Although architects played a distinct role in Islamic
architecture, this role remained undocumented as a result of the
ignorance by researchers of its nature and their presumption of its
similarity to that of architects in contemporary times. A1 Qalqashandi
identified the architect as the 'person who is in charge of designing
the layout and proportion of a building and supervising the workers(1).
Ibn Khaldun described the architect as the “the person engaged in
architecture” and architecture as the science of buildings, their
construction and variations, of lands and their surface areas, of
digging waterways, clearing canals, building bridges and other such
activities.(2) The architect was also known under the names of mason
and builder.(3)

Architectural Drawings:
It is unfortunate that no specimens of architectural drawings made by
Muslims have reached us. However, their achievements speak eloquently
of their use of architectural drawings, a use that is obvious in the
following three axes. The first of these are the architectural vestiges
that have survived and that stand witness to the meticulousness of the
Muslim architect in his work. This precision is manifest in the highly
exact proportions of the components of buildings,(4) and the attention
paid by the architect to the nature of the edifice being erected and
its surrounding environment. It is also clear in the architectural
inventiveness of Muslim architects and the degree of their talent,
including innovations in military architecture. The walls erected by
Badr A1 Jamali in the Fatimid Era, between 480 and 485 A.H./1087-1092
A.D., reveal great inventiveness and reflect an extraordinary
architectural sense of creativity. The structure includes the huge
spiral staircase that connects the platform of the walls from the
inside and the roof of the structure containing the Nasr gate, and
spirals around a huge chiseled stone pillar. But the impressive
innovation is most apparent in the building of a hemispheric vault that
rises on an incline with the semicircular staircase, thus achieving the
effect of a curve running in different directions and resulting in
spherical surfaces that involve greater difficulty at design and
execution. All of this reflects an impressive knowledge and a talent
for descriptive architecture. Another architectural innovation is found
at the depression of the wall at the angle where it faces the minaret
of the Mosque of Al Hakim.(5)

Other existing architectural marvels testify to the intimate knowledge
by Muslim architects of descriptive architecture, considered one of the
most complex sciences of modern times. During the Mamluke era,
architects developed stone as a building material. Stones were used for
the first time in building Mamluke minarets when the architect Ibn
Assioufi built the minaret of the Aqbaghawiyya School. Prior to that,
bricks were the building material of choice for minarets. The use of
stones in the building of Mamluke minarets led to a revolution in
building styles as it allowed for benefiting from the stone's building
advantages and was reflected in the minaret's elevation, shape and
size. This development reached its apogee with the Ghurid two-tiered
minaret which had two stairways, a body covered in Qashani tiles and an
upper floor in the form of a hexadecagon.(6)

The second source is the architectural books that survived or did not
survive but were mentioned in historical records. Some of these works
may not have a direct relevance to the subject of architectural
drawings, but their scientific topics were related to architecture as
an art and a science. Among these works is “Architectural Works Needed
by Builders”, written by Abu Al Wafa Al Boujzani who died in 998
A.D.,(7) the book written by Ahmed Ibn Omar Al Karaissi and titled
“Hissab Addour”, and the book “The Circumference of the Circle.”(8)
Some of the other books pertain to the legislation of architecture
written by architects such as “Kitab Al I'lan bi Ahkam A1 Bunyan” by
Ibn Rami. There are also records of correspondence which addressed one
or the other architectural aspects. These include the letter to
Badhahang written by Abu Rajab, and the manuscript known as “A Letter
on Architectural Matters” by Abu Mansour Ibn Ali. This letter addressed
fifteen issues in which Abu Mansour referred to the use of the compass
and theoretical arguments, and addressed the complex mental aspects of
the resolved questions that represented some of the dilemmas
encountered by architects in their activities.(9)

Let us stop briefly at the manuscript of Abu Al Wafa Al Bouzjani. The
manuscript contains architectural equations that were of great help to
architects. It also quotes a conversation between an architect and a
craftsman, revealing the close relationship between the two. This is
one of the few conversations quoted in heritage books. The book comes
in thirteen chapters and is more like a guidebook for architects. One
of the chapters addressed the use of the ruler and the compass, another
equivalence in forms, a chapter on applying the circle to forms, and
yet another chapter on dividing squares into squares and
vice-versa.(10) Of the book of Rachid Eddine Al Mi'mari Al Farisi who
lived in the 13th century A.D., nothing survived but the index where
headings pertained to the rules of building houses for habitation,
places of worship, fortifications, and information on building
mausoleums. Many architectural theories were recorded in a book written
by Safar Afandi on the works of Mahmoud Agha, chief court architect of
the Ottoman state in the 17th century. One may wonder about the lack of
clarity on the link between standing architectural models and the
architectural books written by Muslim architects. The book of the
Persian architect Ghayat Eddine Al Kashi, written in 1423 A.D., shows
with the help of charts the way of designing arches in building.(11)

The third source lies in the historical events that confirm the use by
Muslim architects of architectural drawings when they built their
edifices. One of these events was the founding of Baghdad. When Al
Mansur launched the works after he personally chose the site, he
appointed the architects Abdullah Ibn Mehrez, Al Hajjaj Ibn Youssuf,
Imrane Ibn Waddah and Shiha Ibn kuthayyir. He ordered them to make the
number of shops large so that each suburb could have enough open and
close-ended streets and alleys to service all the houses. He also
instructed them to name each street after the chief who was residing
there, the virtuous man who dwelled there or the origin of the people
who lived in a specific quarter. He set the width of the street at
fifty yards and that of the alleys at sixteen yards. To each of the
four architects he assigned a quarter of the surface area of the city
to build up and placed two of his men to supervise the works.(12) This
is an indication of the double duty of the architect who used to design
and to supervise implementation and had administrators at his service
to help him in this task. This record also shows that the project owner
was able to make recommendations and suggestions that the architect had
to adhere to when making his drawings.(13) Caliph Abu Jaafar A1 Mansur
asked architects to show him the preliminary outline which was drawn up
in ash and walked around the town's streets and quarters before
approving the design and ordering its execution.(14)

A similar arrangement was followed when Caliph A1 Mamum Ibn Mussa
directed his architect saying: “If you build, make the building strong
and indestructible so that its vestiges and layout may remain
standing.”(15) When Ahmed Ibn Toulon began building his mosque in Al
Qatay (old Cairo) in 263 A.H./876 A.D., his architect wrote to him
saying: “I will build it as you wish for it to be, with no pillars but
the two pillars of the Qibla, and I will make a drawing thereof that
you may see it.” He called for parchment and a drawing of the mosque
was made which the Caliph appreciated and praised.(16) The oldest
surviving Islamic architectural drawing is preserved at the Uzbekistan
University for Oriental Sciences. It dates back to the 8th century
A.H./16th century A.D. and is part of the Uzbek Collection. It presents
an illustrative diagram using the square as a unit.(17) The drawing
pertains to a garden in Afghanistan and the square units ranged in
width from 42 to 62 millimeters.

Ibn Khaldun pointed out that the use of geometrical shapes in the
architecture of his time required a special knowledge of measures and
proportion in order to translate the shapes from concept to reality.
The full expertise of Muslim architects in architectural drawing
reached its apogee in the Ottoman era, to judge from the following
famous phrase uttered by architect Sinan: “I immediately sketched a
beautiful and comprehensive drawing which was highly appreciated by the
Sultan.” During the Ottoman reign, architects often drew up only the
lower levels and they sometimes simplified the facades. They rarely
included in the drawing more than the basic lines. Because the
architect was the designer and the builder as the same time, he often
left details until the phase of actual implementation. The archives of
the Tubkuserai Palace (Istanbul) house several examples of drawings
made by Ottoman architects. The detailed descriptions of architectural
units and engravings in the documents preserved by the Waqfs Authority
list the special terminology related to every architectural or
decorative element. This terminology and the intricate descriptions of
the endowed buildings point to the existence of an entire science,
architecture, which had its specific terminology.

The interest that the sultans of the Mamluke era took in architecture
resulted in the golden age of this science with many architectural
innovations. It helped highlight the important role of the architect as
a designer and a builder at the same time. He was considered the man of
expertise consulted by sultans and princes wishing to build an edifice
or carry out some other project. When Sultan al-Zahir (Baibars) wished
to build his mosque in the famous al-Zahir quarter in Cairo in 665
A.H./1266 A.D., he sent Ataybek Faris Eddine Aqtay, Assahib Fakhr
Eddine Ibn Assahib Bahaa Eddine and a group of architects to choose a
site for the construction of the mosque. On Thursday 8 Rabiaa II 665
A.H./1266 A.D., the Sultan came out with them to inspect the site they
had chosen. They presented him with the preliminary cost evaluation and
other relevant matters, and then a drawing of the mosque was made for
him. He instructed them to build one of its gates to resemble the gate
of Az-Zahiriyya School (in Damascus), and to raise a dome above the
mosque's mihrab to equal the Imam Chafii's dome in size.(18)

Architects also carried out drawings of existing edifices. When the
Ghurid sultan expressed a desire to know the layout of the city of
Alexandria in 916 a.h., he commissioned the architect Hassan Assayyad
to do so. The architect chose an empty plot close to the Matariyya
quarter and drew up in gypsum a layout of the city with its towers,
gates, walls and houses. Then he called the Sultan to inspect it. The
Sultan came out of the fortress on Wednesday 19 Rajab 916 A.H./1510
A.D. to inspect the layout and was impressed with it.(19)

Some princes developed a taste for drawing the layouts of the edifices
they wished to build. In the 7th century A.H/14th A.D., Prince Alaa
Eddine A1 A'maa, trustee of the Waqfs of Al Quds and Al Khalil
personally drew up the initial outline of the building then outlined it
in gypsum on the ground for the workers.(20) The use of gypsum powder
to make the outline to be followed by the workers in digging the
foundations was a practice that is still in use today.(21)

Al Baghdadi confirms the above when he says: “If they -the people of
Egypt- wished to build a royal house or a market place, the architect
would be sent for and commissioned. He would head out to the vacant
lot, empty hilly plot or other surface area, divide it in his mind and
outline it as proposed to him. He would tackle one part of the plot,
build it and complete it so that people can inhabit it and benefit from
it. Then, he would move to the next part and the one after it until he
completes all parts with no fault and no rectification.”(22) At that
time, the techniques and style of building and most important of these
was the theory of support walls and cornerstones, were among the
factors that helped implementation in this order. Furthermore, the
method made it possible to inaugurate buildings even before their
completion, a necessity that was dictated by the desire to celebrate
the inauguration of edifices, particularly religious ones, often
inaugurated soon after the completion of the qibla hall.(23)

A1 Alfi, one of the leading Mamluke princes in Egypt during the Ottoman
era, designed a palace for himself in A1 Azbakiyya in Cairo. He made a
drawing of this palace on large parchment, and entrusted the
implementation of the design to Katikhda Zul Faqar who did not respect
the drawing made. As a result, A1 Alfi demolished the palace and then
rebuilt it.(24)

The various works of an architectural edifice often progressed in a
simultaneous manner. In the project of Dar Assaltana in Damascus,
supervised by Prince Alaa Eddine Ash-Shujaii in 690 A.H./1290 A.D., he
sought to expedite the work and urged the workers to proceed in haste.
When he started digging the foundations, the carpenters had already
started work on the ceilings and carpentry. This would not have been
possible without detailed drawings of the edifice made before actual
work began.(25)

Models:
The role of architects in Islamic civilization was not limited to
architectural drawings, but exceeded it to the fashioning of miniature
models of buildings. This practice was common among Muslim rulers and
was used on several occasions. The oldest prototype in Islamic
architecture represented the Silsila Dome and is still in existence.
When it was first built and before its renovation, a model was built
and used later on in building the Dome of the Rock in 72 A.H./961 A.D.
When King Abdulmalik Marwan wished to build the Dome of the Rock, he
described to the architects the shape he wanted the dome to look like.
They fashioned a prototype of the Silsila Dome for him which he liked
and gave his directives for the Dome of the Rock to be built according
to the model presented to him.(26)

When the minaret of the mosque of Tuzer, a city in Ifriqiyah (Tunisia),
was being built in 422 A.H./1030 A.D. and its minaret had reached its
height, the architect felt that his death was near. He fashioned three
models in wax for its apex so that his successor could choose the one
he liked to finish the minaret. He also named an architect from
Qayrawan to complete the work after his death.(27)

The interest that the Moroccan Sultan Abu Inan Al Marini took in
Gibraltar after its restoration and expansion in 733 A.H./1332 A.D.
reached such extent that he ordered the fashioning of a miniature model
of the mountain complete with its fortress, towers, gates, plants,
mosques and everything seen on the mountain, including the reddish
soil. The model was made and seen by Ibn Battuta who described it as
“an extraordinary artifact displaying great craftsmanship and truly
appreciated by those who had seen the mountain and could see the small
replica.(28) The wooden models which were often carved before
construction were used by architects to convince the owner to proceed
with the construction. This method was used at some stage in building
the Taj Mahal. The use of prototypes became common practice in the
Ottoman era. Wooden and silver models such as the one of the Izet Pasha
Mosque became common. Records also mention models fashioned out of wax.
It is a known fact that the Ottoman sultan Mohammed I only became
convinced of constructing one of the Ottoman buildings after he saw a
miniature model of it.(29)

Cost Estimates and Closing Accounts:
With the help of the plans prepared for him and the costs of
construction materials and manpower, the architect made an evaluation
of the building's construction costs. After completion, this would be
called the itemized list and helped the owner of the project gain
clarity on the costs. When the architect Saleh Ibn Nafii designed for
Ikhshid a garden and a palace in Rawda (Cairo) for Ikhshid, the latter
approved the design and inquired about the cost estimate. He was told
that it was thirty thousand dinars. He asked for the cost to be lowered
then authorized the execution.(30)

Imad Eddine Al Asphahani, a statesman in the court of Salah Eddine El
Ayyoubi, quoted a highly important text which was later on mentioned by
A1 Bindari in his book “Sana Al Barq Ash-Shami”. The text pertains to
the walls enclosing Cairo and which were built by Salah Eddine to
protect the city from possible Crusade attacks. The text reads: “When
Sultan Salah Eddine conquered Egypt and Allah granted him victory over
the enemies there, he saw that Cairo(31) and A1 Fustat had each a wall
surrounding them and providing little protection, and that their
inhabitants had no army to protect and defend them. He said: “If I
build a wall around each of these two cities separately, they will each
need their own armies and sentinels. It is my opinion to enclose the
two cities behind one and the same wall that would stretch from bank to
bank, then place my trust in Allah to protect them”. He ordered the
building of the Fortress(32) in the middle, next to the mosque of Saad
Addawla on the Moqattam mountain. He begun construction outside Cairo
starting with a tower at the Moqattam and ending it at the higher
levels of Cairo with other towers which he connected to the Greater
Tower. Records kept by his subordinates showed the measurements of the
precincts of Al Fustat and Cairo, including the coast and the mountain,
to be twenty-nine thousand three hundred and two yards. The records
show that the distance between the Moqattam Fortress on the Nile bank
and the tower at A1 Koum A1 Ahmar on the bank of Masr was ten thousand
five hundred yards. It also showed that the distance from the fortress
on A1 Moqattam to the wall of the fortress by the mosque of Saad
Addawla was eight thousand ninety two yards. From the side of the
fortress wall next to the mosque of Saad Addawla to the tower of Al
Koum A1 Ahmar, there were seven thousand two hundred and ten yards. All
of this included the arches, body and towers from one bank of the Nile
to the other, after verifications and modifications. The unit of
measure used here in the Hashemite yard and the supervision was
conducted by Bahaa Eddine Qaraquche.(33)

It is worthy of note that when Imad Eddine wrote about the wall, he was
not reporting on a standing edifice that he saw with his own eyes but
quoting information found in records. This means that while he was
engaged in his occupations at the secretariat and handling
correspondence for Salah Eddine El Ayyoubi, he became acquainted with
the project of the walls in the records and cost estimate made for it.
This emerges from the details that are thus provided, knowing that the
project was never completed according to the plans initially made.

It was common practice in olden times for the architect or the project
supervisor to provide the owner with the itemized list and final
accounts of the project. When Zubaida, wife of Haroun Arrachid, was
presented with an account of the expenditure involved in creating the
watering source “Ain Zubaida”, installed on the way from Baghdad to
Mekkah, she took the accounts and threw them in the river saying: “Let
us leave accounts to the Day of Reckoning”. Similarly, when Sultan Nour
Eddine Mahmoud built his mosque in Mosoul and completed it in 586
A.H./1172 A.D., he was presented with the accounts of his spending as
he sat by the Tigris River. He said “We have done this for the love of
Allah, let us leave the accounts to the Day of Judgment”, and threw the
papers in the river.(34)

The Architect as an Expert:
Courts of justice often sought the expertise of architects to arbitrate
in the conflicts that arose within society or those that opposed the
authorities to the common people. This close association between the
body of architects and judges speaks volumes for the nature of rulings
issued with regard to the organization of the urbanization movement in
society.(35) One amusing quarrel recorded in the waqf records and where
architects were called upon was a conflict about the opening of a
window and for which the expertise of architect Ahmed Ibn Ali and
architect Ahmed Ibn Mohammed Ibn Othmane was called for. It is a fact
that opening windows is one of the actions that may impinge upon the
privacy of adjoining buildings.(36) To ascertain prejudice, experts are
needed, a matter established in all audit and finance books where these
experts are referred as the urafa (knowledgeable ones).(37) Architects
in these cases play the role of the knowledgeable ones whether their
services were solicited by the controller, the special court or the
judges. Ibn Rami, a Tunisian architect who lived in the 14th century,
was requested to look at the development of construction on roads and
markets, and judges entrusted him with a number of cases referred to
him in his capacity as an expert.(38) In Ottoman times, courts were
entrusted with new tasks such as those falling within the ambit of the
Muhtasib (inspector) in addition to the regulation of professions. The
supervision of building matters was part of the duties of the
Muhtasib.(39)

The Muhtasib was, for example, in charge of verifying the quality of
building materials.(40) One of the responsibilities of the Memar Pashi
(chief of the architect corps) Prince Sanqar Ibn Ali Jaweesh, was to
set the price for gypsum and inspect its quality.(41) The records of
Ottoman courts of justice clearly show the relationship between the
architectural corps and these courts. In fact, the assistance of the
architects was sought in determining the prices of property and their
locations, the degree of their prejudice to neighbors and passers-by,
and the amounts of compensations for prejudices suffered. This is
exactly what architects Abdeljawad Ibn Mohammed Attaweel and Barakt Ibn
Ali did when they served as counsel in a case reviewed by the court of
Assaleh Talaaii.(42) Architects were also called upon to arbitrate in
cases of conflict about the limits of buildings. One of these was the
case of Mohammed Ibn Nasouh who went to the court of Al Bab A1 Ali in
Cairo to put a stop to the violation by Abdelghani Al Aseel of the waqf
of Ibraheem Abu Osboo. He appealed for an expertise to be conducted by
architects who were knowledgeable about buildings, their measurements
and the town's sections and quarters. After an inspection by Cherif
Hejazy Al Qoraafy, Nasef Ibn Abdeddayem, and Shahada Ibn Abi Ennasr
Toulouni, it turned out that the plot of land subject of the conflict
was indeed part and parcel of the waqf of Abu Osboo. In fact, the romt,
rabt and the building were all connected to each other from the lower
to the higher levels, and the old waqf building stands witness to
that.(43) One name that stands out among the names of the architects
mentioned is that of Shahada Ibn Nasr Toulouni who belonged to the
Toulouni family which had a prestigious status among the architects
corps from early in the Mamluke era. It is a known fact that
professions such as that of architects were inherited by children from
their fathers.

The records of the courts of justice also reveal the existence of
bodies of architects that were in charge of regulating and organizing
the profession and that granted the status of a member to those
deserving of the title of architect. These orders did not thrive only
in large metropolitans but also existed in medium-sized and small
towns. One of these was the corps of architects of the town of Fouwa in
Egypt. The chief of the order of architects in Fouwa was held in great
esteem. Courts of justice often tasked him to inspect buildings and
report on their viability for residence, and to divide the property
that the court deemed fit to divide between the conflicting parties.
One of these records reads: “A legally recognized division and
modification by the chief of the corps of architects in Fouwa, Zaini
Abdurrahman Ibn Abdellatif Al Banna Ash-Shihabi Ahmed Ibn Abdel Karim
A1 Banna. The two parties were notified, attended and witnessed the
proceedings of the division”. The opinion of the chief of architects
was held in high esteem, and as such he was entrusted with the
supervision of the maintenance of such public facilities in Fouwa as
mosques, streets and others. The sheikh of architects also supervised
the rebuilding of the pavement adjoining the minaret of Abu Annajat
mosque and the restoration of the minaret.(44)

Prominent Architects:
Many biographies of Muslim architects have survived to this day
although the most prominent of them lived in later eras. In most cases,
the architects whose biographies have survived to our time are those
who built edifices for sultans, kings and princes. This does not mean
that they did not extend their services to the public, but sometimes
they themselves were part of the court. This was the case during the
era of Annaser Mohammed Ibn Qalawoun who set up a secretariat for
construction and building activities. Under the Ottoman rein, official
architects had their own secretariat which was headed by a Me’mar Pashi
(chief architect). There are also accounts with the names of
innumerable architects who worked on public edifices, mentioned in
endowment documents and in the records of courts of justice. Some
architects acquired great fame for building impressive structures such
as the architect Abu Bakr Ibn Al Bassisi who specialized in bridges,
and the architect of the Akka port, Abu Bakr Al Maqdissi Al Banna.(45)
But most prominent of all were the Muslim architects who left behind
monuments that witness to their talent and creativity such as Ibn
Ghanaim -Abrahim Ibn Ghanaim Ibn Said-, a 7th century architect who
entertained close ties with Sultan al-Zahir Baibars Al Bindaqdari. He
carried out all the buildings the sultan erected in Damascus, and his
name is still engraved on the wall of the al-Zahiriyya School in this
city.(46) Ibn Touloun Assalehi mentions a palace that Ibn Ghanaim built
for al-Zahir Baibars in the Damascus meadow.

Muslims were familiar with the transfer of a profession through
generations as the son learns the trade from the father. Thus, many
techniques were practically secrets that were exclusively inherited
within the family. This explains the minimal number of works that
reached us addressing the various trades. One of the most renowned
families whose children inherited the profession of architecture was
the Toulouni family which became famous under the Mamluke reign and
operated in Egypt until the Ottoman time. Most prominent among this
family was Shihab Eddine Ahmed Ibn Mohammed Ibn Ali Toulouni, chief
architect during the reign of sultan al-Zahir Barquq. In his biography,
Ibn Fajr A1 Asqalani says that he was knowledgeable about his trade
from very early and called him the master of all architects. His
elevated status was such that the sultan married his daughter. He was
appointed to head the building of the Holy Sanctuary in Mekkah and
visited Mekkah regularly for that purpose until his death there after
he finished rebuilding the holy precincts(47) in 801 A.H.(48) His son,
Mohammed Ibn Ahmed, inherited his trade but died in the same year as
his father. Another architect from this family was Abderrahim Ibn Ali
Ibn Omar Az-Zine Toulouni, architect of the Holy Sanctuary. He was
called the architect as well as the son of the mason, and died in 819
A.H.(49)

Assejini: Ahmed Ibn Ubaid Allah Ibn Mohammed excelled in many sciences
particularly algebra, geometry, architecture and astrology. He was born
in Sejjin in the Gharbiyya Governorate in Egypt,(50) then lived in
Cairo and was subsequently referred to as Al Qahiri. He lived near
Medinah in Saudi Arabia for approximately two years to finalize some
buildings. After building many edifices there, he returned to Cairo
where many scholars visited him to learn from him till he fell and
injured the nerves in his left foot. He was ill for a while then died
in 855 A.H.(51)

The architectural movement in terms of official structures and edifices
built by princes and notables relied on architects. Buildings for the
use of the general public were carried out by smaller architects who
served at the same time as the supervisor of the construction works and
were often called the master, and sometime the builder. In some rural
parts of the world, the builder carries out both design and
implementation. This can be clearly seen in the Egyptian countryside
where only a short while ago builders also designed the houses. They
would first draw an outline using powdered lime after discussing with
the owner what he wished to build, then they would carry out the works.
This method is common in Matoubes where some families are renowned for
this activity. One of these families is the Othmane family that
inherited this trade from its ancestors. The person who engaged in and
excelled at this activity was called the Meallim (master). The same
method is followed in the Arab Peninsula.(52) On occasions, the
building works were carried out by the owner with the help of neighbors
who had a prior experience in building.(53) It is interesting to note
that this category of architects who inherited the profession existed
until a recent past. One of them was Mohamed Ghattas Annahat who took
part in the renovation of many monuments in Cairo. He dismantled and
then put together the caravansary of Faraj Ibn Barquq after making a
drawing of it. He also painted the northwestern gate of the
caravansary, a beautiful gate decorated with muqarnas. Mohamed Al
Habbal inherited the trade from his ancestors and remained active in
the restoration of monuments until his death. He drew the entrance of
the Qaousoun Palace and the entrance of the Sultan Hassan School
despite their great difficulty.(54)

All of this goes to show the important role of the architect in Islamic
architecture within the society where he was born and in the traditions
and values in which he became steeped. As such, he was able to give
shape to a product that had distinct features and that evolved at the
same pace as this society. The product involved the transformation of
the raw material into an appropriate shape and its use as a means to
meet the requirements of the user. The process of developing the
product is based on transforming a raw material derived from nature
through a socially inherited legacy of knowledge that is also acquired
through exposure. This interaction occurs when a set of ingredients
bring into play three factors:

- The performing individual such as the architect, the craftsman and
the end user who will benefit from the architectural product.

- The social need or the appreciation of the specificity of what
society needs in terms of architecture, and defining this need as a
requirement that may be met under the circumstances and according to
society's resources. This request involves financial and emotional
aspects, including the satisfaction of the emotional, identity and
pleasure calls.

- The social technology of which the ingredients comprise the raw
materials, knowledge of the characteristics of the material, the
processing of this material, the ability to identify the social need
and to take a stance thereto.(55)

The Muslim architect dealt with all these elements with great talent
and skill. He fully understood the nature of the social needs. He
engaged in an intellectual interaction with the end user, resulting in
an architecture that fully met the latter's needs. He harnessed the raw
element drawn from nature to serve architecture. However, this
intellectual interaction was soon extinguished at the turn of the
nineteenth century. The awe felt towards the West became the pivotal
point of life in this century, and architecture served as the medium
through which Western thought, with its values and concepts, penetrated
Muslim society. It would be absurd to say that all architecture hailing
from the west was useless and inappropriate. There are in Western
architecture experiences that attempted to bring what is beneficial to
humanity, either by inventing new, cheap and practical building
materials, or by innovating through designs never witnessed by humanity
before. The problem lies with those architects who totally and
unwittingly surrender to the Western style, oblivious of the
environmental differences for example, and even of the differences in
values, norms and traditions.