Architecture, Building Sciences, Medinanet

Al-Masjid al-Haram from the Era of al-Khulafa’ al-Rashidun (Rightly-Guided Caliphs) to the Saudi Expansions

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Assoc. Prof. Dr. Spahic Omer
Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences
International Islamic University Malaysia
E-mail: spahico@yahoo.com

Image of a section of al-Masjid al-Haram built by the Ottomans before it was demolished as part of the latest and grandest Saudi expansion of the Mosque

A section of al-Masjid al-Haram built by the Ottomans before it was demolished as part of the latest and grandest Saudi expansion of the Mosque.

  

After the epoch of al-Khulafa’ al-Rashidun (rightly-guided Caliphs) and until the modern Saudi era, al-Masjid al-Haram underwent a number of reconstructions and expansions. Those who made the most remarkable impacts on the Mosque, regardless of whether they enlarged it or just renovated some sections thereof, were:

  • ‘Abdullah b. al-Zubayr whose expansion — third in a sequence — took place from 65 AH/ 684 CE;
  • Umayyad Caliph ‘Abd al-Malik b. Marwan whose restoration works happened from 75 AH/ 694 CE;
  • Umayyad Caliph al-Walid b. ‘Abd al-Malik whose expansion — fourth in history — occurred from 91 AH/ 709 CE;
  • Abbasid Caliph Abu Ja’far al-Mansur whose expansion, which was fifth in succession, took place from 137 AH/ 754;
  • Abbasid Caliph Muhammad al-Mahdi whose colossal and sixth in succession expansion took place in two stages: from 160 AH/ 776 CE and from 164 AH/ 780 CE, the latter stage having been completed by his son al-Hadi who in 169 AH/ 785 CE succeeded his father as fourth Abbasid Caliph;
  • Abbasid Caliph al-Mu’tamid ‘Alallah whose renovation works happened from 271 AH/ 884 CE;
  • Abbasid Caliph al-Mu’tadid Billah whose lesser seventh expansion occurred from 281 AH/ 894 CE;
  • Abbasid Caliph al-Muqtadir Billah whose minor and eighth in history expansion came to pass from 306 AH/ 918 CE;
  • Restoration works by the Mamluks that occurred from 803 AH/ 1400 CE and from 882 AH/ 1477 CE;
  • The significant reconstruction efforts by the Ottoman Turks from 972 AH/ 1564 CE and from 984 AH/ 1576 CE.

Continue reading Al-Masjid al-Haram from the Era of al-Khulafa’ al-Rashidun (Rightly-Guided Caliphs) to the Saudi Expansions →

Medinanet, Urban Planning

Al-Wasatiyyah and Islamic Built Environment

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Assoc. Prof. Dr. Spahic Omer

Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences

International Islamic University Malaysia

E-mail: spahico@yahoo.com

The Great Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria. Image.

The Great Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria.

At the site of the Mosque, there was a temple in both the Aramaean and Roman eras. The place was later converted into a Church dedicated to St John the Baptist in the Byzantine era. Following the arrival of Muslims, the Church was eventually adopted and modified as a mosque.

 

Abstract

This paper discusses the concept of al-wasatiyyah and some of its implications for correctly perceiving the phenomenon of Islamic built environment. The paper concludes that although those implications are rather indirect and implicit in nature, the relationship between the two, i.e., al-wasatiyyah and Islamic built environment, is very strong and reciprocal. Since they have much in common, and since they exert a considerable influence on each other’s ultimate actualization, the concepts of al-wasatiyyah and Islamic built environment should be brought much closer to each other in reviving and unifying the Muslim community. The discussion in the paper focuses on the universality and flexibility of Islamic built environment; how a delicate balance between the form and function in Islamic built environment ought to be established; and avoiding vices which are most often associated with built environment and which are caused by extravagant and excessive tendencies. The nature of the paper is conceptual rather than empirical, featuring a qualitative methodology that combines the descriptive and analytical methods.

Keywords: al-wasatiyyah, Islamic built environment, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), universality, the form, function

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Architecture, Medinanet

Lessons from the First Two Expansions of al-Masjid al-Haram

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Assoc. Prof. Dr. Spahic Omer

Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences

International Islamic University Malaysia

E-mail: spahico@yahoo.com

Kaaba Image
The latest Saudi expansion of al-Masjid al-Haram is estimated to last till 2020. When completed, the Mosque will have a capacity to accommodate as many as two million worshippers. The expansion is tipped as the project of the century.

By al-Masjid al-Haram it is sometimes meant only the Ka’bah and at other times the spaces that surround it, containing several facilities intended to facilitate some exclusive religious rituals and services. For example, when the Qur’an instructs Muslims to turn their faces in their prayers towards al-Masjid al-Haram (al-Baqarah, 149), facing the Ka’bah itself is meant thereby. Also, when the Prophet (pbuh) said that the first mosque built on earth was al-Masjid al-Haram, he meant the Ka’bah. But when he said that a prayer in al-Masjid al-Haram is better than one hundred thousand prayers elsewhere, the Prophet (pbuh) meant, primarily, the spaces around it. (While performing voluntary prayers inside the Ka’bah is permissible, the same is not the case with obligatory ones; for some scholars, the matter is disliked, but for others, it is even forbidden.) Similarly, when the Qur’an reveals that the Prophet (pbuh) was taken for a journey by night from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem, Palestine, (al-Isra’, 1), here again the spaces around the Ka’bah are implied (Basalamah, 2001). According to a great many scholars, still, al-Masjid al-Haram signifies the Ka’bah and the entire haram (Makkah sanctuary) up to the boundaries that separate the outside world from the haram.

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Books

From Mosques to Khanqahs: The Origins and Rise of Sufism and Sufi Institutions

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From Mosques to Khanqahs: The Origins and Rise of Sufism and Sufi Institutions Book Cover

Book Title: From Mosques to Khanqahs: The Origins and Rise of Sufism and Sufi Institutions

Author: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Spahic Omer

Publisher: Research Management Center, International Islamic University Malaysia

ISBN: 978-967-418-414-8

First Edition, 2015, 215 pages

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Building Sciences, Medinanet

The Variety of Climates on Earth and Building

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Assoc. Prof. Dr. Spahic Omer

Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences

International Islamic University Malaysia

E-mail: spahico@yahoo.com

A spectacular setting in a courtyard house in Marrakech, Morocco. Image

A spectacular setting in a courtyard house in Marrakech, Morocco.

The Earth’s Creator willed that no two places on Earth have the same climate and this relates to the speed, shape, disposition and rotation of the Earth. Climate affects significantly the conditions of life on Earth. Since two places on Earth do not have the same climate, it follows that world patterns of vegetation, soils and water resources vary significantly from one region to another. The effect of climate is so strong that it is also able to influence every human endeavour either directly or indirectly.

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Housing, Medinanet

Islamic Housing and the Role of Muslim Women

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Assoc. Prof. Dr. Spahic Omer

Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences

International Islamic University Malaysia

E-mail: spahico@yahoo.com

Al-Suhaymi Mamluki house in Cairo, Egypt. Image
Al-Suhaymi Mamluki house in Cairo, Egypt.

What is Islamic housing?

Islam as a comprehensive way of life influenced the planning and designing of the houses of its adherents. Not only that, Islam also laid a solid foundation, in some instances in form of laws, for creating what came to be known as the phenomenon of Islamic housing.

The Holy Qur’an furnishes Muslims with a comprehensive conceptual framework for housing. This framework has been first applied, explained and further enriched by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). While developing the city of Madinah, upon his and his followers’ migration (hijrah) from Makkah, the Prophet (pbuh) under the aegis of revelation provided scores of lessons in Islamic housing. Since Muhammad (pbuh) was the last Messenger of Allah to mankind, such lessons are to be held by Muslims as both universal and everlasting. They stand for an important segment of the Prophet’s sunnah which each and every Muslim is required to follow as much as life conditions permit.

In Islam, the house is a place to rest, relax the body and mind, and enjoy legitimate worldly delights. Within the realm of their houses, Muslims also worship, teach, learn and propagate the message of Islam. Central to the standards by which a house may be categorized as “Islamic” are the holiness and purity of its philosophy, vision, function and utility, accompanied by convenience, efficiency, safety, awareness of the physical surroundings, and anything else that Islam reckons as indispensable for living a decent and accountable family life. The sheer physical and artistic appearance is therefore inferior and matters only when it comes into complete conformity with the above mentioned criteria. Muslim architects, planners, structural engineers and final users alike, should perceive the house phenomenon as a sheer means, an instrument, a carrier of the spiritual, not a goal itself. 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, the availability and quality of building materials, talents, technologies and economies, on the other.

The house institution occupies an extraordinary place in Islam. It is a family development center. It is a microcosm of Islamic culture and civilization, in that individuals and families bred and nurtured therein constitute the fundamental units of the Islamic ummah (community). The places where people live are the first and arguably most critical educational and development centers. If they function properly, such centers have a potential to produce, in concert with other societal establishments and centers, the individuals who will be capable of transforming and making better their immediate surroundings and the whole communities they belong to.

Conversely, if misconstrued and their roles distorted, the places where people live have a potential to become a breeding ground for a range of social ills, which if left unchecked could paralyze entire communities and stifle their civilizational undertakings. It follows that in Islamic society there ought to exist a high level of ideological compatibility between the house and other societal institutions. An ideological incompatibility, or dichotomy, between the two poles is unacceptable and can only hinder, if not thwart altogether, the progress of society.

Indeed, it is very difficult to live delightfully, honoring and applying the teachings and values of Islam in a residential architectural world that is alien to the same teachings and values and their divine philosophy. It is only when compatibility between the two ambits exists that people’s actual interests and welfare will be ensured, and that residential planning and architecture will become more than just a routine external process of planning, designing and erecting houses. Without a doubt, there is much more to Islamic housing than just that, that is, than the conventional physical aspect of the whole thing.

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Books

Architecture and Society: Some Lessons on Muslim Architecture from India

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Book Title: Architecture and Society: Some Lessons on Muslim Architecture from India
Author: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Spahic Omer
Publisher: Research Management Center, International Islamic University Malaysia
ISBN: 978-967-418-402-5
First Edition, 2015

 

This book deals with the subject of the relationship between Muslim architecture and society and how they influence each other, taking some social and historical segments of complex Indian society as a case study. The book consists of three independent studies which cover three vital aspects of Muslim architecture, especially in India:

  • Converting Hindu temples into mosques;
  • The royal funerary architecture of the Mughals;
  • The social significance of Mr. Nazeer Khan’s architecture.

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Architecture, Medinanet

Mohamed Saleh Makiya (1914-2015)

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Makiya design image

For its architectural quality and its revival of tradition, the work of Mohamed Saleh Makiya stands as a prototype for Iraq and for new developments in the third world in general. Like Hassan Fathy in Egypt, Makiya analyzed Iraq’s past in his architectural work, in his role as an influential teacher, and in his scholarly publications. His ideas can be found in his writings: The Arab Village, sponsored by UNESCO and published in Cairo in 1951, and The Architecture of Baghdad, published in 1969 with the assistance of the Gulbenkian Foundation. In both books the fundamental insights that he established led to a reappraisal of the Iraqi architectural past.

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Architecture, Articles, Medinanet

God as the Only Creator: Implications for Conceptualizing Islamic Architecture

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Assoc. Prof. Dr. Spahic Omer

Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences

International Islamic University Malaysia

E-mail: spahico@yahoo.com

Khwaju Bridge in Isfahan Image
Figure 1: Khwaju Bridge in Isfahan, Iran.

Abstract

This paper discusses the notion of God as the only Creator, exploring its main implications for conceptualizing the identity and purpose of Islamic architecture. The paper concludes that the concept of God as the Creator represents the core of the Islamic doctrine of tawhid (God’s Oneness and Uniqueness) which, in turn, presents Islamic architecture with its identity impressing it by its own mould. Buildings in Islam are conceived and erected only to serve God and the noble purpose of creation instituted by the Creator. Ascribing the terms ‘creation’ and ‘creators’ to human beings should always be conditional and metaphorical, not authentic or unqualified. Just as the Creator cannot become creation, similarly a creation cannot become a creator. Only against this backdrop, the role and objective of man on earth, and all his civilizational undertakings, including architecture, are to be viewed and assessed. The implications of this central Islamic tenet for Islamic architecture are studied under the sub-topics of the identity of Islamic architecture and the role of Islamic decorative arts.

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Architecture, Medinanet

Tradition versus Modernity: Islam’s or Muslims’ Dilemma

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Assoc. Prof. Dr. Spahic Omer

Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences

International Islamic University Malaysia

E-mail: spahico@yahoo.com

 
KL Traditional and Modern buildings image
The best solution for Islamic architecture is to be traditional, but without just blindly imitating and repeating the past, and modern, albeit without rejecting tradition and constantly seeking to break with the past. Tradition and modernity in Islamic architecture must be at peace, rather than at loggerheads, with each other. Traditional and modern architecture in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The Popularity of the Theme

Undoubtedly, the subjects of tradition and modernity and how Muslims responded to them in late nineteenth and twentieth centuries are some of the most important topics that still preoccupy a great many scholars and researches, both Muslims and non-Muslims. A large corpus of literature, as a result, has emerged towards the end of twentieth and in early twenty-first centuries that addressed the subject matter. The studies and books carried different, but in essence very similar, titles such as – for instance – Islam and the Challenge of Modernity, edited by Sharifah Shifa al-Attas and published in 1996 by International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Islam: Motor or Challenge of Modernity, edited by Georg Stauth and published in 1998 by LIT Verlag in Hamburg, Germany; Muslims and Modernity, an Introduction to the Issues and Debates by Clinton Bennett, published in 2005 by Continuum in London, UK; Legitimizing Modernity in Islam by Husain Kassim, published in 2005 by the Edwin Mellen Press in Lewiston, New York, US; Reconfiguring Islamic Tradition: Reform, Rationality and Modernity by Samira Haj, published in 2009 by Stanford University Press, Stanford, California, US; Islam, Modernity and the Human Sciences by Ali Zaidi, published in 2011 by Palgrave, Macmillan, US; Tradition, Modernity and Islam, edited by A. Rahman Tang Abdullah and published in 2011 by the International Islamic University Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur; Islam between Tradition and Modernity, an Australian Perspective by Mehmet Ozalp, published in 2012 by Barton Books in Canberra, Australia, and many others. Continue reading Tradition versus Modernity: Islam’s or Muslims’ Dilemma →