The role of education

Built environment in general, and housing in particular, constitute a very fertile ground for committing and nurturing some major wrongdoings which Islam categorically forbids. The most serious amongst those wrongdoings, certainly, are: wastefulness, showing off, haughtiness, discrimination between people, corruption, greed, jealousy, rivalry, environmental destruction, inflicting harm, cheating and dishonesty. All these transgressions Islam regards as grave sins which can seriously impinge on the spiritual wellbeing of a person and that of a whole community. So serious are those sins that they have a potential to deny their perpetrators Allah’s grace in both worlds and His Paradise in the Hereafter, plunging them into the agony of Allah’s wrath and Hellfire instead. Continue reading Avoiding Major Wrongdoings in Islamic Housing →

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Spahic Omer
Kulliyyah of Architecture and Environmental Design
International Islamic University Malaysia
Email: spahico@yahoo.com

For successfully completing the project of reviving Islamic housing, having sound housing policies in place is absolutely essential. The primary goal of those policies will be to ensure that people without much ado can acquire decent, proper, functional and affordable houses. People must get houses that function as their family development centers, which are perceived as their earthly sanctuaries and even paradises. They are not to get just a roof of their heads, or just a shelter that protects them against the harmful natural elements. Houses are to function as a means for achieving a spiritual purpose on earth. They are thus to be affordable and all the problems related to them are to be solvable within the means of their owners and users. Houses are not to be turned into a goal of people’s existence because, perhaps, acquiring or maintaining them is too complicated and expensive, or because a world in which houses are produced does not correspond with the world of a majority of people. Houses are to be an asset and not a liability to people. Houses, furthermore, are to be a source of joy and happiness and not a source of stress and anxiety to people. Here the roles of government authorities and agencies, as well as their affiliates, will be of paramount importance. Regular customer satisfaction surveys are to be conducted in order to ascertain that Muslims are happy with their houses, as well as to identify areas and concerns where improvements are due. The best way to find out whether the Muslim customers are satisfied with their houses is to honestly ask them and to listen to them. They handsomely pay for their houses and they spend a great deal of their lives in them. Hence, they are the most important stakeholders in Islamic housing. Their views and feedback are to be constantly sought and valued.

Continue reading Islamic Housing Today: Towards its Sound Policies →

INTEGRATING ISLAMIC BUILT ENVIRONMENT CRITERIA IN TOILET DESIGN OF PUBLIC PROTOTYPE HOUSING: A CASE FOR GORIBA ROAD HOUSING ESTATE, KATSINA-NIGERIA

Hamza Babangida, Ismawi Hj. Zen, Zaiton Abdulrahim

Kulliyyah of Architecture and Environmental Design

International Islamic University, Jalan Gombak, 53100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Corresponding author: babanhamza@yahoo.com, ismawi@iiu.edu.my, zaiton@iiu.edu.my

Abstract

In Islam, provision and design of toilet facility in a residential house should be considered important, since it is where the inhabitants obtain physical cleanliness. The Shari’a sources had provided basis for its design to conform to Islamic criteria thereby facilitating various Ibadah activities for the inhabitants and users. It is the intention of this paper to examine the prototype designs of chosen katsina public housing estate to investigate the level of conformity to Islamic criteria in their toilet design, on one hand and to suggest possible alternatives and choices of architectural design approaches on the other. This study was possible through literature search on the relevant Shari’a sources and floor plan analysis of the housing estate. The outcome of the study indicates little consideration of Islamic criteria in toilet design of this housing estate. This therefore calls for concerted efforts on the part of Muslim architects, planners and other professionals in the built environment to strive to provide designs that respond to spiritual needs of Muslim inhabitants.

Key words: Islamic Built Environment Criteria, Shari’a, Ibadah, Public Prototype Housing,

Continue reading INTEGRATING ISLAMIC BUILT ENVIRONMENT CRITERIA IN TOILET DESIGN OF PUBLIC PROTOTYPE HOUSING: A CASE FOR GORIBA ROAD HOUSING ESTATE, KATSINA-NIGERIA →

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Spahic Omer

Kulliyyah of Architecture and Environmental Design

International Islamic University Malaysia

E-mail: spahico@yahoo.com

An alliance of knowledge and power

It is an undeniable truth that a proper education is a key to reviving the phenomena of Islamic housing as an essential part of the revival of the total of Islamic culture and civilization. A comprehensive educational vision and plan, coupled with concrete policies and laws and their avid and wise enforcement, account for the most powerful force that can lead to making the idea of contemporary Islamic housing a reality. A clever synthesis of knowledge and authority is the best way for taking the idea of Islamic housing from the world of abstract ideas to the real world of corporeal challenges and realities.

Continue reading Education and Islamic Housing →

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Spahic Omer

Kulliyyah of Architecture and Environmental Design

International Islamic University Malaysia

E-mail: spahico@yahoo.com

Conceptualizing the phenomenon of Islamic housing

Islamic housing is a blend of the belief system, teachings and values of Islam, on the one hand, and the prerequisites and influences of indigenous cultures, climates, topographies, building materials, talents, technologies and economies, on the other. The former is characterized as universal, total, permanent, immutable and absolute. It came from Allah in the form of revelation (wahy). It is divine. The latter, however, fluctuates and varies from one region to the other, and from one community to the other. It is indigenous, though locally permanent and unchangeable, as far as climates and topographies are concerned, but it is impermanent, conditional and changeable, as far as some cultural manifestations, building materials, talents, technologies and economies are concerned.

Continue reading Creativity and Islamic Housing →

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Spahic Omer

Kulliyyah of Architecture and Environmental Design

International Islamic University Malaysia

E-mail: spahico@yahoo.com

The importance of studying history

The Islamic house is a microcosm of Islamic culture and civilization. Achievements and successes in both Islamic housing and Islamic culture and civilization are interrelated, one leading to, or originating from, the other, irrespective of which one exactly is the cause and which one is the effect. Islam is a total life-style. The house phenomenon, and all the sectors related, directly or indirectly, to it, is the ground for living and practicing the most essential segments of human existence on earth, and, as such, the ground for living the most essential segments of the Islamic worldview, shari’ah (law) and ethics.

Continue reading Islamic Housing between Yesterday and Today →

Striking a Balance between Privacy and Guest Hospitality in the Muslim house: a case of the Katsina urban Hausa traditional house

Dr. Babangida Hamza

Department of Architectural Technology, Hassan Usman Katsina Polytechnic, Dutsin-ma Road, Katsina

Email address: babanhamza@yahoo.com

Abstract

It has been argued that privacy provision for the family in a house affects the specifics of the house, spatial provision and quality in a Muslim house affects family privacy and that space and enclosures in a house are key determinants of the level of privacy. This paper examined the conception of hospitality and privacy in Islam and how a balance was achieved between the two in a Hausa traditional house through spatial organization. The paper identified visual and acoustics aspects of privacy that affect the womenfolk in the house, and relates them to the various spatial configurations employed to achieve them at various levels. Methodology employed for the study includes floor plan documentation, physical observation and interviews with household heads and key-informants such as local builders and community leaders. The result of the study showed that visual privacy for the womenfolk in the house was achieved by restricting reception and entertainment of unrelated male to the public zone, related males to the semi-public, and related or unrelated female to the most-private zone of the house. The understanding of the high preference of privacy consideration in the Hausa traditional house will serves as a basis to incorporate various design alternatives in contemporary architectural designs of Hausa house.

Keywords: Family privacy, Hausa, Hospitality, Traditional house

Continue reading Striking a Balance between Privacy and Guest Hospitality in the Muslim house: a case of the Katsina urban Hausa traditional house →

Dr. Spahic Omer

4. The house as a microcosm of culture and civilization

The house is a microcosm of culture and civilization because the primary elements of society: individuals organized along with the family lines, are born, raised and educated in them. The strength of the institutions of the family and house denotes the strength of a society and the verve of its cultural and civilizational agenda. Similarly, frailties in the institutions of the family and house denote frailties in a society and in its cultural and civilizational agenda.

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Continue reading Some Lessons from the Holy Qur’an on Housing (3) →

Dr. Spahic Omer

2. The house and the subject of privacy

Islam is very firm in calling for privacy protection. However, as one is required to safeguard his privacy and that of his family, he is likewise required to respect the privacy of others. Deliberate invasion of one’s privacy by whatever means and degree is deemed a serious offence with far-reaching consequences. It falls under the category of inflicting harm or damage (darar) on others, which cannot be tolerated in Islam.

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Continue reading Some Lessons from the Holy Qur’an on Housing (2) →

Dr. Spahic Omer

Introduction

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Continue reading Some Lessons from the Holy Qur’an on Housing →