Why there are no icons in mosques?


If you have a chance to visit stunning Blue Mosque and Mosque of Sultan Suleiman you will be astonished with simplicity of interior decoration. The walls are nicely decorated with Koran suras or with flower or geometrical designs. It is quite different than a European styled church in which we can see glorious angels with huge white wings, depictions of Prophets and important passages from Bible.

In Islamic culture, it is not allowed to depict human faces, because this privilege is only belongs to Allah. Also it is believed that during the creation, the face takes most of the time to create. That’s why it is accepted as a big sin if you say something bad about human faces. Since the depictions and icons were not allowed, the artists used different patterns and designs to mean and express different things. Some of these geometrical style domes represent eternity of our souls. The flowers are accepted as from gardens of paradise and tulip has significance as being symbol of love and Allah’s love.
