Islamic garden

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The Qu'ran has many references to gardens and the garden is used as an earthly analogue for the life in paradise which is promised to believers.

Allah has promised to the believing men and the believing women gardens, beneath which rivers flow, to abide in them, and goodly dwellings in gardens of perpetual abode; and best of all is Allah's goodly pleasure; that is the grand achievement (Qu'ran 9.72)

There are surviving Islamic gardens in a wide zone extending from Spain and Morocco in the west to India in the east. Famous Islamic gardens include the grounds of Taj Mahal in India and the Generalife gardens in Spain.

The general theme of a traditional Islamic garden is water and shade, not surprisingly since Islam came from and is generally spread in such a hot and arid climate. Four water canals typically carry water into a central pool or fountain, the four streams symbolizing the four main elements of life. The four streams may also be interpreted as the four rivers in paradise, filled with milk, honey, wine and water. Such a four-fold garden is also called a chahar-bagh.^[1]