An arcade of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi: white marble columns with gilded capitals and floral inlay, a calligraphy roundel, and an Iznik-style tile panel.

Tradition

Muslim

Church Directory · Non-Christian

Islam gathers nearly two billion believers who submit to the one God and follow the Qur'an and the example of Muhammad, meeting in mosques under their imams.

Organizations in This Tradition

The Baitul Futuh Mosque in Morden, London, a large white Ahmadi mosque with a dome and a minaret, seen across its forecourt.

Organization Ahmadiyya a movement founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in 1889. Its followers identify as Muslim. Most Muslim bodies and several states do not recognize it as Islam, and it is listed here with that contest noted.

The Great Mosque of Ghardaïa in Algeria's Mzab valley, its tall tapering mud-brick minaret rising over the rooftops of the ksar.

Organization Ibadi Islam an early tradition distinct from Sunni and Shia, centered in Oman.

The Ismaili Jamatkhana in Croydon, South London, a brick building with arched windows and patterned screens, seen from across the street.

Organization Ismaili Shia Islam the Shia tradition following the Aga Khan as its living Imam.

The Mevlana Museum in Konya, Turkey, the former Mevlevi Sufi lodge, with its green conical tomb tower, stone domes, and minaret.

Organization Sufi Orders the mystical orders of Islam, such as the Qadiriyya and the Naqshbandiyya, organized around a master and a path.

The Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul at dusk, its great dome and minarets seen across the courtyard forecourt.

Organization Sunni Islam the majority tradition of Islam, ordered by the four schools of law: Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali.

A nineteenth-century engraving of the Imam Husayn Shrine in Karbala, showing the domed sanctuary, its minaret, and the long walled courtyard.

Organization Twelver Shia Islam the largest Shia tradition, following the line of the twelve Imams.

An ancient Qur'an parchment written in unpointed Kufic script, from the library of the Great Mosque of Sana'a in Yemen.

Organization Zaidi Shia Islam the Shia tradition of Yemen, closest in law to the Sunni schools.

Religious Art & Images

A parchment folio of an Abbasid Qur'an written in bold angular Kufic script, with a gold verse marker and red vocalization dots.

Art Entry A Kufic Qur'an Folio A parchment leaf of an Abbasid Qur'an in angular Kufic script, its verse endings touched with gold: the page as the supreme religious image of an aniconic faith. 9th–10th century

A mosque wall panel in Isfahan covered with blue geometric star tiles and floral arabesque, topped by a band of white thuluth Arabic calligraphy on deep blue.

Art Tradition Islam Calligraphy, geometry, and architecture under the norm of aniconism, with a figural courtly tradition beside it.

The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem under a clear sky: gilded dome over an octagon of blue and turquoise tilework and marble.

Art Entry The Dome of the Rock The oldest surviving monument of Islamic architecture (Jerusalem, 691–692): a shrine of mosaic, marble, and inscription, whose entire decorative program argues aniconism's positive case. 691–692 CE

A Mughal court miniature of the haloed emperor Akbar standing in a landscape, holding prayer beads, a lion and a calf resting peacefully at his feet and angels crowning him above.

Art Entry The Mughal Court Miniature The figural painting of the Mughal emperors' atelier — hunts, audiences, lovers, and saints in jewel-like detail — standing as the descriptive practice beside Islam's normative aniconism. c. 1556–1658 (the classical century)

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