URBAN DESIGN II

TEST-THE CITY NEVER LIES

Aiman Khurshid
F2017-030

Q-Explain the reasons of decay of major Muslim Cities discussed in paper. “If the city never lies”
what city Lahore communicates to you today?

To understand the decay of a major city in a systematic manner we need to identify its key
dimensions.Through that we may understand the problems of muslim society and its home.The
cultivated effect of four identifiable phenomenon.

The first is the phenomenon of concealment and entrapment . The intellectual heritage of Islam was
shut off and A branded source of education for muslim community which shattered the original identity
in terms of history leading to a number of generations of muslims loosing touch with their heritage.
Muslims lost the names of major contributors of islam. The trend changed into quoting Shakespearere
and Voltair as Muslims' theological, science, and literary contributions who were historically important
were omitted from the curricula leading to the memory of islam becoming a spare-time listening.
Civilization had become synonymous with Athens, Rome, Paris, and London. Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus,
Shiraz, Istanbul, and Qurtaba were regarded as historical graveyards and exotic tourist destinations.
Sinan Pasha was practically unknown, although Sir Christopher Wren and Baron Von Hausmann were
deified. No one has ever listed Ali Khusji, the architect of Bukhara's Ulug Beg Observatory, or Ali Mardan
Khan, the architect-engineer of Lahore's Shalimar Gardens.

The second phenomenon was that of dominance and indoctrination, exemplified by the imposition of a
foreign language, which brought with it new literature, a different paradigm of meaning, imagery, ethics,
aesthetics, and, subsequently, a new worldview. New areas outside of the old city were designed
as'model towns,' with a European feel to the shape and fabric of the environment. The emerging
bourgeoisie, especially those who were certified by the new masters, abandoned their old homes and
relocated to these'more developed societies.' Institutional buildings were designed by European
architects in grotesquely eclectic styles as the dominance grew. The new architecture became obtrusive
and distinct from the traditional. On otherwise neoclassical European edi- fices, most cherished
traditional elements including domes were diminished to mere protrusions. Within the old city,
mohallahs and koochas were permitted to keep their original Muslim names. The traditional city was
gradually associated with backwardness, and modern automation was seen as the better option. This
purposefully developed and officially reinforced distinction between old and new gave rise to two
realities:'moderne and demode and Gradually, the old city was written off as a non-essential component
of the new urban order. It's important to remember that this absurd transformation,assimilation and
mental colonization took place in certain cases well before the plumed viceroys arrived.

Exoticism, romanticism, and the pursuit of the picturesque were another phenomena that played a vital
role in the reciprocal imaging of the dominating and dominated societies. Europeans regarded Muslims
as citizens in need of civility and education, and once in charge of their political power, patronized them
by displaying quaint sensitivity to their "art and culture." Muslims, and colonized people in general,
fantasized about being like their masters, and they used every trick in the book, including language,
dialect, dress, mannerisms, and, of course, architecture, to achieve this ill-fated goal. Muslim lifestyle
was mocked as primitive, politeness and modesty got branded as characteristic oriental deviousness,
traditions were proclaimed as symbols of backwardness and spirituality got equated with fatalistic
laziness. Nothing in those societies was considered sacred any longer. Relics, manuscripts and works of
art were escorted away to museums in Europe. And icons were plagiarized indiscriminately.

Furthermore The foreign language had now emerged as the language of knowledge and eloquent
expression. Superior race ideas were injected by the Europeans who brought in hitherto unseen
wonders of technology, industrialization and allopathic medicine. The 'natives' in their eagerness to
adopt the ways of Europe saw in them some natural superiority. The notion that Western societies,
being wealthy, advanced, enlightened, and strong, must somehow be embracing Islam without
calling themselves Muslims, took root in the Muslim consciousness. Since they were "Muslims in
existence," this tragic viewpoint both explained away the backwardness and poverty of Muslims
who had "left the practice of Islam" and legitimized the affection of the West.This shift also lead
some muslim philosphers to lead a path as they tended to move an intense and successful path. In the
disguise of improving infrastructure, they changed the Islamic Holy Cities as The most sacred places of
pilgrimage have become islands in the whirlpools of traffic and vast marshes of parked cars also
They transformed their Queen statues with sculpted Quran whenever the yearning for for islam arose. ,
but one cannot help but notice that they were stripping away the supposed stigma of oldness and
replacing it with newness and modernity.