Islamic architecture in and around Delhi retained much of the characteristics in both form and detailing of Persian Islam, with only the court at Delhi able to attract and pay the best Muslim architects and artisans from abroad.  As one moves away from the main power centre, the regional Islamic satraps – whether governors of the Delhi Sultanate or newly-independent Sultan – patronized an architecture which slowly began to assume a very different identity.  This identity was not constant throughout, but varied from place to place, and depended chiefly on :

• the distance from Delhi, which determined the level of dilution of ‘pure’ Islamic principles;
• the economic condition of the regime, responsible for the quality of finished and materials used;
• the local artisans available in the region and their specialization and experience;
• and local Hindu architecture, which served as direct or indirect inspiration for Muslim examples.

If the Qutb Minar merely had sinuous carving which hinted at the Hindu craftsman at work, examples further away from Delhi illustrated both a riot of carving as well as formal aspects directly influenced by Hindu architecture.  The main areas that produced a substantial body of architecture and can be said to have evolved a ‘style’ of their own are Gujarat, Punjab, Bengal, Malwa, some parts of south India and Kashmir.

Gujarat

The Muslim rulers of Gujarat produced architecture on as grand a scale as their Hindu and Jain predecessors. As in Delhi, the first building material for the earliest mosques and tombs came from the demolition of temples in the area. 

It was with the reign of Ahmed Shah (1411-42), that the city of Ahmedabad was founded.

Thus while the mosques retain all the design elements of a Islamic prayer hall, in detail they resemble, and are indeed part of, the ethos of Gujarat architecture in the same tradition of the carved temples at Mount Abu. 

At a later date, the successors of Ahmed Shah were noted for a number of mortuary complexes or rauzas, consisting chiefly of a tomb and mosque face to face.