-By A. Ishola
Lightening over World's tallest building, Dubai's Burj Khalifa. Photo by Alisdair Miller.
“The glory and pride of exaltation must be in it,” described influential architect Louis Sullivan of the skyscraper, “It must be every inch a proud and soaring thing, rising in sheer exaltation…” In Islam, pride is recognised as the right of God alone, whilst arrogance is a characteristic of the Satan and detested in all its guises.
One of the reasons God destroyed Pharaoh was his arrogance in commissioning a tower tall enough that he may look upon the face of God. The blessed Prophet also mentioned one of the signs of the end of time as being the competing in construction of tall buildings.
It was narrated that the Prophet (SAW) said: “No one who has an atom’s-weight of arrogance in his heart will enter Paradise.” A man said, “O Messenger of Allah, what if a man likes his clothes and his shoes to look good?” He said, “Allah is Beautiful and loves beauty. Arrogance means rejecting the truth and looking down on people.”
I emphasise “looking down on people.”
The concept of “beauty without arrogance” is of strong influence on building design and elevation and in traditional Islamic cities. A building is expected to be of humble height and design, whilst respecting urfi and fiqh factors. Adornment was reserved for the interior. With these principles, cities like Toledo, Baghdad and Damascus led the world in urban planning and design.
