Abstract
An introduction to six early Islamic geometric methodologies that were used to create many two-dimensional
geometric surface designs that appear in windows, and on doors, walls, domes and minbars. These are
reconstructions based on analysis and research of methodologies developed during the early years of Islam -
particularly during Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258CE in Baghdad and 1261-1517 CE in Cairo) and also during
corresponding periods in Persia, Morocco, Syria and Moorish Spain. The six methodologies presented are: (i)
Grids, (ii) Tessellating Polygon Subdivisions, (iii) Rays, (iv) Close-Packed Circles, (v) Nesting Polygons and
(vi) Modular Tiles. This paper also puts forward the idea that surface designs generated by these methods were
not always intended to be purely decorational—they may have had meaning according to the logic of their design
methodologies, their symbolic values, their ‘perceptual’ qualities and, possibly, their numeric values.
