The meaning of the mosque

Excerpt from the book of selected articles by Yuri Mikhailov

Ladomir published a small collection of articles by Yuri Mikhailov, the editor-in-chief of this publishing house, dedicated to Islam. We are publishing a short excerpt from an article about mosques.

All of us, since February 24, 2022, have found ourselves in the face of advancing barbarism, violence and lies. In this situation, it is extremely important to preserve at least the remnants of culture and support the values ​​of humanism - including for the sake of the future of Russia. Therefore, the editors of Gorky will continue to talk about books, reminding our readers that there is still a place for thought and fiction in the world.

Yuri Mikhailov. Favorites. From the author of the book "It's Time to Understand the Qur'an." M.: Ladomir, 2024. Contents

Having emerged as a place of prayerful worship of God and gathering of the community, the mosque very soon acquired many functions: they not only prayed in it, but also indulged in reflection, studied and taught others; people came here to listen to a philosopher or a pious wanderer, to take part in a theological debate; scribes copied books (not only theological ones) into mosques, forming extensive libraries; Sufis found lodging for the night, water, and sometimes food in it, and the persecuted found refuge; Sports competitions and intellectual debates on a wide range of issues were held within the walls of the mosque.

Architecture is the highest art of ordering space, while sacred architecture is aimed primarily at placing a person in God's presence by sacralizing ordered space. With the development of society and social practice, with the transformation in the spirit of the time of urban and rural space and the way of life of the population, the theology of Islamic architecture also evolved, the semantic form of the mosque was modified, its temple language was improved, and the architectural fabric of Muslim religious buildings became more and more sophisticated. The mosques sang the hymn to tawhid , but each in its own way, according to the talent of its architect. The source of giftedness, naturally, is God, one of whose names is Al-Musawwir, meaning “[giving (giving)] appearance (form).”

From the above it should be clear that it would be reckless to reduce the mosque only to an architecturally designed direction to Mecca. This is the path of primitivization of sacred architecture, the reduction of the high to the low, utilitarian. A mosque is not only a building with a minbar and a mihrab in its interior; in a certain sense, it is also a kind of interlocutor, a tuning fork that allows one to tune in to the right spiritual mood. She is also an interlocutor in relation to those who only see her from afar, without having been there. And these are primarily non-Muslims. In this case, the dialogue is conducted at a distance.

The Islamic norm of dialogue is to speak in a language that the interlocutor understands . “Every nation has its own messenger,” says the Koran. This passage can be rethought in the light that each community has the right to have the mosque architecture that is closer to it, the language of which is more understandable .

Therefore, a modern mosque cannot be a banal replica of some foreign mosque (no matter whether it is ancient or recently built), even the most beautiful one, but transferred to another territory that has its own historical and cultural traditions. We must resolutely disassociate ourselves from blind, thoughtless, mechanistic copying of the forms of temple theology of the past, especially foreign forms. The inertia of form is a consequence of the dogmatism of the architect (in art this is tantamount to creative failure), his ignorant client and, in a certain sense, the entire community, which silently resigns itself to the outdated architectural thinking imposed on it. “Cloning” of architectural examples of the past is difficult to interpret as anything other than direct disrespect for God, who filled this world with vibrant life, a world looking towards the future, towards a meeting with Him. Among the human creations of the Almighty there will always be craftsmen who are capable of designing original mosques of the highest merit.

In short, mosques built in the style of modern architecture do not necessarily have to resemble mosques of the historical past, be they Arab courtyard mosques or mosques of the Iranian or Turkish type.

A real architect, an architect not by position, but by vocation, must use his talent, given to him by God, to create a mosque that meets the challenges of the time and is organic to the local environment, which is formed not only by the landscape, but is also inseparable from the socio-cultural context.

Architectural citation within the framework of tradition, of course, is not forbidden, but it should always remain a creative step to master a new space and, within it, a new toolkit: forms, designs, styles.

At the same time, designing a mosque is not a reason to let the unbridled fantasies of the architect run wild. The application of a creative Muslim vision to the development of modern religious architecture falls under the concept of performing ijtihad and, of course, should not go beyond the boundaries of what is acceptable when the innovation turns out to be an illicit innovation, the fruit of delusion ( bid'a ).

A truly talented architect will strive to develop his own language. And this is not surprising, because the Koran is a living speaking Book. Everyone who turns to it each time develops their own dialogue, different from those that the same person conducted with the Koran earlier or that are conducted with the Book by other people. Accordingly, each architect develops his own personally colored idea of ​​the Supreme Reality, and therefore the method of its architectural interpretation will always be personalized in one way or another. Spiritual vision necessarily finds its expression in a special formal language, colored by the creative individuality of the one who expresses it. It is important that this language is understandable to the architect’s enlightened contemporaries.

It was already noted above how broad the functionality of the mosque became over time. Therefore, we must talk not just about a separate building with a prayer hall, minbar, mihrab and minaret, but about the mosque as an architectural ensemble (quarter, town), formed by the mosque itself, educational institutions of all levels, libraries, lecture halls and other centers of education, a beautiful well-kept park with a developed system of reservoirs, canals and much more. There is no doubt that not only Muslims will want to come here. And who would refuse to visit Paradise, albeit unreal, man-made, which is only a faint shadow of the eternal gardens of grace, but built with love, with immeasurable devotion and gratitude to our Creator?

So what knowledge and skills should ideally be possessed by someone who dares to take on the design of a modern mosque? Let's call them:

— deeply know the Koran, Sunnah, centuries-old traditions of interpretation of the sacred texts of Islam; the history of Islamic architecture in the dynamics of development not only of forms, but also - most importantly - the ideas behind them, as well as symbolism (geometric, numerical, mirror, light and shadow), ornament (geometric and floral), the art of calligraphy, and the logic of Islamic architecture in general abstraction - an instrument of earthly crystallization of the spirit of Islamic Revelation, reflection of the uncreated Reality in our world;

- to feel tawhid with the soul , to experience an internal need to express it by earthly means, to direct thoughts towards the search for an architectural embodiment of the true (and not illusory), spiritual (and not material), eternal (and not transitory), abstract (and not concrete) beauty of the upper world, after all, according to the famous hadith, “God is beautiful and loves beauty”;

- have a pronounced talent, be able to put the Koranic sayings and the rhythm of life of the Universe, set by its Creator, into architectural form, have considerable experience in participating in the design of highly artistic original mosques (and not secular or other-confessional buildings).

The creation of an outstanding mosque - and only such should be built - is only possible for a brilliant artist who, having surrendered to the Will of God, seems to become the kalam (pen) of the Almighty. In this case, the Koranic imperative is realized: “God’s hand is over their hands.” The grace ( baraka ) of the Almighty then descends on the architect , because only what comes from the One can lead back to the One. The one who takes on the heaviest burden of designing a mosque (as a rule, his position is the head of an architectural bureau with like-minded people), it is time to cry: “Lord! Lead me in by the entrance of truth, lead me out by the exit of truth, and give me from You power to help.”

To understand how multifaceted and how complex the problems of Muslim temple architecture are, let us cite an indicative passage from the remarkable work of Seyyid Hussein Nasr “Islamic Art and Spirituality”:

"Islamic cosmology, based on such cosmological verses as ayat al-kursi and ayat al-nur , and on many hadiths of the Prophet, places the Spirit ( al-ruh ) at the highest point and center of cosmic existence and relates it to the world of Divine Will (" The spirit is from the command of my Master." Below are the Archangelic substances, identified with the "perimeter" of the Lord's Throne ( alarsh ), which they support, then comes the Lord's Throne ( al-kursi ) and the lower angelic orders, descending in the hierarchy to the invisible world. There are many architectural forms of the mosque. However, should we take a classic domed mosque, where the highest point of the dome symbolizes the One, the dome itself is a symbol of the Spirit, the symbol of the angelic order is the eight-fold belt, which usually serves as a support for the dome, and the symbol of the earth (material world) is the four-sided foundation; or consider one of the early mosques, where not all elements of the spiritual universe of Islam are reflected in visual symbolism - everywhere one finds an internal connection between Islamic architecture, Islamic cosmology and angelology. The Islamic cosmos is based on the affirmation of: (1) God as the Only Beginning of all things, (2) the hierarchy of existence, dependent on the One and ordered by His Will, (3) levels of existence connecting the material world with the subtle world, the subtle world with the angelic, angelic - with Arkhangelsk, Arkhangelsk - with the Spirit ( al-rukh ), and the Spirit - with God’s act of creation. This cosmos is built on order and harmony, which are more than the simple result of the direct manifestation of the One in many. It (the cosmos) exhibits a calm and serenity predominant in its apparently dynamic character, since the variability in nature reflects, nevertheless, the immutable archetypes which belong to the higher states of universal existence and are ultimately possibilities in the Divine nature. These features of Islamic cosmology, along with several others, are reflected in Islamic architecture, especially in the sacred architecture of the mosque, based on science, which can only come from the inner world of Islamic Revelation and other forms of wisdom included in the worldview of Islamic esotericism in accordance with its own nature and the integrating power of Islam "

According to the Islamic worldview, the function of art is to ennoble matter and space. A successful mosque project should only be considered one that allows one to go beyond the boundaries of earthly reality. Unfortunately, this does not happen in all cases.

The practice of Islamic architecture in Russia leaves much to be desired. I will quote the largest domestic specialist in mosque architecture, Sharif Muhammadovich Shukurov:

“Mosques all over the world, except Russia, are built by good architects who understand the difference between form and content. Therefore, the question is legitimate: is it possible to build highly artistic, simply beautiful and technologically advanced mosques in Russia? The answer will be no. I remember the conference on religious architecture in Kazan. My calls to build “smart” mosques and the story of what is happening in the Muslim world in this area were met with a sharp and irreconcilable reaction from Tatar architects and architectural historians. They spoke on behalf of the Tatar people, insisting on their insatiable desire to build traditional mosques. It was also said that world experience <...> is not their guide. It is characteristic that specialists in the field of Orthodox architecture echoed them. Many works on modern mosque architecture clearly show that the state of architecture largely depends on the customer: if there is a customer, there is also architecture, there is no customer... Modern mosque architecture in Russia does not have an educated and understanding customer looking for a great master, even if abroad, and most importantly, someone who trusts him. That is why Russian examples of modern mosques were not included in <...> [authoritative] review publications on modern mosque architecture.

The example of modern Russia is typical: the absence of international forms of high mosque architecture and the lack of invitations to leading architects makes the architectural appearance of the mosque undeveloped, iconographically dull, as a rule, repeating the style of a Turkish mosque. One gets the impression that for modern Russian architecture there are no other architectural styles other than Turkish. When we see clear traces of this architectural style in many countries of the Middle East, there is nothing strange about it, because the Ottoman Empire introduced its own style. Russia was never conquered by Turkey, but nevertheless the Ottoman architectural style was firmly established in the mosques that appeared.”

Isn’t it true, it’s a shameful picture for our fatherland. It is clear that this cannot continue indefinitely. Demographic forecasts predict that in Russia the Islamic minority may at some point become the majority. Architectural archaism, dogmatism of thinking, lack of proper erudition and outlook, lack of understanding by sponsors and customers of mosque construction of what requirements Muslim temple architecture in “non-Islamic” Russian regions must meet today - these are the reasons for the “unsolvability” of the long-standing acute conflict between supporters and opponents of the construction mosques, a conflict that threatens to develop into an interethnic confrontation.