Notes: Privacy, Modesty, Hospitality and the Design of Muslim Homes: A Literature Review. Zulkeplee Othman, Rosemary Aird, Laurie Buys, School of Design, Queensland University of Technology, Faculty of Creative Industries, Brisbane, Australia, 23 December 2014

Notes:

Privacy, Modesty, Hospitality and the Design of Muslim Homes: A Literature Review.
Zulkeplee Othman, Rosemary Aird, Laurie Buys, School of Design, Queensland University of Technology, Faculty of Creative Industries, Brisbane, Australia, 23 December 2014

Abstract:
- Traditional Islamic Teachings:
o Guidelines
o Direct application in the domestic sephere
 Privacy
 Modesty
 Hospitality
• Significant
• Design effect
- Spatial organization
o Domestic behaviours
o Nineteen ublications from 1986-13
o Commonly shared guidelines:
 Cultural alternatives evident in differing countries
 Multifactoral nature of influences.
Introduction:
- Home:
o Rich independant phsycghological meaning.
o Symbolic social comunication
o Defines interpersonal creative expression
o Represents
 social network
 social class
o symbolic place that offers notions of domesticity, comfort, and well-being through domestic intimacy and privacy.
 Doors
 Windows
 Bedrooms
• Substantial influence on domestic behaviours
o Provides:
 Meanings that serve both personal and social needs.
 Three main structures:
• Personal home:
o Extension of oneself
o Cenral emotional expression
• Social home:
o Share, entertain
o Build relationships
• Physical Home;
o Structure
o Space
o Architectural style
- Authors provide insight into the micro level symbolic meaning
o Home and universal perspective
o Importance:
 Macro level factors
• Climate
• Culture
• Socioeconomic factors
• Religion
 Influence of other cultural traditions on home perception:
• Space utilization
• Home design
• Domestic behaviours
- Migration of large numbers of people to countries with cultural and religious traditions that markedly differ from those of their country of origin is now commonplace.
Muslims:
- Islam involves strong religious traditions
o Apply directly to structure
o Within the Islamic faith a home is considered a “microcosm of Islamic Culture and Civilisation” (Omer 2010)
o “Subject to guidelines from principals outlined in Islamic Sharia Law
 Derived from the Qur’aan
 Inc.
• Hadiths
• Sunnahs
o Three Major Principals:
 Privacy, a safe and private place for personal and family sanctuary
 Modesty, a home with spaces for religious rituals and activities, further defined by humility in design through ecinomical and sustainable design,
 Hospitality, a dwelling with opportunities to exten hospitality to neighbours and enhance relationships with the society
- Migration exposes them (muslims) to the cultures and traditions of their host countries.
- Little is known about the importance of domestic spaces for performing religious rituals
- Respective connections to home design are fragmented
- Article: conducts a review of studies published over he past three decades to acertain the influence of these three principals on the design of muslim homes.
Material and Method.
- Database searches
o Identify publications that provide insight
Result:
Privacy and design in Muslim homes:
o Main factor that shapes muslim homes
 Entrance doors
 Placement and sizes of windows
 Building heights and balconies
 Internal courtyards
 Gendered spaces
 Entrance doors in muslim homes are placed away from the main street
• Not directly facing he opposite neighbours
• Example:
o Indigenous courtyard homes in Diyarbakir, Turkey
• Teachings:
o Not to violate household visual privacy by looking into other’s homes
 Windows:
• Traditional mud houses in Saudi Arabia:
o Small windows
o High-level
o Alternating placement
• Wooden lattice screens
o Mashrabiya
o Minimize view to the outside
 Height
• Traditional muslim neighbourhoods
o Building height control
 Courtyards:
• Introduction of courtyards in taditional homes
o Primarily the middle east
o Prevent direct visibility into internal home
o Mitigate climatic factors
o Approach is ‘eco efficient’
• Diyarbikir, Turkey:
o Designed such that:
 Summer rooms
• Southern section of the courtyard
• Facing north
 Winter rooms
• Northern section
• Facing south
o Includes ‘cool room’
 Evident in south west – plan – Cahit Sitki Taranci, Diyarbakir, Turkey
 Iwan
 Cool summer breeze
o Causes pleasant micoclimate
o Private functions
o Musical entertainment
o Incorporation offountains
o Shade trees.
o Islamic calligraphy
o Design motifs
o Gendered spaces
 Social restrictions
 Allowed behaviour
• Between “not blood related (muhrim)
• Men and women
 Domestic domain regarded as a female space
 Women:
• Embrace gender segregated spaces that are enforced by the social system
 Arab gulf women:
• Opportunity to visit one another
• Exchange recipes
• Ideas
• Display purchases of designer clothing
• Fragrances
• Expensive beauty products
• Privacy of the female salon
• Key decision makers on domestic mattersdetermine the peoplpe allowed to enter their homes
Acoustic Privacy:
- Important criteria
- Contro of sound transmission and vibration
- Outside into the internal domain
- Thick walls
o Mud bricks
o Stones
o rocks
- applied to floors and roofs
o internal spaces
o three main zones
 male
 female
 service zones
 linked via courtyards
- gendered saces are seperated by
o circulation spaces
o corridors
 ensures:
• public (male)
• semi-public (female)
• located closest to main entrance
• restricts noise to private domain.
Olfactory privacy:
- Privacy:
o Not limited to visual acoustic privacy
o Controls of smells or odours
o Muslim homeowners
o Incense
 Oud
 Agrabati
o Qur’aan does not discuss use of incnse
o “hadith imply that incense
 is a good traditional practice
 purify the home
 medicine to treat tonsillitis in children
o removing shoes
o visual and acoustic privacy
 external
 interior
o olfactory
 internal
Humility in Design and Spaces for performing religious activities.
Modesty (haya)
- polite and humble as personality trait.
- Two main categories:
o Physical modesty
 Dress code
 Design humility
o Inner modesty
 Internal perception
 Social interaction
Guidelines Sharia Law:
o Home Design:
 Provide balance
• Neighbourhood wealth
• Not showing off
o Through excessive spending on home
 External area
• Private spaces
o Religious activities
o Education
o Modesty principals:
 Traditions
 Cultures
 Religions
 Western Society
• Mostly percieves modesty in Islam as:
o Resting on muslim dresscode
o As acts of
 decency
 respect
- Percieved ‘Intimate parts’ or awrah
o Differ in accordance with gender of an individual
o Men:
 Navel to the knee
o Women:
 The entire body
• Except face and hands
o Concept of awrah
 Protects women from non-muhrim men
 Any indecent gesture
• Leads to
o Sexual assult
o Abuse
o Outside or inside the home
- Central importance
o “Islam”:
 ‘salam’
 Peace
 5 prayers a day.
External Modesty: Humility in Design
- Humility in design:
o Prohibits
 exuberant dispersals
 wrong doings
 excessive spending
 desires for infamy
- Humble behavior
o Function of a home
o Basis of society
 House in Medina (Prophet Muhammud)
 The basis of a simple rectangular shape
 External walls made of palm fibres
 Simple fabric
 Locally sourced materials
 Design humility
• Ideas and principals of sustainable living should be based”
- Traditional Malay Houses:
o Local materials (on site)
 Constructed through
• Combined effort of home owners and neighbours
 Roof
• of cocnut leaves
• Nipah palm leaves
• Provides waterproof shelter
 Walls:
• Floral engraved
• Decorative timber
o Windows
o Screens
o Panels
 In sync with traditional middle eastern islamic decorative style
- Malaysian muslims tend to have similar Islamic design motifs
o Alternative economical and sustainable approaches
Internal Modesty Spaces:
- Muslim homes are required to have spaces for prayer
o (salat: Arabic, Namaz: Urdu)
o Utulize one room closest to living room
 Special prayer room
 Accessible toilets for ablution and cleansing
- Malay House:
o Utilizes guest reception area (Serambi – male)
 Front of the house
 Congregational prayers
• Festive occasions
• Special occasions
o Middle East
 Majlis
• Only part of the house accessible by the main entry
o Preformprayers or ‘salat’
- Five prayers are practised at home as a family ritual
o Friday prayers not included
o Local sarau
 Small local version of mosque
o Malay Kampung homes include daily religious classes
- Traditional islamic teachings recomend
o Muslim home dweller
o Baeutify the internal space
 Non-idoltary decorations or artifacts
• Flowers
• Decorated fabrics
 Istead of:
• Expensive gold
• Animal
• Human like statues
o Decorative:
 Floral
 Patterns
 Islamic calligraphy
• Favoured wall patterns
 Floral patterned rugs
o Express the concept and symbolism of islamic modesty
 Simple furnishings
o Traditional Malay Homes:
 Kampung houses
• Lower socioeconomic standig
• Agricultural background
 Floor matts:
• Pandanus leaves
• Mengkuang
o Locally available
o Hand made
- Modesty has been described as one of the 77 branches of the islam faith in the sunnahs
Extending Hospitality and Strengthening Relationships with Society.
- Hospitality:
o Constitutional acceptance of or receptivness to others
 Important ion traditional Islamic society
 Compassionate treatment of strangers
 Sharing with others within the islamic culture
• Entertaining
• Openness and generosity
o To others
o Hgospitality is incorporated into the private domain
o Islam:
 Promotes frugality
 Avoids wastage
o Social interaction and the building of relationships to achieve social solidarity or ummah (brotherhood) among muslims and others are strongly encouraged within islam.
 Islamic hospitality etiquette “equally accomidates frugality and opulance”
• In honour of their guests.

Public Hospitality Domains: Male Guests.
- Hospitality is demonstrated:
o Guets feel ‘at home’
o Traditional muslim societies re patriarchal
o Entertain guests in the public domain.
o Majlis “A place of sitting”
 Represents masculinity and honour
 Directly accessable from main entrance
- Traditional homes in Iran
o Still follow traditional rules
 Biruni (exterior area)
 Andarini (interior territory of the house)
o Rooms for guests
 Ornamented
• Persian rugs
• ‘other’
 Demontrates
• Accptance of guests
• Importance of hospitality.
- Traditional Malay Houses:
o Embrace community intimacy over family privacy
 Main verandah (srambi)
• Vital element.
o Meetings
o Discussions
o Prayers
 “whereas other social and neighbourhood informal conversations and interractions take place on the front porch’
Semi-public hospitality spheres: Female Sapces.
- Hospitality:
o Not strictly limited to male guests.
- Female members:
o Strong bonds with female
 Friends
 Relatives
• Keep updated with current news and information
- Middle eastern homes:
o Emphasize:
 Need for seperate male and female spaces.
o Examples:
 Ashayer Nomadic Tent; Kerman, Iran
 Iranian Courtyard Homes
o Salon:
 More elegant materials
 More modern decor
• Comparative to Majlis
o Female familymembers and friends use ‘middle section’
 Selang,
 Rumah Tengah
• Socialize when male guests are entertained
• Use the main bedroom or
o Rumah ibu
 Adjacent to guest reception
o Serambi
 After guests have left the house
o When guests stay overnight:
 Female members
• Sleep on floor
• Or on mattresses
•   Back section of the house
o Females dominate the kitchen (dapur)
 Kitchen has seperate entrance.
Private Hospitality Areas: Family Spaces.
- Family Gathering are important
o Include:
 Muhrim (wife)
• Father
• father in law
• sons
• son in laws
• brother
• nephews
• uncles
o capable of entering house even without the precence of husbands.
o Essential in Theocratic governments such as Iran.
Discussion:
- Middle Eastern Countries:
o Saudi Arabia
o Iran
o Turkey
 Privacy through the segregation of male and female spaces
o Malaysia
 Privacy
 Modesty
 Hospitality
• Observed by subtle design approaches
- Islam:
o “a home is concieved as
 A place for personal and family privacy
 A modest space for religious activities at home while showing humility to the neighbourhood
 A base for extending hospitality and strengthening relationships with family and society; thus, humankind is held responsible for creating pleasant built environment by acting as successors or khalifa (Caliphs) on eath.
o Omer (2010):
 24 design recomendations with respect to building a Muslim Home based on Shariah teachings
 Strict trtaditional guidelines
• Qur’aan
• Sunnahs
o Other Factors:
 Local culture
 Climate
 Topography
 Codes
 Regulations
 Current architctural trends
• Adhere to tripart architectural principals within the islamic domestic sphere
 Orientation
 Microclimate
 Organization of internal and external spaces.
Conclusion
- Homes in muslim dominant countries share humility of design.
- ‘further research must be conducted

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