Islam, Architecture and Urban Planning
Author: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Spahic Omer
Publishing Date: 2009
Pages: 296
Publisher: Arah Pendidikan, Kuala Lumpur
ISBN: 978-967-323109-6
Internet Source: http://www.amazon.com/Islam-Architecture-Urban-Planning-Spahic/dp/9673231095
About the book:
Works on Islamic built environment are far from being satisfactory. Most of such works have been produced by the authors, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, who fell short of perceiving, partly or completely, that the tawhidic (God’s Oneness) spirit of Islam was the sole force that furnished Islamic built environment with both its essence and identity. Nor did those authors pay proper attention to the implications of the fact that the built environment, with its principal qualities and features, which originated with the advent and assertion of Islam on the world scene never existed before, even though the peoples that later became instrumental in molding and perpetuating its conspicuous identity lived where they were for centuries before embracing Islam and possessed the cultures and civilizations of their own. Studying Islamic built environment by no means can be separated from the total framework of Islam: its genesis, history, ethos, worldview, doctrines, laws and practices. Any different approach is bound to result in failure distorting the real picture of the subject of Islamic built environment and with it the picture of Islam and its followers.
This book entitled “Islam, architecture & urban planning” is a compilation of studies on the relationship between spirituality and built environment in Islam. The book consists of twelve chapters representing twelve separate studies nine of which were presented in international conferences and symposiums held in six different countries.
The book covers a number of major aspects of Islamic built environment, such as: Islam on the enterprise of building, the meaning of Islamic architecture, Islamic urban planning and development, environmental protection, Islam and housing, and Islamic aesthetics. The nature of the book’s studies is conceptual or philosophical, rather than empirical. The chief objective of the book is to increase the Muslim awareness as to the significance of integrating the elements of Islamic spirituality into the spheres of built environment. The book also aspires to serve as a starting point for such an integration.