"The following essays are the written record of the second biennial Hamad bin Khalifa Symposium on Islamic Art and Culture, held at Virginia Commonwealth University's School of the Arts in Doha, Qatar (VCUQatar), from 4 to 6 November 2007"--Introd.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Foreword / Richard E. Toscan -- Introduction / Sheila Blair and Jonathan Bloom -- Gardens beneath which rivers flow : the significance of water in classical Islamic culture / Carole Hillenbrand -- Control and abandon : images of water in Arabic poetry and gardens / Yasser Tabbaa -- From the heavens and hills : the flow of water to the fruited trees and ablution fountains in the Great Mosque of Córdoba / D. Fairchild Ruggles -- Sip, dip, and pour : toward a typology of water vessels in Islamic art / Linda Komaroff -- Stones to bring rain ? : magical inscriptions in linear Kufic on rock crystal amulet-seals / Venetia Porter -- Charity and piety : Sabil-Kuttabs and the conception of water during the Mamluk period / Howayda al-Harithy -- Art, infrastructure, and devotion : Ottoman water architecture / Walter Denny -- Water on the ground : water systems in two Ottoman Greek port cities / Marcus Milwright and Evanthia Baboula -- Drinking-water as message : the sabil of Muhammad 'ali Pasha in Cairo / Agnieszka Dobrowolska -- Far from the desert : water traditions in the South Asian landscape / Catherine B. Asher -- Paradise flooded : water and architecture in Bangladesh / Perween Hasan -- Landscape and hardscape : historical problems and contemporary solutions to the scarcity of water in the Islamic world / Mohammad al-Asad.