The 7 Unifying Principles of Islamic Architecture

1. Tawhid: Unity & Uniquity of Allah

a) Shahada

1st Testify Faith
Uniquity of Allah – there is no other god exist except Him alone monotheistic
2nd testify Faith
Finality/Seal- Prophet-hood – & Muhammad Pbuh is His Messenger/Prophet

b) Notion of Tawhid

Al Quran - haqiqa (formless essence)
Example: nature of space: form, orders, orients- place man the presence of divine unity: Ka’bah - Qibla


c) Building Community

Mosque – unifying ‘Umma
Example: Center for Muslim Social Life: -education, administration, court, public service, economic platform, military planning, govern country, religious event


d) Urban Planning/ Contex

Sunnah (Fiqh Law)- unifying city
Example: Separation between commercial from residential area. Souq or bazaar spread along roads joining urban center. Craft and commerce activities while dwellings located away from the Markets. Accessible with narrow winding lanes

2. Ihtiram: Respect

a) Shahada

Lack of propriety to others and only to God
Example: How is the believer expected to enter the divine presence or paradise while showing impropriety towards Him

b) 5 pillars

Shahada, salat (prayer), zakat (alms), fasting and hajj
Example: practice and encourages of the respectfulness ‘consciousness’ to God. Purify and improve inner and outer self fulfillment, submit own will to Allah

c) Muhammad pbuh

Perfect characteristic
Example: Separation between commercial from residential area. Souq or bazaar spread along roads joining urban center. Craft and commerce activities while dwellings located away from the Markets. Accessible with narrow winding lanes

d) Al Quran

Guidance
Example: virtue and attitude of good manners, respectful for the sake of Allah.

e) Self-conscious acts

Courtesy to Him in all that we do
Example: "The best of you are those who possess the best of manners."

f) Muslim Architect

Islam as AdDin
Example: practice Architecture as a submission to Allah, strives on path of purity. Good habits and
keeping the heart away fr evil desires. Practice, encourages, respectful ‘consciousness’ to God

g) Islamic Architecture Symbolism

Symbolism
Example: “God made the Ka’bah (the cube), the Sacred House, a symbol for mankind." Cube Geometry, linked -idea of ‘centre’


h) Respect essence of Islam & humanity

Building as sanctuary
Example: Masjidil Haram and Masjidil An Nabawi. Conservation of Par excellence. Waqf  is to stop, contain and preserve of a religious endowment, also known as a voluntary and irrevocable dedication of one's wealth or a portion of it, either cash or kind that benefits the community in general or permanent donation, but once created, it can never be donated as a gift, inherited. Sanctuary is also known as a sheltered court yard,  Suffah, gallery, porticos surround courtyard, housing for the Sufis, homeless.

3. Ikhlas: Sincerity

a) Sincerity to God/Allah

Absence of Human imaginary & idols
Example: all portraiture of prophet or anything to avoid (prevent idolatrous worship.

Art consists images
Example: projecting soul through geometric subtraction in nature, the prominent role of maths and sacred nature of Islamic architecture inseparable from nature of Quranic reverences

b) Way of God to their-communities

Place of relaxation and contemplation
Example: abstract rigid architecture of a garden with untrammeled nature and flowing water – a taste of paradise- describe by Qur’an: “gardens through which running waters flow.“: enclosed gardens to enhance full length pools of water. Nature of Light: reflection, spatial reversal, refraction & transformation of light rays

c) Integration of mathematics

Embodiment of geometric proportion
Example: Karatay Madrassa (School of sacred Science) -1251 by Jalaluddin Karatay, governor officer to Seljuk Sultan of Izzeddin Keykavus- response to people education needs. Central dome is to open to sky, evoke and celestial immateriality & intellectual beauty.

d) Domestic living spaces

Arranged around the gardened courtyard
Example: Large halls - Medina Azahara: Abd-Al-Rahman II Hall, in the artificial terrace built on strong walls holding the high garden with views to lower gardens and general landscape (feeling: Babylon Hanging Gardens) West Hall palace stands on paradise placed at its feet, crossed with pools or pavilions in its intersection.

4. ‘Ilm: Knowledge

a) Architecture of Inscriptions

Calligraphy
Example: sacred language, celebrate aesthetic scripts across Islamic world in visible form to reveal ilm’ and wisdom word of Quran through, precise, sacred, geometrical.

b) Light as expression

Illuminating effects of sun rays & moon light
Example: wall inscription or ornamentation moving point source nature of sunlight, adds individuality everyone's sensory experience of architectural spaces.

c) Knowledge

Science and technology
Example: The Bayt al-Hikmah, founded by the Abbasid caliphs Harun al-Rashid and his son al-Ma’mun- became home to the greatest minds of the age, among them the mathematician al-Khawarizmi - the ‘father of algebra’.

Sharing & spreading of Knowledge

Example: Mosque of Qarawiyyin & university Complex Morocco, Strait of Gilbraltar. Gilbraltar was the place that Muslim dynasty arrived due to Islamic expansion.

5. Iqtisad: Balance

a) Moderation and balance

Essential considerations

Example: nature of aesthetics & have a profound impact on architecture

Notion of “Heart”

Example: relates architecturally to anonymous external facades of Islamic buildings. The human body, as the container of the sacred nafs (soul) with the heart as - central core- the underlying symbolic metaphor for Islamic home: “Assuredly God does not consider your bodies, nor your appearances. Rather He considers your hearts.“

Aesthetics

Example: derived as model for creativity and artistic activity, add to our life & behavior

b) Balance in Architecture

Balance in the meaning of the dividing equally

Example: Djenné (also Dienné or Jenne) is a historically and commercially important small city in the Niger Inland Delta of central Mali. It is just west of the Bani River (the Niger River passes well to the west and north)

6. Haya’: Modesty

a) Islamic architecture

Based around - central core

Example: open court that not only serves an environmental purpose but- addresses the different roles and responsibilities of the sexes.

b) Sanctuary, privacy & respect

Respect to female and each other

Example: at the heart of layout and divisions within Islamic architecture. Adoption of veil to as acceptance of Muslim woman of what she can control in front of strangers; humbling herself & God

c) Bent entrance

Significant feature in maintaining

Example: their everyday existence, sacred actions and family lives. The Prophet said, “Faith (belief) consists of more than sixty branches, and Haya’ (self-respect, modesty, etc) is part of Faith."‘ Privacy nature of family home + filter – admission into heart of sacred home Mosque Entrance: Discreet approaches evoct respect - before greet by magnificent size of central public spaces of court-yard

7. Dikr: Remembrance

a) Monotony

Rhythmic precision mirrored

Example: contemplative chanting of God’s innumerable attributes or zikr. Rhythmic precision mirrored in the contemplative chanting of God’s innumerable attributes. Manifestation of contemplation maintains a sense of unity through rhythm that can be seen as the eternal and infinite nature of God’s essence. "lt has a portico of surpassing beauty...like the soul of a believer, immersed in the remembrance of God..."‘

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