Mowlana Hazar Imam has been incessantly working towards the definition and implementation of Islamic architecture for buildings and land used by Muslims since he succeeded to the throne of Imamat on July 11, 1957.
In 1976, he established the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
“In establishing the Award, I was attempting not only to bring about the survival of the Islamic heritage in building forms, my objective was to stimulate in the architectural profession a new thought process which would seek to grow from the roots of our own culture, and develop a momentum of its own and become an almost instructive manner of expression.”
On these pages, I have gathered a few excerpts which are then linked to the actual speeches and I must say that I am having a tough time in collecting them and making them ready and presentable for my web site. Just think how much wisdom and toil would have gone into actually working that vision, attending all the seminars and presenting those speeches and trying to bring that vision to fruition… Mashallah!
It has been 24 years since he seriously went to work in trying to restore our Islamic inheritance of the years gone by, when Muslim architecture and culture was at its peak and the rest of the world was learning from our architects and artisans in building the environment around them. Our scientists and philosophers had a clear definition in their minds of what the built environment should be around them – not in competition with its environment, acutely aware of the building’s effect upon its residents/users, by using materials that were indigent to that area and also not to impress anyone by its dimensions (therefore, no glass and concrete high-rises!). On the other hand, they were built to remind one of Allah’s remembrance at all times and the public places were created to remind one of the tranquility and serenity of life in heaven and that is why the use of water and fountains and cool greenery was ever-present in classic Islamic architecture.
Mowlana Hazar Imam realized that fast growth in the Muslim countries from the boom in oil revenues, etc. was resulting in rushed growth of those cities who imported architects, materials and workers to build for those nations’ buildings, road systems and developing whole communities and were creating all the horrors of urban living and the stress that goes with it. In just a very short period of time, Mowlana Hazar Imam has managed to create a great turnaround in the thinking of professional architectural circles who are beginning to realize how important it is to build with the client’s lifestyle in mind as well as to think carefully about the impact on the land and community and incorporating the planning for the future growth and use of that space. With his Aga Khan Award for Architecture and liaisons with the foremost universities of the United States, Harvard and MIT, he is making a difference. In the next generation, when 50% of the population will be Muslim, and the built environment will provide that balance with nature and man, din wa duniya (religion & life), you can give testimony that it started by the foresight of a Noble Descendent of our beloved Prophet Muhammad. (s.a.s.) Please judge for yourself by browsing through these engaging speeches and interviews. Also, please pardon me if I am not able to present all the required speeches online at once. I’d like to call this a work-in-progress and I ask your help to please provide me with speeches missing here, if you know about them.
