Ever since K.A.C. Creswell first published his majestic Early Muslim Architecture, 1932–1940, many scholars have been preoccupied with deconstructing his arguments. Guidetti's In the Shadow of the Church is a major contribution to the field, focusing on the often-overlooked Christian background to the rise of Islamic religious architecture in Syria-Palestine. The author presents a set of new results, demonstrating that the churches and mosques of this region and period, once properly scrutinized, reveal incomparably more about their social context than previously assumed.
The arguments in this slim volume are based on archaeological, architectural, and historical sources. Chapter 1 sets up the historiographical context of this book, namely the debate between revisionist (those who date the formalization of Islam to the Umayyad period) and more traditional historians on the emergence of Islam both as a religion and as an empire. Whereas Guidetti wisely stays impartial, in chapter 2 he introduces a hitherto unconsidered body of evidence to this debate, concluding that the claim of later Arabic sources that many churches were converted into mosques at the time of the Arab conquest is nothing but a myth. Chapter 3 focuses on the alleged partition of certain churches into a Christian and a Muslim prayer hall, a partition that, according to the author, does not seem to have been implemented in any of the cases. Conversely, when mosques began to be erected, they often occupied the same land or property as the main church of the city, sometimes replacing earlier structures, but almost never the church itself. Chapter 4 provides arguments on the social context of the buildings, the co-existence of early Muslim and Christian communities in the Syrian cities, concluding with an explanation of the iconoclasm conducted in many churches of the region. Guidetti proposes that such acts were probably made in order to please a diverse audience of Christians and Muslims who would visit the same buildings. Chapter 5 provides a detailed reassessment of Roman and Christian spolia used in early mosques, presenting a large corpus of written accounts. Particularly valuable is the author’s thoughtful review of the scholarship on spolia in both Islamic and Christian societies. Chapter 6 provides some interpretations of the use of spolia in early Islamic buildings, in which Guidetti, unlike previous scholars, studies this phenomenon from the points of view of medieval visitors to the sites. Finally, in the epilogue, the author presents how the phenomena outlined in chapters 2–6 changed or disappeared in the later middle ages whence the written sources aimed to anchor – and thus legitimize – contemporary practices in the first century of Islam.
The author's thoughtful approach as to how material culture may reflect social history is one of the strengths of this volume – few scholars apart from Guidetti would have had such confidence in dealing with archaeological reports as well as with primary written sources in a number of languages. What allows him to reach such highly plausible conclusions is that he provides nuanced case studies of virtually all the sites relevant to the questions addressed. And yet, in those cases where the dearth of sources constrains the author to hypotheses rather than clear-cut conclusions, he modestly admits that. For instance, he constantly reminds us that archaeology has yet to provide evidence from many of the key sites – that is to say, there is much work to do – however, Guidetti's book certainly gives scholars invaluable guidance for further research.
This is not to say that the book is flawless: I find the author's periodization somewhat confusing: “early medieval”, in this book, means c. late seventh to mid-eleventh centuries, and “medieval” means mid-eleventh to fifteenth centuries (as described on pp. 7, 9, and 11). Although this bi-partite periodization is logical and fits in well with the book's arguments, using “early medieval” and “late medieval” (which, confusingly, also appears in the book) might well have been a better choice. No less troubling for the reader is the number of typos, transliteration errors in Arabic quotes, some ungrammatical sentences, and clear mistakes in the book. For instance, it is puzzling to read “Abd al-Malik I” instead of “Abd al-Rahman I” as the founder of the Great Mosque of Córdoba (p. 39), or that the prophet “Muhammad conquered Mecca in 622” (p. 95). These editorial mistakes are a real pity, especially because the author's argumentation would otherwise be crystal clear, just as his language would be elegant and lucid.
One additional weakness of this volume are the dozen line drawings, maps, and site plans, most of which have been redrawn by a colleague of the author from earlier publications, unfortunately in poor quality. Some appear to be free-hand drawings, the labels use an unattractive cursive font that is almost illegible in some cases. The draftswoman made little attempt to create a consistent style for the drawings (except for the label's font), and they often show what their original publication intended to show, and not what Guidetti describes in the text. Figure 2.2, for instance, features reference numbers from 1 to 4, only one of which is explained in the caption. Figure 2.5, the plan of the Great Mosque of Hama, indicates only two construction phases (pre-Islamic and Islamic) of the building, whereas the original drawing by Creswell shows seven phases which are also mentioned in Guidetti's text. The quality of these drawings is in sharp contrast to that of the photos, which are nearly all well-taken and helpful to understanding the text.
Guidetti's book is based on exemplary research and a wisely devised methodology. It makes a meaningful contribution to the early history of Islam and its material culture. Nonetheless, as discussed above, I wish this book had been better edited, and the readers might rightfully expect more in terms of presentation in return for such a considerable sum of money. It is unfortunate that the price should allow only a few people to have their own copy of this book, but it is also clear that Brill has long given up targeting students – sadly so, as they would learn a lot from Guidetti's excellent work.
