Malay Architecture Symbolism: From the Worldview of Islamic Intellectual Tradition

Malay Architecture Symbolism: From the Worldview of Islamic Intellectual Tradition clarify some of the Islamic cosmological principles which influence the spiritual aspects of symbolism manifested in Malay architecture. The primary objectives of this book are to reveal the secular elements and its impact on Islamic architecture and to identify substantial Islamic values and spirituality in the Malay architecture. The general purpose is to analyze symbolism in the Malay architecture from the Islamic intellectual tradition. The topics of discussions include not only the spiritual ideas from Islamic perspective such as theology, metaphysics, and cosmology, but also include the western ideas that confined to secular thinking. This book provides a critical appraisal of the previous literatures in the same topics and highlights the current lack of knowledge in the area.

The region of the Malay world, in which Islamization took place throughout its history is the main focus of this book. Importantly, this book provides insights on how the Islamic intellectual development of the Malays are reflected on their architecture. The expressions of Islamic wisdom cannot be comprehended in a restricted sense of secular knowledge. It cannot be appraised through rationalism and empiricism of the secular worldview. Nevertheless, this book does not reject scientific approaches to interpreting symbolic meanings in architecture by any means. What this book is offering is emphasizing the aspects of symbolism from the inner view of Islam, encompassing the unfaltering devotion towards God, and the practice of good deeds according to the Syariah.