I WANT to prove a simple point about Islam in the modern world using my training and career in architecture, and an acknowledged expertise in architecture history, theory and criticism as well as mosques and Islamic architecture.
To begin with, let me describe seven architectural languages of mosques in Malaysia.
There are four traditional architectural languages that I have identified.
The first is the oldest language known, which is the traditional vernacular mosque. This architectural language is characterised by the Kampung Tuan Mosque in Terengganu, which is reputed to be several hundred years old.
The mosque in this language is of all timber construction and raised on stilts. The square plan with a two- or three-tiered roof structure is its signature.
There is no serambi (verandah) and no minaret. Some mosques in this language, like the Papan Mosque in Perak, take a two-tiered roof form and also doesn’t have a minaret. The beduk, a timber log used as a drum, is placed in the attic space in the top tier of the roof.
No one knows for sure where this form originates but many surmise that it hails from the old Demak Mosque in Indonesia. Where Demak’s square plan and tiered pyramidal roof forms came from is anybody’s guess but temple forms of other faiths may have been an inspiration.
The second traditional architectural language is what I call the Sino-eclectic mosque as exemplified by the Masjid Kampung Hulu in Melaka. The mosque is of masonry construction, has no stilts and has a concrete or tiled floor. The characteristic tiered roof form is still prevalent but the roof is made of clay tiles like Chinese or Dutch shophouses and unlike the attap or timber roofs of the traditional vernacular type. The minaret, I assume, came later.
The most interesting feature here is the cement ridges of the roof that curl and end with what is known as the ekor naga, or dragon’s tail. You can easily recognise a Chinese temple in the bones of the Kampung Hulu Mosque.
The mosque has a perimeter serambi that separates itself from the inner place of prayer. Another most interesting feature is the rumah taboh, which is a small hut by the mosque gateway that houses an animal skin drum called a taboh. The timber beduk or the taboh drum is used to signal prayer times and times to break fasts during Ramadan.
The third traditional architectural language, an Anglo-Indian language, is best exemplified by the Ubudiah Mosque in Perak.
The signature characteristics are the concrete onion domes that litter the minarets and roof forms. In India, the domes are characteristic of Indian temples and palaces that were later adapted by the Moguls on that continent.
It has been suggested that this architectural language arose in Malaya because British colonial officials wanted to share with Malay royalty the architectural language of British India. The old train station, the Sultan Abdul Samad buildings and Masjid Jamek in the heart of old Kuala Lumpur were perhaps intended as the language of British authority and imperial architecture or Malaya.
The fourth traditional architectural language can be seen in the Masjid Sultan Abu Bakar in Johor. It is one of only two mosques in Malaysia that uses a neoclassical architectural language that can be traced back to the ideals of architects like Andrea Palladio and Inigo Jones in Italy and Britain.
Johor has always been seen as a “radical” exception in politics, and it’s similarly so in architecture, with the state buildings on Bukit Timbalan having a classical and Moorish architectural language alien to the British Raj architecture of KL.
In the modern era, the National Mosque and the Masjid Negri Sembilan are an example of a modernistic expressionist language, the fifth type I have identified. “Modernistic” is a term used to denote architecture that displays a clear message of structure, and ventilation design that responds to the tropical climate. Modernistic designs do not use any historical precedence and their makers pride themselves on using a “less is more” approach and a “form following function” philosophy.
The sixth language can be seen in the Aspa Mosque in Pahang designed by a non-Muslim architect, Jimmy Lim. This mosque led the way in a regionalistic language, using traditional roof forms with modern concrete or timber technology. The spirit of regionalism lies in the ideal of a form deriving from the material of the place, framed in sustainable construction and with ties to the memory of past forms. Thus, a marriage of technology, spirit and memory produced a form true to its place and true to its time.
The seventh language, exemplified in the age of the mega mosque, began with the Shah Alam Mosque sporting a huge Ottoman-style dome and four tall minarets. Then came the UTM Skudai Mosque in Johor with six minarets followed by the International Islamic University Mosque in KL with an even more massive dome and two minarets. These, as well as the Putra Mosque in Putrajaya and the Federal Mosque in KL, reflect the spirit of an era when it was thought that the political power of Islam lies in the association with imperial mosques of the Ottoman and the Safavid eras of Islam.
So what is the point of this column? Well, I wanted to show that the mosque, the most important building in Islam, has evolved through seven languages in its existence on the Malay peninsula. The languages responded to technology, the economy, politics and available materials of their time and changed forms. Yet the practice and politics of Islam by certain groups refuse to change with the modern age and the demands of a globally connected society.
The architects of the mosques showed the true strength of Islam: that is, its ability to adapt, adopt and change while still anchoring its values and principles to a few universally accepted ideals.
If only politics would follow architecture instead of the other way round, perhaps we might be better off as a nation.
Prof Dr Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is Professor of Architecture at UCSI University. The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own.
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