mihrab
Niche in the qibla wall of a mosque indicating the direction of Mecca. Highly decorated, often with muqarnas hood and calligraphic inscription. The most sacred architectural element of a mosque interior.
minbar
Raised pulpit to the right of the mihrab, used by the imam to deliver the Friday sermon (khutba). Stepped, often elaborately carved. The minbar's presence signals a congregational mosque (jami').
minaret
Tower from which the muezzin calls the faithful to prayer (adhan) five times daily. Style varies by dynasty: pencil-thin Ottoman (Selimiye), squat spiral (Samarra), square Moroccan. Not a bell tower.
muezzin
The person who gives the call to prayer (adhan) from the minaret. Today often broadcast electronically. The adhan is itself an art form — its melodic recitation is a form of sacred vocal performance.
qibla
The direction of Mecca, toward which all Muslims face in prayer. The qibla wall is the wall of a mosque oriented toward Mecca; the mihrab marks it. Determining qibla motivated Islamic geographic and astronomical science.
hypostyle hall
A hall whose roof is supported by many columns in a grid — creating a "forest of columns." Great Mosque of Córdoba is the canonical AP example. Allows flexible orientation and unlimited expansion by adding bays.
iwan
Vaulted hall open at one end, typically framing a courtyard. The four-iwan plan (Masjid-i Jami) places iwans on all four sides of a central courtyard. Each iwan is often faced with elaborate tilework.
muqarnas
Three-dimensional honeycomb or stalactite vaulting made of small corbeled niches. Used to transition from square base to round dome (squinch function) and as pure ornament. Court of the Lions ceiling is a celebrated example.
arabesque
Continuous, interlacing vegetal scrollwork — stylized leaves, vines, and flowers in repeating patterns. A defining Islamic ornamental vocabulary. Applied to virtually any surface: stone, plaster, wood, tile, metalwork, carpet.
calligraphy (Kufic)
Kufic is the earliest Arabic script style — angular, geometric, used in early Qurans and architectural inscriptions. Distinguished from the later Naskh cursive style. The Folio from Quran (surah 33:73) uses horizontal Kufic.
calligraphy (Naskh)
Cursive Arabic script style that largely replaced Kufic for Quran copying from the 10th century onward. More legible, rounded letterforms. Naskh was considered the most elegant script by the Abbasid calligrapher Ibn Muqla.
aniconism
The avoidance of figurative (human and animal) imagery in religious contexts. Applies to mosque decoration and Quran illumination — NOT to secular manuscript painting, court art, or scientific illustration. A frequent AP misconception.
horror vacui
Latin: "fear of empty space." The tendency to fill all available surface with ornamental pattern. Characteristic of Islamic art across media — Ardabil Carpet, Dome of the Rock mosaics, Alhambra plasterwork, manuscript margins.
Shahnama (Book of Kings)
Persian national epic by the poet Firdausi (c. 1010 CE), narrating the mythical and historical kings of Iran. The most illustrated secular manuscript in Islamic art — every dynasty commissioned luxury copies. Shah Tahmasp's Safavid copy is most famous.
Khamsa (Five Poems)
Collection of five narrative poems by the poet Nizami (12th c.). Includes the Khusraw and Shirin romance. Widely illustrated in Timurid and Safavid manuscripts — source of Khusraw Discovers Shirin Bathing.
double-shell dome
A dome with two separate shells — an outer dome for exterior visual impact and an inner dome for interior scale. Used in the Dome of the Rock and Ottoman mosques including Sinan's work. Allows each shell to be optimized independently.
squinch
An arch or set of corbeled arches filling in the corner of a square room to support a circular or octagonal dome above. Structural transition device; muqarnas often serve as elaborate decorative squinches.
pendentive
A concave triangular surface that transitions from a square base to a circular dome. Byzantine invention used at Hagia Sophia; Sinan uses pendentives in Ottoman mosques as tribute to Hagia Sophia's structural logic.
spolia
Reused architectural or sculptural elements from earlier buildings. Great Mosque of Córdoba incorporates Roman and Visigothic columns as spolia — a deliberate display of triumph over predecessor cultures.
Reconquista
The Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim rulers, completed in 1492. The Great Mosque of Córdoba was converted into a cathedral during this process — a physical manifestation of competing religious and political authority.
mashhad / martyrium
A shrine marking a holy site or burial of a martyr. The Dome of the Rock is built over the sacred rock of Abraham's sacrifice and Muhammad's Ascent — a martyrium-type structure, not a congregational mosque.
külliye
Ottoman complex surrounding a mosque, including madrasa, hospital, caravanserai, bath, and soup kitchen. The Süleymaniye Mosque is the center of a full külliye. Social welfare infrastructure bundled with religious architecture.
waqf
Islamic charitable endowment — property or wealth dedicated in perpetuity to a religious or public purpose. Külliye buildings were typically funded by waqf, making the complex financially self-sustaining for public benefit.
madrasa
Islamic school for religious and legal education. Often built adjacent to or within a mosque complex. The four-iwan courtyard plan was also used for madrasas — cells for students ring the courtyard behind each iwan.
Sufism
Mystical tradition within Islam emphasizing direct personal experience of the divine. Sufi orders (dervishes) used music, poetry, and whirling dance in worship. Sufi themes permeate Safavid manuscript painting — including garden paradise imagery.
mi'raj (Night Journey)
Muhammad's miraculous journey from Mecca to Jerusalem and ascent through the heavens, described in the Quran (17:1). A devotional narrative frequently illustrated in Islamic manuscripts — the Prophet riding the Buraq (winged horse-human creature).
inlay (metalwork)
Decorating a metal surface by cutting channels and filling them with a contrasting metal (gold, silver, copper). The Baptistère de Saint Louis by Muhammad ibn al-Zayn uses silver and gold inlay to achieve extraordinary figurative detail on brass.
Maqsud of Kashan
The named weaver who signed the Ardabil Carpet (1539–40 CE). The carpet's inscription attributes it to him. His signature is evidence of individual artistic identity in Islamic craft — countering assumptions of anonymity.
Sultan Muhammad
Named Safavid court painter credited with the Court of Gayumars from Shah Tahmasp's Shahnama (c. 1525–35). Recognized as the greatest Persian painter of his generation — individual artist identity matters in manuscript painting.
Sinan (Mimar Sinan)
Ottoman imperial architect (c. 1489–1588) responsible for over 300 buildings including the Süleymaniye (Istanbul) and Selimiye (Edirne). He considered Selimiye his masterwork. Sinan explicitly competed with Hagia Sophia's dome span.
Shirin Neshat
Iranian-born contemporary artist (b. 1957) whose Women of Allah series (1994) uses photography and Farsi poetry to explore gender, religion, and political resistance. Depicts veiled women holding rifles with calligraphic text on skin.
Dome of the Rock
Umayyad shrine in Jerusalem (691–92 CE) — the oldest surviving Islamic monument. Octagonal plan with double ambulatory and gilded dome covers the Foundation Stone. Not a mosque — a mashhad over a sacred rock. Byzantine mosaics inside.
Ardabil Carpet
Safavid carpet (1539–40 CE) from the shrine of Shaykh Safi al-Din in Ardabil, Iran. Signed by Maqsud of Kashan. One of the world's largest and most complex carpets — medallion-and-field composition with mosque lamp at center.
geometric interlace
Pattern of interlocking polygons — stars, hexagons, octagons — formed by continuous lines crossing over and under. A defining Islamic ornamental vocabulary reflecting the mathematical underpinning of Islamic philosophy and science.
Pyxis of al-Mughira
Umayyad Spanish ivory container (968 CE) made for a son of the Caliph. Covered in figural scenes of court life. Evidence that Umayyad Spain produced luxury secular objects with figurative imagery despite aniconism in religious contexts.
four-iwan plan
Mosque/madrasa layout with four vaulted halls (iwans) opening onto a central courtyard. Each iwan faces one cardinal direction. Masjid-i Jami (Friday Mosque) in Isfahan is the canonical four-iwan plan example on the AP exam.