The Making of the Mosque: A Survey of Religious Imperatives (Islamic History and Thought)

In the absence of reliable archaeological evidence, the question of how the mosque was made represents a real challenge. Its origin remains moot despite many attempts to settle the question. This study sets out to explore whether early Islam, within the framework of the Prophet s teachings and practices, as well as the Qur n, might have provided the necessary prompts for the making of the mosque and the shaping of its essential functional and architectural features. It also investigates how such religious prompts may have interacted with the political, cultural and socio-economic contexts in which the mosque type materialized. As such, this book scrutinizes two dominant tendencies regarding the mosque type, the modern Western views on its non-Islamic origins and the Islamic legalist views on what it should look like. "The fact that many features are standard to the oldest surviving mosques suggests that a canonical type, mostly a courtyard surrounded by four porticoes, did exist early in Islamic history. Such a template would have been copied by the builders of later mosques, combined with modifications inspired by the varying local architectural heritage. The evolution of such a universally-endorsed prototype, and the many influences that shaped it, have been copiously discussed. In the absence of reliable archaeological evidence, nonetheless, the question of how the mosque was made represents a real challenge. Its origin remains moot despite many attempts to settle the question. However, the devotional prompts for the mosque institution are either underestimated or totally dismissed by most writings, mainly because of the belief that the Prophet did not fundamentally know the mosque type. The idea that the creation of the mosque has only little to do with the Prophet's career is supported by formulaic views on Arabia and Islam (a region of poor architectural and artistic heritage; a religion dismissive of building and decoration). While the structure built by the Prophet in Madina, soon after the Hijra in 622 AD, is believed by many to have later provided the prototype of the mosque, the dominant theory that it was only a private residence casts doubt on that belief. The current study provides fresh evidence, based on the Qurʼ¿n, ḥadīth and early poetry, that this structure was indeed built to be a mosque. This finding is decisive for a number of undecided issues such as the immediate origin of the mosque type and the kind of impulses that shaped its design. A mosque founded and approved by the Prophet would constitute a religious context for the development of the mosque and give the big number of mosque-related ḥadīths more point and more reliability"-- Provided by publisher TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS TRANSLITERATION CHARTS, TABLES, PLATES AND FIGURES CHAPTER ONE. INTRODUCTION-AIM AND SCOPE 1.1 WHY HAS THE RELIGIOUS CONTEXT FOR MOSQUE EVOLUTION BEEN UNDERESTIMATED TO DATE? 1.2 DOMINANT PERSPECTIVES ON THE PROPHET AND HIS HOMELAND 1.3 PROBLEMS WITH THESE VIEWS 1.4 QUESTIONS AND METHODOLOGY CHAPTER 2. SOURCES FOR THE STUDY OF EARLY MOSQUES 2.1 INTRODUCTION 2.2 ARABIC LITERARY SOURCES 2.3 OTHER EXISTING EVIDENCE 2.4 CONCLUSION CHAPTER 3. STUDYING ḤADĪTH 3.1 INTRODUCTION 3.2 ḤADĪTH IN MODERN SCHOLARSHIP 3.3 HISTORY OF ḤADĪTH TRANSMISSION 3.4 DIALECTICS ABOUT THE AUTHORITATIVENESS OF THE TRADITION 3.5 CONCLUSION CHAPTER 4. THE ‘HOUSE OF THE PROPHET’ OR THE ‘MOSQUE OF THE PROPHET’? 4.1 INTRODUCTION 4.2 EXISTING THEORIES ON THE PROPHET’S BUILDING 4.3 THE ‘HOUSE OF THE PROPHET’ THEORY 4.4 THE ‘MOSQUE OF THE PROPHET’ THEORY 4.5 ḤADĪTH AND THE ‘MOSQUE OF THE PROPHET’ 4.6 THE QURʾĀN AND THE ‘MOSQUE OF THE PROPHET’ 4.7 OTHER MOSQUES IN THE TIME OF THE PROPHET 4.8 CONCLUSION CHAPTER 5. A PROPHETIC PERSPECTIVE OF THE MOSQUE: LAYOUT AND ARCHITECTURAL COMPONENTS 5.1 INTRODUCTION 5.2 STATUS OF THE MOSQUE 5.3 SITE 5.4 MOSQUE LAYOUT 5.5 ARCHITECTURAL COMPONENTS OF THE MOSQUE 5.6 CONCLUSION CHAPTER 6. A PROPHETIC PERSPECTIVE OF THE MOSQUE: ELABORATION AND DECORATION 6.1 INTRODUCTION 6.2 DISCUSSING ANTI-BUILDING TRADITIONS 6.3 MOSQUE-RELATED ḤADĪTHS: A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 6.4 DECORATION 6.5 CONCLUSION CHAPTER 7. EVOLUTION OF MOSQUE ARCHITECTURE: BETWEEN ‘ORTHODOXY’ AND OTHER MODALITIES 7.1 INTRODUCTION 7.2 EVOLUTION OF THE MOSQUE UNDER THE RĀSHIDŪN 7.3 EVOLUTION OF THE MOSQUE UNDER THE UMAYYADS 7.4 CONCLUSION CHAPTER 8. CONCLUSIONS BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX The fact that many features are standard to the oldest surviving mosques suggests that a canonical type, mostly a courtyard surrounded by four porticoes, did exist early in Islamic history. While the structure built by the Prophet in Madina, soon after the Hijra in 622 AD, is believed by many to have later provided the prototype of the mosque, the dominant theory that it was only a private residence casts doubt on that belief. The current study provides fresh evidence, based on the Qur'an, hadith and early poetry, that this structure was indeed built to be a mosque.0As such, this book scrutinizes two dominant tendencies regarding the mosque type: the modern Western views on its non-Islamic origins and the Islamic legalistic views on what it should look like. This survey is positioned at the intersection between art, historiography, religious sciences and politics; it is not a typical monograph on architecture. As we shall see, it cuts across topics such as early Islam?s outlook on visual arts and aesthetics in general The fact that many features are standard to the oldest surviving mosques suggests that a canonical type, mostly a courtyard surrounded by four porticoes, did exist early in Islamic history. While the structure built by the Prophet in Madina, soon after the Hijra in 622 AD, is believed by many to have later provided the prototype of the mosque, the dominant theory that it was only a private residence casts doubt on that belief. The current study provides fresh evidence, based on the Qurʾān, ḥadīth and early poetry, that this structure was indeed built to be a mosque