Author: Abu Raef
The Role of Muslims in the Formation and Development of Science (Part 59)
The spread of gardens in Islamic civilization
“The sight of gardens creates joy and vitality in the human heart, and contemplation of this joy and the living and dynamic beauty that it creates is enough to revive the hearts. Contemplating the works of creation in gardens makes one praise the Creator who created this amazing beauty, because the coloring and arrangement of a flower alone is beyond the power of the greatest human artists. The play of colors, the intertwining of lines and the arrangement of leaves in a flower are such a miracle that the genius of art in the past and present seems powerless in the face of it, let alone the secret of the life of living trees, which is the greatest secret that mankind has failed to understand… [1]
The abundance of brilliant images in the Quran and Sunnah has had a clear reflection in Islamic civilization, as none of the Islamic cities in the East and the West have been devoid of magnificent gardens that show the special characteristics of Islamic architecture; among these gardens were those in Andalusia, Turkey, the Levant, Persia, Egypt, Samarkand, the Maghreb, Tunisia, Yemen, Oman, India, etc.
In Andalusia
Cordoba: “Abd al-Rahman al-Dakhil” (may Allah bless him) founded “Al-Rusafa”, which was one of the largest Islamic gardens. He built this garden similar to “Al-Rusafa” in the Levant, which his grandfather “Hisham ibn Abdul Malik” had founded. Abd al-Rahman brought a variety of wonderful plants from all over the world to this garden and collected valuable seedlings and trees from different regions. He even brought rare seeds and kernels from the Levant and cultivated the trees with good training, and in a short time that bore amazing fruits and soon spread throughout Andalusia, and the superiority of these trees over other types was accepted. [2]
Granada:
There were many gardens around the city wall of Granada, to the extent that it was as if a second wall had been built for the city. Inside the city, the gardens of the “Alhambra Palace” are an unparalleled example of Islamic gardens, also in Granada, the “Jannat al-Arif” was built on the slope of a hill and was designed as a terrace; the width of its widest terrace does not exceed thirteen meters and has a total of six levels. Water plays a central role in its design, flowing from the springs above into channels that pass through the trees, clearly influenced by the verse: «وَمَاءٍ مَسْكُوبٍ» Translation: “And poured water.” Even after the end of the golden age of Cordoba and the beginning of the era of the tribal kings, “Expir Ethio Sánchez” writes about the gardens of Andalusia: “After the collapse of the caliphate and the emergence of the tribal kings, the new rulers, imitating the habits of the deposed caliphs, established numerous experimental gardens in each new palace, managed under the supervision of agricultural experts.” [3]
In Andalusia, gardens were so extensive that even small houses had gardens. James Dickey says of the small houses of Granada: “Although most of the houses are small, they all have running water, fragrant flowers and shrubs, and complete amenities. This is evidence that when this land was in Muslim hands, it was much more beautiful than it is today. [4]
In Istanbul (Constantinople)
Gardens spread throughout the land with the arrival of Islam in the Islamic Middle East, the capital of the Ottoman Caliphate. The characteristic of Anatolian gardens was that they were first designed and then built on. Therefore, the palaces of Istanbul were called “gardens”, although they contained a palace inside. These gardens were used for entertainment or official ceremonies and often overlooked the sea.
During the Ottoman Caliphate, green spaces were incorporated into the architecture of mosques to protect them from the risk of fire, such as the “Süleymaniye Mosque” in Istanbul. Since the houses were wooden, there was a possibility of fire spreading to the mosques. To counter this danger, the architect Sinan enclosed the mosque and its associated buildings with an external wall and left large empty spaces between the wall and the mosque, in which he planted tall trees and various flowers to both act as a barrier to fire and create a striking beauty.
During the Ottoman era, it was common to plant trees in the courtyards of large mosques. Such as the courtyards of the Nabavi Mosque and the Bayezid Mosque in Turkey. The gardens of the Topkapi Palace (its construction began during the time of Mehmet the Conqueror), which was the seat of the Ottoman sultans from the 10th to the 13th centuries AH, covered an area of 69,000 square meters and was located in an area five kilometers long. These gardens surrounded the palace with open passages and included fruit and vegetable gardens and a large area for hunting. [5]
In Egypt
Ibn Saeed, describing the “Habash Pond”, which was part of the city of Fustat (the first Islamic capital of Egypt), says: This pond was in the possession of “Abu Bakr Muhammad bin Ali Madarai, the minister of the Tulun family”, and included fields and gardens. There were gardens in the east of the pond, attributed to “Wahb bin Sadqa”, who was known as “Al-Habash”. There were the gardens of “Qatada bin Qais bin Habash Sadfi”, who was one of the witnesses of the conquest of Egypt in the south of the pond.
During the time of “Khamariyyah bin Ahmad bin Tulun”, one of the rulers of the Tulun dynasty, Maqrizi from the capital of Egypt, “Al-Qatayeh”, writes: He expanded his father’s palace, turned the square in front of it into a large garden and planted various flowers and fruit trees in it. A beautiful river passed through it and its fruits were sitting and standing within reach. Palm trees were made with gilded copper coverings, through which water flowed and poured into ponds. Basil was planted there with special designs, and the gardener used special scissors to cut the leaves so that no leaf was larger than the other. Red, blue, and yellow lotus flowers were also planted there. Maqrizi has described these wonders in detail.” [6]
Continues…
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References:
1. Qutb, Sayyed, In the Shadow of the Qur’an, vol. 5, p. 2656, in the commentary of Surah Al-Naml.
2. What have Muslims given to the world? P. 625.
3. Regarding the gardens of Granada, one can refer to the book Al-Ihta fi Akhbar Granada, by Lisan al-Din Ibn al-Khatib, vol. 1, p. 116 onwards, published by Maktaba al-Khanji, Cairo.
4. What have Muslims given to the world? P. 627.
5. Waziri, Yahya, Islamic Architecture and Environment, pp. 224-226, Khan al-Siyasah Publishing House, Kuwait.
6. What have Muslims given to the world? P. 629.
