British Society for Middle Eastern Studies

The Historical Mosques of Saudi Arabia by G.R.D. KingReview by: George T. ScanlonBulletin (British Society for Middle Eastern Studies), Vol. 17, No. 1 (1990), pp. 87-88Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/194856 .

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centre of the book, safely segregated from the text which referred to them, this feature of the book under review will be a major advantage. The line drawings have nearly all been redone specially for this book in a single style, no doubt an expensive undertaking but in my opinion well worth it because of the resultant unity of appearance which it lends the book. They have also been reproduced on a consistently larger scale than was perhaps feasible for the Pelican edition. Similarly, the half-tone plates have been made from original prints, most of them Creswell's own photographs and thus axiomatically of very high quality.

A special word of praise must go to Dr Allan for the self-effacing way in which he has incorporated new material, whether this consists of new data or of a reversal or modification of Creswell's text. He has on the whole left his additions to the end of the relevant text so that there is no danger of mistaking his words for Creswell's, and also no brief distracting interpolations on his part into the body of Creswell's text. 'I' in the main body of the book thus always refers to Creswell himself, and where it has proved unavoidable to insert substantial material into Creswell's text, as distinct from appending such material to it, the context makes this process clear: references to any work published after 1969 are due to the editor. Often such extra information is given in notes or in a sub-heading such as 'Recent Discoveries' or 'Further Observations', while longer passages are identified by subtitles giving the names of the monuments in question.

The labour of filling these gaps in Creswell's text must have been very substantial indeed, and Dr Allan deserves the warmest congratulations for carrying it out. It called above all for the formidable range of expertise extending over the entire Islamic world-the 'new' monuments come from as far afield as Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Yemen as well as the heartlands of early mediaeval Islam, and the literature on them is scattered throughout all manner of obscure publications. To provide a readable and reliable precis of each building on the basis of such diverse sources is a major contribution to the field, and Dr Allan has thereby saved his colleagues, and future generations of students, many hours of labour. Yet the revision was not limited to the addition of new buildings: it also embraced familiar ones, and in particular involved a selective expansion of the bibliography-no small task given the volume of new studies being produced every year. More than 80% of the titles in the bibliography are not to be found in the Pelican edition.

As for the tally of 'new' buildings-i.e. those not to be found even in the much enlarged reprint of EMA I-particular attention should be drawn to the following: the Friday Mosques at 'Amman, Banbhore, Fahraj, Isfahan, San'a', Shibam and Siraf: Qasr Burqu'; the palatial complex at Jerusalem; the mosques at Susa (Khuzistan) and Qasr Muqatil; the palace at Tulul al-Sha'Tba; the buildings of the Darb Zubayda; Qasr al-Jiss; the palace of al-Istabulat; the Masjid-i Ta'rikh at Balkh; and the small mosques at Siraf and Zibliyat, to which might be added other mosques found in the last few years in Iran, as at Istakhr and Nishapur. Besides this, recent work on several. previously known sites has significantly changed the information available to Creswell. Such sites include al-Hallabat, Hammam al-Sarakh with its carved stucco finds, the Aqsa mosque, Qastal, the Raqqa Gate, the 3-door mosque at Qayrawan, and Heraqla. It will be clear from these remarks that the new Short Account is a major book in its own right.

Those who are disposed to complain that the Short Account has risen in price from eight shillings and six pence to nearly ?50 might console themselves with the thought that at least they now have available a work which includes (as the Pelican edition did not) practically all the known monuments of the period in question, and certainly all the significant ones, while yet costing a fraction of the price of the reprinted original volumes; and that it includes well over a score of buildings which Creswell never knew. It is thus peculiarly well fitted to serve as the vade mecum for a new generation of Islamic art historians.

DEPARTMENT OF FINE ART, ROBERT HILLENBRAND UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

THE HISTORICAL MOSQUES OF SAUDI ARABIA. By G.R.D. KING. London and New York, 1986. 208pp.

This most beautifully produced book, replete with excellent type and evocative colour plates, surveys some sixty loci and describes just under a hundred separate buildings. The majority of

centre of the book, safely segregated from the text which referred to them, this feature of the book under review will be a major advantage. The line drawings have nearly all been redone specially for this book in a single style, no doubt an expensive undertaking but in my opinion well worth it because of the resultant unity of appearance which it lends the book. They have also been reproduced on a consistently larger scale than was perhaps feasible for the Pelican edition. Similarly, the half-tone plates have been made from original prints, most of them Creswell's own photographs and thus axiomatically of very high quality.

A special word of praise must go to Dr Allan for the self-effacing way in which he has incorporated new material, whether this consists of new data or of a reversal or modification of Creswell's text. He has on the whole left his additions to the end of the relevant text so that there is no danger of mistaking his words for Creswell's, and also no brief distracting interpolations on his part into the body of Creswell's text. 'I' in the main body of the book thus always refers to Creswell himself, and where it has proved unavoidable to insert substantial material into Creswell's text, as distinct from appending such material to it, the context makes this process clear: references to any work published after 1969 are due to the editor. Often such extra information is given in notes or in a sub-heading such as 'Recent Discoveries' or 'Further Observations', while longer passages are identified by subtitles giving the names of the monuments in question.

The labour of filling these gaps in Creswell's text must have been very substantial indeed, and Dr Allan deserves the warmest congratulations for carrying it out. It called above all for the formidable range of expertise extending over the entire Islamic world-the 'new' monuments come from as far afield as Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Yemen as well as the heartlands of early mediaeval Islam, and the literature on them is scattered throughout all manner of obscure publications. To provide a readable and reliable precis of each building on the basis of such diverse sources is a major contribution to the field, and Dr Allan has thereby saved his colleagues, and future generations of students, many hours of labour. Yet the revision was not limited to the addition of new buildings: it also embraced familiar ones, and in particular involved a selective expansion of the bibliography-no small task given the volume of new studies being produced every year. More than 80% of the titles in the bibliography are not to be found in the Pelican edition.

As for the tally of 'new' buildings-i.e. those not to be found even in the much enlarged reprint of EMA I-particular attention should be drawn to the following: the Friday Mosques at 'Amman, Banbhore, Fahraj, Isfahan, San'a', Shibam and Siraf: Qasr Burqu'; the palatial complex at Jerusalem; the mosques at Susa (Khuzistan) and Qasr Muqatil; the palace at Tulul al-Sha'Tba; the buildings of the Darb Zubayda; Qasr al-Jiss; the palace of al-Istabulat; the Masjid-i Ta'rikh at Balkh; and the small mosques at Siraf and Zibliyat, to which might be added other mosques found in the last few years in Iran, as at Istakhr and Nishapur. Besides this, recent work on several. previously known sites has significantly changed the information available to Creswell. Such sites include al-Hallabat, Hammam al-Sarakh with its carved stucco finds, the Aqsa mosque, Qastal, the Raqqa Gate, the 3-door mosque at Qayrawan, and Heraqla. It will be clear from these remarks that the new Short Account is a major book in its own right.

Those who are disposed to complain that the Short Account has risen in price from eight shillings and six pence to nearly ?50 might console themselves with the thought that at least they now have available a work which includes (as the Pelican edition did not) practically all the known monuments of the period in question, and certainly all the significant ones, while yet costing a fraction of the price of the reprinted original volumes; and that it includes well over a score of buildings which Creswell never knew. It is thus peculiarly well fitted to serve as the vade mecum for a new generation of Islamic art historians.

DEPARTMENT OF FINE ART, ROBERT HILLENBRAND UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

THE HISTORICAL MOSQUES OF SAUDI ARABIA. By G.R.D. KING. London and New York, 1986. 208pp.

This most beautifully produced book, replete with excellent type and evocative colour plates, surveys some sixty loci and describes just under a hundred separate buildings. The majority of

87 87

This content downloaded from 188.48.65.30 on Thu, 5 Jun 2014 10:01:20 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

these have never been available for discussion and are precious for reasons given below. Under conditions which would tax the intrepidity of most architectural historians, the author has managed to 'save' a number of mosques important for the recent history of Saudi Arabia before they 'go under' to satisfy the clamour for urban growth and an understandable desire for a more modern expression in modern materials. Of course, one regrets the absence of plans and elevations; but there are valid reasons for this impasse; and, generally, due to the smallness of the mosque and the repetition of the modular type, the narrative explanations almost fulfill the function of the architectural drawing. In addition, the attention paid to materials, local building practices and present complexion of the building adds extra dimensions to the photographs.

If one sets aside the purely narrative exegesis on the Haramayn, one wonders, however, at the term 'historical' for most of these buildings, other than those which betray in their minarets a purely Ottoman influence. In the absence of foundation stelae, it would seem that there is no verifiable building between the end of the eighth and the onset of the eighteenth century which has survived within the present boundaries of Saudi Arabia. This is of sovereign importance if one insists on palpable points of evolution whereby style is achieved through historicity; here we are served with 'echoes' of what must have been obtained during the blank period. Yet even these survivals break down into limited tropes of contracted development; they are sometimes little but poignant repetition of vernacular modules. Hence, it is most deplorable that even this meagre portion of soi-disant national stylistics is under threat of surrender to the concrete mixers.

But Dr. King is under no delusion that reinforced concrete is the enemy per se. He demonstrates how it can sustain the local tradition as in the newer mosques in Shaqran, which are acutely attractive in their geometrical simplicity (p. 133); and we can see when it denies that attractiveness by supplanting the local tradition with something malapropos, as at the mosque of the Prophet in Tabuk (pp.48-9) or at the mosque of al-'Awda (p. 142).

In these latter instances a visual charm has been removed (as has recently been the case with the renovations at the Mosque of 'Amr b. al-'As in Cairo). It is charm and a rude strength which give distinction to local vernacular, which is really what this book is really about and why one would not now be without it. This is 'architecture without architects', of milieux where indigenous builders satisfied local taste by confirming tradition; where materials and lay-out were allied to terrain and memory. One thinks of the mission compounds of Spanish America, the plain but dignified wooden churches of the American colonies or the mud buildings rising as though from the dirt plains of Central Africa (which are uncannily recalled here by the mosques of the Tihama, pp.75-82). Even where decoration calls for attention, e.g. the Najdi mosque in Umm Farasan, (pp.65-73); the pyramidal crenellations of Najran (pp.99-114); or the scalloped arching in al-Jubayl (pp. 184-8), one feels it is somehow an outgrowth of the structure rather than a dictated additive. The non-Ottoman minarets are, in their variety and truth to form, absolutely sui generis to the general locales.

Two truths seem to derive from this concept of local satisfying vernacular: these buildings in their primal purity negate the efforts of the author to connect them with the more truly evolutionary architectural traditions of great centres like Cairo and Cordova, Baghdad and Samarra. And, it just may be, they truly are echoes of the original building concepts of very early Islam, ones which conveyed a rigorous utilitarian simplicity. As a corollary, one senses in the differentials so smartly portrayed in this volume yet another example of early Islam positing conduct but never dictating style. One may imagine that the minaret at Dumat al-Jandal (p. 119) in its superb tapering height might have offended the stern humility of both 'Umar b. al-Khattab and 'Umar II b. 'Abd al-'Aziz (if either did order its construction), but neither would have embarrassed the believers of the town by ordering its dismantling.

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO GEORGE T. SCANLON

YEMEN: 3000 YEARS OF ART AND CIVILISATION IN ARABIA FELIX. Edited by WERNER DAUM. Innsbruck, Pinguin-Verlag and Frankfurt/Main, Umschau-Verlag, 1987. 483pp.

This beautifully produced book was published in conjunction with an exhibition in Munich during the year to April 1988. The contributions from forty-three authors are supported by superb

these have never been available for discussion and are precious for reasons given below. Under conditions which would tax the intrepidity of most architectural historians, the author has managed to 'save' a number of mosques important for the recent history of Saudi Arabia before they 'go under' to satisfy the clamour for urban growth and an understandable desire for a more modern expression in modern materials. Of course, one regrets the absence of plans and elevations; but there are valid reasons for this impasse; and, generally, due to the smallness of the mosque and the repetition of the modular type, the narrative explanations almost fulfill the function of the architectural drawing. In addition, the attention paid to materials, local building practices and present complexion of the building adds extra dimensions to the photographs.

If one sets aside the purely narrative exegesis on the Haramayn, one wonders, however, at the term 'historical' for most of these buildings, other than those which betray in their minarets a purely Ottoman influence. In the absence of foundation stelae, it would seem that there is no verifiable building between the end of the eighth and the onset of the eighteenth century which has survived within the present boundaries of Saudi Arabia. This is of sovereign importance if one insists on palpable points of evolution whereby style is achieved through historicity; here we are served with 'echoes' of what must have been obtained during the blank period. Yet even these survivals break down into limited tropes of contracted development; they are sometimes little but poignant repetition of vernacular modules. Hence, it is most deplorable that even this meagre portion of soi-disant national stylistics is under threat of surrender to the concrete mixers.

But Dr. King is under no delusion that reinforced concrete is the enemy per se. He demonstrates how it can sustain the local tradition as in the newer mosques in Shaqran, which are acutely attractive in their geometrical simplicity (p. 133); and we can see when it denies that attractiveness by supplanting the local tradition with something malapropos, as at the mosque of the Prophet in Tabuk (pp.48-9) or at the mosque of al-'Awda (p. 142).

In these latter instances a visual charm has been removed (as has recently been the case with the renovations at the Mosque of 'Amr b. al-'As in Cairo). It is charm and a rude strength which give distinction to local vernacular, which is really what this book is really about and why one would not now be without it. This is 'architecture without architects', of milieux where indigenous builders satisfied local taste by confirming tradition; where materials and lay-out were allied to terrain and memory. One thinks of the mission compounds of Spanish America, the plain but dignified wooden churches of the American colonies or the mud buildings rising as though from the dirt plains of Central Africa (which are uncannily recalled here by the mosques of the Tihama, pp.75-82). Even where decoration calls for attention, e.g. the Najdi mosque in Umm Farasan, (pp.65-73); the pyramidal crenellations of Najran (pp.99-114); or the scalloped arching in al-Jubayl (pp. 184-8), one feels it is somehow an outgrowth of the structure rather than a dictated additive. The non-Ottoman minarets are, in their variety and truth to form, absolutely sui generis to the general locales.

Two truths seem to derive from this concept of local satisfying vernacular: these buildings in their primal purity negate the efforts of the author to connect them with the more truly evolutionary architectural traditions of great centres like Cairo and Cordova, Baghdad and Samarra. And, it just may be, they truly are echoes of the original building concepts of very early Islam, ones which conveyed a rigorous utilitarian simplicity. As a corollary, one senses in the differentials so smartly portrayed in this volume yet another example of early Islam positing conduct but never dictating style. One may imagine that the minaret at Dumat al-Jandal (p. 119) in its superb tapering height might have offended the stern humility of both 'Umar b. al-Khattab and 'Umar II b. 'Abd al-'Aziz (if either did order its construction), but neither would have embarrassed the believers of the town by ordering its dismantling.

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO GEORGE T. SCANLON

YEMEN: 3000 YEARS OF ART AND CIVILISATION IN ARABIA FELIX. Edited by WERNER DAUM. Innsbruck, Pinguin-Verlag and Frankfurt/Main, Umschau-Verlag, 1987. 483pp.

This beautifully produced book was published in conjunction with an exhibition in Munich during the year to April 1988. The contributions from forty-three authors are supported by superb

88 88

This content downloaded from 188.48.65.30 on Thu, 5 Jun 2014 10:01:20 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions