Different textures and materials are unified by the geometric principles that govern their design. At the Bu-'Inaniyya Madrasa, Fez, stucco, ceramic mosaic and the wood of beam and screen share a common decorative conception.

The curved outline of the minaret of the Great Mosque at Damghan, Iran. This is an image of part of a stucco panel from the madrassa of al-Mustansir, Baghdad.

Surfaces, curved or flat, in brick or stucco, are covered by designs that are infinitely expandable. Patterns are rendered visible from a distance by contrasts of plane which permit the play of light and shade.

Optical effects achieved by negative and positive areas are created in different colored stones. On the tomb of Akbar at Sikandra, India, it is applied on a huge scale, yet would be unchanged if the object were a small inlaid box.

Islam transformed geometry into a major art form, using the circle as the basis for the generation of patterns and applying the principles of repetition, symmetry and change of scale to create a bewildering variety of effects. This is an image from the tomb of one of the Mughals emperors 'I'timad ad-Dawla', Agra.

The star, six, eight, sixteen or more points, is one of the fundamental and ubiquitous shapes of Islamic geometrical design. It can be used equally in two dimensions or in three, to transform a dome into a complex net of inter-linked surfaces or to decorate timber and bronze fittings inside the buildings. This is the ceiling of the tomb of Hafiz at Shiraz.