lnf.cymru stimulus sheet · RE · Year 7

Islamic geometric patterns: background and pattern cards

The 5 pattern cards were drawn for this lesson. They are simplified versions of shapes found in many Islamic patterns. The background facts are real.

Patterns in mosques

A mosque is a Muslim place of worship. Many mosques are decorated with three kinds of design:

geometric patterns: stars, polygons and lines that repeat across walls, ceilings, floors and doors;
calligraphy: beautiful Arabic writing, often of words from the Qur’an;
arabesque: flowing, plant-like designs of curling stems and leaves.

You will usually not see pictures of people or animals in a mosque.

Why patterns rather than pictures?

Many Muslims avoid images of living beings in places of worship. This helps attention to stay on Allah (God) during prayer, and makes sure that nothing in the building could be mistaken for something to worship.

What the patterns can mean

Repeating patterns are often described as reflecting tawhid, the belief that God is one. A whole pattern can grow from one simple starting shape, often a circle, and every part is connected to every other part.
A repeating pattern could carry on forever past the edge of the wall. Because of this, the patterns are often said to point to the idea of the infinite, reminding people that Allah is infinite.
Patterns like these are often drawn using only a compass and a straight edge, starting from a circle.

A famous example: the Alhambra

The Alhambra is a palace and fortress in Granada, in southern Spain. It was built mainly in the 1200s and 1300s by Muslim rulers. Its walls are covered with coloured tiles, carved plaster and carved wood in geometric patterns, arabesque and Arabic calligraphy. The Alhambra is a palace, not a mosque, but it is one of the most famous places in the world to see Islamic geometric art.

Shape words

Polygon: a flat shape with straight sides. A regular polygon has all sides the same length and all angles the same size.
Line of symmetry: a mirror line. If you folded the shape along it, the two halves would match exactly.
Order of rotational symmetry: the number of times a shape looks exactly the same as you turn it through one full turn (360°) about its centre. A shape that only looks the same after a full turn has order 1.
Tessellation: shapes that fit together with no gaps and no overlaps, like tiles on a floor.
Interior angle: an angle inside a polygon, at one of its corners.

The pattern cards

Each card is drawn around its centre. Look carefully at the outline and at the colours.

Card A: an 8-point star made from 2 overlapping squares. The second square is the first square turned through 45°.	Card B: a 6-point star made from 2 overlapping equilateral triangles, one pointing up and one pointing down.
Card C: a patch of 7 regular hexagon tiles. The dark hexagon is in the centre.	Card D: a square wall tile with a repeating star pattern: one 8-point star in each quarter and a small diamond in the centre. Many tiles like this are fixed side by side to cover a wall.
Card E: a piece from a broken tile.	Remember: a line of symmetry must split the whole card into two matching halves, including the colours. To test rotational symmetry, imagine turning the card about its centre and count how many times it looks exactly the same before it gets back to the start.