Mosque In The Valley: A Space For Spiritual Gathering & Cultural Learning
Date Added
16/07/2019
Content Type
Dissertation
Category
Masters
Link to Content
Subject Area
Mosque In The Valley: A Space For Spiritual Gathering & Cultural Learning
Author
Nabila Iqbal
Year of Publication
2015
Description
In the history of Architecture, religious structures have always awed people
whether a person corresponds to the concerning religion or even he or she is not religious
at all. Those structures have been patronized by the riches or the royal highnesses of the
time and mostly got the utmost priority regarding planning and construction and the
results have been magnificent. By the 16th century when Ottoman Empire (15-20th
century) was spreading its dynasty, the world saw the emergence of an overwhelming
spread of Islamic architecture as well. Even now one who enters the city of Istanbul or
Damascus from the riverside will see series of domes, arches and minarets staggered
along the topography. The hierarchical progression of the biggest and most attractive
domes among them, which one could hardly miss are of the mosques.
Time to time the social and commercial aspects of life started to redefine urban
settlements and demanded for a space for spiritual devotion as well as religious learning
and practices in groups. Getting together five times a day as instructed or every Friday for
the afternoon where the Imam presents lectures not only on religious matters,
contemporary matters and better ways to live in harmony with religious and
contemporary concerns. It is the communal gathering of people that demanded for a large
hall to pray and communicate with each other afterwards.
The Intention of this thesis is to dig into some of the core aspects of the evolution
of mosques, significance of its different parts and features and most importantly how
those features as a whole are contributing to behold social and communal construct.
Files
NABILA IQBAL
University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment