The House: Dar, Bayt, Manzil and Maskan
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Spahic Omer
Kulliyyah of Architecture and Environmental Design
International Islamic University Malaysia
E-mail: spahico@yahoo.com
A courtyard house in Fez, Morocco.
Islamic housing is a symbiosis of heavenly and terrestrial dimensions. Both sides are extremely important, playing their respective roles. They finely complement and add to each other’s strength and operation. Neglecting either of the two poles in Islamic housing inevitably leads to a serious damage in the latter’s fundamental nature, either at a conceptual or a practical plane.
The significance of a house in Islam can easily be discerned from the Arabic words used for it that are dar, bayt, manzil and maskan.