The Symbolism of the Islamic Garden

Just found this great article by Emma Clark on the site Islamic Arts & Architecture and which I want to share with you. Emma's informative piece provides an excellent summary of the symbolism and meaning of the Islamic garden

Emma is also author of the above tome, The Art of the Islamic Garden.

C is for Chahar Bagh

OK, OK, I know.  For those of you who have visited the blog before this may seem like a little bit of a repeat of my Gardens of Islam post, but please accept my self-indulgence.  For I simply adore Islamic gardens.  

Babur Supervising the Laying Out of the Garden of Fidelity (Manuscript c. 1590). Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland

The words chahar bagh literally mean ‘fourfold garden’ and it is a form that has provided the blue print for the Islamic garden since the 7th century AD - and continues to do so.  However, origins of the quadripartite garden form can be found in the palace garden of Cyrus the Great at Pasargardae (Iran), which dates to the mid-6th century BC.

This quadripartite garden form became popular within Persian gardens and was subsequently assimilated by the Muslim invaders for it fits perfectly with the  ‘Garden of Paradise’ as described at length in the Qua’ran.  At the centre is a fountain or source of water that flows into four rills (narrow canals), which run at right angles and divide the garden into the four beds – hence the name, and which symbolically represent the four rivers of life.  

A small chahar bagh in the cafe of the new Al-Azhar Park, Cairo.

In the earthly expression of the chahar bagh the four beds could be approached in a number of ways:  paved with polished stone laid in patterns the ‘bed’ provide the perfect surface on which to lay carpets and cushions, they can be raised as shown in the  Bagh-e Vafa (Garden of Fidelity), the first garden of the first Mughal Emperor Babur and crated in Afghanistan - see above  Or they can be sunken as was originally the case with the Court of Lions in the Alhambra Palace) to give the impression of walking by a carpet of flowers.  In all cases flower beds were filled with brightly coloured flowering plants.

The Court of Lions in the Alhambra, Grenada in Spain

As Islam spread, so did their garden making, and the conquering artisans assimilated local traditions.  Chahar bagh gardens can be scaled to fit any space from a tiny courtyard to enormous palace complexes, and these gardens can be found from Moorish Spain and North Africa in the west, through the Middle East, Iran and Iraq, to the awesome palaces of Mughal India in the east.  All are different, but all are based on the same core values.  

Gardens of Islam

Another step along our walk through gardening time brings us to the gardens of Islam, a style and form that still is relevant and active today.  But whose origins are over 1,000 old.   As we have seen, garden-making requires a peaceful, stable society.  But with the collapse of the Roman Empire in the 5th century AD, Europe was thrown into turmoil and the conditions favourable to garden making were lost.  The next major garden making influence that swept from Persia across North Africa and into southern Europe was Islam.  

Al-Azhar Park, Cairo

From the Sands
The prophet Muhammad founded Islam in the sands of what is now Saudi Arabia in the 7th century AD.  And in the Qu’ran the faithful are promised that ‘the Garden of Paradise shall be their hospitality, therein to dwell forever’. This garden of Paradise is described at length, and with ‘spreading shade’, ‘fruit and fountains and pomegranates’, and ‘cool pavilions’. 

A Heavenly Paradise
Add to this heady mix, flowers for colour and fragrance, and moving water cool the air, and make a relaxing sound, and to people who inhabited a desiccated and dusty desert land, this truly must have seemed paradise.   

The Generalife, Granada

The Quartered Garden
In Persia, the Muslim conquerors found an established garden making culture, with a garden style that had its origins in the palace garden of Cyrus the Great at Pasargardae.  Made in the 6th century BC, this featured a quadripartite form, that is to say a square divided into to four equal quarters by two water courses running perpendicular to one another.

Plan of the Taj Mahal with its chahar bagh garden

This form had a resonance with Islam and its belief in Jannah (paradise) and the four rivers of life.  So emerged the chahar bagh, which means ‘four gardens (or beds).  At the centre of the chahar bagh is a fountain or source of water which  flows into four rills (narrow canals) that divide the garden into four.  The symbolism of the rills is that they represent the four rivers of life (milk, honey, water and wine).  In the garden itself, the movement of the water would have caught the light and brought a dynamism to the garden. 

Court of Lions, Alhambra

The four beds could be approached in a number of ways - they could simply be paved to create a place to lay cushions and relax.  They could be planted with brightly coloured flowering plants; or they could be sunken beds to give the impression of walking by a carpet of flowers.  The gravel areas in the Court of Lions at the Alhambra were originally sunken beds.  And, as in other religions, many plants have a religious symbolism.

New Garden Forms
As the religion of Islam spread, so did their garden making.  And in all countries that were conquered, the conquering artisans assimilated local traditions.  So today, we have variations on the theme from North Africa to Moorish Spain, from Afghanistan to India - the gardens of the great Mughal Empire, and modern Islamic gardens all over the world, including the Gulf States and Indonesia.

Nishat Bagh, Kashmir

Moreover, the chahar bagh is a an adaptable garden form that allows much ingenuity and adornment, and which can be scaled to fit any space and topography from a tiny, level courtyard in Cairo to an large park that cascades  down a hillside to Lake Dal in Kashmir.

If you want to see an Islamic garden then Spain has the Alhambra in Granada, and the Alaczars in Seville and Cordoba.  There are gardens in Morocco, and, of course the Taj Mahal in India.  A lovely new example is the Al-Azhar Park in Cairo.  See also my earlier post on Persian Gardens.