Religion's Influence On The Islamic World

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Religion has strong presence in society. Consequently, many aspects of society are therefore influenced by religion. One aspect of society where religion’s influence is evident is in architectural designs. Many societies, empires, and time periods have architecture that is distinct, and religion has had a definite presence in shaping that architecture. In particular Islamic architecture has strong influences from Islamic teachings from the Quran, as well as secondary sources of religious influence mostly Christianity (and some influence Judaism). The impact of the Christian religion on architecture spread into influencing future architecture built for the Islamic religion, in addition to the influence of the Islamic religion itself on the way …show more content…

This influence is seen in the design of prominent buildings and mosques in the Islamic world The Hagia Sofia was completed in 537 and inaugurated by the byzantine emperor Justinian 1, around a hundred years before the rise of Islam. Built was a church with one huge dome to bear the weight, with multiple smaller domes surrounding it, with arches inside and outside the building support the domes allowing for vast space inside (Grupico, 2011). The Hagia Sofia had significant interior space due to the large domes, which was an important shift in the history of architecture. Islamic teaching in the Quran made Muslim societies want to adopt the large domes to allow for the large interior space to practice prayer, showing how functionality was a feature of the Christian dome for the Islamic religion we can see that there are now plenty of mosques and other types of buildings that took the Hagia Sophia as a symbol and example to follow when it comes to design something in an Islamic style the Hagia Sofia direct influence on Islamic architecture can be immediately seen in the Sultan Ahmend Mosque or the “blue Mosque” designed to revival the Hagia Sofia. It combines tall, slender minarets with large domed buildings supported by half domes in the style of the Byzantine church Hagia Sophia (Grupico, 2011). Also, other famous mosques like Suleymaniye Mosque and Shahzadah Mosque in Istanbul, and Muhammad Ali mosque in Egypt. Where designed with the Hagia Sofia as inspiration. The Hagia Sofia architectural influence can be seen across

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