Islamic Architecture and Social History in Medieval and Modern Egypt Wael Khattab

Islamic Architecture and Social History in Medieval and Modern Egypt

(An introduction to new approach)

Rationale and Methodology:

Architecture constitutes the solemn identity of people and civilizations. A number of

specialists consider that architecture mirrors the character, culture, and mores of a society, i.e.
the landmarks that collectively represent the image of a form of socio-political organization.
Nevertheless, the fundamental question in previous scholarship on Islamic archaeology focused
on “How” which is required only descriptive studies in forms, plans, shapes, elements, and
constructions. As a corollary, the bulk of these studies are only descriptive and thus failed to
address the “Why-question”, which is considered vital for an adequate understanding of the
origins and evolution of a society.

The starting point will be the “Why question” more than “How”. Whereas, history is the
science of recording the past, archaeology is considered its codification that furnishes the tools
for exploring the past. Therefore, the immediate aim in studying the past is to identify the present
and the future from the roots; in fact, the ultimate goal of this introduction is to identify the man
who is standing behind all achievements. Architecture is one of the important keys to discover
the human being and societies; therefore, addressing the relationship between social history and
architecture by defining the functional concepts and the relationship between forms and function
should be the main goal, because the function and forms are determined by needs, the
relationship between them reflects the human needs.

Forms derive from functions, while functions stem from specific needs; therefore, we can
study architecture in different levels. One of these levels is the nexus between architecture and
society, or how architecture reflects social aspects and thoughts, for instance, the questions of
domes and shrines in Islamic architecture, which were not only confined to Shiia, but were
known since the ancient Sunni buildings in Islam: the question here will be why people create
this kind of buildings, because most of the previous studies offer just description for these
buildings.

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Islamic Architecture and Social History in Medieval and Modern Egypt Wael Khattab

The spreading of shrines and domes was preceded by establishing the idea of Wilaya
(allegiance) to be acceptable for ordinary people. Furthermore, the architecture and social
development for these building are the keys to perceive and assess the roles played such as
providing protection and shelter. Because man is born with biological needs and social
deficiencies, architecture in one level was the greatest solutions to sustain his existence, provide
shelter and protection against the outside world and external threats. Consequently, we cannot
study any building as a phenomenon without looking at its association with social conditions.

The second step to study any architectural phenomenon, which is known as structural
analysis, is to comprehend the needs. The needs apparently stem from an individual’s or group’s
lack of awareness which is needed to be satisfied. The needs are always evolving and become
more diverse with the thoughts development, but generally these needs can be classified into
three main groups:

a) The utilitarian need, which secures the basic survival requirements for an individual or
group’s sustenance.
b) The symbolic need, it represents and secures the requirements of individual and group
identity, and may be reflected in the moral implications or the luxury model.
c) The aesthetical need, which decreases the repetition factor and creates diversity, taking
into account the avoidance of chaos, because there is always a close kinship between the
form and the content of each building.

Therefore, architecture bears many similarities with language; because both of them express
and reflect the tangible and the spiritual connotations of society and human beings in various
fashions. Moreover, architecture is considered to be one of the sings or codes that reflect the
culture and help to understand society. For example, shrines and domes may embody the
combination of the hopes, fears, pain, and imagination, or illusions which express the people’s
conduct and general beliefs towards life, society, and more broadly the universe. From a socio-
archeologically point of view, the domes and shrines in all their details are one of the history
voices that reflect society thoughts and its development. Specifically in Egypt, because the idea
of Wilaya played a crucial role in the course of Egyptian history and we find the domes and
shrines uncountable in some eras; for instance, during the sixteenth century the traveler Ibn

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Islamic Architecture and Social History in Medieval and Modern Egypt Wael Khattab

Jubayr could not count them when he visited Cairo. In fact, domes were built in all villages and
cities in Egypt and served as a sign for Saints or awliyâ' of Allah in heritage and folk proverb
"under the dome is Sheikh".

We also find every village and every town were divided between Sheikhs based upon their
ranks and it comes to find private Sheikh to some families. This is reckoned as an integral part of
heritage or folk religion that lives mingled with the official religion of any society. From this
perspective, it is not difficult to note the consistency between the adopted public awareness about
the beliefs of “awliyâ' of Allah” and their plurality with the multiplicity of gods in ancient Egypt.
The idea of totemism and local gods in particular is considered the continuation of certain
aspects of Osiris’ worships that also, could be considered the ultimate source of the multiplicity
of shrines of saints. Moreover, it is one of the major milestones in the harmonious development
of Egyptian mythology. One significant purpose remaining, the saints’ shrines are considered an
important stage of historical writing, when people confirm the theory of the great man and
emphasizes the hero’s role as the history maker.

In this phase people did not give up the dream of the human eternity, which began with
mythical stories. These stories often culminated in or ended with the victory of the oppressed and
the weak, or good after a long resistance with patience, surrender, and sometimes negative
resistance. Thus, the saints are considered the parallel or the positive force against evil.
Subsequently, their tombs were the second stage after death to emphasize the persistence belief
in them, for instance, the phenomenon of sending messages to the shrine of Imam El-Shafei;
although, he passed away nearly 1200 years ago. These messages are reflective of how people
viewed Imam El-Shafei as a Sultan able to perform a number of acts that sometimes approached
God’s ability. This phenomenon of saints’ canonization was known in the ancient Egyptian
society as well.

The open questions here from thousands of domes that are remaining in Egypt; although,
many of them were renovated, will be if the existence of saints’ shrines or domes, when
associated with rituals and practices, reflected the underlying idea that the future is not a logical
consequence of the present, but that the future is fraught with many potentials not derived from
the status quo in the present?

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Why do people believe that the existence of the shrine of Sheikh might prevent harm or bring
prosperity?

Is that an expression of weakness or loss of confidence in human soul and its capacities?

How does this kind of thinking reflect levels of education and economic vulnerability?

What is the political setting?

Could we consider the domes and shrines as a stored culture?

Similarly, houses in the Islamic Middle Ages and the recent or modern houses in Islamic
countries reflect the dominant culture and the identity of inhabitants during different eras. The
middle and poor classes’ houses were simple and humble in the beginning. These houses were
constructed with one or two floors, and included an open-air courtyard in the middle with bent
entrance to prevent seeing the inside? The entrance often was very small door which was
opening along from very narrow and bending street? While the house was surrounded with high
walls, there were no windows in the facades? Moreover, they used the upper floor for women
(called hramlk)? While the ground floor, which was reception (Salamlk) made the Muslim house
open to inside? Islamic house had also an important feature associated with the Islamic
architecture, which typically does not strive for the same balance? It was easy to make additions
to original plans. For example, as families grow, it was simple to add new dwellings to the
traditional courtyard-house complex. For that reason, the Arab house is never complete. As
family grew, the house reflects the history, accumulated growth and family structure of a number
of generations, which raises the question of the nature of the social relation? Some of these
concepts have been changed? While the others remaining? All these questions stem from the
concepts, features, basic designs or plans, materials and decorative elements.

The third example is the educational buildings or the schools which have been associated
with the mosque from the beginning. The raised questions here how did purposes and functions
affected the design? And how did the design and functions reflect the social thoughts? What
were the society values? How did the differences in the functions, systems, and plans between

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middle ages and modern age educational institution reflect social history? Architecture seems to
be codes that need decoding to understand social thoughts.