Despite admonitions by the Prophet Muhammad concerning ostentation in mourning and burial, tombs constitute the second most popular building type (after the mosque) in the architectural landscape of Islamdom. This course explores Islamicate funerary practices through a study of mausoleums in the Persianate world (Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and India). Ranging in scope from the exquisite 10th-century tomb of the Samanids in Bukhara, to the glorious Taj Mahal, to the post-modern, some would say kitsch, tomb of Ayatollah Khomeini, we shall focus attention on the architectural strategies that accommodated and represented social and religious dimensions of funerary practices in Western and South Asia. Comparisons with monuments to the dead in other cultures across Eurasia and readings on the Islamic understanding of death and afterlife will guide us throughout this course. The course is in a lecture/discussion format. Three quizzes, five short writing assignments, and class discussions constitute the grade.
