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Traditional Islamic Principles of Built Environment

Book · December 2003

DOI: 10.4324/9780203422687

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Hisham Mortada
King Abdulaziz University
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1 TRADITIONAL
IS L AMI C PRI N C I P LES
011
OF
BUILT ENVIRONMENT
111

Hisham Mortada
0111

0111

0111

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iii
 RUNNING HEAD

First published 2003

by RoutledgeCurzon
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by RoutledgeCurzon
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

11 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.

RoutledgeCurzon is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
© 2003 Hisham Mortada
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library
11
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Mortada, Hisham, 1959–
Traditional Islamic principles of built environment/
Hisham Mortada.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Islam and architecture. 2. Islamic cities and towns. I. Title.
NA2543.I74 M67 2002
720′.917′671–dc21 2002190803

ISBN 0-203-42268-6 Master e-book ISBN

11
ISBN 0-203-42445-X (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0–700–71700–5 (Print Edition)

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11 CONTENTS

011

111 List of illustrations vi

Foreword xiii
Acknowledgements xvi
System of transliteration xvii
Introduction xix

0111 1 The tradition of Islam and its law 1

2 The traditional Islamic social framework:

its principles and dimensions 17

3 The traditional Islamic physical framework:

its principles and dimensions 47

4 Islam and modernisation: principles vs. materials 127

0111
Glossary 160
Notes and references 162
Bibliography 172
Index 182

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v
 INTRODUCTION

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11 INTRODUCTION

011

111 The tradition of Islam embodies many principles of social organisation and
behaviour. These principles have been established by this tradition to make
the life of believers correspond to its objectives and message. Following
these principles, as early Muslim societies did, creates harmonious social
and physical environments, but to ignore them would violate the tradition
itself and adversely affect the social and physical conditions of Muslim life.
This seems to be the case in the contemporary Muslim environment, where
0111 non-traditional values and regulations are introduced and followed under
the banner of ‘modernity’.
Accordingly, this book aims to explore some of the essential principles
which the tradition of Islam has set up for Muslim society and its living
environment. Unlike many previous studies, the study will help towards
understanding Islam as a tradition of values and not one of rules. Many
studies have failed to make clear the social dimensions of this tradition as
they tended to list only the traditional regulations. They do not explain,
for example, why and how Islam has required social interaction or privacy.
Readers of some of these researches would come to the conclusion that
0111 Islam is no more than a legislative body imposing regulations upon people
and their built environment. As far as this study is concerned, Islam is a
way of life with social ideals. The pursuit of these ideals will be reflected
in the formation of the built environment. And if there are ordinances, they
are established only to support these ideals. This book, therefore, goes
beyond the rules that Islam has set up by exploring and explaining the
reasons behind them.
Socio-cultural and behavioural aspects in planning and design in general
have been of great interest to the author since his early study of architec-
ture. However, he does not claim that he has an intimate knowledge of
0111 sharī‘ah, the legal system of Islam, sufficient to cover all the issues rele-
vant to the topic of this research. In fact, Islam has warned those who are
not completely conversant with sharī‘ah against producing a fatwå or reli-
gious opinion. In this book, the author has not attempted to make any
4111 ijtihåd (scholarly religious interpretation resulting in sharī‘ah directions),

xix
 INTRODUCTION

1 but only to illustrate the given directions of sharī‘ah in environmental or

design terms, making its scope as wide and as deep as possible. The study
relies heavily on what has been specified in the two basic sharī‘ah’s sources:
Qur’an and the Prophet sunnah or tradition. Great care is taken to differ-
entiate between ordinances intended to be valid for all times and
circumstances, and ordinances that were obviously meant to meet the needs
of a particular occasion or time.
It is hoped that this book will assist Muslim architects, planners and
decision makers in the provision of appropriate solutions that address the
1 traditional principles and equally satisfy the requirements of modern life.
Indeed, the principles that Islam has set up for the life and built envi-
ronment of Muslims, which are explored in this study, could be treated as
criteria against which the planning and design of the modern physical envi-
ronment of Muslims could be tested. As it is extracted from traditional
sources, the criteria could be utilised in determining a satisfactory envi-
ronment for Muslims.
The book is presented in four chapters. Chapter 1 concentrates on a
discussion of the nature and sources of Islamic law, sharī‘ah, on which the
traditional social and physical principles have been established. In Chapter
11 2, the social principles that Islam has set up in its sharī‘ah sources are
investigated. These principles are explained in four sections, each of which
represents a social scale: society, neighbourhood, family and the individual.
In Chapter 3, the traditional Islamic principles concerning the physical
environment of Muslims are analysed. The analysis focuses on the social
quality of these principles and emphasises that they are a source of enhance-
ment of the social principles. This is again presented in four sections in a
socio-spatial hierarchy: natural environment, urban environment or city,
neighbourhood and house. In addition to the main sources of sharī‘ah such
as Qur’an and sunnah, urban and architectural examples from the tradi-
11 tional Muslim environment are used. The reason for using such examples
is that this environment was shaped by the beliefs and actions of the inhab-
itants who adhered to a traditional Islamic way of life. This environment
was developed during the period of the Islamic state, when Islamic sharī‘ah
was almost the only reference for all aspects of life. Moreover, it also
demonstrated the ruling by respected jurists on many cases of social values
relevant to the built environment derived from sharī‘ah.
Chapter 4 concentrates on the Islamic points of view regarding devel-
opment and adoption of ideas from non-Muslim contexts, and attempts to
clarify the position of Islam on the controversial issue of modernisation or
11 westernisation. It also concludes the book by presenting examples of
contemporary applications of traditional Muslim principles in various parts
of the world.

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