Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Maher Jarrar, “The Martyrdom of 

Passionate Lovers: Holy War as a Sacred Wedding.” In 

Myths, Historical Archetypes, and Symbolic Figures in 

Arabic Literature: Towards a New Hermeneutic Approach,

edited by A. Neuwirth et al., 87–107 (Beirut: In Kom-

mission bei Franz Steiner Verlag Stuttgart, 1999); Franz 

Rosenthal, “Reflections on Love in Paradise.” In Love 

and Death in the Ancient Near East: Essays in Honor of 

Marvin H. Pope, edited by J. H. Marks and R. M. Good, 

247–254 (Guilford, Conn.: Four Quarters Publishing, 

1987).

houses

The house is not only a material object, it is a 

place and idea where society, culture, and the 

environment intersect. The human dwelling pro-

vides shelter from the elements, but it embodies 

important cultural distinctions, such as inside 

and outside, public and private, self and other (or 

family and nonfamily), nature and culture, male 

and female, and young and old. In some cultures, 

the house becomes a symbol for order against 

chaos, or it reflects the intersections of cosmic 

polarities, such as heaven and earth or sacred 

and profane. People invest significant amounts of 

labor and wealth in their dwellings and domestic 

furnishings, but they also invest them with their 

sympathies and emotions. This sense of attach-

ment or emotional ownership makes a house into 

a home.

The houses Muslims have constructed and 

imagined embody all these possibilities, ranging 

from the material to the symbolic and religious. 

They have inherited the architectural traditions 

of pre-Islamic indigenous societies, just as they 

have appropriated many of the cultural and reli-

gious institutions of these societies. In doing so, 

Muslims have also redefined their homes in con-

formity with their own distinctive values and pref-

erences. This process of redefinition has been an 

ongoing one from the time of Islam’s first histori-

cal appearance to the modern era, with all of the 

latter’s revolutionary changes and ruptures, global 

migrations, and technological innovations.

Traditional Muslim domestic 

architectUre

has usually employed materials that are readily 

available. Nomadic peoples make their tents from 

Rural home in Qurna, Upper Egypt, embellished with 

images and calligraphy celebrating the hajj to Mecca, 

as well as protecting the home from evil 

(Juan E. 

Campo

)