IIS Update Magazine Edition 19

BEYOND THE MOSQUE: DIVERSE SPACES OF MUSLIM WORSHIP
whose stories existed in texts of history and theology,
but whose practices and spaces had remained relatively
unknown to those outside their communities. Without
them, I realised, our knowledge of Islam was impoverished,
and we didn’t have an anchored sense of what lived Islam
actually looked like. We had inherited a narrative about
Islam, which flattened and excluded the lived experiences
of many of the world’s Muslims. Across the globe, from Iran
and Pakistan to China and Turkey, as well as contemporary
examples from Muslim communities in Europe and North
America, the spaces of worship used by communities
became a way by which I could bring many of these visions
of Islam to a larger audience. I wanted to explore and share
what these diverse spaces of worship tell us about what it
means to be a Muslim, the way in which communities use
these spaces for their own practices, and how these spaces
communicate the values and identity of a community.
Why should people be interested in Muslim
spaces of worship?
Many of us find it easy to talk about diversity when we’re
speaking about languages, geography or food. Yet when it
comes to speaking about a faith tradition it can become
a struggle. The book allows people to think about their
own faith through the lens of diverse practices of worship.
Exploring sacred spaces enables us to think more deeply
and broadly about what it means to be religious and how
religion, translated into faith and belief, is intricately woven
into a fabric that involves community and the spaces that
we pray in, amongst other things. I wanted to showcase the
diversity of Islam’s communities and the diversity which
exists across the Muslim umma. For these spaces give form
to values and beliefs, empowering communities to articulate
their identity and create a dialogue between the local and
The King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC). The community mosque pictured here is situated in the centre of the site. The glass cube
structure comprises the main prayer hall that sits beside the stone-cladded minaret, complementing one another in their display of abstract motifs. Image credit: A. D. Alolyan
(photographer) and HOK (architect).
This book offers a compelling
insight into Muslims’ worship in
different kinds of buildings around the
world. The author introduces readers
to the basic historical, religious and
architectural backgrounds, enlivened
with eye-opening illustrations. Drawing
upon vast first-hand experiences, he
outlines in fluent, accessible prose the
wonderful variety of sacred rituals and
spaces that Islam espouses.
Professor Robert Hillenbrand of
St Andrews and Edinburgh Universities
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