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The Legitimacy of Decoration
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him)not only totally ignored the subject of decoration and ornamentation while he was building and while he was overseeing others who were building during his lifetime, but he also, at first glance, denounced the matter in several of his hadiths (traditions). In one of them, he is reported to have said that whenever a people's performance (‘amal)weakens, they then start decorating their mosques.1
In another tradition, the Prophet (peace be on him)said that one of the signs of the imminence of the Day of Judgment is when people start boasting against one another with regard to building pursuits,2 including planning, construction, decoration and everything else related to built environment. This applies to the mosque institution as well.3
The Prophet (peace be on him)also disclosed that he was not directed (ma umirtu)to erect (tashyid)monumental mosques. The narrator of the last hadith, ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Abbas, commented: “You shall certainly end up adorning your mosques as both the Jews and Christians did.”4 Surely, ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Abbas did not say this of his own accord; rather, he just paraphrased a hadith in which the Prophet (peace be on him)is reported to have uttered the same.
Furthermore, the Prophet (peace be on him)commanded that every cloth or curtain decorated with figured designs be removed from the places of prayer lest they disturb people's prayers. He himself set a standard by doing so on a few occasions.5 According to yet another hadith, every house ought to be free of those articles which may get in the way of the absorption of those who perform their prayers there.6
On one occasion the Prophet (peace be on him)refused to enter a house to which he had been invited because in the house there was a figured curtain. When asked for the reason of his refusal, the Prophet (peace be on him)replied: “It is not fitting for me or for any prophet to enter a house which is decorated.”7 In fact, there are so many traditions of the Prophet (peace be on him)to the effect that angels do not enter a house in which there is a picture or portrait.8
The Prophet (peace be on him)is also reported to have said, on...