Material culture is always related to religion.

We can look at every religion in the world is

influenced by culture. I will explain my opinion about material culture in Abrahamic religions
regarding from Corrigan’s book. Then, I will attempt to look for the connection among
Abrahamic religions. 

The first Abrahamic religion, Jewish has a unique material culture. If we see Christianity,
their home will be filled with Jesus. In Islam, you might find Arabic calligraphy on the wall but
not too much. Meanwhile, in a Jewish family, their house will be an important place for their
daily life. One thing that makes me wonder is the mezuzah that is also found in Islam.
Mezuzah contains the verse of the Torah which is commonly used as a charm. We can find
in Islam what so-called rajah contains part of the Quran and use for protecting them from
calamities.

The next religion is Christianity, I wonder about Christianity why they make the statue of
Jesus and the imaginary of Jesus as a white man with blonde hair. It will be logical when
Christians are influenced by the Roman empire. The material culture of the Romanian
Kingdom affected the Christian doctrine as well when this religion become the official
religion. Corrigan’s book also mentioned that Christian sacred space looks like pagan
temples. I have a different opinion from what Corrigan said in the book. The Christian sacred
space uses the statue of Jesus when he was crucified. Christianity has more distinction from
Judaism—as the first Abrahamic religion—than Islam. 

The architecture of Islam is mesmerizing with the complex geometrical concept that we can
see from the ruin and the Islamic heritage in MENA (the Middle East and North Africa) and
Spain. One thing that I will highlight is the construction of a Mosque in Islam that is less
influenced by Christian. Romanian style influences the Mosque with the dome as the rooftop.
We can see the example of Hagia Sophia in Turkey which was a Cathedral and then
converted into a Mosque after Muhammad al Fatih conquered Constantine. Another
interesting thing is that Islamic material culture will be distinguished from other religions. It
was said by prophet Muhammad that whoever imitates the community (qaum) they are part
of them. This hadith will be popular when the new year comes because for Majority of
Muslim scholars are banned to celebrate the Christian tradition. Islam when they are facing
the tradition will consider whether it fits with sharia or not. Corrigan did not mention this in
the book. There are three ways how Islam deals with tradition namely tahmil (allowed the
tradition), taghyir (adjust some point on tradition), and tahrim (prohibit the tradition). 
To conclude, the material tradition in Abrahamic religions commonly will be assimilated if it is
appropriate to the religious doctrine or the culture will be deemed as religious doctrine. From
the Abrahamic religion, we can see the connection that material culture in the place where
the religion was born will embed in the religion itself as we can see in Jewish, Christianity,
and Islam. Nevertheless, when religion comes to other places, it will be to possibilities
whether the culture is abolished or accepted.

Muhammad Ikhsan Attaftazani

22/502077/PMU/11266
Center for Religious and Cross-Cultural Studies