Image Text and Form: Complexities of Aesthetics in an American Masjid

The aesthetic features of the American masjid can be codified under the rubrics of image, text, and form. These three features suggest an anachronistic language corresponding to the use of ornament, inscription, and architectural form. The occurrence of image, text, and form, therefore, prompts an inquiry that must address two pivotal thematic assumptions:1. The primacy of prayer (salat) is a necessary criterion in determining the characteristics of a liturgical space suited for the American environment. The embellishment of a space for salat is a contingent matter. Although ornament, inscription, and architectural form have been nuanced as an integral aspect of the aesthetic language of a masjid, these features are essentially independent of any ritual demands. Both assumptions provide the scope to study the aesthetic language of the American masjid apropos of the complexities of ornament, inscription, and architectural form. But we encounter, with regard to the second assumption, a recurring use of an extant aesthetic precedent. In the history of Muslim architecture, we come upon instances in which the aesthetic features of an extant masjid has influenced a succeeding structure. There are exceptions to the foregoing premise, and the question of the degree to which an extant masjid can be considered in the classification of the American masjid is further complicated by the absence of documented history. In addition, the features of the American masjid  appear to be directly related to the phenomenon of a Muslim Diaspora. When building a masjid, the Diaspora community ascribes emotional value to the utilization of a well-known convention or an influencing custom from the Muslim world. The history of Muslim architecture is, therefore, a key consideration for an architect who aims to gratify a Muslim client. There are problems with the indiscriminate use of a well-known convention or an influencing custom. In attempting to replicate extant features from the past, the architect invariably produces a de facto facsimile whose aesthetics are severely compromised. For example, truckers were overheard commenting on their shortwave radios as they drove past the masjid in Toledo, Ohio, which was under construction at the time. One trucker, responding to his friend who had ask edhim about the structure of the masjid, remarked that Òit must be a new Mexican restaurant or something!