In the Shadow of the Church: The Building of Mosques in Early Medieval SyriaIn his book In the Shadow of the Church: The Building of Mosques in Early Medieval Syria Mattia Guidetti examines the establishment of Muslim religious architecture within the Christian context in which it first appeared in the Syrian region, contributing to the debate on the transformation of late antique society to a Muslim one. He scrutinizes the slow process of conversion to Islam of the most important town centers by looking at religious places of both communities between the seventh and the eleventh century. The author assesses the relevancy of churches by analyzing the location of mosques and by researching phenomena of transfer of marble material from churches to mosques. |
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Abbasid according Adomnán al-Aqsa Mosque al-Baladhuri al-Din al-Haram al-Sharif Al-Muqaddasi al-Walid Aleppo Arabic argues Author’s photo Bashear Basilica Bilad al-Sham building built Byzantine caliph capitals Chapter Chris Christian communities Church of St congregational mosque context conversion courtyard Creswell cultural decoration Diyarbakır Dome early Islam early medieval period early mosques early Muslims Edessa eighth century erected Eutychius evidence Figure floor mosaics Fowden Grabar Holy Sepulcher Hoyland included inscription Jerusalem Kathisma Kaʿba late antique late antique churches later Latin located Madrasa main church marble columns Mediterranean mentioned mihrab Mosque of Damascus Muhammad Muslims Nasir Khusraw non-Muslim pagan partition passage places of worship prayer hall Prophet qibla Qurʾan regard reuse role Roman sacred landscape seventh seventh-century conquest spolia structure suggest Syria Syrian region temple tenth century tian tion traditions transl Umayyad Umm al-Rasas urban Wilkinson written sources Yaqut al-Hamawi ʿAbd al-Malik ʿUmar