Encyclopedia of Islam

houses

  

311  J

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the tanned skins and fabrics woven from the hair 

of goats, sheep, and 

camel

s as well as from palms, 

reeds, and grasses. Houses in villages, towns, and 

cities

 in many parts of the Middle East, North 

Africa, and Asia have traditionally been made 

of raw or baked mud brick reinforced by stone 

or wood if available. In rocky areas of y

emen

, 

western Arabia, and the Levant (s

yria

, Israel-Pal-

estine, l

ebanon

, and J

ordan

), local stone is used 

for house construction. The urban palaces and 

mansions of medieval Muslim rulers in e

gypt

, 

t

Urkey

,  Persia, and i

ndia

 were made of profes-

sionally cut stone, together with baked brick and 

wood. Houses made mostly of wood are limited 

to forestlands, such as those of eastern Europe, 

the Caspian Sea region, the Hindu Kush, i

ndone

-

sia

, and m

alaysia

. The Industrial Revolution and 

colonization of Muslim lands by European pow-

ers brought the introduction of new manufac-

tured materials, such as steel-reinforced concrete, 

aluminum, glass, and plastics. This has resulted 

in the creation of housing that is often alienated 

from its natural setting. Manufactured materials 

and modern designs have also made it possible 

to erect multistory apartment blocks capable of 

accommodating hundreds if not thousands of 

people in a single residential area.

The stereotypical “Islamic” dwelling is often 

said to be the Middle Eastern courtyard house, 

a complex of rooms situated around a courtyard 

that is open to the sky but closed to the out-

side. Entrance is provided by a single doorway 

or gate that leads into the courtyard. Windows 

may be lacking or are placed high enough so 

that passersby cannot look inside the house. The 

courtyard is a work area and provides access to 

guest rooms, private living quarters, storerooms, 

and a stable. It also allows for air circulation, 

an advantage in regions that have a hot climate. 

Yet the association of the courtyard house with 

Islam is a tenuous one at best. Courtyard houses 

existed in the Middle East and Mediterranean 

regions for centuries before Islam’s appearance. 

Moreover, after Muslims had established their 

religion in the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern 

regions, both they and their non-Muslim neigh-

bors continued to use this house form as well as 

others. As Muslims migrated beyond the Middle 

East, they usually adopted the local domestic 

architectural traditions of Africans, Asians, and 

Europeans. Whatever traditional architectural 

forms Muslims have used for their housing have 

generally allowed for the accommodation of 

extended families and varying degrees of interac-

tion between public and private spheres of social 

life. There has been little evidence for an absolute

separation of public and private spaces, and the 

same is true with respect to the segregation of 

men and women within the house. Rather, such 

divisions are situational, depending on temporal, 

social, and economic factors. The 

harem

—a seg-

regated domestic area for 

Women

—is a creation 

of wealthy landholders and urban elites, not a 

product of Islamic religion per se.

The symbolic and legal significance of houses 

in Islam can be situated, to an extent, in the 

q

Uran

 and 

hadith

, where Arabic words such as 

bayt and dar are used both for ordinary human 

dwellings and for sacred places and dwellings in 

the 

aFterliFe

. The Quran asserts that God created 

ordinary dwellings and furnishings to demon-

strate his grace to people so that they would “sub-

mit” to him (Q 16:80–83). On the other hand, it 

also states that God has punished disbelieving and 

immoral people by destroying them and ruining 

their houses (for example, Q 7:74–79, 27:45–52). 

Believers who give up their homes and emigrate to 

God and m

Uhammad

 are promised great rewards 

(Q 4:100).

The Grand Mosque in m

ecca

 is called “God’s 

sacred house,” and the k

aaba

 is called “the first 

house created for people” (Q 3:96–97, 5:97, 5:2). 

The hadith state that the Kaaba is an earthly rep-

lica of “the frequented house” in heaven, which 

is visited by thousands of 

angel

s each day. In 

addition to these sacred places, there is the house 

of Muhammad in m

edina

, which consisted of 

the private apartments of his wives facing toward 

K  312  

houses

---

an open courtyard. This house became a sacred 

center, and Muhammad is reported to have said, 

“Whoever visits my house deserves my interces-

sion [on J

Udgment

  d

ay

].” It was also a place of 

communal prayer that served as a model for other 

mosques in Syria, i

raq

, e

gypt

, and North Africa. 

In popular Islamic usage, all mosques can be 

called “houses of God.”

The chapters of the Quran associated with the 

latter part of Muhammad’s career (622–632) con-

tain ritual commandments and rules concerning 

houses, both human and divine. The most impor-

tant pilgrimage command in the Quran urges 

“people to perform a 

haJJ

 to the house [the Kaaba] 

if they are able to do so” (Q 3:97). With respect 

to ordinary houses, believers are instructed to 

request permission before entering a person’s 

house (Q 24:27–29), and they are to permit a 

divorced woman to keep her house, at least until 

it can be determined whether she is pregnant (Q 

65:1, 6).

Nearly one-third of the references to houses 

in the Quran pertain to the rewards and punish-

ments that await people in the afterlife. 

paradise

is called the “house of peace,” the “house of the 

god-fearing,” or simply “the house” (dar). The 

people of 

paradise

 are promised dwellings and 

lofty apartments among its gardens and flowing 

rivers. Evildoers, on the other hand, will go to the 

F

ire

 (hell), which is also called the “evil house” 

and the “house of perdition.” Their shelters there 

will be made of fire.

Even though Muslims do not adhere to reli-

gious building codes with respect to their housing, 

they do employ religious symbols and amulets to 

sanctify their dwellings. Many place verses of the 

Quran, the names of God, or pictures of mosques 

in Mecca, Medina, or J

erUsalem

 on their house 

walls. These forms of “decoration” are intended 

to secure God’s blessing for the household and 

to repel evil forces. In rural and working class 

neighborhoods of Egypt, families decorate the 

walls of their homes with religious inscriptions 

and images when members of the family perform 

the hajj. These pilgrimage murals often express 

symbolic relations between the pilgrim’s home 

and the sacred houses of Mecca, Medina, and 

paradise. Shii homes in Lebanon, Iraq, and i

ran

often display prayers for the People of the House 

(

ahl

 

al

-

bayt

) and the 12 i

mam

s, or portraits of 

beloved Shii 

saint

s and shrines. The use of reli-

gious symbols and talismans, combined with 

efforts to adhere to codes of etiquette, hospitality, 

and morality in the home, are believed to make it 

a center of blessing with its own sacred character 

(hurma).

See also 

amUlet

; 

haram

; 

harem

; 

mosqUe

.