Dedicated to the most resilient

person I know:
my mother
Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The Parable of His Light is as if there were a
Niche and within it a Lamp: the Lamp enclosed in Glass: the glass as it were a brilliant star:
Lit from a blessed Tree, an Olive, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil is well-nigh
luminous, though fire scarce touched it: Light upon Light! Allah doth guide whom He will to
His Light: Allah doth set forth Parables for men: and Allah doth know all things.
(Lit is such a Light) in houses, which Allah hath permitted to be raised to honour; for the
celebration, in them, of His name: In them is He glorified in the mornings and in the
evenings, (again and again).
The Holy Qur’an 24:35–36

If light is in your heart, you will find your way home.

Jalal al-Din Rumi,
13th-century mystic and poet
Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1. Mosques and their Architectures
Chapter 2. Mosque Practices
Chapter 3. Shi‘i Sites of Piety
Chapter 4. Sufi Sites of Devotion
Chapter 5. Transcending Boundaries
Conclusion

Glossary
Further Reading
Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Note on the Text
Index
Introduction

Worship has long served communities of the faithful as a means of

communication with the Divine. Whether in the form of liturgy, or
devotional acts, for many it remains an indispensable facet of day-to-day
life. However, in a world increasingly influenced by consumerism and
individualism, the concept of worship – with its veneration of an
impalpable deity – can often seem far removed from our lived realities.
Similarly, while spaces of worship form integral parts of our landscapes,
we seldom engage in the significance of their presence. More often than
not they have become homogenized into structures synonymous with
particular faiths; be it Christianity and the church, Judaism and the
synagogue, or Islam and the mosque.
In spite of this, the diversity within faith communities themselves
continues to challenge our preconceptions of how and where worship takes
place. Just as the Coptic Christian community in Cairo have their own
trajectories of piety, influenced in notable ways by their surroundings, so
too do their co-religionists in Brazil who make up the world’s largest
Roman Catholic population. In both cases, their history and experience of
being Egyptian or Brazilian, speaking Arabic or Portuguese, or living in
Mediterranean Africa or South America shape their very experience of
being human, let alone Christian.
This is similarly reflected in the Hinduism of the West Indies (the
leading religion amongst Indo-Caribbeans) and that of Bali, Indonesia.
Further accentuating the diversity of each culture is the majoritarian
context of one and the minoritarian context of the other. While one case
consists of transplanted migrant communities that have found ways for
their traditions to consciously speak through an adopted culture, the other
exists as a community on an island surrounded by an archipelago of the
largest Muslim population in the world. Given this evident diversity
within religions, it is only to be expected that Islam – one of today’s major
world religions, with over 1.5 billion adherents – is no exception.
Muslims form a global community (umma) united by a common belief
and value system as decreed by God. Essential to this system is the
recognition of the Qur’an as God’s final message to mankind revealed
through His Prophet, Muhammad (ca. 571–632), via the archangel Gabriel.
The vast differences in how Islam takes form arise because of the ways in
which the Qur’anic text is interpreted by communities and cultures, each
with their own trajectories of history, experience and understanding.
Just as there is no single interpretation of Islam, the spaces and rituals
that accommodate Muslim communities across the globe also have no set
form. While the mosque has come to predominate over our architectural
assumptions and is often considered as the place of worship for Muslims,
a survey of where ritual takes place – as is done here on my journey
through the Muslim world and its sites of piety – demonstrates that there
are alternative venues in which Muslims pray. After more than 1,400 years
of Muslim history and development, it should come as no surprise that not
only do spaces of worship beyond the mosque exist, but they can be found
in all corners of the Muslim world. Placing a particular emphasis on ritual
practice and space, this book focuses on the variety of expressions of
worship that Islam has evoked.
Today, and throughout history, Muslims are invoking established
touchstones. Many are cleaving to their own traditions under the threat of
homogenization and the attempt to create a ‘global Muslim identity’.
Others are choosing architectural symbols, such as the dome and minaret,
not only in solidarity with other Muslims, but because it is perceived as
the ‘most Islamic’ option, even though these elements may not be
indigenous to their own environments. Stories of the first Muslim settlers
in Europe and the Americas are often associated with the building of the
first mosque or other communal spaces. The ideas of ‘first spaces’ are also
preserved in the memories of migrant communities. Whatever region in
the world they may be in, whether it be rural Indonesia or urban Paris,
congregations and communities continue to find ways to interpret what
Islam means to them and to express those ideals in the forms of the
structures they pray in.
 These range from the imambaras and husayniyyas of Twelver, or
Ithna‘ashari, Shi‘i Muslims (the largest community of Shi‘i Muslims, who
number in the hundreds of millions), to the khanaqahs, zawiyas and tekkes
of more mystically minded Muslims who are usually categorized under
the broader umbrella of Sufism. Muslim sites of worship also include the
shrine, which not only memorializes sacred figures and relics across the
Muslim world, but speaks to the intimate and personal relationships that
many Muslims have with religious space. There are countless other spaces
that have come, in time, to host the varieties of Muslim devotion and
practice, demonstrating how multiple traditions of piety coexist amongst
Muslims.
However, while examining spaces of worship serves as a useful avenue
for understanding elements of Muslim practice, by no means does it tell us
everything about Muslim identities, which cannot be simply reduced to
religious convictions or beliefs. While religious beliefs are certainly
important for many, we need to be aware that Muslims similarly relate to
their regional cultures or their positions in society; for Islam has many
voices – and equally as many faces.
Drawing upon first-hand accounts from my own journey to the Muslim
world – and primary and secondary scholarship when necessary – this
book offers an anthropological window into Muslim piety in the early 21st
century. In doing so, it is hoped that discussions concerning multiplicity in
Muslim space and ritual, and Islam more widely, become more nuanced
and more inclusive.
We will begin by looking at three very different approaches to the
masjid, or mosque. From the earliest historical experiences of Muslims
before the establishment of formal institutions, when sites and rituals were
still in a state of flux in the Arabian Peninsula and elsewhere, we will
explore the emergence of ritual and space. Understanding the masjid as the
pre-eminent, yet not unique, space used by the earliest Muslims, from its
modest beginnings as an adjunct to the house of the Prophet Muhammad
to its most elaborate manifestations today, will follow. As we broaden the
Muslim religious landscape by considering spaces beyond the masjid,
diverse sites of piety such as the husayniyya, jamatkhana, khanaqah, and
zawiya come into view. By discovering how Muslim communities – Sunni,
Shi‘i, mystical or those that identify in other ways – express their piety in
different spaces through shared rituals, we can develop a map of the many
divergencies, and commonalities, among spaces and ritual practice in the
Muslim world. Is there something we can label as representative of
‘Islam’ from the perspective of space and ritual practice? Or can we
consider a multiplicity of Islamic practices that speak to regional cultures,
gender, geography and climate?
Chapter 1
Mosques and their Architectures

Before exploring devotional spaces around the Muslim world – the

foundation for this book – I had subscribed to the vague notion that the
vast majority of masjids, or mosques, follow a set form. This idea was
further reinforced by books on Islamic architecture that tend to feature a
certain style of classical building. While there are those mosques that have
used artistic licence, stretching one feature, amplifying another or
symbolically representing a motif in a particular way, these seemed to be
simply variations of a general architectural rule: mosques have domes and
minarets. These features not only identify the mosque to those seeking
one, but provide a means by which Muslims announce themselves to the
broader world. It was not until I began to travel, explore and pray within
countless masjids around the world, that I realized how much local culture,
politics, and interpretations of history influence the shaping of a mosque
and its architecture.

Mosques and their Environment

While the primary function of a mosque is to welcome the faithful for
religious practice, the mosque can also encompass a space or complex
where other structures serve the community in different ways. For
example, it is not uncommon to find schools, soup kitchens or even shops
within a masjid’s complex, encapsulating the larger ethical universe which
Islam espouses. While schools provide education, a sentiment echoed in
the well-known tradition of the Prophet: ‘Seek knowledge, even as far as
China’, soup kitchens can offer basic necessities for the impoverished.
Thus, the mosque is not just an architectural structure, but rather a
multidimensional space that can function in various ways – be they
religious, political, or social.
Figure 1. Badshahi Mosque, Lahore, Pakistan
Situated in the capital city of Pakistan’s Punjab province, the Badshahi Mosque was built
under Mughal rule in 1671. Following the Sikh Empire’s capture of Lahore in 1799, the mosque
became a military garrison. It continued to function as such during the British Raj until the mid-
19th century when the Badshahi Mosque Authority was established to restore the site as a
place of worship.
Figure 2. Great Mosque of Tuban, East Java , Indonesia
This grandiose mosque is located in East Java, an Indonesian province known for its volcanic
peaks. With six minarets and three large domes, the mosque boasts a spectacular array of
eye-catching colours that proclaim its presence in the scenic town of Tuban.

Each mosque can be read as an articulation of a community’s identity,

whether minority or majority, and is a product of the dialogue between the
local and the global. In fact, the architectures of Muslim communities
overall are the result of a set of factors ranging from technological know-
how, geographic locality, landscape and materials, and economics, to
interpretations of the faith. It is at this interface that a mosque takes shape.
In every culture that has embraced Islam on a significant scale, one of
three aesthetics emerged victorious with reference to religious
architecture. In some cases, the architectural sensibilities of the dominant
culture – not necessarily Arab – proudly impressed themselves upon the
new soil. This is the case with the Uighur Muslims of China and their
Central Asian heritage that influences the form of the mosque. In other
circumstances, a style which paid homage to the traditions before Islam’s
arrival triumphed. In this case, the building of an existing dominant
religious space might be adopted and slightly altered to reflect the realities
of worship, such being the case with the Chinese Hui whose religious
architecture is rooted in a Confucian-inspired culture. In the third
scenario, a hybrid design developed, incorporating elements of both
cultures and worldviews. This is true, for example, of Ottoman Turkey,
which incorporated Byzantine and Arabo-Persian elements into its
religious architecture.
Taking three examples from my travels, it will become clear just how
much the mosque is influenced by the environment and culture in which it
is situated, as it is by the conversations from which it emerges. We will
see the legacy of a master architect and his patronage by the Ottomans,
which paved a new path for Muslim architecture, thousands of miles away
from the ‘heartland’ of Islam; how Hui and Uighur Muslims in China
assert their identities through the incorporation of different influences in
their mosques; and the ways in which architecture can bring communities
together, as in the grand mud structures of Mali’s Sub-Saharan plains.

Sinan and Ottoman Mosques

In modern-day Turkey lies the legacy of the master engineer and architect
known as Mimar Sinan, ‘Sinan the Architect’, who lived during the rule of
one of the largest empires in world history, the Ottoman Empire (1299–
1924). Born of Armenian and Greek ancestry around 1489, the celebrated
son of a stonemason belonged to an Orthodox Christian family at the edge
of the empire, which, at its height, controlled lands stretching from
Central and Eastern Europe to North Africa and parts of the Arabian
Peninsula. Sinan converted to Islam upon his conscription to Ottoman
service in the capital, Constantinople (Istanbul). At the age of 50, he was
appointed royal architect – a position he would keep for the remaining 48
years of his life – where he was notably responsible for defining the scope
of religious architecture in the central Ottoman lands throughout the 16th
century. Under his leadership, and with apprentice architects and a
government department at his disposal, Sinan executed the construction of
more than 350 major structures. He is credited with designing 84 large
congregational mosques, known as jami‘s, and 51 smaller masjids, 57