Considered the physical manifestation of a society’s culture, architecture is influenced by many factors; such as politics, rulers, economy, as well as religious scripture and literature. As such, it is important to discuss the manifestation of beliefs in both poetry and architecture, as they have profoundly influenced the processes of giving form and generating text. Within this context, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Antiquities Museum is organizing a lecture entitled “Islamic Architecture and Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī’s Poetry”. The lecture will be held on Sunday, 22 April 2018, at 1:00 pm, in the Afterlife Section, Antiquities Museum, Bibliotheca Alexandrina Main Building.
The lecture will be delivered by Dr. Mai Hawas, architect and researcher of Islamic Architecture. She will examine religious architecture through Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī’s poetic texts; a methodology that proposes the characteristics of these texts as a classical expression of the society. The lecturer will analyze 15th century architecture in Bursa and Cairo, focusing on religious architecture; such as worship places where men pray. Indeed, architecture can be viewed as a simulation for the stages of wisdom expressed in Rūmī’s poetic stages of the soul’s journey to God. It has been proven that the aesthetic consciousness of the Ottoman culture and artistic architecture, miniature painting, literature, and music are more of a traditional product than a creation of art.
Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī—also known as Mevlânâ, Mevlevî (1207-1273)—tried to decipher the relationship between words and meaning, experience and expression. He compared words to dust on a mirror (experience), which generates from the movement of the broom (tongue), and described the true meaning as the (soul of the story).
In 1251, before he wrote Al-Mathnavi, Mevlana’s friend, the minister Jalaluddin Qaratay, founded the Qaratay School, which—according to Anne Marie Schemmile—better reflects the poetic characteristics of Al-Mathnavi than any rational explanation can do.