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About the journal Contents Hadeeth ad-Dar is a 02 22 October 2012 puplication of the Dar al-Athar Fine Arts in Poetry: an Aesthetic Approach in al-Islamiyyah. Every year,the Reading Ibn al-Roumi’s Poetry Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah Charbel Dagher (DAI) organises a series of lectures as part of the cultural 05 18 March 2013 season. Hadeeth ad-Dar Credibility of the Information of Ibn Battuta: was created to share these Maldives painting as an example lectures with academic and Abdul-Hadi al-Tazi cultural institutions and Friends of the DAI around the world. 09 9 December 2013 Cultural Season 21 began on A victory monument in the Name of Sultan 28 September 2015 and, as in Malik-Shāh in Diyarbakir: Medieval Figural previous seasons, will present Reliefs Used for Political Propaganda? scholars in a wide variety of Joachim Gierlichs fields related to the arts and culture of the Islamic world. 16 13 October 2014 Kuwait City Green Belt Reconversion, 2013-2014 The Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah Ricardo Camacho (DAI) was created in 1983 to support the loan of objects 20 20 October 2014 The Shock of Tradition from The al-Sabah Collection to the State of Kuwait and Leila el-Wakil operates under the auspices of the National Council of Culture, Arts, and Letters. Over time the mission has grown to include promoting the fusion of people, cultures and ideas both in Kuwait and in countries hosting DAI exhibitions and loans from the collection.

LNS 105 S Screen Northern India Late 16th – early 17th century Carved by mason’s means Height: 120 cm, Width: 100 cm

Hadeeth ad-Dar 1 Volume 41 Fine Arts in Poetry: an Aesthetic Approach to Reading Ibn al-Roumi’s Poetry

Prof Charbel Dagher Presented in English 22 October 2012

I approach the subject of Islamic art from a different perspective than the traditional one. I attempt to discover concepts and images that reflect arts in early Arabic literature, particularly in the poetry of Ibn al-Roumi. A leading medieval poet, I examined his work and recorded the presence of a relationship between the visual and the written in his poems. This certainly suggests that Islamic art bears a unique ability to see beauty, based on a shared reliance between poetry and the poet’s perception of beauty.

Obviously, the study of art depends on the works of thoroughly, including Omar Farrukh, Abdul Ghani art itself and its academic evaluations (theory, history Hassan, Abbas Mahmoud al-A’qqad and others. and criticism). However, there is yet another source that Much has been written in regards to Ibn al-Roumi. art historians can trust but is often overlooked: I mean His life is, more often than not, associated with his language, particularly literary works. This argument is poetry, creating a somewhat short-sighted picture applicable to the arts in numerous cultures, including of the poet; at best, declaring him either “unusual” Islamic. or “entertaining”. Rather than highlighting the This is addressed in my first book on Islamic art: uniqueness of his poetry and his lifestyle, the research “Aesthetic Theories: a Lexigraphic- Historical Reading on Ibn al-Roumi distances him from standard artists. of Arts in Arabic Literature” and in the greater part of Researchers apply the established norms of a “typical” my books on this field. This paper is a continuation artist rather than recognising that Ibn al-Roumi was a of my approach; as another attempt to study Ibn phenomenal poet in part because he wasn’t “typical”. al-Roumi’s poems as examples of literary Arabic works Ibn al-Roumi’s life was full of tragedies and that includes genre of other arts. misfortune, and he is portrayed as one who whined I picked Ibn al-Roumi (221-283 AH/836-896 CE) and expressed his dislikes constantly. Ibn al-Roumi specifically because his collection of poems (diwan) lost his family progressively (starting with his father, is rich and diverse, containing different aesthetic and then his mother, his sibling, his aunt, and finally artistic elements. His diwan, therefore, is viewed as losing his wife and his three children). He also lost one of the greatest, if not the greatest Arabic diwans. It his properties either to fire, plant pests or otherwise. took the concerted efforts and collaboration of several These incidents often transformed his praise into contemporary scholars to examine and analyse the satire, or rebuke. In fact al-Merzabani, a noted writer seven volumes of Ibn al-Roumi’s diwan (Dar-al-Jeel, and historian, said that “The value of his writing and Beirut, 1998), with the aim of shedding light on all reciting poems has been diminished, and influential aspects of this masterful work. That said, from my personalities maintained a cautious distance from him”. perspective, there are still aspects of Ibn al-Roumi’s Nevertheless, those accounts of Ibn al-Roumi and poetry to be unfolded. the explanations identified with them – whether they Ibn al-Roumi was the subject of various early literary were right or off base – did not consider the depth works, such as Ibn al-Imad’s “Shatharat al-Thahab”, Ibn and structure of his poetry. Researchers accepted Khallikan’s “Wafayat al-A’yan”, Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi’s previously established explanations that positioned “Tareekh Baghdad” and others. In modern times, the images in his verses as humour or simple but many researchers and scholars studied his diwan masterful descriptions, not more. Dr. Charbel Dagher, is a professor at Balamand University, Lebanon and consultant in Islamic art, obtained two PhD degrees in Arabic literature and the aesthetics of arts. He collaborated with several universities and newspapers worldwide. He held the post of General Secretary of the Executive Council of Afro-Arab Cultural Symposium. Dr. Dagher has written extensively on literature and arts.

Hadeeth ad-Dar 2 Volume 41 Along these lines, I took another route in Abu-Tammam, took Arabic poetry in new directions investigating the poetic world of Ibn al-Roumi. By with respect to topics and genres of poetry. Common looking into his poems with a different approach and and familiar types of poems, praise poems for instance, studying his works from different angles, historically were adapted and new types were introduced. Poems and aesthetically, I presumed that the results would began looking at hunting, asceticism, mysticism, cast a new light on the works of this exceptional poet. I and impudence. While early Arabic verse does not utilised Ibn al-Roumi’s diwan to help my study specific give us enough evidence to create an unmistakable to three issues: History of art, poems that celebrate picture of individuals and society at the time, poetry what the eye sees, and the aesthetic conversation in the Abbasid time presents us with a reasonably between the poetry and other arts. distinctive picture of cities, neighbourhoods and The primary idea in my investigation of Ibn different positions and social classes; the conduct of al-Roumi’s diwan is that it represents an extensive individuals and their values and tastes were portrayed record of the visual arts during the Abbasid era and, as in verses; a propensity that required in effect, changes a result, possibly leading to a greater understanding of in the structure of the poem itself. This added another these arts. As I mentioned above, I address the diwan aspect to the poem: the “unity of the topic”, which was of Ibn al-Roumi as presenting new material and data uncommon in early Arabic poetry. on Islamic arts of the period. Therefore they should Started by Abu-Nawas, the new structure of the be studied as additional source material, important poem was characterised by a remarkable narrative because other Arabic sources are constrained and quality, providing a reliable description of the Abbasid dispersed. society. It also accentuated the “individuality” of the More than one poem in Ibn al-Roumi’s diwan focuses poet himself: the poet is a free human, who speaks on forms of visual art, classified and established as just for himself. He is not the voice of any other entity, “arts” in private collections and various museums over be it his tribe or even the Caliph himself. the last two centuries. These include manuscripts, This style was obvious in Ibn al-Roumi’s poems, statues, puppets, chants, decorative elements, rugs, which used to depict the daily Abbasid scene. His architecture, gardens and so forth. It is important poems described in detail places like orchards, to note that Ibn al-Roumi not only specified these palaces, gardens, taverns, houses, marketplaces and modes of arts in his poems, he also explained the more. This approach was even more apparent in the different aspects of each, their production, craftsmen, highly palpable feel of his poems, such as the one in techniques, and their special vocabularies. In his which he laments for one of his children or in another, diwan, it is possible to recognise products such as in which he expresses his profound admiration of the lamps, pens, dinars, beakers, swords, and arts of the enchanting voice of a female singer called “Waheed”. book. He also identified individual and social utilities It is also found in his satirical poems which contain of certain products, indicating commercial tastes, rough language and reflect his personal dislikes. variations in products, ​​likes, and dislikes. In his love poems, Ibn-al-Roumi uses bold In addition to the arts, Ibn al-Roumi wrote about life expressions when describing his beloved. He deviates and what he observed: from individuals and creatures from the traditional Arabic norms of vaguely portraying such as chickens and fish to the nature and the the beloved, the longings and the separation, to existence itself. He used to roam the roads, watch describing in detail extremely private encounters and create his poems describing houses, voyages, between himself and his beloved. He even goes as far and feasts. He thought about nature and wrote about as spelling out his sensual desires. the sun, grapes, bananas, apricots, pomegranates, While Ibn al-Roumi was one of the pioneers of flowers and so on. He even included descriptions of innovation of poetry in the Abbasid time, he alone was desserts. His keen eye was also focused on unique the leader in the art of description – taking it to a level features of the people he observed and included them no one could match. Before Ibn al-Roumi, description in his poems. He wrote about the hunchbacked, the as an art form was clearly insignificant in Arabic poetry. bold, the bearded, the man with an enormous nose, Poets used to exercise this technique only when the the baker, the person who fries the dumplings, and circumstance required, because description did not others. In this regards, Ibn Khallikan refers to Ibn yield advantages related to prestige and social status. al-Roumi saying: “He delves into the ‘uncommon’ Also, the ability to deliver accurate descriptions was implications of words and brings them to light in the not seen as agreeable, therefore was rarely exercised most brilliant picture. He uses a word to its greatest except for identification purposes. implication, leaving no room for uncertainties”. Nevertheless, Ibn al-Roumi was recognized as the The poems celebrate what the eye views: leading poet in the field of descriptive poetry and was Ibn Al-Roumi’s poems are inspired overwhelmingly valued for that. Without him using his outstanding by the eye rather than the emotions; “Pleased is the descriptive poetic talents to expand the genre of eye by the beauty in...” he wrote. poetry, the form would have remained insignificant. It must be said, at first, that pioneers of poetry Ibn al-Roumi took illustrative poetry to unprecedented in the Abbasid period such as Abu-Nawas and levels, as he extended the scope of conventional

Hadeeth ad-Dar 3 Volume 41 descriptions included in his verse. This fact made expresses, in detail and with great intensity, emotions his diwan the principal record of the Abbasid society, that provoke happiness, misery, abandonment. especially in 3rd century AH/9th century CE. His highly artistic taste is also apparent in his It is also true that Ibn al-Roumi’s enthusiastic references to the relationships and commonalities of undertaking of descriptive poetry was a result of his different genres of art. He draws analogies between ever developing aesthetic demands. His eyes would inscriptions and personal adornments for example; observe a particular scene and he would transform it between statues and Christian images; clothes into a poem, precisely as the visual artist brings the embroideries and scripts; and so on. For instance, elements of the outside world and transforms them into when he expresses, his gentle reproof, to no avail, he an inner world by creating his own view of the scene. likens it to the inscription on water: Ibn al-Roumi noted that: “Truly, the eye yearns for the gardens when the blooms sparkle and entwine”. “...As though whenever I admonish him “Visual arts” are represented figuratively in Ibn I chart a letter on water’s page...” al-Roumi’s poetry. In some praise poems, Ibn al-Roumi When praising a person he admires, he associates starts with describing the house of the admired person, his words with a music system based on ratios: before praising the owner of the house. He depicts “...With toned signals, He trims his words almost all parts of the building, from the interior to Well - arranged as if a composed melody...” the exterior decorations and up to the orchards surrounding it. Likewise in describing a hunting In addition, Ibn al-Roumi gives the heart the journey, he starts with describing his mental state at attributes of the brain and other faculties. To him the the time, his relationships with his companions, and heart is intelligent and can ponder and contemplate; his feelings of invigoration at the scene of sunset, all of he creates eyes for the heart, allowing it to see: which before writing about birds and hunters. Similarly, “...Contemplating and pondering smart heart when composing a poem about a feast or a banquet, Has an eye that sees from behind...” he describes the fruits in such detail, for instance, that This duality in the sense of sight seen by Ibn it is as though one is looking at a work of art, a still life. al-Roumi, is likewise found in Arabic language: “look In more than a poem he emphasizes the colours of at ...” and “look in ...”, which gives the same aptitude to the subject of his poem. Indeed, he describes them by both the visual eye and the perceptive eye. In any case, giving them the qualities of colours: it is a duality found in many linguistic and poetic cases. “And a lapis lazuli boastful of its blueness However, it is worth noting that Ibn al-Roumi is Facing the red rubies in the heart of the gardens” singled out not on account of his skills in combining When he describes objects, Ibn al-Roumi puts the visual and the insightful eyes (something which a great deal of emphasis on their shapes. He sees was done frequently by different writers before and one for example, as lines on a paper, another one as after him). Instead, he is recognised for his ability to illuminated Qur’anic verses. He says: restore and emphasize the significance and appeal “…As if it were a Qur’anic illuminated folio adorned of the visual eye, which was typically dominated by With dots and vocalization ...” the perceptive eye. Before Ibn al-Roumi, looking and His amazing abilities in description are likewise analysing with the visual eye was viewed as a mediocre obvious when he includes the hunchback, the baker, quality. Scholars and philosophers contemporary the nose of an individual, and how the dumplings are to Ibn al-Roumi, like al-Ghazali considered the fried. He writes what he sees with his exceptionally knowledge obtained by looking with the visual eye unique eye, as is evident in his words on of the voice lacking, while Ibn al-Haytham thought of it as distorted of Waheed: and misleading knowledge. “Chanting as if she doesn’t sing Ibn al-Roumi restored the value of the eye’s capacity With calm limbs while intoning to see and consider the universe. He also celebrated You don’t see her eye bulging out the delights in viewing what pleases it to see. Ultimately Nor her vein do you see blown up Ibn al-Roumi’s approach influenced other poets of the Abbasid period, including al-Buhturi, a leading poet of With tranquillity not interrupted the period. Al-Buhturi composed a poem describing, in And griefs not weakened” detail, the engaging qualities of a pool in the palace of In conclusion, what is appealing in Ibn al-Roumi’s the Caliph al-Mutawakkil. poetry is the way the aesthetic elements portray different forms of art in a way that provides a The researcher who looks into the poetry of Abbasid significantly clearer picture of arts and their splendours period carefully can easily notice the great emphasis in the Abbasid time. Examining Ibn al-Roumi’s poetry, that was eventually given to the viewing eye. In that, I could identify expressions in which he reflects the researcher will discover the art of description and the sheer joy of indulging each of his senses. He sensuous expression.

Hadeeth ad-Dar 4 Volume 41 Credibility of the Information from Ibn Battuta: Maldives plaque as an example

Dr Abdul-Hadi al-Tazi Presented in English 18 March 2013

The Moroccan traveller, Ibn Battuta, introduced our world today to the kingdoms and paths of yesterday. The journey of Ibn Battuta has been translated into more than fifty languages. He raised the flag of his country in more than five hundred locations. He introduced us to many interesting geographical locations and one of the most important among them was the Maldives Islands which he visited (744 AH/1344 CE) twice. He held a senior position in the Maldives Islands and he got married there, a fact that allowed him to meet different classes of the society. The information included in his memoirs about After the inhabitants of the Maldives adopted Islam the Maldives (Dhibat Al Mahal) will always remain a through the guidance of Abu al- Barakat al-Barbari highly important document regarding civilisation and (548 AH/1153 CE), Ibn Said al-Maghribi (685 anthropology and any document that was or will be AH/1286 CE) mentioned in his book “Geography” written about Maldives must refer to the memoirs of that the majority of the population of these islands Ibn Battuta or else it will be incomplete. We know were Arabs and Muslims. these islands, as Greek geographer and astronomer In addition to those mentioned above, other Ptolemy (d. 68 CE) is reported to have said in the geographers wrote about the Maldives, but they Meadows of Gold by al-Masudi (346 AH/957 CE), only offered briefing information in this regard. Ibn are located in “Habashi Sea”, that they are known Battuta covered all aspects of life in these islands, under the name of “Dibajat” or “Dhabihat”, and are particularly in the capital Malé, where he conducted formed of around one thousand connected islands. an anthropological study that was considered a He said: “The islands are ruled by a woman and that great contribution to the history of the Indian Ocean. is the custom in these islands - ruled not by a king, Perhaps the most important aspect regarding the but a queen. I was also informed by admirals from Maldives on which Ibn Battuta focused was the Siraf (Persia) or Oman (the Arabian Peninsula), he introduction of Islam to these islands. He not only continues, that amber is found in their sea and that recounted the events observed and examined by him they grow coconut palms”. personally, but also the stories told by trustworthy The Iranian scholar and polymath al-Biruni (440 and highly ranked citizens. AH/1048 CE) noted that these islands are located Ibn Battuta dedicated a chapter in his book to between Africa and China, they have different names, explaining the reason behind the adoption of Islam one of which is “Dhiba” and they are exceptionally in the islands. The inhabitants of the islands were beautiful. We also read about these islands in “Tabula “infidels”. In fact, they were Buddhists like their Rogeriana” by the geographer Mohammed al-Idrisi neighbours in Sri Lanka. At the advent of each (560 AH/1165 CE), who also gave them the name of month, they used to suffer from a horrifying event “Dibajat” and informs us that these islands are near which they encountered with a dreadful sacrifice. the Comoro Islands and they are united by a Chief, A jinni (demon), which I think was no more than a but his wife, whose name is “Dumharh”, is the one malicious pirate, used to come from the sea in a ship who rules. and threaten the inhabitants of the islands. In order Dr Abdul-Hadi al-Tazi (d. 2015) was a leading Moroccan scholar, who obtained his PhD in literature from Alexandria University. He served as ambassador to his country in several Arab countries. Dr al-Tazi was a co-founder of Union of Moroccan Writers, among other organizations, and a member of several cultural organizations such as Academies of Arabic Language in Cairo, Damascus and Jordan. He has many publications, e.g. translation of “Facts on North Africa”.

Hadeeth ad-Dar 5 Volume 41 to protect themselves and avoid the evil, they used to entitled “Tuḥfat an-Nuẓẓār fī Gharāʾib al-Amṣār wa prepare one of their virgin girls and take her to their ʿAjāʾib al-Asfār”. I realized that the plaque affirms the temple on the banks of the sea. They would leave historical facts, especially the information about the the girl there for the night and come back the next emergence of the Islamic religion in these islands. morning to check on her only to find her killed and her It also confirms the credibility of the information virginity ruptured. Each month the inhabitants used to provided by Ibn Battuta. draw lots and the one whose name was drawn, had The plaque is displayed today in the National to sacrifice his daughter. Museum of the Republic of Maldives in the capital Ibn Battuta narrates that this horrific episode went Malé. We believe that the plaque, that was discovered on and on each month, until one day a Moroccan during renovation works in the mosque, was engraved called Abu al-Barakat al-Barbari came to the islands. to commemorate the expansion of the mosque during Trustworthy citizens described him as a person who the era of Sultan Shehab al-Din in 738 AH/1338 CE. memorised the Qur’an and followed the religious It was not the first plaque dated to the period of the doctrine of Imam Malik Ibn Anas, one of the scholars Sultan, who converted to Islam as described in the of fiqh in Sunni Islam. Abu al-Barakat stayed at the publications of the National Centre. The plaque was house of an old woman on al-Mahal Island. He met carved from one piece of wood (Platane) and shows the woman at a gathering of family members who two historical texts. Both of them are engraved at the were in a distress and crying as if at a funeral. He same time on one plaque, at a length of 3.25 meters tried to understand the reason of their distress and and a width of 45 cm and each includes three lines. they told him that the old woman was selected in The inscriptions engraved on the plaque are thought the drawing and that she only had one daughter. to be written in the earliest Arabic letters in the Abu al-Barakat suggested that he would go to the Maldives, possibly the earliest Arabic letters written temple instead of her daughter. Ibn Battuta mentions in the entire Indian Ocean. The plaque included the that Abu al-Barakat was beardless. Indeed, they took following inscription: him to the temple where he started reading verses First line: Sultan Dermis Mohamed Bin Abdullah from the Qur’an. The jinni appeared from an arcade, and his brother Siriklo, May Allah rest their souls but Abu al-Barakat continued the recitation of the in peace, ordered the construction of the mosque. verses. When the jinni heard the Qur’anic verses, he Shnora, Minister, improved the construction, May was drowned in the sea. Abu al-Barakat continued Allah rest his soul in peace. Abu al-Barakat arrived to read the Qur’an out loud. The old woman and the to this country. inhabitants of the island came to the temple the next day to take the body and burn it as was the custom, Second line: Yusuf (?) became Muslim thanks only to find the Moroccan alive. They took him to their to al-Barbari in Rabih al-Akher 548 AH. Then the king who was called “Shenourazah” and told him Sultan’s son Sultan Shehab al-Din Bin Abi al-Fateh the story. The king was impressed. Abu al-Barakat Jalal al-Din Omar Bin Saleh al-Din ordered the al-Barbari explained Islam to the king. The king said: construction of this mosque along with the vizier. “Stay with us for another month and if you manage to Third line: Shenourazah? Al-Din Ali Bin Abi al-Faraj survive I will convert to Islam.” al-Selahi ordered the construction of the mosque, At the end of the month, the Moroccan went to the finished in Dhu Al-Hijjah 738 AH. temple and read the Qur’an until the next morning I highly recommend that we study the historical and the jinni did not appear. In the morning, the king information provided to us by this plaque, which came to the temple along with his people, and they is considered an important source of information found him alive. They destroyed all the idols in the about the history of Islam in these islands. People temple, they became Muslims, and encouraged the interested in the history of the emergence of Islam rest of the inhabitants to adopt Islam. in the Far East, stress the role of the Moroccans Ibn Battuta added that the Sultan (the king) built (Moros) vis-à-vis the arrival of Islam to Sulu Island, a mosque and called it after Abu al-Barakat. He South Philippine, during the fourteenth century. also ordered one third of the wealth of the Islands The characters mentioned in the plaque are: to be allocated to the wayfarers. The tradition was Sultan Dermis Mohamed Bin Abdullah, Siriklo, vizier enforced while Ibn Battuta was in the Maldives. Ibn Shenourazah, Abu al-Barakat al-Barbari, and Sultan Battuta explains that the jinni was the reason behind Shihab Addin Ahmed. We understand that Sultan the destruction of many Maldivian islands before the Dermis converted to Islam in the Maldives and, emergence of Islam. according to the plaque, after becoming a Muslim he When I visited the Republic of Maldives in July changed his name to Mohammed Bin Abdullah. 1990, on the occasion of its Independence, I saw an In order to find out the truth, we must know that Ibn engraved plaque that was described by Ibn Battuta Battuta described Abu al Barakat Al-Barbari in his book more than six and a half centuries ago, in his book with two characteristics. The second characteristic

Hadeeth ad-Dar 6 Volume 41 clarified that he believed in the religious doctrine of pronunciation, was explained previously. The term Imam Malik, which also became the religious doctrine Raja is also a princely title. of Maldives Islands until the Portuguese invaded the Nicknames: Abu al-Barakat, Abu al-Futuh, Abu country in 965 AH/1558 CE. At that point, the Maliki al-Faraj scholars either died or fled. The Portuguese used The plaque included calling some famous persons to gather the Muslims in fishnets and throw them with their surnames starting with the word “Abu”, in the ocean, as the Spanish did with the Moors which means “father of”, in accordance with an before they burned them. After the Portuguese were Arabic ancient habit that aimed at honouring people. expelled from the islands and the Maldivians restored It seemed more respectful to call the person “Abu …”. their independence in 981 AH/1573 CE, al-Shafai’s Some people in the Orient still find it disrespectful to doctrine replaced al-Malik’s. Thus, the only thing call the person by his personal name, so it is better that was recorded in this country as regards to the to call him “Abu …”. We have also heard of people sect, was the replacement of al-Malik’s doctrine with whose nicknames were “Abu al-Futuh”, particularly al-Shafai’s one. after recording a victory for their countries. Others The plaque includes a number of titles and were nicknamed “Abu al-Faraj”, hoping that the surnames, some of which are taken from the Arabic comfort would be achieved by them. language and others date back to Dhibet origin, if we In regard to nicknames that included adjectives may say. added to the word “al-Din”, the first part of the plaque, Sultan: derived from the word “Salata”, which which dates back to 548 AH/1153 CE, was free of means compulsion. Hence, it was used for the such adjectives. It is known that the emergence of governor and it is originally from the Aramaic and these titles was mainly connected to the increase of Syriac languages. It appeared in the Arabic papyrus Persian influence in the Abbasid era. The Persians as early as the first Hijri decade, with references to used to adopt and organize these titles and create the Sultan’s duty and the Sultan’s house, referring to more of the over the days. the authority of the government, the ruler or governor. Al-Qalqashandi tried to organize the rules for It was then used for the State’s great persons. It was selecting that title, which was made of two words, used for the first time in the age of Harun al-Rasheed. one of them is the word al-Din. He noticed that the Al-Qalqashandi indicated in his al-Subh that the title title was consistent with both the name and the type “Sultan” had not become widely used until the kings, of the position and sometimes with the gender or the such as Bani Boya, overcame the Abbasid caliphs religion. Al-Qalqashandi called the title added to the and took power for themselves. Thus, they were word al-Din the “Identifying Title”. It was customary given the title “Sultan” as a general character. In fiqh to use the title “Shehab al-Din” for the person called books, the term “Sultan” referred to the ruler of the “Ahmad”. Sometimes, the title “Seraj al-Din, Rukn place, even if he was a judge. In Moroccan historical al-Din or Jalal al-Din” was used for the person references, the term Sultan was used for Ali Yusuf whose name is Omar, and the title “Nour al-Din” for bin Tashfeen. The title was used for the governors the person named Ali, among other titles covering of Maldives islands before the title was awarded to all names. Likewise, we noticed that some of these Salah Al-Din in 570 AH/1174 CE. titles, such as Salah al-Din, was given to the person Visier (Minister): was a positional title and used as who undertook the responsibility for evicting the a title for both military and civil ministers. Whereas this Crusaders from Jerusalem. title is used for both classifications, it was accompanied Notes on the plaque: by another word indicating the class for which the First, according to the shape of the plaque and the title holder belongs, as we have seen here when style in which the words were formed, there are two the term Shenuraja was added to the Minister title. compositions. The first one is related to what was Among the non-Arabic political titles included done by Sultan Muhammad bin Abdullah and his on the plaque is the word (Dermes), which means brother Siri and the second is related to what was the Just. It is known that the word Just is used for done by Sultan Shehab al-Din. The first composition kings and other leaders and it ranks among their was written when the second part of the plaque was high qualities. It was used for the first time for Abu being prepared, possibly because they did not want al-Abbass Ma’mun Khuarezam Shah in a composition us to forget their ancestors’ achievements. It was text in 401 AH/1010 CE. Prince Kalo, brother of Sultan ordered that the first sentences be written in the same Muhammad bin Abdullah, was called Siri; a term that way as their ancestors used to write. Through these have always accompanied the names of sultans and words, we know that the date of the construction of princes that ruled the countries. Siri is the equivalent the mosque was after the date the Sultan embraced in the Moroccan dialect of my master or my ruler or it Islam and it was completed during the first years of is equivalent to the description of the prince. The term accepting Islam. Therefore, it becomes apparent Shenuraza or Shenuraja, according to the scholars' that the National Centre for Historical, Linguistic

Hadeeth ad-Dar 7 Volume 41 and Cultural Research was mistaken when it said As for the inscriptions inside the mosque, in that all information in the plaque dated back to the addition to the plaque, they include, as proved by age of the first Muslim Sultan. It is noticed that there the statement of the National Centre for Historical, is dissonance in the way both pieces are linked. Linguistic and Cultural Research, both Arabic and Second, it is noticed that the script of the plaque is Dibic inscriptions. The Centre’s statement mentions an old Arabic style; some of the letters do not have that the Arabic inscriptions were made by the jurist dots or vocalization marks. We note also that the judge Jamal al-Din Ben Sheikh Mohammed al-Mahali, calligrapher does not hesitate to put a letter in an and they are Qur’anic verses and the Hadith, in arbitrary way, either before or after a word. Third, the sentence which Ibn Battuta took notice of in addition to some poems with historical information the plaque was in fact: “Abu al-Barakat al-Barbari, about Jama Mosque and some rulers of the Maldives. the Sultan became Muslim thanks to him”, and Ibn Thus, in front of the mihrab, we see two plaques with Battuta changed it into “The Sultan became Muslim Arabic inscriptions, one to the right and one to the thanks to Abu al-Barakat al-Barbari”. left. They were placed parallel to each other, while It is probably good to follow the developments the new mosque was being built in 1067 AH/1657 CE. of the Jama Mosque (Tukuru Miskiy) until we get I think that the inscriptions are related to the efforts to the date when this plaque was moved from its of Sultan Iskandar al-Ghazi Ibrahim in constructing place at the cabin corner. According to the book this mosque, rather than the Shehab al-Din Mosque. History of Diba Mahal Islam, the mosque remained as it When this inscription was made and the location was from the second construction which was finalised chosen for it was to the left of mihrab, people thought during the days of Sultan Shehab al-Din Ahmad in Thi it was better to make another inscription to the right Hajja 738AH/1338 CE, until the days of Sultan Ibrahim of the mihrab and include the content of the original Iskandar Ben Mohammed (al-Aytami) “Iskandar the first”, whose Maldivian History give this long name: plaque. Inside the room in which mihrab is located, “Siri Kalo Ranmeeba Kattiri Bavana Nah A Radun”. there is the platform which the Imam uses for Friday and holiday prayers. In addition, in the Qibla building, Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar Ben Mohammed (al-Aytami) was Sultan for thirty nine years (from there is a great plaque made from wood, with beautiful 1058 - 1098 AH/1648 – 1687 CE) and he also decorations, engravings which are encircled with a supervised military affairs. In his eighth year, i.e. in holy verse. 1066 AH/1656 CE, he destroyed the Jama Mosque, It is easy to read the holy verse: “We see the which was built by Shehab al-Din, because it became turning of thy face to the heaven” (sura 2 verse 144); too small and could not fulfil the need of people, and: “…The people of the Book know well that that especially during Friday’s prayer. In addition the roof is the truth from their Lord…”. In the middle of this was without tiles. The Sultan tore it down, raised its wooden plaque are two other inscriptions, the higher bases and expanded the building. Coral stone was reads: “And we appointed the Qibla to which thou used in building the new mosque on the site of the wast used…” (sura 2 verse 143); while the lower first mosque, where it remains today. one includes a historic inscription of three lines in the Back from Hajj in 1078 AH/1667 CE, during his middle of which the name of Sultan Isknadar al-Ghazi twentieth year of rule, he built a school in the gallery Ibrahim. of Jama Mosque and assigned a jurist to teach the Qur’an and Fikh to the students. He paid the Thus, I have highlighted this plaque which holds expenses of this from the Money House. Then he historic facts. It shows, more than anything, the built the minaret according to the style of the Makkah greatness of Islam, which moved beyond all limits minarets and designated a muezzin to call all five and boundaries. prayers. He finished building the minaret in 1085 On the occasion of Maldives 23rd National Day, AH/1674 CE. President Ma’moun Abdel Kayoum said in his speech: A statement issued by the National Centre for “Morocco has a special status in the hearts of the Historical, Linguistic and Cultural Research mentions Maldivian people. A preacher from that country called that in 1322 AH/1912 CE Sultan Shams al-Din al-Hafez Abu Barakat Youssef al-Barbari arrived Iskandar III repaired the roof, which was of wooden to our country; and thanks to him Islam reached to tiles, expanding it using corrugated iron. In April 1964, the corrugated iron sheets were replaced by these islands. This faith message was spread some aluminium sheets, while the ceiling was covered with eight hundred and thirty five years ago. And, thanks teak wood. On this occasion, the original plaque, the to Ibn Battuta, the Moroccan traveller who visited subject of our research, was moved to the National our country during the fourteenth century, Maldives Museum. islands were introduced to the Arabs and Muslims.

Hadeeth ad-Dar 8 Volume 41 A victory monument in the Name of Sultan Malik-Shah in Diyarbakir: Medieval Figural Reliefs Used for Political Propaganda?

Dr Joachim Gierlichs Presented in English 9 December 2013

The Seljuqs of Anatolia, sometimes called the Rum-Seljuqs, are known for their frequent use of figural representations, especially in the decoration of their architectural commissions. This tradition, however, was already well established by the end of the 11th century in southeastern Anatolia, and it continued under the emirates, or Beyliks, all over Anatolia during the 14th and early 15th centuries. If we take into account this entire period, altogether some hundred stone reliefs on more than fifty monuments are recorded. Only the Ottomans, generally speaking, did not continue this tradition.

Disregarding other differences, such Anatolian stone-carved reliefs can be divided into two main categories: first, reliefs more or less hidden in the non-figural context, which are incorporated into the geometric or floral patterns of any given decorative ensemble; second, reliefs conceived separately and placed in very dominant positions, where they can in no way be overlooked. Some of these figural reliefs occur as single figures, but more often as confronted or addorsed [placed back to back] pairs; larger compositions, some including up to a dozen figures, are also known. Such a composition has survived on the city walls of Amid, or Diyarbakır, the strongest fortification in southeastern Anatolia. It has more than 70 towers of different shapes and dates, on which groundbreaking research was carried out by Albert Gabriel in the 1930s. Regarding their “program of images,” towers 30 and 40 are the most unusual towers of the entire city wall. They display two large figural ensembles, for which I wish to propose an interpretation which, then, might lead to further discussion regarding other such reliefs, not only in Anatolia, but elsewhere in the region. The towers are located on the western part of the circumvallation (figure 1). They are both similar and dissimilar in shape and decoration, although both are Figure 1

Dr Joachim Gierlichs is currently a research associate at the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin, on the Yousef Jameel Digitisation Project. He has been researching the art and material culture of Iran, Turkey and Central Asia in medieval and early modern time and has authored and/or co-edited several books. He has also been the curator and scientific adviser for Roads of Arabia exhibition at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

Hadeeth ad-Dar 9 Volume 41 constructed in the same roughly dressed stone. Their plans are different: tower 30 is rectangular, while tower 40 is polygonal. On their exterior surfaces, both towers have carved decorations (figures 2 - 5): a rectangular panel partially set off by a simple frame surmounts an inscription of several lines, carved in floriated Kufic letters that record the date, the patron, and the architect of each tower. On tower 30 the inscription is three lines long, while that on tower 40 is five lines in length. On both, however, the inscribed lines alternate with unornamented courses of narrower stones. Above and between the inscribed lines and also at the end of the lines of text are smaller, symmetrically disposed compositions of Figure 5 human beings and animals. The panel above the inscriptions on each tower contains facing pairs of kneeling bulls (tower 30) and galloping horses (tower 40); between them is a niche in which was carved - most probably - a human being, either standing or seated (figure 2). Above each panel can be recognized the remains of an eagle, either single- or double-headed. On both towers, the first row of the inscription is framed by pacing lions facing inward; further down is a pair of confronted hares, centrally placed - on tower 30, the motif is found underneath the first line of the inscription, while on tower 40, it is under the fourth Figure 2 line; and on each tower, the line of text below which are the hares is framed by a pair of birds. Tower 40 has additional and unusual reliefs: the last line of the inscription is flanked at each end by the figure ofa seated nude woman (figure 5), a highly unusual occurrence in Islamic art. Tower 40 also carries two more niches, one on the main façade of the tower and most probably related to the figural composition above it, the second on the chamfered left flank. Lastly, on each chamfered flank of the tower are scenes of animal combat, a bird attacking a quadruped and a bird attacking another bird. In the late 1980s, part of the tower was used Figure 3 as a house - indeed, the whole area was turned into a gecekondu quarter: thus, it was not then possible to gain access to the tower nor to make any measurements of the location of this important carved decoration. So far as I am aware, the Turkish art historian Gönül Öney is still alone in attempting to explain these figural ensembles: some decades ago, she saw them as a throne-scene and a hunting-scene, which is correct as far as it goes, but does not fully explain these complex and unusual ensembles. I believe I can propose a further interpretation, one linking them Figure 4 directly to the period in which they were created.

Hadeeth ad-Dar 10 Volume 41 The inscriptions on the towers inform us of the of the winter palace of Khirbat al-Mafjar (8th century) date, the patron, and the architect. The great Seljuk near Jericho, or on the entrance lintels at mar ruler Malik-Shāh b. Arslān (465 AH/1072 CE – 485 Ahudammah in Mosul (first half of the 13th century), AH/1092 CE) ordered both to be built in the years on one of which the throne of the ruler is supported 481AH/1088-89 CE and 482 AH/1089-90 CE. by two lions. Hares and birds might refer to the The architect was Muhammad ibn Salāma from preferred pastime of Malik-Shāh. His love of hunting Edessa-al-Rūhā, modern Şanlı-Urfa. Diyarbakır, is mentioned by al-Rāwandī (late 12th century): “of formerly amid or amida, had been under Marwānid all kinds of sports and games he favoured the hunt”. rule since 373 AH/983-84 CE. The major city in On a secondary level, these animals might also southeastern Anatolia, was conquered in 477 AH/1085 symbolize the peace and freedom which had been CE by the troops of ibn Jahīr, who had been able to brought to al-Jazīra by Malik-Shāh. In contrast to convince Malik-Shāh of the advantage of taking it. this, the two animal combat scenes, “banished” to The conquest of other important neighbouring places the chamfered faces of tower 40, might allude to the followed within the next years: Mayyafariqin, modern threat that had been overcome. Silvan (478 AH/1085-86 CE), where the Marwānid Finally, the meaning of the nude women, the most treasure was kept, and Urfa, which was handed unusual part of this composition, must be explained. over in 479 AH/1086-87 CE. The capture of these Such representations are extremely rare in Islamic art well-protected cities, especially Diyarbakır, was an and, when such figures - for example, dancers - are extremely difficult endeavour and took more than two depicted, both context and meaning are totally different. years. Shortly after this success, Malik-Shāh decided As an example, consider the famous Fatimid drawing to build, or restore, two towers of the Diyarbakır wall and to decorate them with monumental figural of a so-called female dancer, probably dating to ensembles that are entirely unprecedented. I suggest the 11th-12th century, now in the Israel Museum they may be “deciphered” in the following manner. in Jerusalem. The few surviving examples of nude women used in the decoration of Islamic architecture The kneeling bulls symbolize Diyarbakır (or the belong to the Umayyad period: the stucco figures besieged towns in general) which then pay tribute also in the winter palace at Khirbat al-Mafjar, a stone to the Seljuk ruler, who is represented in the niches. torso from Mshatta (now in the museum of Islamic Art Above him is the sultanic eagle, a symbol of royal in Berlin), or paintings in the bath at Qusayr ‘Amra. power. The galloping horses might indicate the energy All belong to the private or semi-private sphere, in and speed of Malik-Shāh’s westward campaigns, most cases that of the ruler, while the reliefs of the unstoppable at that time; on the other hand, these city walls of Diyarbakır are in a manifestly public horses may also recall the two years of Malik-Shāh’s area. Indeed, from the post-Umayyad period, no campaign against Diyarbakır. The “running of horses examples are known (at least so far as I am aware) against a city wall” is literally expressed by Jalāl in architectural decoration except the tiny reliefs on al-Dīn Rūmī Mevlana in a poem dedicated to the the main portal of the Karatay Han east of Kayseri, new city walls of the Rūm-Seljuq capital of Konya which was built in 638 AH/1240-44 CE and thus in 618 AH/1221-22 CE, which had been ordered by post-dates the towers of Diyarbakır. Moreover, these the greatest of the Rūm-Seljuq sultans, ‘Alā al-Dīn women - dancers apparently - are well hidden within Kaiqubād (r. 1219-37). the geometrical and floral decoration of the portal More broadly, the horses might also allude to the and are virtually unrecognized by most observers. origin of the Great Seljuqs in Central Asia, whose Their meaning is still unexplained but, in any case, culture was dominated by the use of horses for the different “concept” precludes their assistance in riding and hunting. Another allusion might be to the explaining the presence of the two nude women on so-called “sentry-horse” of the ruler, an important Malik-Shāh’s tower in Diyarbakır. royal symbol introduced to Muslim courts in the early Most interesting in this regard is a highly complex ‘Abbāsid period, during the reign of Caliph al-Mansur work of art, a wooden window shutter now kept in (r. 754-75): afraid of being assassinated by the the Türk ve Islam Eserleri Müzesi in Istanbul and heretical Rāwandīs, day and night a horse was kept decorated with several figural representations, in readiness in the palace, prepared for flight - bridled among them a pair of lions as well as a pair of griffins and saddled - for the caliph to flee, if necessary. and two human figures (figure 6). The figure at the The lions framing the upper part of the composition top is most probably a seated man with crossed legs can be related to the ruler Malik-Shāh but, in a more in the “Türkensitz” position, while at the bottom, in general sense, are also symbols of royal might and a teardrop ornament a highly stylized depiction of power. From the early Islamic period onwards, similar a nude woman, legs spread apart, can be seen. examples are known: for instance, the stucco figure Curiously, this offensive representation shows no standing on a pair of lions in the imperial “bath house” later traces of damage - intentional or otherwise,

Hadeeth ad-Dar 11 Volume 41 while all the other figural scenes on it were later at its greatest geographical extension, but had also partly removed. The shutter is said to come from the reached its full intellectual flowering under his famous 15th-century Ibrahim Bey Imareti in Karaman, despite vizier Nizām al-Mulk. Only a year before, on 17th that the dating and the original location are unclear. Muharram 480 AH/25th April 1087 CE, Malik-Shāh It has been suggested that the shutter was reused, had been officially greeted in Baghdad by the Caliph there, and actually dates from the first half of the 13th al-Muqtadī (467-487 AH/1075-94 CE), receiving the century. The meaning of the unusual representation two swords-an important symbol of power; and in the of the nude woman has not been explained, but this same month his daughter was married to al-Muqtadī. example proves that such figures are not unknown in To verify interpreting the Diyarbakır towers as a Islamic art, even in the public arena. mashhad al-nasr, we must ask whether the practice was already known in the Islamic world, and if so, how such monuments looked. Thomas Leisten has dealt with the topic and discussed some examples, which have been called - if, sometimes, only in historical sources - mashhad al-nasr. The recorded monuments are rather different in character: among them we may find the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem as well as the minarets at Ghazna and Jam in Afghanistan, whose interpretation as a so-called “victory tower” he has rejected. One result of his investigation is to establish that all such monuments very quickly lost their original function as a recollection of a victor, or a battle-monument - which is the actual meaning of mashhad al-nasr; and often the buildings were forgotten, used for another purpose, fell into disrepair, became dilapidated, and, finally, disappeared. This is the case with the qubbat al-nasr, a monument which had been erected to the memory of the historical victory of Salāh al-Dīn (Saladin) against the crusaders at the so-called “Horns of Hattin,” an event recorded by the historian al-Dimashqī. According to Leisten, the reason why the few Islamic memorial monuments lasted for only a short time was the way the “message” was transmitted. In other words, it is the missing “figural character” of Islamic art which would be responsible for their limited life. His explanation is convincing only at first reading. Pre-Islamic victory monuments in neighbouring lands, by contrast, recount the historical event they commemorate both allegorically and figurally. In my opinion, Muslim monuments, which carry special Figure 6 messages to the public do exist and I suggest that Nonetheless, despite some remaining uncertainties the towers ordered by Malik-Shāh in Diyarbakır are in deciphering these figural ensembles on the among them. On them, with the help of figural reliefs, Diyarbakır walls, I would like to propose yet a different a historical event is explicitly visualized, even if we do interpretation. The scenes may represent, at the most not find a clear statement of this in the inscriptions: obvious and generic level, the ruler’s prerogatives of indeed, the term mashhad al-nasr, victory monument, enthronement and hunt, but, at a second level, they does not occur in them. Instead, the images - a set of also may be seen as alluding to a specific historical well-known figures that includes galloping horses, the event, the conquest of, and the “bringing of peace” seated sultan, eagles, lions, hares, and birds - speak to, Diyarbakır and the whole region. Both towers in a visual language that was easy to understand by should together be understood as a “monument of the people of that region. The figural reliefs are directly victory,” a mashhad al-nasr for the great Seljuk ruler linked to the monumental historical inscription, and Malik-Shāh b. Arslān (r. 1072-92), who was at the the composition of both ensembles is determined by peak of his power just at that moment. The empire symmetry as well as by clear hierarchy. The “image” of the great Seljuqs under Malik-Shāh was not only is not narrative, in the sense we are accustomed to

Hadeeth ad-Dar 12 Volume 41 in European art, but emblematic. In other words, the decoration. The monuments upon which my analysis visual message is reduced to the essential points, a and interpretation is based are, in chronological feature that is characteristic in Islamic art in general. order: To understand the signal importance of these 1. The lion-bull reliefs at the Ulu Cami of Diyarbakır towers, we must then accept that something new has (datable before 575 AH/1179-80 CE) occurred here. It is true that figural representations of 2. The heavily damaged eagle-bull-dragon reliefs the Islamic period in Diyarbakır are known from the at the Urfa, or Aleppo, Gate in Diyarbakır ‘Abbāsid period, mainly to be found at the Kharput (dated 579 AH/1183-84 CE) Gate in the north of the city. On the inner side of 3. The dragon relief at the “Talisman Gate” in this gate, together with a multi-lobed niche we find Baghdad (dated 618 AH/1221-22 CE) a composition of various animals, among them the lion and bull, birds, and others. But because these 4. The portal of the caravanserai Al-Khān in the representations are inside the gate, we should Sinjar Mountains, built by Badr al-Dīn Lu’lu’ assume their function and their meaning differs between 631-57 AH/1233-59 CE in some way from those we are dealing with. In 5. The “Mosul-Gate” in ‘Amadiya in northern Iraq, Diyarbakır the figural compositions on towers 30 and also built by Badr al-Dīn Lu’lu’ between 631-57 40 are obviously not the earliest to have been placed AH/1233-59 CE on the walls of the city, but they are the very first to be placed on the exterior of that city wall, at least in the Islamic period, and thus, they differ in a substantial way from all similar predecessors. Further support, indirect but strong, for this interpretation of Malik-Shāh’s towers as a victory monument - a kind of sculptural “political pamphlet” - comes from the fact that another pair of towers, round in plan and even larger (31 and 39), built by the Artuqid ruler Nāsir al-Dīn Mahmūd in 605 AH/1208-09 CE (figures 7-8) clearly echo those of Malik-Shāh, dating about 130 years earlier. The figural programme of the Artuqid towers is today very difficult to understand, because Figure 8 of the massive damage sustained by most of the animal reliefs over the centuries. Two different sets The main portal of the courtyard of the Ulu Cami of figures contain, respectively, three (tower 39) and in Diyarbakır is decorated with a monumental seven (tower 31) animal figures in a highly symmetrical calligraphic inscription in two lines. The second, layout. Both are dominated by a double-headed shorter line is flanked by two mirror-image reliefs, eagle above the ensemble, and both are directly showing a highly stylized fight of a lion with a bull linked to the inscription running around the towers. (figure 9). Max van Berchem, after a detailed analysis of various inscriptions, starting with the one dated 484 at the Ulu Cami complex, concluded that the animal-combat reliefs on the portal of the courtyard are the final stage of the “creeping takeover of power” by the Nīsānid vizier Abū’l-Qāsim ‘Alī, who died in 575 AH/1179-80 CE. While the first inscription, of 484, begins with the name of the Seljuk ruler Malik-Shāh followed by the local vizier, in the inscriptions of the years 510 and 518 the Inālid Īlāldī has put his name above that of his sovereigns, the Seljuq rulers Muhammad and Mahmud. The next step can be observed in the inscriptions of 550: the Seljuq ruler is no longer mentioned, and the Nīsānid vizier Figure 7 al-Hasan - the father of the later Abū’l-Qāsim ‘Alī - has displaced the still de jure ruling Inālid Mahmūd, This interpretation is yet further supported by the relegating him to a secondary position. The final fact that Malik-Shāh’s towers do not stand alone, but stage is reached by the inscription at the main portal are the first of a line of monuments in Diyarbakır, of the Ulu Cami, in which neither the Seljuq ruler nor and elsewhere in the Jazīra, which are “defined” by the Inālid Amir is mentioned and only the name of their stone-carved figural decoration - an unusual the Nīsānid vizier - Abū’l-Qāsim ‘Alī - appears in the

Hadeeth ad-Dar 13 Volume 41 short second line, next to the animal-combat reliefs. It level of propaganda, the Talisman Gate also has a should be mentioned that the Inālid Amir was actually most evident astrological significance, depicting the already under house-arrest in his palace at that time. eclipse, indicated by the so-called “Brezelknoten” Keeping in mind these changes in the formula of the of the dragons. This rather complex subject has inscriptions, I am convinced that the lion-bull reliefs been thoroughly treated by Willy Hartner and, more on the portal of the Ulu Cami in Diyarbakır represent recently, Katharina Otto-Dorn, among others. far more than just “simple” decoration. They were planned as a public visual documentation, to announce the end of a “step-by-step takeover” of power, the Nīsānid abū’l-Qāsim ‘Alī (the lion) superseding the Inālid Mahmūd (the bull).

Figure 9

In a similar way should be read the figural reliefs of the Urfa Gate (579 AH/1183-84 CE): here the now heavily-damaged reliefs (figure 10) visualize Figure 11 the takeover of power in 578 AH/1182-83 CE by the Ayyūbids and, soon after, by the Artuqids. The latter ruled the town and the region for the next century and became great patrons of art and architecture.

Figure 12

Figure 10 The dragon reliefs on the portal of the al-Khān in the Sinjar Mountains of northern Iraq as well as Outside southeastern Anatolia, we have also on the Mosul Gate in ‘Amadiya (northern Iraq) give striking examples of victory monuments. On the further proof that, under special conditions, figural so-called “Talisman Gate” in Baghdad, built in 618 reliefs were used in Islamic times to convey political AH/1221-22 CE (figure 11) but destroyed in World War messages and propaganda. Both compositions match I, could be seen a symmetrical composition, a seated in their main points: a man fights a dragon, stabbing princely figure in the centre, framed and threatened a long spear into its mouth or slashing the monster’s by gigantic dragons which are tamed by his hold on neck with a sword (figure 13). Both inscriptions their tongues (figure 12). The triumph of the ‘Abbāsid mention the Mamluk and Atabeg of the Zangid ruler Caliph al-Nāsir (r. 1180-1225) over his enemies - the Nāsir al-Dīn Mahmūd (1219-22), Badr al-Dīn Lu’lu’. Khwārizm-Shāh Muhammad, the Mongols, and the His titles permit the monuments to be dated in the Grand Master of the Assassins, Hasan III - is here period of his sovereignty, from 631 AH/1233 CE visualized in a magnificent way. In addition to this to 657 AH/1259 CE. In addition to their apotropaic

Hadeeth ad-Dar 14 Volume 41 function and astrological meaning, the reliefs - indeed, both monuments entirely - function as instruments of political propaganda for their patron. At the Al-Khān caravanserai, the former slave with neither family tree nor royal lineage placed himself in the legitimate line of succession and compared himself to the mythical Persian hero Rustam, thereby attaining a desired, and obviously needed, legitimacy. The Mosul Gate in ‘Amadiya is even more a “ruler’s monument,” commemorating Badr al-Dīn Lu’lu’s struggle against the last Zangid, visualized in symbolic terms as a struggle against the dragon. The historical background of this representation is quite interesting. In Ramadān 615 AH/December 1218 CE his political rival, ‘Imād al-Dīn Zangī, brought under his control the important fortress of ‘Amadiya - holding the state’s treasure at that time. Badr al-Dīn Lu’lu’s first attempt to re-conquer ‘Amadiya failed, and only in 1225 was he finally successful in displacing, and superseding, the last Zangid. Whether this victorious event was the reason for building and decorating the Mosul Gate of ‘Amadiya is unclear, but some points argue in its favour. The reliefs discussed above can be seen as medieval forerunners of modern political propaganda, the visual documentation of the victor’s triumph, Figure 13 sometimes related to a historical event. In addition, the monuments of Badr al-Dīn Lu’lu’ also demonstrate “flood of pictures” in the medieval world. And figural the attempt, by now a well-established practice in representations in Islamic art and architecture are, in Muslim culture, to use figural imagery to compensate so many ways, restricted because of the statements for a lack of legitimacy. ascribed to the Prophet Muhammad regarding the Finally, two general and important remarks should depiction of living creatures that are collected in be made. For the modern observer, the hidden the literature known as hadith. With these strictures messages conveyed by the figural reliefs on ancient in mind, the large figural reliefs on the city walls of monuments are, in many cases, difficult to decipher. Diyarbakır, and the Mosul Gate in ‘Amadiya, cannot But such difficulty must not be assumed for people of be seen as decoration only. If criteria exist - and I an earlier age, whose circumstances enabled them suggest they do - to designate a given monument as to view and to understand such imagery quite clearly. an imperial victory monument, any figural reliefs in Rather, “public pictures,” as are the figural reliefs in question should be placed in the closest proximity the architectural decoration we have been dealing to an accompanying historical inscription, and both with, would have had a far stronger effect upon those should be of monumental size. Those of the city walls who saw them, especially given the non-existent of Diyarbakır are a classical example of the genre.

Figure 1: Diyarbakır, city wall, towers Figure 5: Diyarbakır, Tower 40, figure of Figure 10: Diyarbakır, Urfa Gate, figural 30 and 31 (after Şevket Beysanoğlu [ed.], a seated nude woman (right side) ensemble, (after Gabriel [1940], Pl. 53, 2) Diyarbakır: Müze Şehir, Istanbul, 1999, Figure 6: IIstanbul, Türk ve Islam Eserleri Figure 11: Baghdad, Talisman Gate, Fig. p. 80) Müzesi, wooden window-shutter with general view (photograph: F. Sarre, courtesy Figure 2: Diyarbakır, Tower 30, figural figural representations of Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für ensemble, central reliefs: niche and Islamische Kunst) Figure 7: Diyarbakır, Tower 31 (Ulu kneeling bulls Badan), figural reliefs (photograph: W. Figure 12: Baghdad, Talisman Gate, dragon Figure 3: Diyarbakır, Tower 40, general Brüggemann, 1960s) relief (detail) (photograph: F. Sarre, courtesy of Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für view (photograph: W. Brüggemann, Figure 8: Diyarbakır, Tower 39 (Yedi Islamische Kunst) 1960s) Kardeş), figural reliefs (photograph: W. Figure 13: cAmadiya, Mosul Gate (photograph: Figure 4: Diyarbakır, Tower 40, figural Brüggemann, 1960s) W. Bachmann, 1911, courtesy Staatliche Museen ensemble (complete) Figure 9: Diyarbakır, Ulu Cami, portal of the court, lion-bull relief zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst)

Hadeeth ad-Dar 15 Volume 41 Kuwait City Green Belt Reconversion, 2013-2014

Ricardo Camacho Presented in English 13 October 2014

During the early years of Kuwait’s modernization, several European architects and engineers developed not only buildings and roads, but also a relevant amount of reports, un-built projects and studies. The Dune Gardens (Green Belt Garden) and the Rampart Gardens (Garages) were concepts developed for Kuwait Green Belt between 1969-75, mentioned for the first time in the April-May 1969 report of A&P Smithson proposal for the Urban Form Study for the Old City of Kuwait competition.

In 1968 the State of Kuwait appointed a supervisory design collaborators, the public authorities, national group to control and advise on the program for the research institutes and specialized consultants. physical re-planning of Kuwait, on behalf of the Kuwait City’s first Master Plan was commissioned Government, Prime Minister, Minister of Public Works, by Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah through the Minister of State (in charge of Municipality), Director Kuwait British Political Agency, to the British planning General of the Planning Board Assistant Director for firm Minoprio, Spencely, Macfarlane, in 1951.The the technical Affairs and three independent advisors, Preliminary Study was delivered in the fall of 1951, Dr Omar Azzam, Prof. Franco Albini, Prof. Sir Leslie Martin. The advisors invited four groups of architects, and in 1952 the final report and plan (Stephen “to Prepare Urban Form Studies for the Old City Gardiner and Ian Cook “Kuwait, the making of a (that area formerly enclosed by wall and the sea)”, city”, Longman, 1983). The city Green Belt was the A&P Smithson (London), Reima Pietilä (Helsinki), first urban element of the 1951-52 Master Plan to be Candilis, Josic, Woods (Paris), BBPR (Milan). The implemented, “a noncommercial or residential buffer first submission of proposals happened in April/May zone in 1958, it is used to separate Kuwait City from 1969. the rest of the country”, between the demolished city third wall and the newly competed first ring road. After being appointed to do the redesign of Al In contrast to Fahad Al Salem St, in the Green Belt Shaheed Park in June 2013, as part of Kuwait City there was neither program nor plan, nor was there Green Belt reconversion, the knowledge of this an administrative body in the city, empowered to admixture was fundamental for the fast-track design make decisions regarding the allocation of urban process. A typological, material and emotional land for public uses, the exception being the former understanding of the British architects, Peter and Green Belt Park built in 1959 and later renamed as Alison Smithson, work in Kuwait was important to Al Shaheed Park. generate the landscape and architecture proposal for the Al Shaheed Park. The “Dune and Pleasure The second revision of the Second Kuwait Master Rampart Gardens” proposal was often a conceptually Plan (1983) reinforced the understanding of the instructive exemplar for all the related parties involved Green Belt as a linear “lane use distribution” opening in the project, from the client representatives, to ground for the construction of Discovery Mall, the

Architect Ricardo Camacho is research scholar at Northeastern University in Boston and is the principal for the research programme on urban and coastal rehabilitation and preservation of tourism territories. He is also the Amiri Diwan’s design team coordinator for the Al-Shaheed Garden Park reconversion in Kuwait. The award-winning designer is the co-author of “Habitar Portugal 2006/2009”. Architect Camacho has organised several international seminars and spoken widely on aspects of architecture and conservation.

Hadeeth ad-Dar 16 Volume 41 Jamal Abdul Nasser St (the first ring road extension) According to Alison Smithson, “Team 10” “is a group of and the emergence of several office towers facing architects who have sought each other out, because Sour St. The public space has been encroached each has found the help of the others necessary to upon by private development (figure 1). the development and understating of their own work. But it is more than that (…) the collective declared that they would plan communities “where each building is a live thing and a natural extension of others”. The relevance of “Team 10” open debate methods, once applied by the Smithsons in Kuwait, revealed a proposal with agility of form, environmental driven, and the tactical redrawing of the city containing the normative planning principles. Far from Kuwait first and second Master Plan objectives, this proposal (April-May 1969) followed the idea of: “a city with a low profile Figure 1 once again in direct contact with the water (…) easy to move around on foot in the These events raised parking demand and extensive shade in every direction without being worn down by pressure to develop and convert the area into a car cars or car noise (…) apportioned vehicular movement park surface. Subsequent attempts in Salhiyah were and parking (…) its best old features restored and put followed by the iconic Al-Tijaria tower. A pedestrian to use (...) rejects overt expression of the individual bridge and respective car park were by then licensed struggle for power and money characteristic of North and approved in front of Al Shaheed Park. After the American cities (…) remain a littoral city, desert and concerns raised by the Martyr’s Bureau regarding sea, with a smell and feel of both throughout.” The the integrity of the park, the process was interrupted British couple’s personal experiences in the Islamic in 2012 by the Al-Diwan Al-Amiri. The Amir’s office world, added an emotional and historical reading of reclaimed the use of the Al Shaheed Park for national the different existing urban elements (Squares and celebrations and festivals in memory of war martyrs. Green Belt), unfinished and vacant in-between the In February 2012 the Amiri Diwan formally requested road network grid (figure 2). the Kuwait Municipal Council to release the property where Al Shaheed Park is located for reconversion in ceremonial area for the commemoration of Kuwait’s Constitution. This request was approved by the Council in May 2012. The monument to celebrate the “golden jubilee of Kuwait Constitution” was the first action towards the reconversion, followed by a broad program of public buildings, including two museums, car park, visitor centre, a lake and an aviary for the old Park. The re-design process was determined and strongly affected Figure 2 by the precedent strategic For the Al Shaheed Park Reconversion, the value of this unfinished project, mainly through program defined by Alison and Peter for the “Orangerie the instrumental understanding of Peter & Alison Maidan” forty years before, was finally introduced Smithson proposal for the city Green Belt (1969-75). by Amiri Diwan to host the national celebrations

Hadeeth ad-Dar 17 Volume 41 and festivals - Ceremony platform and Sha’ab Old Gate Amphitheatre. Regarding the building program, the permission of the Municipal Council reclaimed the argument that no single building could be erected from the Green Belt ground, all proposed buildings were to be under planted soil. To the extent that the former Al Tijaria tower Car Park project was directly converted into the garden’s underground parking, with no space for re-location or typological debate. Its size and footprint imposed a densely congested green roof. Despite the technological challenge of materials and constructive system, the proposed condition became an important constraint for the design process. The “dunes and pleasure gardens” Persian tiles from 1969 are substituted by native vegetation that will enhance the thermal and acoustic performances of architect Otto Königsberger for the Smithsons “rampart gardens”. A long sand dune planted with native plants, moves into proximity with the garden paths and covers the exhibition galleries, library, laboratory, offices, cafeteria, bookshop and a children learning centre. From the Figure 3 underground car park green roof, the early moments interested in understating continuity land drops under the ground to access the museum’s and unity along with the native landscape of the lower level, buried with single structure vacant frames country. The soil movement there was instrumental towards the saline depression and desert canyon. to recreating a section of Kuwait’s landscape, from The first floor level “can thereby give access on the the desert plateau and springs in the north to the level to the walkways on top of the mounds”, the oasis of the south, including saline depressions and desert plateau. As in the Smithsons’ proposal “this Acacia woodlands. comparatively slight elevation - to 5.500 meters - is sufficient to enable visitors to scan the villa-city and Flanking the new lake, both the Visitors Centre and much of the rebuilt old city”, responding in this way to the Administration building are tentative translations Amiri Diwan ambition “to elaborate on what it would of the vernacular courtyard building type. In the be like to stand on the flat tops of mounds between Visitor Centre, the ground is lowered (-80cm under old and villa city” (figure 3). the garden level) and opened in two directions allowing the cross ventilation of air and its cooling The old Al Shaheed Park’s dominant elements, the movement through the building, when connected to fountain and the amphitheatre, were replaced by a the internal patio. The programmatic instability of this ten thousand cubic meter lake – a capacity that will building during the design stage, generated a series determine a limit to the vegetation and plantation of additions around the core, almost as an old town capacity of the new garden, responding to Amiri Diwan villa with its additions. The mass resulting out of this request for irrigation water autonomy. The landscape process will define the constitution of the mound in architect Burle Marx (1909-1994) and his lush tropical its topography and volume - the soil is covering all Gardens envisioned by, first the Brazilian architect annexes (figure 4). Affonso Reidy (1909-64) for the Kuwait National Museum and then the Smithsons. The landscape On the opposite end of the garden and towards architect, Sara Machado (Stroop), was from the the old Sha’ab Gate, the museum of war martyrs

Hadeeth ad-Dar 18 Volume 41 reclaims the “architectural language of protection: at the ground level of providing an ‘oasis’ of shade in the city”. This element is defined by a free roof on top of pilotis [Editor’s note: supports, like columns, pillars and stilts] “plan drawn through the regularity of the trunks in a grove of date palms” that contain the different programmatic dimensions of the building divided in pavilions, from the exhibition gallery to the cafeteria, offices and research centre. Under the roof, the pilotis expand outside the building as the trunks of a new palm grove that will lead you to the city old wall gate through an under-passage built in ‘those years of war’. The limit of the palm grove is defined by a system of retaining “rampart gardens” cladded, not in Persian- type tiles, but with Portuguese three dimensional tiles that move sufficiently often into proximity with the geometry of the site limits allowing a number of pedestrian paths. At the lowest and the coolest point of this system, the visitor will be guided through the underpass towards an amphitheatre, the Old City Gate “maidan”, where the walls are still rampart gardens with tiles and the chairs are portable for occasional encounters or major performances. The audience stands between the lower stage, protected from the sun and surrounding roads noise, and the higher platform, where the old gate stands in

Figure 4 front of Sour Street (figure 5).

Figure 5

Figure 1: The Park with 16Ha was established Figure 2: Al Shaheed Park Reconversion, Figure 4: Topographical plan – topography in 1959 after the completion of the old city wall construction site. Photo by the author structures plateau demolition in 1958 and the creation of the city Green Belt as a non-commercial and buffer Figure 3: Al Shaheed Park Reconversion, Figure 5: Plan of the Al Shaheed Park area between the city capital and the new city construction site view towards Al-Hamra Reconversion project residential neighbourhoods, with 200300-m tower. Photo by the author wide and 3km long

Hadeeth ad-Dar 19 Volume 41 The Shock of Tradition

Dr Leila el-Wakil Presented in English 20 October 2014

As an architect and historian of art interested in the legacy of the architectural heritage, I have often wondered about the tradition, or, more exactly, about the relation between tradition and modernity. Why did certain traditions disappear? Under which circumstances did they disappear? How were they replaced? And how can we understand the surprising fact that these forgotten traditions are sometimes suddenly rediscovered and become, in certain cases, shocking? The Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy has provided extremely interesting answers to these questions that I will discuss tonight.

I shall begin by briefly presenting the career of Championing a nation’s cause, he describes in Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy, who lived from 1900 many texts how the Arabic architecture was hijacked till 1989 and some of the main ideas he developed from its natural evolution that had been broken concerning the tradition. In 1936, the year of the almost a century and a half earlier by the process Egyptian accession to independence, Fathy’s work of colonization. Arab architecture needed to find its took a dramatic swing in a new direction. He, who had own modernity; a modernity to which it would have until then been working with the neo-styles and Modern otherwise evolved naturally. The intrusion of western Movement imported from Europe through the English municipal and architectural models into Cairo, as professors who taught him at the Polytechnical School well as elsewhere in the Arab world and in Africa, in Cairo, began to focus on the “pre-Napoleonic” had come into conflict with the complex and refined national heritage, i.e. the Islamic heritage, that had system of traditional building. In the cities, extrovert blocks had taken the place of palaces and houses that developed from the crossing of many cultures. looked inwards towards their sahn, thus upsetting the Included in a group of intellectuals, dispossessed of urban structure and the character of the streets. The their history and seeking a re-evaluation of the Arab flexibility of housing, that had been fashioned through dwelling, Fathy started acting in order to recover a lost agglutination, like the Arab language, had been tradition. replaced by westernized typologies. The grace and Starting in the 1940’s, he recognised traditional appropriateness of older architectural and decorative elements of Egyptian architecture and integrated them devices had given way to charmless innovations in his work. His plans contained plenty of these initial and inappropriate technologies. In Fathy’s view, reinterpretations. An entire lifetime would not have the problem was particularly visible in the Egyptian been enough for him to fully explore and refine his countryside. Tricked by the smokescreen of western knowledge of Cairene, Egyptian and Arab architecture, modernity, rural upstarts imitated city-dwellers and craft and applied art, from which he intended to gather disfigured their villages. the seeds of ‘modern Arab architecture’, the latter being From that moment on, Fathy completely changed the objective of a veritable crusade. The architect’s his way of designing. He rejected the foreign models quest was embodied thereafter by this new credo. and tried to catch the very specific way of building

Leila el-Wakil is an Associate professor at the University of Geneva and has been trained both as an architect and an art historian. She developed an original scientific competence in history of architecture, focusing on 19th and 20th century constructions, as well as in questions dealing with heritage conservation, while recently extended her research field to Egyptian and Arab modern and vernacular architecture. Prof. el-Wakil is the author of many articles and books, most recently an important book on the great Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy (Gollion, Paris, In Folio, 2013).

Hadeeth ad-Dar 20 Volume 41 and crafting of the Arab world. He rediscovered the a kind of natural air condition. Fathy’s architectural beauty and the cleverness of the urban Mamluk or creations were thus characterized by the prominent Ottoman dwellings, sometimes even palaces, as well role given to the combination of the windcatcher (or as the adequacy of the vernacular traditional Egyptian malqaf) and of the mashrabiyya. architecture. Walking through the narrow streets of The mashrabiyya is probably one of the most old Cairo, often with his younger colleague and friend significant elements of Islamic architecture. This Ramses Wissa Wassef, he admired the refinement of prevailing element of the traditional applied arts was the ancient houses. result of a kind of know-how associated with traditional Few know, that Fathy also played a prevailing role in Arab creative genius, which Fathy was determined to the history of the monumental restoration of the 1960’s, help perpetuate. Created by a cabinetmaker (shughl along with the biggest Italian specialists like Piero al-naggar), this screen of turned wood was, for him, Gazzola. In 1968, he attended, as the representative the ultimate symbol of Arab architectural and artistic of the United Arab Republic, the important Conference tradition. An ingenious sun-shading device, placed of Pistoia organised by the UNESCO, a decisive step in front of windows, it filtered out excessive light and in raising the awareness of architectural heritage and allowed those inside the building to see without being historic cities in Europe. seen, both preserving the privacy of the harim and The observations of Hassan Fathy led him to allowing air to circulate in the apartments. Its interlaced understand the adequacy or “appropriateness” of the structure could be finely or heavily wrought, and its traditional architectural devices used by the Ancients. patterns infinitely varied. Convinced of the artistic and Organised around one or many sahn or patios, the technological supremacy of the mashrabiyya above all ‘inward-looking’ house did preserve the intimacy other architectural elements (and it is interesting to note of the inhabitants. At the same time the patio (often that today the word mashrabiyya is used in common decorated with a fountain) and the inner gardens Arabic speech to mean any sort of craft object), Fathy brought some freshness, forceful argument in warm was a collector of antique mashrabiyyat, using them to countries. He discovered then that the qa‘a [hall], the decorate his modern homes. central piece of the typology, was flanked by iwanat, The mashrabiyya was so central to Fathy’s thought, the durqa‘a [entry space] of which covered by a dome that he dedicated a whole play to it. Written in 1942, or a shukhshaykha [dome-shape hexagonal skylight], revised in 1984 and published in Lebanon after his to restore instead of using the western living room. death, Tale of the Mashrabiyya (Qissat al-mashrabiyya) Although in the 1940’s Fathy and his wealthy is a key item in Fathy’s oeuvre. The hero of Fathy’s clients were still hesitating between the living room autobiographical tale is called Khalid. As a young and the qa‘a, the changeover became complete in the nationalist in his thirties, he carries within him the sixties. In 1969, Fathy dedicated his important paper culture of East and West. Khalid campaigns for for the International Conference on the Millenium of the perpetuation of oriental ways of life that do not Cairo to this key element. He gave a new and highly contradict modern life. He condemns the changes symbolic interpretation of the emblematic space of that are being forced on all aspects of his country’s the qa‘a, whose origins date back to the court of the civilisation, and in particular on its architecture. Bedouin dwelling, open to the sky. It was the space Although over thirty-five years old, he does not marry, of transition between the celestial Cosmic Universe because he has not yet found the house, where he and the terrestrial domestic space. The durqa‘a could would like to see his children be born and grow up. reach considerable heights, such as 17 meters at the There is no longer a single palace or any architecture Katkhuda House, while the iwanat, in which the masatib that has not been westernized and disfigured without were placed, were on a human scale. The dome that any sense of elegance. was situated above this court, while continuing to Khalid sets about seeking ways to pass on the represent the celestial vault, was the result of a gradual know-how of the artisan mu‘allim: transmission is architectural evolution. Doing so, Fathy contrasted the only way that the art of the mashrabiyya, of the prosaic and materialistic character of Western wood-turning, of stained glass, of pavements, and modernity of the plain living room with the symbolic of all the tried and tested techniques of vernacular richness of the Arabic tradition, which he sought to construction will be able to survive. How can art be reintroduce into contemporary domestic architecture. put back on the rails of local authenticity? How can it As he claimed in his late publication Natural Energy be reoriented? How can tradition be renewed to make and Vernacular Architecture Principles and Examples it suited to our modern environment? Such were the with Reference to Hot Arid Climates (1986), traditional questions that Khalid pondered, and such were the architecture was in agreement with the climate. He questions that preoccupied Fathy from the 1940’s. pointed out that the traditional Arab house was working The mashrabiyya, a synecdoche of Egyptian and Arab like a natural fan, catching the dominant wind through architecture, is the protagonist that alone embodies the the malqaf and conducting it into the patios and survival of ancient architecture and tradition in general. gardens, where it was refreshed, thus cooling the inner The mashrabiyya in Fathy’s tale previously adorned a of the house. The whole mechanism was providing fourteenth-century palace in Nahasin Street and has

Hadeeth ad-Dar 21 Volume 41 been rescued by an antiquarian. The advice of the Fathy started by studying the architecture of antiquarian to Khalid, who is searching for an architect villages, looking for possible models on Egyptian soil. capable of building in the modern Arab style and of He visited many places, described the poverty of most designing a house that would fit for the mashrabiyya, of them and the failure of expensive new industrialized are as through Fathy’s own voice. materials to provide good-quality conditions of life. On Later in the tale, one of the scenery represents the the contrary, in Assouan and Nubia, he discovered qa‘a of the modern Arab house that Khalid has built idyllic villages, a kind of Miltonian paradise, in their and the durqa‘a crowned by a cupola with qamariyya original purity, far from the ugliness of misunderstood windows; a balcony overlooks the iwan. A number of processes of industrialization. The shock in front of mashrabiyyat, with interlacing elements of varying those traditional beautiful houses was intense: “On thickness, decorate the walls of the qa‘a; the largest of entering the first village, Gharb Aswan, I knew that I these, dominates the central iwan, and lamps bearing had found what I had come for. It was a new world candles hang from the ceiling of the qa‘a. Settees are for me, a whole village of spacious, lovely, clean, and draped with patterned silk, and the floors, of crafted harmonious houses, each more beautiful than the next. There was nothing else like it in Egypt; a village from marble, are covered with Persian carpets. A particularly some dream country, perhaps from a Hoggar [Editor’s splendid mashrabiyya with sublime geometric designs Note: maintain in the middle of the desert] hidden in adorns the durqa‘a. Khalid dresses his guests in the the heart of the Great Sahara, whose architecture traditional abaya and asks the musicians to play Arab had been preserved for centuries uncontaminated by music. If Fathy is the Khalid in the play, he is also foreign influences, from Atlantis itself, it could have the mi‘mar capable of conceiving his design around been [...] It was like a vision of architecture before the a mashrabiyya, as several 1940s projects testify, fall; before the money, industry, greed and snobbery especially the project for Aziza Hassanein’s house. had severed architectural from its true roots in nature.” The play’s final act is the story of a nightmare; The architect was thus quickly convinced that the Fathy stigmatises western modernity, which destroys village he was about to plan should rely upon traditional everything in its wake. Evil creatures decide to cover know-how. monuments and living beings with Ripolin (ribulin) [da When Fathy received the commission for the model shughl Bariz] - the cheap industrial paint of which Le village, he was forty-six years old, and already had Corbusier was so fond. Lacking all sensitivity, the vile a solid career. He was assigned the project by the substance conceals all evidence of time and patina; Service of Antiquities through its director, the French in Khalid’s account, the artistic heritage is attacked archaeologist Etienne Drioton, who was seeking a by brush and white paint, like the daubings that some low-cost solution to rehouse the Gournis then living in monuments have suffered in real life. However, in the ancient village of Gourna, set on the hillside above Fathy’s tale, the lovers of the past and of slowly the tombs of the Valley of the Nobles. New Gourna developed traditions, from which much can still be was in no way spontaneously conceived, as has often learnt today, finally triumph. been suggested. Rather, it was the result of repeated The mashrabiyya thus became the symbolic object technological, typological and formal experiments over of Fathy’s theory of architecture, which represents the course of the previous decade in the field of rural at once the ambivalence of the Arab tradition, both architecture. backward and forward-looking; the jewel of the Fathy chose to use mud brick (tub al-akhdar) as decorative arts applied to architecture. He used it in his fundamental material for various reasons, among several buildings as well as the claustras [Editor’s which economic constraints. Considering its very Note: a screen wall], which are another mean to filter cheap price, Fathy actually went as far as to imagine an the light and separate the inner from the outer space. architecture that would be executed by the inhabitants Now, let me turn to the most important shock that themselves, thus short-circuiting the Western process struck Fathy with respect to traditional architecture, of architectural production and its prohibitive costs. He which is the tradition in vernacular architecture and imagined as a masterplan that masons could teach a the experiment of New Gourna. New Gourna and the range of architectural typologies and simple know-how story of this experiment, Architecture for the Poor, are to the inhabitants; New Gourna would be the ultimate probably the masterpieces of the Egyptian architect illustration of ‘self-help’, a social utopia that Fathy Hassan Fathy. As he conceived New Gourna, a defended furiously throughout his career. peasant’s village imagined in the mid-forties to relocate Fathy strove to bring out the architect’s role in a population of inhabitants living above the pharaonic innovation, interpreting an age-old material tradition, tombs in the context of the Reform of the Egyptian but doing so in such a way as to make his own Countryside, the architect was convinced that he was creation, a creation embedded in the inspiring cultural writing a contemporary page in the history of Egyptian landscape of New Gourna. Material tradition, spiritual architecture, using the traditional technology of mud- heritage, the spirit of a place and sociological survey brick vaults and cupolas. are the ingredients from which to build a contemporary

Hadeeth ad-Dar 22 Volume 41 model village, stripped of the violent inadequacy of early paraphrase of the story of New Gourna, Ghanim modern expensive industrialized technology. paints a ruthless portrait of a westernised orientalist Fathy’s inclination to build without architects and to architect - intended to represent Fathy - who seeks avoid any professional go-between, goes back to the to impose on the Gournis a way of life that they do system of guilds and corporations of the middle ages, not want; Ghanim notably stigmatises the use of a system which fascinated the Egyptian architect, as the dome, a synonym of mortuary architecture, in it fascinated John Ruskin and William Morris during domestic buildings, and shows how little the engineer, the nineteenth century. Hassan Fathy developed brought from Cairo, understood the users’ mentality. a very pessimistic outlook on the role played by the Of all criticisms of New Gourna, the comparison of the architect in the Egyptian society; he wrote that he village houses to funerary architecture still remains till only succeeded in being a “screen-figure” between today the most indelible within a superstitious society. tradition and invention. Created by the architect, but On the opposite, Western observers gave glowing built by its inhabitants, the village of New Gourna reviews to the project, which appeared in the best would seem to spring naturally and spontaneously international journals from the late 1940’s. Immersed from the soil, just as the local date palm trees grow. in the theories of William Morris, the British writer In paraphrases that would become clear over the Raymond Mortimer expressed his excitement on following decades, Fathy forged the important and, in seeing this essentially human architecture, integrated our era of sustainable development, largely achievable into the landscape, representing the survival of a concept of ‘appropriate technology’. tradition that had escaped the clutches of the machine As a champion of lost traditions, Fathy was age. Once complete, the village should serve as a disappointed by the devastating effect of the tabula model of rural housing in Egypt, raising the standard rasa approach on towns. His desire to reconnect of living and improving sanitary conditions. The with the lessons of the past, which caused him to be photographer and specialist in American architecture, seen as a precursor of the Postmodern Movement, G. E. Kidder Smith decreed that the model village was was a recurring feature throughout his career. The the most interesting example of Egyptian architecture deliberately irregular fabric of the village, halfway besides the Pharaonic monuments. Raymond Lasserre between a grid pattern and a radial concentric plan, praised the genuine inventiveness of the Egyptian required an imaginative response and a rich and architect. His creations would contribute to the battle varied architecture. against the standardization and predominant force of The village would be divided into four main sections, Americanization, “which is gradually suffocating all which would correspond to the four badana of the human creative forces”. Gournis. A maze of small secondary streets, linking the New Gourna was only partially completed, for semi-open courtyards of the groups of houses, would reasons that include bureaucratic inertia, the reticence protect the badana’s privacy and discourages outsiders of the Gournis and covert boycotting by heavy from venturing in. The fellah would live with his family technology lobbyists. Using age-old construction and his animals, in a house designed according to his techniques that still survived in Nubia, and which specific needs. He would raise livestock and engage he wished to revive in the spirit of the Nahda, Fathy in agricultural pursuits on the outskirts of the village, projected himself into his own time and invented a but would also involve himself in craft activities at the possible model for ‘contemporary’ Egyptian rural Trade School and the Khan. He would sell the products architecture. This desire is evident even in the of the land and the craft produced in the Khan in a designation of the elements that constitute this handsome, shady marketplace. He would be able to architecture. practice his religion in a sleekly designed mosque or The revelations Fathy experienced in Nubia in 1941 in a Coptic church (though the latter remained unbuilt). gave him access to a new vision of the world. From He would have a place for gatherings and festivities this, he built up what might be called his ‘theory of at his disposal. He would be able to have his children tradition’, which he continued to reinforce throughout taught in two distinct schools, one for girls and one the key stages of his career. If ‘culture is the result for boys. He would participate in the popular or folk of the interaction between man’s intelligence and his entertainments that would take place in the theatre or environment, to satisfy his physical and spiritual needs’, on the esplanade behind it. tradition results from the quintessence of experiments But the peasant’s village invented by Hassan Fathy that have been tried and succeeded over generations, in the mid-forties to relocate a population of inhabitants, in a particular place. “Tradition is the social analogy living above the Pharaonic tombs, provoked many of personal habit, and in art has the same effect (…) reactions, from praise to condemnation. New Gourna’s Tradition is not necessarily old-fashioned and is not critical reception reached its maximum at the end of synonymous with stagnation. Furthermore, a tradition the fifties. The critical weight of Fathi Ghanim’s 1959 need not date from long ago, but may have begun novel Al-Gabal (The Mountain) certainly served to quite recently. As soon as a workman meets a new reinforce negative views of the village in Egypt. In this problem and decides how to overcome it, the first step

Hadeeth ad-Dar 23 Volume 41 has been taken in the establishment of a tradition. manifested itself in in-depth investigations of building When another workman has decided to adopt the techniques, typological devices and decorative same solution, the tradition is moving, and by the time elements. He sought to extract lessons from these, a third man has followed the first two and added his that could revitalize the foundations of contemporary contribution, the tradition is fairly established”. Egyptian, Arab and Mediterranean production and And he goes on saying: “Yet other solutions may which would stand out from the superficial Orientalism not be worked out fully before many generations have that some of his Western and ‘Eastern’ predecessors passed, and this is where tradition has a creative role practiced. to play, for it is only by tradition, by respecting and Bad fortune cruelly affected Fathy’s production; as building on the work of earlier generations, that each several significant buildings have already disappeared new generation may make some positive progress like the villa he built for his wife, Aziza Hassanein, toward the solution of the problem. Once a particular which was destroyed during the creation of the Maadi tradition is established and accepted, the individual waterfront road. At present, the legendary house of artist’s duty is to keep this tradition going, with his artist and potter Hamed Saïd in el-Marg has become own invention and insight to give it that additional surrounded by a hostile environment and the villa momentum that will save it from coming to a standstill, Toussoun Abu Gabal is threatened by the progress until it will have reached the end of its cycle and of land-bonk in the surroundings of the new Four completed its full development. He will be relieved of Seasons hotel. Furthermore, two houses built in the many decisions by the tradition, but will be obliged to village of New Bariz (Kharga) have recently undergone make others equally demanding to stop the tradition dying in his hands. In fact, the further a tradition has renovations, which have totally altered them. developed the more effort the artist must expend to Fathy embodies the Egyptian genius, alone with make each step forward in it”. such contemporary figures as Nagib Mahfouz, Umm “Architecture is still one of the most traditional arts. Kulthum or Yussef Shahin. But today, although no A work of architecture is meant to be used, its form is one would think of letting the Mahfouz’s Trilogy, largely determined by precedent, and it is set before Umm Kulthum’s songs or Shahin’s cinematographic the public where they must look at it every day. The heritage disappear, the outstanding realizations of a architect should respect the work of his predecessors prominent architect are falling one after the other and and the public sensibility by not using his architecture New Gourna is gradually vanishing. as a medium of personal advertisement. Indeed, no In 1972, when UNESCO adopted the Convention architect can avoid using the work of earlier architects; concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and however hard he strains after originality, by far the Natural Heritage in Paris, it was a turning point in the larger part of his work will be in some tradition or other. globalization of cultural and natural heritage. This Why then should he despise the tradition of his own heritage of outstanding values needed to be preserved country or district, why should he drag alien traditions as part of the world heritage of humanity as a whole. into an artificial and uncomfortable synthesis, why The widening of the heritage field has induced a new should he be so rude to earlier architects as to distort questioning of common criteria for evaluation. What and misapply their ideas? This happens when an was worth to be integrated in the “patrimonial paddock” architectural element, evolved over many years to a to quote a Choay’s formula? This globalized vision has perfect size, shape, and function, is used upside down certainly opened new horizons in term of values. The or enlarged beyond recognition till it no longer even western aesthetical debate, more than ever, appeared works properly, simply to gratify the architect’s own empty and vain and was to be replaced by a more selfish appetite for fame”. profound discussion. Consequently, Fathy bemoaned the fact that, in a world where everything was becoming universal, In this change of paradigm, the “appropriate” is in tried and tested location-specific solutions were too the process of replacing the Beautiful and the Sublime. often brushed aside, only to be replaced by systems There is so much to relearn from ancient and adequate that were doomed to failure, such as the senseless traditions, which have been hastily swept away by the importation of glass curtain walls in countries with tsunami of the Modern Movement. UNESCO indicates extreme climates, or Swiss chalets in the deserts of a possible path by valuing traditional sociability, the Orient. He made a plea in favour of the progressive endangered know-how, arts and crafts rather than and thoughtful evolution of architectural forms, the major artistic expressions and selecting them as part opposite to unchecked revolution, and recommended of the World Heritage. It, thus, pleads for the defence in particular that local tradition should be regarded and exemplification of a heritage that is certainly a as a basis, to guard against errors: ‘Decisions on life lesson and possibly a morality lesson, because, form will be taken in the light of all the knowledge to quote Fathy once more, “Modernity does not and civilization that is in the developer’s reach.’ His necessarily mean liveliness, and change is not always interest in Egyptian, Arab and Mediterranean heritage for the better”.

Hadeeth ad-Dar 24 Volume 41 Gift Books The Dar al-Athar al-Islamyyah is grateful to the individuals and organisations listed below. The books that so generously donated to the DAI library will surely be enjoyed by readers and researchers for many many years.

Anatol A. Ivanov Sabyasachi Mukherjee Director of Islamic collections, State Hermitage Director of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Museum Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) Anatol A. Ivanov. Iranian Copper and Bronze (Brass) John Curtis. The Cyrus Cylinder and Ancient Persia: Artefacts from the Second Half of the 14th to the A New Beginning for the Middle East. CSMVS. Mid-18th Century. State Hermitage Museum. St. Mumbai, India. 2013. Petersburg, Russia. 2014. Vandana Prapanna and Anupam Sah. Anvar – I Begam Fawzia Ahmad Khan and Durru of Loharu Suhayli. CSMVS. Mumbai, India. 2013. (Nawabzada Aimaduddin Ahmad Khan) Jaya Jaitly & Subrara Bhowmick. Crafting Indian Kalpana Desai. Jewels on the Crescent: Scripts. Masterpieces of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Custodians of the Past: 150 Years of the Archaeological Vastu Sangrahalaya. CSMVS. Mumbai, India. 2002. Survey of India. Ed. Guatam Sengupta and Abha Narain Lambah. Archaeological Survey of India, Ministry of Culture. New Delhi, India. 2012. Christian Nakhle Ambassador of France to Kuwait S.K. Mittra, B.R. Mani, et al. Rediscovering India Le Quai d’Orsay, Ministère des Affaires Etrangères. 1961-2011. Archaeological Survey of India, Ministry Ed. Jean Fouace, Jean-Michel Leniaud et al. of Culture. New Delhi, India. 2012. Internationales du Patrimoine. Paris, France. 2014.

Shakeel Hossain, Sunil Sharma, et al. Jashn-e- Gulru Necipoglu Khusrau: a Collection. Aga Khan Trust for Culture. Professor, Harvard University New Delhi, India. 2012. Muqarnas – An Annual on the Visual Culture of the Islamic World. Vol 30. Ed. Gulru Necipoglu. Brill. Jack Lang Boston, MA, U.S.A. 2013. President, Institut du Monde Arabe Nahla Nassar. Al-Hajj and the Art of Pilgrimage. Fabrizio Nicoletti Institut du Monde Arabe. Paris, France. 2014. Ambassador of Italy to Kuwait Stefano Beltrame. Storia Del Kuwait: Gli Arabi, il .Institut du Monde Arabe. Paris, France. Petrofolio e la Prima Guerra Del Golfo. Aracne .مجمع املتحف 2014. Rome, Italy. 2013.

Angel Losada Jarno Peltonen Ambassador of Spain to Kuwait Director of Finnish-Arabic Society Joan Sureda. Los Mundos de Goya. Lunwerg. Marhaba. 2013 volume. Finnish-Arabic Society. Barcelona, Spain. 2008. Helsinki, Finland. 2013 Neil MacGregor Zainul Abidin Rasheed Director of the British Museum Ambassador of Singapore to Kuwait Sonja Marzinzik. Masterpieces: Early Medieval Art. Tom Plate. Giants of Asia: Conversations with Lee British Museum Press. London England. 2013. Kuan Yew. Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) The Hajj: Collected Essays. Ed. Venetia Porter and Ptd Ltd. Singapore. 2010. Liana Saif. British Museum Press. Londong, England. 2013. Rawya Laila Majeen M. Costanza De Simone & Giuseppe Marino. Nubia Friend of the DAI Submerged: Through Their Eyes, with Their Own The Bazaar in the Islamic City. Ed. Mohammed Words. Agenzia Italiana. Cairo, Egypt. 2000. Gharipour. American University in Cairo Press. Cairo, Egypt. 2012. Shahrokh Razmjou Associate Professor, University of Tehran Galila El Kadi. Architecture for the Dead: Cairo’s Sheila S. Blair, Jonathan M. Bloom, et al. Persia: Medieval Necropolis. American University in Cairo Fragments of Paradise. Instituto Nacional De Press. Cairo, Egypt. 2007. Antropologia e Historia. Mexico. 2007.

Hadeeth ad-Dar 25 Volume 41 DIRECTOR'S Circle

ALAMIA H

KHutayba yussuf al-ghanim

Hadeeth ad-Dar 26 Volume 41