of the ‘city’ - as a pivotal locus in this formative political space. Arguments focus on the origins of such a conception in its Qur’anicMeccanoccurrences. Four preliminary features emerge: the madina’s association with Qur’anicjourney-narratives and debates of legitimate authority; its environmental connection to a productive hinterland; its association with a trans-tribal social structure; and its evocation of a public-sphere. Set against the historical background of late-antiquity in which the first Muslim ummaappeared and where concurrently the city, as a social artifact, faced threats of dispersion and irrelevance, these features potentially constitute a program for the emergent umma to salvage urbanity itself. In a later paper, evidence from the Prophet’s acts in al-Madina (Yathrib) and his Companions’ developments of other urban settlements, especially al-Kufa, will be engaged to substantiate the relation between Qur’anic text and human action.

This paper examines 19th century Western travellers’ understanding of the Harim. Focusing in particular on visual depictions, it investigates the misconception and misrepresentation of the Harim in Orientalists’ paintings and Western culture, using the work of the artist John Frederick Lewis as a main case study. Arguing that such representations oversimplify and fantasise sacred Islamic cultural experience, this paper, as a counterpoint, restores a detailed understanding of the Harim and defines its wider Islamic implication within Arabic culture. Applying etymology and Islamic scripture to the study of architectural design, this study explores the centrality of the concept of Hijab (veil) to the organisation of physical space for women in the Islamic home. Written from the perspective of an Arabic Muslim woman, this study seeks to explore the concept of the Harim from the “Others” perspective.

Prominently placed amidst open gardens and along the waterfront of the Sharjah Corniche, several recent monumental buildings collectively suggest a new urban image and socio-cultural space for a modern Muslim urban identity. Along with a series of restaurants, entertainment spaces, and office building, Masjid al-Noor, Masjid al-Maghfira, Al-Qasbah, and the Museum of Islamic Civilization house important cultural institutions, combining eclectic references to the history of Islam into a new urban order. Neither entirely the conservative vernacularism of whole-scale historical mimicry, nor altogether the neo-vernacularism of fragmentary pastiche, this urban assemblage embraces these two distinct design approaches at the level of the individual buildings, but unifies them at the urban scale in what could be called neo-regional urbanism. The stylistic clarity of Masjid al-Noor, which consistently integrates the stylistic elements of Ottoman styled mosques, contrasts with the isolated fragments of Moorish/Hispanic lattice work that adorn the otherwise modern Masjid al-Maghfira. Al-Qasbah’s neo-Islamic horse-shoe arches contrast with the Syrian-Ottoman styled facades of the Museum of Islamic Civilization. Although these buildings individually address the problems of built form and the application of Islamic ornaments disparate ways, taken together this group of new monuments forms a complex urban whole that serves to reflect and deepen an emerging sense of identity that is built upon a similarly complex mix of multicultural non-western ethnicities that make up the fluid and mobile population of Sharjah. This urban assemblage has become such a popular space of gathering that it has begun to shift the centre of gravity of Sharjah’s urban social space towards the Corniche, and in so doing has produced an authentic alternative to the introverted malls and isolated dreamscapes of Dubai. This paper studies the strategies and effects of this assemblage of neo-Islamic monuments in Sharjah, and considers how it effectively rethinks the possibilities of the contemporary Arab city.

Spending time in a Persian garden gives one the impression of being away and a sense of connection with nature. These feelings alleviate mental fatigue, or stress and bring about mental restoration. Simply, one feels mentally refreshed after visiting and strolling in a Persian garden. The motivation for the research is to evaluate the theory that whether Persian traditional garden can be used as a restorative garden or even its design principles can be employed to create an environment of such kind. The main areas of investigation in this paper include understanding restorative attributes provided with the garden on visitors. Persian garden provides opportunities that intuitively engender restorative attributes which can fully be felt by being there, whether it was intended for such a purpose or not. The paper tries to imply that the aim of creation of such spaces (Persian garden) was so supreme that restoration can be considered as one of the subjects which arouses from a dominant interrelation between human and space (nature) in a common entire inherence.

This paper elucidates the emergence and evolution of arabesque with specific reference to the case of arabesque in Turkish art and architecture. It is argued here that arabesque is a fusion of styles rather than a pure and homogenous style. Furthermore, the paper aims to show that although the arabesque style appears to be a fanciful and freely organized manner of artistic treatment it is based on a very complex mathematical logic which is expressed through abstractionism. In this context, the grammar of geometry is elaborately used in the implementation of abstraction. Here, general characteristics as well as different modes or types of arabesque are discussed. Starting with the etyomological roots of the term, the history of its use in the literature is explored through the paper. After the inquiry of its material and pragmatic aspects, the development of the arabesque style is evaluated with regard to its transformations that took place along with its injection to Anatolia and mixing with Turkish culture. Finally, the morphological character of this fusion is put forward.