John Paul M.

Jacosalem
2013 - 14795
Middle Eastern Architecture
The Malleable Culture
Religion has always been an essential aspect of humans. Inherent in us is the need for a
higher being to exist such that they may be able to guide us. Faith in these beings can be at times
strong enough to pervade other aspects of our lives. Such is the case with Islam.
Islam, established by Mohammed the Prophet, is the second largest religious denomination in
the world. Believers, or Muslims, adhere to a certain lifestyle in practicing their religion and ultimately
pleasing their God, Allah. Islam came to the Philippines through cultural routes even before the
Spaniards came. The spread of Islam here is credited to Tuan Mashaika and Karim ul-Mahkdum.
Starting from the southern regions of the Philippines, Islam worked its way up to Luzon, establishing
powerful sultanates and forging alliances.
This new religion wasnt met with such resistance, as historical evidence (or the lack thereof)
proves. Such rapid assimilation of Islam started from the conversion of the community leaders, which
paved the way for easier teachings to the communitys constituents. Other experts argue that the
natives may have just been driven by the attraction to Islams beautiful rituals, art, and stories. The
native Filipinos, who were initially animists, found ways to combine Islam with their local beliefs, thus
birthing a slightly different Islam with folk-Islamic tradition. Islam in itself believes in several principles
that differ from Christian faith a difference that is evident in the way they construct their religious
spaces.
Mosques are the center of the Islam spirituality. Being the main worship space, Muslims go
here to pray, listen to the Imams lectures, and to contemplate on spirituality. Spaces in the Mosque are
especially specific to their activities and beliefs. Islam is a non-representative religion, meaning they do
not have figures of people, animals, etc. in their mosques. This stems from the belief that Allah is the
one true God, any other figures in the mosque would undermine this belief. Thus, the architectural
ornamentation of mosques relies mainly on geometric abstractions of nature, especially floral forms.
The walls are also decorated with calligraphy, using verses lifted from the Koran. All of these are part of
a conscious effort to detach ones consciousness from material objects and become more spiritual.

While Islam did have overarching guidelines and beliefs in the construction of the Mosque such
as aligning of the space to an invisible axis pointing to Mecca, there were no specific, concrete rules
that govern all details of the construction. Because Islam was a new religion then, Filipinos who made
them had their own interpretation of the mosque that distinguished itself from those in other countries.
The context of the Philippines is one of the factors that shaped how we designed our mosques.
With the abundance of raw materials, our worship spaces were built with thatched roofs and wooden
frames while some were even on stilts. Utilizing what was available gave way to constructing a Filipino
mosque. The round areas of the Middle-eastern mosques were not a common feature here in the
Philippines as it was a costly. What native Muslims did instead was create octagonal spaces that were
more economical to construct. Water, for example, was an essential element of the mosque and tanks
and ponds were constructed in Middle Eastern mosques in order to bring water inside the mosque.
Given the abundance of bodies of water in our country, mosques then were just constructed near
streams, lakes, and other bodies of water, eliminating the need for the provision of tanks inside the
mosque.
As we have said before, the mixing of our local culture with that of Islam gave birth to different
Folk-Islamic traditions. These traditions also manifested themselves in our mosques. One example is
the incorporation of the okir carvings in the geometric designs of the mosques. We also included
supernatural figures of ours in the mosque like images of the centaur and other local motifs. Layered
roofing at inverted jars atop the domes hint of the Chinese influence of the native Muslims that
manifested also in the design of the mosque. Thus, Philippine Islamic Architecture was slowly deviating
from the non-representative nature of Islam.
Looking from hindsight, we see now that the main factors that distinguished our mosques were
the context of our country and the fact that our culture has assimilated elements and beliefs from those
we have interacted with. Islamic culture is no different and the Filipino culture will continually adapt and
incorporate the different external influences as we move on towards the future of our country.