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ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE PROJECT 2 LITERATURE REVIEW TITTLE: Architectural Spiritual Theories APA Citation Longhurst.C.E. (2012). Lonard: Architecture Critical Review. London: Art and Architecture Magazine, 8, 2.
Topic/ Objective Message of Islam in Architecture
Remarks 1. "peace" and "submission to God". 2. This "place" is not a building per se but what is evidenced by the etymology of the word “mosque” which derives from Arabic "masjid" meaning "a place of sujud (prostration). 3. It also derived from the meaning of the word islam which is related to the Arabic "salam" meaning "peace". 4. "ubudiyah" (public worship) - that is, a physical structure classifiable within the typology of sacred architecture with its own structural and decorative princples rooted deeply in Islam's message. 5. "There is no god but Allah" (la ilaha illa-Allah)
Divine and Oneness and Unity
Simplicity
1. God is one (ahad) 2. Principles of tawhid - God's oneness, ahadiya - his divine Unity, and wahdat al-wujud - the unity of all creation ….building typology… 3. Khamenei explains: " To describe the sense of space or building typology that tawhid imparts, would be to observe the course of nature and translate it into a materiality occupying space for the purpose to praise to God."
1. The Quran declares: " The is nothing like unto Him" 2. God is an intelligent and voluntary first cause and ultimate source of all creation - Al-Khaliq 3. His immensity and omnipresence: God as Al-Wasi (The Vast, The All-Embracing, The Omnipresent and The Boundless) 3. Form and volumn combine to produce a "Godcenteredness" by drawing the eyes, if not the spirit, upward 4. The qubba facilitates a connection between earthly and spiritual realms especially during salat. 5. The qubba introducing a differentiated spatial concept into masjid interiors by enclosing and separating space from the outside though simultaneously retaining it as open. 6. "Dome of the sky" - "qubbat al-khadra: the notion of divine immensity - God as Al Wasi, and His superior relationship to space and transcendence of temporal limitations - God as AlMutakabbir (The Highest, The Greatest).
Lights
1. "Allah is the light of heavens and the earth" 2. "With Him are the keys of the secret things; none knows them but He.
The Divine Names
1. Al-Wahid : God as One and Unique 2. Al-Ahad : God as Unity and Indivisible 3. Al- Baqiy: God as Immutable, Infinite, Everlasting 4. Al- Zahir: God as The Manifest, The Evident, The Outer 5. Al- Batin: God as Hidden, Unmanifest, Inner 6. Al- Wasi: God as The Embracing, The Omnipresent, The Boundless 7. Al- Khaliq: submission
Dome or qubba
Symbol of Heavenly Realities
1. George Steiner writes on that "great emptiness" as if it were so intimate - the "great void" (adam) that strives to "make visible the invisible world" 2. Interior resonance 3. Islamic scholar Jale Erzen explained how enclosed space is organised "around a core" 1. Al-Djanna (Celestrial Garden).
2. Spahic writes: ‌the Muslim builder, powered with the spirit of tawhid and a desire to fulfil the will of a higher order or cause, always tries his best to make his edifies come into sight adhering to the existing spiritual paradigms of the nature environment. 3. Erzen: As a sacred space, the interior of a mosque is made to remind one of paradise, of a garden of fragant flowers and crystal ponds. A light ambience, sparkling, scintillating, reflecting surfaces, tones of blue on vertical planes to give a sense of peace and harmony, rugs of vibrant colours on the floor to resemble meadows full of flowers, all in all an atmosphere of joy and peace 4. Professor Khawaja Muhammad Saeed - University of the Punjab, Lahore, explained: "Masjid decoration" is the result of the manifestation of Unity upon the plane of multiplicity. It reflects in its own idiosyncratic manner the Unity of the Divine Principle - the dependence of all multiplicity upon the One-Allah (God) Haqqani. G.S.M.N.A.A. Sound and Silence in Islamic Spirituality.
Relation between Sound and Silence
1. Two forms of sound: Audible sound (sound) - Sound of the Known Non- audible sound (silence) - Sound of the Unknown 2. Unknown - "Hu" in Islamic Spirituality "Hu" a sound and a Holy Name of God * the basic vibration in the universe 3. Real meaning of silence is the absence of sound, does not exist in the universe 4. sound of our inner soul. The sound is the eternal vibration of "Huuuuuuuuu"
Importance of Sound
1. When a sound is emitted, some information is moved from the person emitting the sound to the person hearing it. 2. The message is calling Islam - meaning submission to God 3. Spiritual development of child in us (the child represent human pure soul) 4. True Origin in the Presence of the Lord
Melodious Sounds
Importance of Silence
1. Melody is connected to memory 2. Some songs remind us of some past experiences 3. Memory of our real spiritual past in Paradise, where all human beings were with the first man, Adam as atoms in his body 4. Sufis use melodies to awaken that Divine Memory 1. Subtle voice hidden in us is the voice of the Soul 2. The voice of the Soul is in love with Silence and it will only manifest itself when its beloved comes. 3. Silence means seclusion from the external world and conversation with the inner spiritual world 4. 5 lata'ifs (subtle point of Spiritual Energy) a. Qalb ("External Structure of the Heart") b. Sirr ("Secret�) c. Sirr as Sirr ("Secret of the Secret") d. Khafa ("Hidden") f. Akha ("Most Hidden") 5. Maqams (spiritual stations) - on human hearts
Le Corbusier " Harmonious proportions arouse, deep within us and beyond our sense, a resonance, a sort of sounding board which begins to vibrate. An indefinable trace of the Absolute which lies in the depth of our being. This sounding board which vibrates in us is our criterion of harmony. This is indeed the axis on which man is organised in perfect accord with nature and probably with the universe" Koran 17,85
" They will ask you concerning the Spirit. Say to them, the Spirit (ruh) is from the Command of my Lord and of knowledge you have been vouchsafed but little."
Quran 24, 36-37
Prostration (Sajda) On Dust - Islamic Laws. Retrieved from http://www.islamic-laws.com/pdf/prostrationondust.pdf
"…to be erected for the commemoration of His name, where He is glorified morning and evening……….."
General Meanings of Prostration
Posture of Prostration
1. "Sajdah" comes from the root verb sajada which means "to bow down", to "throw down" or "to prostrate" 2. "Submission" 3. Qur'an 13: 15 "And for Allah prostrates whoever is within the heavens and the earth willfully or through force and their shadow at dawn and dusk." 4. Qur'an 22: 18 "Do you not see that to Allah prostrates whoever is within the heavens and the earth, the sun, the moon, the starts, the mountains, the trees, the crawling creatures and many among men…." 5. Qur'an 17: 44 "There is nothing save it praises it's Lord but you do not comprehend its eulogy" 1. Report of the sixth Iman (a): ……This is how Allah desires the inner state" 2. There is an intimate connection between the physical and non-physical aspects of human being, the body and the mind. 3. The manners of physical actions of worship play an important role at psychological level of human existence and allow for a state of balance and harmony between the mind and the body.
The Manner of Prostration
Behnam.G,Atefeh.F, Ali.T. (2013). Symbols and signs in Islamic architecture. European review of artistic studies. 4, 3, 62-78.
1. The act of prostration within Salah is performed by placing seven parts of the body onto the ground. 2. "Masjid" - places of Sajda 3. 7 parts - forehead, palms of the hands, knees, the tips of the two big toes 1. Islamic architecture is a composition of architectural designs, both secular and religious, that have been developed since the establishment of the Islamic faith and which influence construction works in Muslim culture. (Ahmad, 2010) 2. Islamic architecture evolves with time which brings about diversification in designs. Muslim cities were a reflection of unity portrayed through the sequential arrangement of structures such as the mosque, the palace, the madrassa, and the homesteads (Arnold et al., 1931)
3. Islamic architects pegged their creativity on evoking their inner beliefs through the use of abstract forms that produced magnificent work of art (JAIRAZBHOY, 1972) 4. The most unique feature in Muslim architecture is the focus on interior decoration as opposed an exterior one (Blair and Bloom, 2003) 5. Geometry is also believed to be the source of calligraphy patterns (Vernoit, 2000)
Mahdi, Muhsin S. (1980). Islamic Philosophy and the Fine Arts: In Architecture as Symbol and Self-Identity. Philadelphia: Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
The task of Islamic Philosophy
1. It is the search for order and harmony in the natural world, the intelligible world, the human soul, and the city. It is an account of such order and harmony where it exists, and an account of how to restore order and harmony in man and in the city. (page 21) 2. What a builder does, on the other hand, is largely determined by the needs and purposes of the particular human community for which he builds, which may be a family or a business, a civic establishment or a whole nation; he must know and take into account those needs and purposes. (page 21)
Aspects of Divine and Human Creation
3. The architect is a maker. If he is any good, we say he is a creative man, a creator. If he is a Muslim he knows already that the Supreme Creator is God, and one assumes that he would be interested in reflecting on His work and even in imitating His creation. (page 22) 4. Light as the physical manifestation of intellectual or super intellectual light, and the different parts of creation an orderly mixture of light and darkness, an analogy of being and not being, that terminates in God as pure or unmixed light. Sufi Circles Sufi orders. (page 22) 5. The structure of the soul, and the activities of its various parts or powers and their relationship and hierarchy are of interest to any artist whose art consists of creating a work that pleases or conveys a message or arouses a certain feeling in the human beings who look at it or work or worship it. (page 22)
Retrieved from https://www.google.com.my/#q=spiritual+definition
Definition of Spiritual
Retrieved from https://www.google.com.my/#q=spirit+definition
Definition of Spirit
Hodge & Derezotes (2008). Retrieved from http://stanfield.pbworks.com/f/Module%2B1%2BSlideset%2B1.p df
Definition of Spiritual
1. Relating to or affecting the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things. 1. The non-physical part of a person which is the seat of emotions and character; the soul. 1. “Spirituality is typically conceptualized in more subjective, individualistic terms” 2. The existence of a transcendent reality that is transpersonal in nature. 3. That this reality is “personal, existential, and subjective” and involves a “union with the nontemporal”. 4. Spirituality to be behavior or experiences that are very personal but yet take us out of ourselves and connect us to a higher consciousness that is not bound by our world or our time.
Baker. R. (2003). The social work dictionary 5th edition. Washington Dc: National Association of Social Workers (NASW).
Nowak. M, Warszawa. (2011). Argument: The complicated history of einfuhlung
Definition of Spirit
1. “Devotion to the immaterial part of humanity and nature rather than worldly things such as possessions; an orientation to people’s religious, moral, or emotional nature”.
Concept of Feeling Into
1. According to Nietzsche watching the Wagnerian Gesamtkunstwerk caused a merging of “the self into the work of art that provoked a loss of speech and the dissolution of individual identity” (Koss 2006: 139)
Le Corbusier You employ stone, wood and concrete, and with these materials you build houses and palaces. That is construction. Ingenuity is at work. But suddenly you touch my heart, you do me good, I am happy and I say: "This is beautiful." That is Architecture. Art enters in.
Dr. Hassan Ali El-Najjar, November 2007 Retrieved from http://www.aljazeerah.info/Islamic%20Editorials/2007/November/ Mind,%20Self,%20Soul,%20Spirit,%20and%20Happiness%20fro m%20an%20Islamic%20Perspective%20By%20Hassan%20Ali% 20El-Najjar.htm
1. The word “spirit” is a translation of the Arabic word roo'h () روح, which is mentioned in about 20 verses in the Holy Quran.
2. Humans received part of God’s spirit when He blew it in Adam, thus becoming part of the human DNA, as Verses 5:110, 15: 29, 21: 91, and 66: 12 tells us. This is the part of the brain which is responsible for the automatic functionality of the body organs, readiness for learning, and disposition for knowing good and evil.
Tanizaki. J. (1977). In Praise of Shadows. United State of America: Leete’s Island Books. 1. An empty space is marked off with plain wood and plain walls, so that the light drawn into its forms dim shadows within emptiness. There is nothing more. And yet, when we gaze into the darkness that gathers behind the crossbeam, around the flower vase, beneath the shelves, though we know perfectly well it is mere shadow, we are overcome with the feeling that in this small corner of the atmosphere there reigns complete and utter silence; that here in the darkness immutable tranquility holds sway. The “mysterious Orient” of which Westerners speak probably refers to the uncanny silence of these dark places. And even we as children would feel an inexpressible chill as we peered into the depths of an alcove to which the sunlight had never penetrated. Where lies the key to this mystery? Ultimately it is the magic of shadows. Were the shadows to be banished from its corners, the alcove would in that instant revert to mere void. This was the genius of our ancestors, that by cutting off the light from this empty space they imparted to the world of shadows that formed there a quality of mystery and depth superior to that of any wall painting or ornament. The technique seems simple, but was by no means so simply achieved.