Journal of Researches in Islamic Architecture

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The Holy Quran and hadiths as the most important Islamic religious texts have significant capacities in various fields of human knowledge which have been often neglected. Among the issues raised in this religious texts are some of architectural problems. One of these problems is quality of bedroom design. In this article, this problem will be probed by citing verses and hadiths to deduct bedroom design principles. These principles will be presented in four main areas, including location, geometry, light and color.
Search in religious texts is done by using two main sources. To search in the verses, the holy Quran has been used to gather verses which are related to the problem of this article especially verses related to the introduction of night and its features and to explore hadiths, “Jame-al-ahadith” software has been used which contains hundreds of narrative books. After searching the key words related to the bedroom design, those verses and hadiths that allow inference architectural results were analyzed using qualitative content method and finally, the results of this analysis are explained in the presented table in conclusion section of the article.
The most important verses discussed in this article are the verses related to night, because it seems that the bedroom (as sleeping location) and night (as sleeping time), have common features. Some of these verses are as follows: «He splits the sky into dawn. He has ordained the night for rest and the sun, and the moon for reckoning. Such is the ordinance of the Almighty, the Knowing» (Sura 6/ Verse 96); «He it is who has made the night for your rest and the day to see. Surely, in this there are signs for people who listen» (Sura 10/ Verse 67); «Have they not seen how We have made the night for them to rest in and the day to see? Surely, there are signs in this for the nation who believe» (Sura 27/ Verse 86); «It is He who has appointed the night a mantle for you and sleep for a rest. The day He has appointed for rising» (Sura 25/ Verse 47).
In addition to above verses, some other verses like these verses are related with topics such as location, color and light of bedroom: «Believers, let those your right hand owns and those who have not come of age ask permission of you three times before the dawn prayer, when you put aside your garments, in the heat of noon, and after the night prayer. These are the three occasions of privacy. There is no fault in you or them, apart from these, that they go about you, you are of each other. As such Allah makes plain to you His verses, Allah is the Knower, the Wise. And when children reach the age of puberty, let them ask permission as those before them asked permission. As such Allah makes clear to you His verses. Allah is the Knower, the Wise»(Sura 24/ Verses 58-59); «When you depart from them and from what they worship, other than Allah, seek refuge in the Cave. Allah will extend His Mercy to you and will furnish you with a gentle issue of your affair. You might have seen the rising sun incline towards the right of their Cave, and, as it set go past them on the left, while they stayed within an open space in the Cave. That was one of the signs of Allah. He whom Allah guides is rightly guided; but he whom He leads astray you shall not find for him a guardian to guide him» (Sura 18/ Verses 16-17); «›Call on your Lord, ‹ they said, ‹to make known to us what her color shall be.’ ‹Your Lord says: The cow is yellow, a rich yellow pleasing to the onlookers» (Sura 2/ Verses 69).
In this article, by analyzing the above verses, bedroom design principles are deduced (For position, geometry, color and light of bedroom). Implementation of this article results not only helps to better performance of bedrooms, but also is a step forward towards the achievement to original Islamic architecture.

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Existing approaches to inscriptions tend often to regard various literary aspects, some considerations on the text content, historical importance, and tendency to the past events illustrated in the inscriptions, and this has led to the typology and classification of inscriptions in terms of endowment, decree, memorial, and construction themes, and in another way, the recognition of stuffs and materials.
In the meantime, it has been underestimated the artistic aspects of the inscriptions in terms of high-value calligraphy. An important part of this failing goes back to the lack of fundamentals and methods for the critique of inscriptions based on calligraphic considerations and its principles and rules. Although such principles and rules are regarded as an important source and criterion for understanding beauty, recognizing and analyzing calligraphy works, however this measure has been applied in non-engraving forms, piecewriting ,chalipa, scribing manuscripts, book binding, but neglected in the practice of inscription.
The purpose of this study is to provide theoretical and analytical bases and fundamentals on how to benefit from the principles and rules of calligraphy in inscription from the perspective of calligraphic art. The study is conducted in an analytical and descriptive method based on library studies and field data on inscriptions. Answering to the main question and issue of the research, i.e. how to analyze the inscriptions in terms of the principles and rules of calligraphy, an referring to the treatises and related researches on calligraphy, the findings of the study indicate that It is possible to use the principles and rules contained in the calligraphy treatises, with special considerations on inscription and architectural requirements with some necessary modifications and bearing in mind the degree of adaptation of some of them in the inscription.
The principles of proportion (alignment), composition (coordination), and seat are of more value. And the principles of Safa (succulence) and Shaan (pleasant) and the rule of the theoretical and practical writing are at the next importance. The way of recognition of the style and method as an essential component in the analysis of inscription, given the quality and quantity of inscriptions, is also important. It is obvious that the proposed principles, along with other methods and typologies of inscription studies, can lead to a more systematic understanding of the values of inscriptions, and provide a more fresh perspective for assessment and analysis of  aesthetic aspects of the inscriptions.

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Despite its simple appearance, the Islamic city is one of the most challenging concepts studied in scientific disciplines including architecture, urbanism and the history of art.  Besides theories approving or rejecting this concept, much research has been devoted to the study of the nature of the Islamic city and similar concepts such as Middle East city, Arabic-Islamic City, Muslims’ city, Islamdom city, Islamicate city, and such expressions in Persian literature as good-life city, city of God, divine city, usury-free city etc. in order to present a specific definition of it by investigating its characteristics and component parts. The importance of this concept is due to the fact that the viewpoints presented about it have had a considerable role in any attempt for designing, planning, and organizing of cities based on Islamic culture in the contemporary period and the Islamic city has been considered as the key to the explanation of Islamic urbanism. On the other side, because of the history and the reasons for the genesis and circulation of this expression resulted from the opinions of the primary researchers of this concept, the Islamic city has always been influenced by issues that have led to its becoming a stereotype from its very beginning in related studies. Based on this stereotype and the claimed concept the possibility of using it in the contemporary city has been doubted. This study is to Explaining the Characteristics and Components of Islamic City with Situational Analysis. Situational Analysis is an extension of grounded theory, transnationally the most popular form of qualitative analysis in the social sciences and humanities today. The situation of inquiry is to be empirically constructed through the making of three kinds of maps and following through with analytic work and memos of various kinds. situational maps lay out the major human, nonhuman, discursive, and other elements in the research situation of inquiry and provoke analysis of relations among them; social worlds/arenas maps lay out the collective actors and the arena(s) of commitment and discourse within which they are engaged in ongoing negotiations—meso level interpretations of the situation; and  positional maps lay out the major positions taken, and not taken, in the data vis-à-vis particular axes of difference, concern, and controversy around issues in the situation of inquiry. All three kinds of maps are intended as analytic exercises, fresh ways into social science data that are especially well suited to contemporary studies from solely interview-based to multi-sited research projects. They are intended as supplemental to traditional grounded theory analyses that center on action. Instead, these maps center on elucidating the key elements, discourses, structures, and conditions of possibility that characterize the situation of inquiry. Thus, situational analysis can deeply situate research projects individually, collectively, social organizationally/ institutionally, temporally, geographically, materially, discursively, culturally, symbolically, visually, and historically. The results of the study demonstrate that as a situation have different actors’ actants and component including individual human actors, nonhuman actants, collective human actors, implicated actors/actants. Discursive constructions, political elements, symbolic elements, temporal elements, spatial elements, etc. On the other hand this situation have different social worlds and arenas. social worlds are groups with shared commitments to certain activities, sharing resources of many kinds to achieve their goals and building shared ideologies about how to go about their business. They are interactive units, worlds of discourse, bounded not by geography or formal membership but by the limits of effective communication. Social worlds are fundamental building blocks of collective action and the main units of analysis in such studies. In arenas, all the social worlds come together that focus on a given issue and are prepared to act in some way. Ignoring of this Social world and arenas leads to a rigid and limited understanding of Islamic city. Finally there is positional maps. Positional maps analyze the contested discourses in the situation, seeking especially to analyze silences. Positional maps assist analysts in seeing complexity, variation, and heterogeneity in situations where once only binaries and/or longstanding, oversimplified divisions may have appeared. This often enables analysts to see established lines of controversy and division in fresh ways. This positional maps demonstrate that there is different silent actors and untaken position about Islamic City. A comprehensive and inclusive explanation of Islamic City should figuring out this positions.
 

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Introduction: The plant decorations are considered as the most obvious designs that are used elaborately in different works of art. They are also used frequently in architectural decoration, particularly the ones made of stucco. The way these plant ornaments are composed characterizes the period in which they were created though many of these compositions have been repeated frequently over centuries. The goal of this research is to study the typology and classify the significant plant compositions in the stucco decorations from the Islamic period to the fourteenth century. In order to achieve this goal, the following questions should be answered:

• What are the most popular plant compositions in the stucco decorations from the Islamic period to the fourteenth century?
• Which compositions can be considered as the significant features of plant ornaments in a certain period?

Conclusion: The data was collected based upon written sources and field research (photography, linear print of the images) and analyzed through comparative-historical method. The results of this study suggest that the compositions existing in the samples can be classified into 9 groups some of which have been repeated in all historical periods, like the two and three-arabesque compositions in the margins and delicate joint/ stems with snail-shaped arches. But some of these compositions, including multi-layered plant compositions, delicate plant stems in the backgrounds, snail-shaped arches, etc., were evolved in some centuries, i.e. 13th and 14th centuries, or used more frequently. 

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The holy shrine of Razavi is among the most magnificent monuments with a treasure trove of calligraphy. Including these works, inscriptions and motifs of the stone floor of the entrance to the two domes of Hatam Khani and the Tohidkhaneh, which is visually effective in terms of quality. The purpose of this research is to identify and adapt the structure of the visual structure and the theme of inscriptions and Carved decorations in the plinth stones of the two porches. So, what is the visual and visual structure of the inscriptions on the walls of the hutmakhani and the Tohidkhaneh? And what is the content? Research methodology is descriptive-analytical and comparative and data collection, library and field photography. The findings show that the inscriptions are based on Qur'anic concepts and prayers with the Sols line, literary pieces on the line of Nastaliq, and with the themes of friendship and charity with Ahl al-Bayt and the status of God's forgiveness. The inscriptions are the Sols, Nastaliq and Naskh edition, which have a dynamic front by their circular shape and form. The use of these lines in the Sols and Nastaliq letter inscriptions relates to the calligraphy basics, which is coordinated with the visual capabilities of these two types of lines for easy visualization and readings. The inscriptions of the two porches were observed as scrolls, belts and textures, and the visual structure of the inscriptions was in geometric, ellipsoidal, circular, and square shapes, often with horizontal and vertical combinations, repeated with a visually repeating, intermittent, and Repeated with symmetry, intermittent and contradictory.arabesque and  Khatai designs, as well as triangular next to the inscriptions, have been used to decorate and emphasize the text

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