My Neighbourhood

Surau Kpg Tupong, right at the heart of the neighbourhood.

One of the best moments in Malaysia is when the multiple azans are heard from many different mosques and musollas around the neighbourhood. The call for prayers harmoniuosly synchronize with each other; glorifying Allah, calling people towards success, inviting the local community to pray together in the houses of Allah. Imagine we are sitting in front of a mosque, right at the gates. We can start to see people coming out of their houses; walking, cycling or driving to the nearest mosque. This scene repeats itself five times a day.

The sad thing is, the only people we see going through the gate are old men. Also a few little children. So where are the young men?

They are right next door, near the small stall that sells DIGI Prepaid, handphone housings, cekedis and jajans.

Maybe, we need to set up the stalls inside the mosque. (attn architects!)
Let reverse psychology play its role.

The fiqh of architecture?

Being so far away from homeland, here in Australia, I learned about tarbiyyah & da'wah. Some people had some skepticism about it. For the others, including myself, the externalization of Islam as his/her religion in a Western country changed our lives forever. In just a few years, our perception towards Islam is no longer a mere religion; it has become our way of life. Every single thing that we do would be sourced back to the al-Quran and as-Sunnah be it in our speech, feelings, interaction with other people, appearance, time management, studies, financial, activities and many other aspects of life.

At a certain point during this 4 year period, probably during my first year, I started to think about the Islamization of architectural knowledge. Is there such thing? The thoughts come once in a while. Once, I quoted and wrote about Le Corbusier's accounts when he visited mosques in Istanbul, and went on commenting on the modern perceptions (or rather misconceptions) of the role of a mosque. At some other time, I criticized the millions of money spent on a grandeur mosque, which is in close proximity to another big mosque in one of the prominent cities back at home. I also found ArchNet, an international online community that focuses on 'Islamic' architecture. Recently I did some study on the geometrical aesthetics of medieval Islamic architecture in Isfahan, Iran.

So, there are minor efforts, here and there, to get my architectural understanding in touch with an Islamic point of view. Now, out of a sudden, I started to question, is there really any connection between architecture and Islam. (Lets put aside the modern perception of Islamic architecture ie. mosque, dome, minarets, calligraphy carvings, etc.. I think those are the Western interpretations of Islamic architecture, a point of view that is not based on the fiqh/understanding of Islam.)

Can a true understanding of Islam sets a framework for a design solution? Is there such thing like an architecture that is based on the al-Quran and as-Sunnah? Is there such thing like the Islamization of architectural knowledge?

Could there be something called The fiqh[1] of architecture?

"Another famous Hadith of the Prophet (S.A.W) that has become a maxim in Islamic built environment principles is

لا ضرر ولا ضرار

(La darrar wa la dirrar)
No harm and no harming

This defines clearly the role of builders, including those involved in design and planning, that one is to have total respect for oneself as well as others so that no unwanted impact is brought by a development, either directly or indirectly. A city is for the purpose of sustaining civilizations and this is where Islam builds a living environment for its adherents or the Ummah. ... For Islam, this is not just an objective but a system manifest."[2]

It sounds a little bit like sustainable design. However, as oppose to sustainable design, which is specifically aimed to create a sustainable built environment, the Islamic point of view is that sustainability is not the ultimate aim (maqasid), instead the architectural design is just one of the ways to answer the call of Islam. (Sounds familiar to me - Bukan matlamat utama, cuma wasilah.)

Probably, if I could rephrase it, architecture is a subset to Islam. There should be no secularization between Islam and architecture, as a body of knowledge.

Okay. This is a start.

If there really is an Islamic framework for architectural works, lets give it a trial next semester.

.........

[1]
"In Quranic parlance, the word 'fiqh' does not have the terminological meaning it has in today's language, ie. jurisprudence, but it refers to understanding (and learning) of Allah's words and His practices in the universe, life and society. There is a similarity between the usage of the word 'fiqh' in this sense (understanding in these verses of the Holy Quran) and its use in the following hadith of the 'If Allah wants to do good to a person, He makes him well-versed in the religion'. It means that Allah will enlighten his vision so that he may delve deep into the truth, secrets and aims of religion to understand them better instead of contenting himself with mere words and superficial meanings." (Dr Yusuf al-Qardhawi, Priorities of The Islamic Movement in The Coming Phase)

[2]
Ismawi Zen, Shireen Jahn Kassim & Norwina Mohd Nawawi (ed), "Anthology of Essays on Integrating Islamic Values in the Theory and Practice of Architecture and the Built Environment", IIUM KAED.



Wallahu a'lam.

Kenapa Media?

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Design of a train station for Epping, as part of 'Green Linkage' strategy.
Design Studio 8, semester 2 2010.

4 tahun berada di alam senibina banyak mengajar saya tentang peranan imej untuk menyampaikan mesej kepada orang ramai. Imej (lukisan, gambar, photomontage, etc) yang kita hasilkan perlu ada kemampuan untuk 'bercakap' dan 'menerangkan' idea kepada orang ramai tanpa kita mengeluarkan sepatah kata pun. Mereka kata, "An architect speaks through the drawings."

Skil menghasilkan imej ini diasah hari demi hari, minggu demi minggu, tahun demi tahun kerana ianya bukannya mudah untuk dilakukan. Seseorang itu perlu mengetahui 'fikrah' yang hendak dibawanya sedalam-dalamnya.

Pemikiran sebeginilah yang perlu ada dalam setiap aktivis dakwah, terutamanya mereka yang berada dalam unit media. Segala wahana media perlu dikuasai dan dimanfaat sebaiknya bagi melawan arus ideologi duniawi yang menyerang pemikiran dan jiwa pemuda Islam sekarang. Ini era baru. Cara kita bergerak perlu kreatif dan inovatif.

Secara peribadinya, saya merasakan tidak cukup dengan hanya mengetahui sedikit tentang penerbitan majalah, sedikit tentang pembikinan video dan sedikit skil fotografi. Setiap jiwa yang sudah berjinak dengan salah satu wahana ini perlu meningkatkan skil mereka ke tahap maksima. Biar skil itu dikhususkan dalam diri, biar kita menjadi pakar dalam skil masing-masing. Kalau pandai ambil gambar, belajarlah ambil gambar dengan sebaiknya. Gambar perlu ada mesej. Komposisi yang cantik. Bukan sekadar ambil untuk penuhkan graphic card, akhirnya akan tersorok di dalam arkib atau 'recycle bin'.

Secara kebetulan, saya terjumpa kata-kata Hasan al-Banna mengenai peranan media dalam bab 'Dakwah Kita' di dalam Majmu' Rasail.

Pendokong
Pendokong ideologi hari ini tidak sama seperti pendokong dahulu kerana mereka hari ini berpendidikan, terlatih dan berkepakaran (terutama di negara Barat). Kini setiap ideologi mempunyai pasukan terlatih yang mampu menghurai segala kerumitan. Masing-masing mampu menonjolkan kelebihan ideologi masing-masing dengan bantuan pelbagai kaedah penyiaran dan propaganda. Dengan ini mereka mampu mempengaruhi masyarakat dengan cara yang paling mudah dan paling meyakinkan.

Wahana
Teknik propaganda sekarang juga berbeza dengan zaman dahulu. Kaedah penyiaran zaman dahulu hanya menggunakan medan ceramah atau perhimpunan atau penulisan melalui risalah atau surat. Berbeza dengan hari ini kerana pelbagai bentuk penerbitan, mahjalah, akhbar, risalah, pementasan (fiksyen), drama dan radio. Semua ini begitu mudah sampai kepada masyarakat; wanita mahupun lelaki, di rumah mereka, di pusat perniagaan, di tempat kerja dan di ladang mereka.

Oleh itu menjadi kewajipan para pendokong gerakan dakwah menguasai dengan baik kesemua kaedah ini supaya gerakan dakwah setiap usaha mereka dapat mencapai sasaran yang dikehendaki.

Ayuh bergerak arus media Islam! Semoga setiap 'klik' di papan kekunci dan tetikus membawa ke syurga!

ps: Salah satu hasil media kreatif yang dicungkil semasa sambutan kemerdekaan Ogos lepas.

Bekalan untuk 2011

Dakwah ini tidak akan kekal dalam diri seseorang yang merasa besar segala usahanya.

Pengorbanan besar yang dituntut dalam dakwah ini tidak akan mampu ditanggung kecuali ketika jiwa melupakannya.

Bahkan jiwa pendakwah itu tidak merasai pengorbanan yang telah dicurahkannya kerana tenggelam dalam perasaan bersama Allah, merasa bahawa apa yang dilakukannya adalah kelebihan dan kurniaan Allah Taala.

(petikan kata-kata Syed Qutb)