Cosmology and Architecture in Premodern Islam

Cover

Download PDF (743.9 KB)
 

Title Page, Copyright

Download PDF (41.1 KB)
 

Contents

Download PDF (28.7 KB)
pp. v-vi

Illustrations

Download PDF (71.4 KB)
pp. vii-x

Note to the Reader

Download PDF (34.6 KB)
pp. xi-

Preface

Download PDF (27.5 KB)
pp. xiii-xv

When I was a little boy I used to love the snowfall in Damascus. Playing with friends in the street was fun, of course, but the real joy was in the gazing trick I had discovered and thought no one knew. Raised on a couch placed under the kitchen’s window that opens onto a large light well, I used to stand up motionless gazing at the snow flakes silently and gracefully falling down. In a...

Introduction

Download PDF (53.6 KB)
pp. xvii-xxiii

In many ways, this book is a commentary on, and an exposition of, this statement, an attempt to explore the philosophical and theological contexts that give sense to such an analogy in premodern Islam. In broad terms, the book is concerned with the question of art and religion, creativity and spirituality, with how religious thought and ideas can provide a context for understanding the meanings of human design and acts of...

Abbreviations

Download PDF (36.8 KB)
pp. xxv-

Chapter 1. Discursive Order

Download PDF (370.4 KB)
pp. 1-53

A study of cosmology and architecture from a premodern Sufi perspective presupposes some knowledge of the trends in Islamic cosmological thinking, of the sense in which cosmology can be related to architecture and of the terrains of mystical thoughts in which the relationship is grounded. This chapter presents a brief overview of cosmology in premodern Islam, a critical review of...

Chapter 2. Metaphysical Order

Download PDF (670.6 KB)
pp. 55-111

When dealing with the Sufi conceptions of reality, physical or metaphysical, it is important to recognize the essential difference between their approach and the Cartesian view that conditions our modern understanding.² Sufis do not see the world through the Cartesian polarity of subject and object, mind and extension, conscious soul and extended bodies. In fact the subject-object polarity finds neither linguistic nor conceptual...

Chapter 3. Cosmic Order

Download PDF (588.4 KB)
pp. 113-147

When God thought of revealing his “hidden treasures,” the first thing that occurred in his mind was the idea of humanity. To fulfill this idea, he first had to bring the entire world into existence to form the foundation for human existence. Although last in existence, humanity was the original idea.¹ Humanity could not have existed without the world, just as the canopy cannot stand up without the foundations...

Chapter 4. Architectural Order

Download PDF (807.8 KB)
pp. 149-206

Al-Ghāzalī’s analogy that served as the starting point of this excursion into premodern Islamic cosmology and metaphysics was concerned with the procedural aspects of the creation, with how God and an architect alike first produce a written or drawn exemplar in accordance with which an object is then brought into existence. The analogy does not tell us much about the...

Afterword: Architecture and Cosmic Habitat

Download PDF (38.9 KB)
pp. 207-209

Al-Ghāzalī’s analogy that has guided us through the preceding journey conceals hitherto unexamined assumptions concerning the act of designing. First is the predictability of God’s way of designing and our ability to read God’s mind by reflecting on his design work. Second is the architect’s responsibility to emulate the predictable aspects of God’s design. The analogy has led us to explore what it...

Notes

Download PDF (94.0 KB)
pp. 211-236

List of Arabic Manuscripts Cited

Download PDF (26.8 KB)
pp. 237-

Selected Bibliography

Download PDF (94.7 KB)
pp. 239-253

Index

Download PDF (55.6 KB)
pp. 255-262