The Virtue of Humility in the Islamic City An Investigation of Islamic Ethical Concepts and their Implications for the Built Environment

Abstract

This study investigates the intersection between the Islamic city and Islamic thought through three interconnected registers: jurisprudential, ethical and symbolic. Among these the ethical register has been relatively neglected in the field of research and the literature dealing with the Islamic city, and therefore will constitute a key focus of the thesis. The research provides an overview of four main branches of ethics (teleology, deontology, virtue ethics and contract ethics), together with related literature on the ethics of the built environment, in order to locate Islamic ethics among different kinds of ethical frameworks. Four main ethical dualities emerge: real vs. unreal, consequence vs. duty; personal vs. social, and intention vs. action. These four branches and dualities of ethics are analysed through a close reading of key passages of Islamic scripture―the Quran and the ḥadīth―and informed by a lexical study of key words, in order to scrutinise the foundational characteristics of ethics and venture possible implications for the built environment. The research is focussed on virtue ethics, since this kind of ethical framework enjoys a privileged status in the Islamic value system and is more readily capable of enabling correspondences to architecture and urbanism to be drawn. Among the virtues, Islamic theology privileges the disposition of piety (taqwā) as a pivotal component of ethics. The common translation of taqwā as ‘piety’ renders the term problematic for drawing potential architectural implications. In fact, the translation is inadequate, since taqwā inherently implies multiple semantic layers and resonances for architecture. Its literal meaning is “to protect/preserve oneself,” and suggests important analogies and affinities with clothing, with concepts of covering and adornment, as well as with interiority―all of which are key conditions of architecture. An early Islamic ḥadīth suggest, importantly, that humility is an outward manifestation of taqwā and, hence, of more direct relevance to urbanism and architecture. Moreover, in terms of Islamic architecture and the city, several scholars have recognised humility as a key theme. Yet despite this recognition, there has been little investigation in the literature of how the concept might become manifest in architecture and urbanism. The different possible understandings of humility can pose challenges in uncovering resonances for city form and space. In order to interpret the concept clearly and precisely for its applications to the built environment, a deeper understanding of its semantic layers and characteristics will be necessary. Four main layers of humility were discerned: first, humility is the opposite of arrogance; second, humility is associated with moderation; third, humility requires attentiveness to context; and fourth, humility demands a lack of concentration on the self. Furthermore the Islamic definition of humility elucidates five main characteristics: prayer; awareness and sensitivity before the Devine; patience; charity; and unity. These layers of meaning and characteristics of humility play a mediating role in connecting the ethical realm to the built environment and drawing the contours of what might be termed an ‘architecture of humility’―an architecture that respects neighbourhood and environment; meets the climatic, cultural, social and historical conditions of its location; promotes inwardness; features an integration of simplicity and beauty; affords passers-by an enriched experience; adheres to the principles of nature; recognises the importance of covering and the hierarchical order of privacy. These characteristics and layers of humility also point to the mosque’s key, integral function in the whole city, and indicate the pivotal role that porosity and the void play in the organisation of space and the public domain―that privileged, interstitial realm between the various solid masses of the city. Finally, the thesis shows how an architecture of humility can engage symbolic registers and transpose the built environment into the infinite world of the unseen.