Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 7.32
Isfahan, Iran.
The dome of this
mosque demonstrates the geometric
art evident in Muslim architecture.
The towers to the right of the dome
are minarets.
© Alexander B. Murphy.
use of geometric designs and calligraphy—the intricacy of
which is truly astounding (Fig. 7.32). During the eleventh
century, Muslim builders began glazing the tiles of domes
and roofs. To the beautiful arcades and arched courtyards,
they added the exquisite beauty of glass-like, perfectly
symmetrical cupolas. Muslim architecture represents the
unifying concept of Islamic monotheism: the perfection
and vastness of the spirit of Allah.
Islam achieved its greatest artistic expression, its
most distinctive visible element, in architecture. Even in
the smallest town, the community helps build and main-
tain its mosque. The mosque symbolizes the power of the
faith and its role in the community. Its primacy in the cul-
tural landscape confi rms the degree to which, in much of
the Muslim world, religion and culture are one.
One of the most well-known pilgrimages in the
modern world is the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, the
hajj
. One of the fi ve pillars of Islam, the hajj implores all
Muslims (if fi nancially and physically able) to make the
pilgrimage to Mecca at least once during their lifetime.
Each year, over 1.3 million Muslims from outside of
Saudia Arabia and over 1 million from inside the country
make the hajj (Fig. 7.33). The pilgrimage requires the
faithful to follow certain steps of reverence in a certain
order and within a certain time frame. As a result, the pil-
grims move from Mecca through the steps of the hajj en
masse. In 2004, over 250 pilgrims were trampled to death
as hordes of people followed the steps of the pilgrimage,
and in 1990 over 1400 pilgrims suffered the same fate.
The Saudi government now restricts the number of visas
granted each year to Muslims from outside of the country.
Yet, the number of pilgrims continues to climb, and the
services needed for Muslim pilgrims during the hajj and
during the rest of the year now employ four times as many
people in Saudi Arabia as the oil industry does. The land-
scape around Mecca refl ects the growing number of pil-
grims year round, as towers of apartment buildings and
hotels encircle the sacred city.
Geographer Surinder Bhardwaj has studied non-
hajj pilgrimages in Islam, which include “visits to sacred
shrines of holy men, the graves of saints and Imams, and
the tombs of martyrs of the faith.” Although some sects of
Islam see non-hajj pilgrimage as non-Islamic, the
ziarats
(non-hajj pilgrimages) are important to a growing num-
ber of Muslims. Bhardwaj points out that the hajj is oblig-
atory but the ziarat is voluntary. He explains that study of
the ziarat helps geographers understand the many varia-
tions and regional forms of Islam in the world today. For
example, Bhardwaj describes how the ziarat in Indonesia
(the country with the largest number of Muslims) refl ects
the continued infl uence of pre-Islamic ways. Especially in
the interior of Indonesia, Islam has mixed with Buddhism
and Hinduism, both of which stress the importance of pil-
grimage. Similar to Ireland, where the Catholic Church
usurped Celtic sacred sites, Bhardwaj found that many
sites in Indonesia that were sacred under Hinduism and
Buddhism
were
usurped by Islam, which changed the
object of pilgrimage from non-Muslim to Muslim.
