NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED!

This short clip is just to provide an example of what ISLAM teaches us! 

It is only for educational purpose! 

From the Movie

The Message (1977)

Central to Islamic architecture is function with all of its dimensions: corporeal, cerebral and spiritual. The form divorced from function is inconsequential. This, however, by no means implies that the form plays no role in Islamic architecture. It does play a prominent role, but its relevance is a supportive one supplementing and enhancing function. The form is important, but in terms of value and substance it always comes second to function and its wide scope. There must be the closest relationship between the ideals that underpin the form of buildings and the ideals that underpin their function, with which the users of buildings must be at ease. A rift or a conflict between the two is bound to lead to a conflict of some far-reaching psychological proportions in buildings users. This way, the roles of form become equivalent to the roles of function

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 What is Tawaf, Why do we walk around the Ka'bah? Here is a very basic reply.

Allah Almighty says:

 

"And He it is Who created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon, each in an orbit floating." (Al-Anbiya, 21: 33)

This glorious verse refers to a scientific fact concerning the system of the universe. Scientific discoveries have proved that we live in a huge universe that depends on revolution.

The earth revolves round the sun once a year, the moon revolves around the earth once per lunar month, and the other planets of the solar system also revolve round the sun, each in its own orbit. Besides, most of these planets have moons that revolve around them, each, also in its own orbit. Astronomers have discovered more than 60 of these moons so far.

The solar system, likewise, orbits a center of our galaxy, the Milky Way. This galaxy consists of more than 130 billion stars. Galaxies, in turn, revolve round a center that only Almighty Allah knows.

The law of revolution applies also to atoms, the smallest units of elements that cannot be seen even by microscopes. An atom is composed of a nucleus whose diameter is less than a millionth of a millimeter. An atom is surrounded by electrons that move round the atom in an orbit.

Since all matter in the universe-whether solid, liquid, or gaseous consists of atoms, this means that the law of revolution applies to everything: stars, planets, moons, animals, plants, sand, seas, air, and so on.

This includes cells as well. The cytoplasm in the cell moves around the nucleus.
There is a common factor between the orbital movements of all the objects referred to above, this is, and their revolution is anti-clockwise.

Contemplating the above lines, we come to realize that revolution is a cosmic law.

With a believer's meditation upon such a scientific fact, another image of revolution is brought to one's mind:The pilgrim's circumambulation of the Kaaba, which is a basic ritual of Hajj in Islam.

Circumambulating the Kaaba is a symbolic act of worship, whose wisdom may be hidden from some. It indicates the believer's utter submission to Almighty Allah alone. The pilgrims go to Hajj in response to the divine order that Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) conveyed to people.

Allah Almighty says:

"And (remember) when We showed Ibrahim the site of the (Sacred) House (the Kaaba at Makkah), saying: Ascribe not anything (in worship) with Me, and sanctify My House for those who circumambulate it, and those who stand up (for prayer), and those who bow (submit themselves with humility and obedience to Allah), and make prostration (in prayer). And proclaim to mankind the Hajj (pilgrimage). They will come to you on foot and on every lean camel, they will come from every deep and distant (wide) mountain highway (to perform Hajj)." (Al-Hajj, 22:26-27).

This signifies that the Kaaba is the spiritual center of the believers. It refers to the close bond that should be between a believer and his Lord. A believer turns toward the Kaaba five times a day during the prescribed ritual Prayers.
A pilgrim circumambulates the Kaaba as if he or she is a celestial body orbiting another greater body.

Circumambulation of the Kaaba is to be performed anti-clockwise. This indicates that there is a joint factor between a pilgrim's expressing his ultimate faith in Almighty Allah by circumambulating the Kaaba in that way and between the cosmic laws of revolution discussed above. This indicates that there is consistency between the obligations of worship in Islam and the natural laws that govern the universe, which indicates that they all belong to only one source, that is, Almighty Allah.
This proves the truthfulness of the call of Islam that there is no god but Almighty Allah. Thus, Islam is the true religion that provides humankind with a comprehensive view in conformity with the divine truth that is apparent in the natural laws of the universe.


Tawaf: Utmost degree of love
Circumambulation means to go round something. This act shows the utmost degree of love to the extent that a lover wishes to sacrifice himself for the beloved. A real pilgrim who has thirst for meeting his Beloved has been detached from everything. By going round the House of the Beloved, he wishes to prove that he desires nothing but God.

The planets circumambulate the sun, for they take everything from it. Inside an atom, the electrons circumambulate the protons. The whole universe ranging from the invisible particles to the planets and galaxies circumambulate. Man, being a part of the universe, should circumambulate, too, with the difference that the planets circumambulate in a compulsory way according to the laws of nature, but man, the rational being and possessor of free will, circumambulates with his logic and will a House God has appointed to honor human beings. Hence, it is natural for Muslims to offer their prayers, to sit, to stand, to recite the Holy Quran, to sleep, to lie down at the moment of death, to be put in a grave, and finally to be in that direction during their lifetimes and death.

"Say: Surely my prayer and my sacrifice and my life and my death are all for Allah, the Lord of the worlds." (Al-Anaam, 6:162)

ORIGINAL POST

It was always one of my favorites! the story of  Adam!

Adam

They immediately began to build a temple with four gates, and they called the first gate the Gate of Adam; the second, the Gate of Abraham; the third, the Gate of Ismael; and the fourth, the Gate of Mohammed. The plan of the building they had received from the angel Gabriel, who had, at the same time, brought them a large diamond of exquisite brightness, which was afterward sullied by the sins of men, and at last became entirely black.

   This black stone, the most sacred treasure of the blessed Kaaba, was originally the angel who guarded the forbidden tree, and was charged to warn Adam if he should approach it, but, having p. 42 neglected his trust, he was changed into a jewel, and at the day of judgment he shall resume his pristine form and return to the holy angels.

   Gabriel then instructed Adam in all the ceremonies of pilgrimage, precisely as they were instituted by Mohammed at a later period; nor was he permitted to behold Eve his wife until the evening of Thursday, when the holy days were ended.

Architecture is more than a history of form and style; it is a product of cultural and environmental factors and an expression of the way of life of the people for whom it is build.

Islamic architecture is more than  just a spectacle of domes and minarets, perfumed pleasure palaces and exquisite turquoise tiles; it is a true expression of  a rich culture that has unified countries as apart as Spain and Java, Central Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, over some thousand years and more. Islamic buildings express the religious beliefs, social and economic structure, political motivation and visual sensibility of a pervasive and unified tradition.

At all times and in all regions of the Muslim world we  can find ‘hidden architecture’ that is. Architecture that truly exist, not when seen as monument or symbol visible to all and from all sides, but only when entered, penetrated  and experienced from within.

To the Muslim the concept of DIN or RELIGION, embraces three elements: IMAN, IBADAT and IHASAN, which may be loosely translate as ‘belief’, ‘religious obligations’, and ‘right doing’. In Western terms these could be said to equate with dogma, ritual and ethics.

As God’s first and only prophet to all mankind Muhammad SWT brings to a close all previous, scattered revelations, which are now rendered otiose in virtue of his universality. This doctrine operates both forward and backwards in time, not only annulling claims in advance but rescinding all previous revelations. Such, in sum, is the dogmatic content of the SHAHADA, or Creed (literally, ‘attestation  of faith’), which comprises only two clauses, known from their fundamentality as KALIMAS, or ‘words’. The first kalima reads, ‘I believe that there is no god apart from the The  God;  and the second, ‘ and that Muhammad SWT is the messenger of God’.

At the heart of Islam the Five Pillars (the Arabic means, literally, ‘corners’). This dose not mean that the edifice of faith is pentagonal, for the Pillars are disposed in the pattern of quincunx, with the First Pillar, the SHAHADA, at the Centre to which the remaining four are peripheral: SALAT (prayer), SIYAM (fasting), ZAKAT (payment of the poor-tax), HAJI (pilgrimage)

At the Centre of  Islam, both geographically and spiritually, stands the KABA. The MIHRAB of every mosque is aligned with it. And to it every Muslim turns to pray; thus the whole of Islam can be seen as a wheel with the spokes radiating from KABA. But as well as this horizontal axis there is a vertical one, that of the spirit. At the KABA the two intersect, so that it is the only non-directional religious building in the Muslim world.

ARCHITECTURE OF THE ISLAMIC WORLD, edited by GEORGE MICHELL