The religion of Islam was born in the deserts of Arabia in AD 622 with the revelations of the prophet Mohammed and embodied in the Koran, the Holy Book seen by Moslems as the source of divine knowledge, the law, and the correct way of living. After the death of the Prophet Mohammed in AD 632, Arab armies expanded this new proselytizing religion by campaigns against the decaying Byzantine empire and the vast eastern territories of the Sassanian Empire. Within fifty years the banner of Islam held sway over lands stretching from Central Asia to Spain. The Umayyad caliphate, established in Damascus in AD 660, undertook the first great Islamic building projects such as the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem AD 690 and the Friday Mosque in Damascus (AD 709). These projects drew heavily on inherited regional building traditions, using predominantly stone architecture and mosaic tile decoration. During the 8th century faith in Islam united peoples of diverse religious, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Regional styles of Islamic architecture evolved, influenced by climate, available construction materials and pre-Islamic building traditions. Craftsmen were attracted to centres of political power and there was a cross-fertilization of ideas via the silk routes that linked the Mediterranean with Asia.

The Abbasid caliphate that supplanted the Umayyad was centred in Baghdad (AD 754-1258) and saw a flowering of building activity including the circular city in Baghdad in AD 762; the city of Samarra, in Al) 836; the Friday Mosque of Al Mutawakkil, Samarra, in AD 847; and the Al Mustansiriyah Madrassah, Baghdad, in 1233. Architecture was mainly brick with carved terracotta and stucco decoration.

A characteristic of Islamic architecture in the history of architecture is the importance given to the expression of enclosed space; mosques, madrassahs, houses and palaces were designed around courtyard spaces. Formal elements such as domes, iwans (vaulted porches), arcades, arches and minarets were used on many different types of building to define and connect interior space. During the 9th century a typical North African style of mosque architecture evolved, consisting of arcaded aisles surrounding an open rectangular courtyard, one side of which was developed as a horizontal prayer hall (as in the mosque of Kairouan, AD 836, and at Ibn Tulun, Cairo).

The weakening of the Abbasid caliphate led to converted nomadic Turkish tribes from Central Asia setting up independent Seljuk states in Persia (1038-1194) and Anatolia (1070-1308). The iwan (large vaulted porch), the monumental tomb-tower and the cylindrical minaret were introduced. An important development in the history of architecture was the introduction of the four-iwan courtyard plan, which became universal for mosques and madrassahs. There was an emphasis on large domed interiors, complex brick patterning (as in the Tomb of the Samanids, Bukhara, 10th century) and carved terracotta and turquoise glazing. These elements were interpreted in stone in Seljuk Anatolia (at the Mosque of Ala-ad-Din, Konya, 1156).