Cosmology And Architecture In Premodern Islam
Subtitle: An Architectural Reading Of Mystical Ideas (Suny Series in Islam)
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: June 30, 2005
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 262
ISBN-13: 9780791464113
Subjects: Islam; Religious Buildings; Islamic cosmology; Islam - General; Architecture; Symbolism in architecture; Religion; Sufism; History - General; Islam - History; Architecture, Islamic; Islamic art and symbolism
First sentence: A study of cosmology and architecture from a premodern Sufi perspective pre-supposes 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.
Description: "This interdisciplinary study reveals connections between architecture, cosmology, and mysticism. Samer Akkach demonstrates how space ordering in premodern Islamic architecture reflects the transcendental and the sublime. The book features many new translations, a number from unpublished sources, and several illustrations." "Referencing a wide range of mystical texts, and with a special focus on the works of the great Sufi master Ibn 'Arabi, Akkach introduces a notion of spatial sensibility that is shaped by religious conceptions of time and space. Religious beliefs about the cosmos, geography, the human body, and constructed forms are all underpinned by a consistent spatial sensibility anchored in medieval geocentrism. Within this geometrically defined and ordered universe, nothing stands in isolation or ambiguity; everything is interrelated and carefully positioned in an intricate hierarchy. Through detailed mapping of this intricate order, the book shows the significance of this mode of seeing the world for those who lived in the premodern Islamic era and how cosmological ideas became manifest in the buildings and spaces of their everyday lives. This is a highly original work that provides important insights on Islamic aesthetics and culture, on the history of architecture, and on the relationship of art and religion, creativity and spirituality."--BOOK JACKET.