between a house, a citadel, or a school and the
label Islamic, and admit as Islamic only those
buildings created to house religious activities. The
mosqUe, shrine, tomb, madrasa, and Sufi enclave
are usually included in this category. They are
united by their uses, by a general (though not
exclusive) avoidance of representations of liv-
ing beings, and usually by a liberal application
of historical and religious inscriptions. Yet even
here contradictions arise; the tomb and shrine, for
example, may well be deemed un-Islamic within
certain Islamic legal and theological positions.
These contradictions, which extend to all catego-
ries of religious Islamic architecture, arise from
the conflation of use and function.
It is the distinction between use and function
that moves Islamic architecture (and art) out of the
supposed natural systems in which scholars have
situated them and places them instead within cul-
tural systems that are capable of producing a mul-
tiplicity of arts and architectures under the rubric
of Islam. Use refers to the actual situations in
which specific buildings or objects are employed,
while function is attached to the reasons the
building is built and the purposes it serves. Both
provoke questions of how, where, when, who, and
why, but function focuses mostly on the question
of why. While mosques are built for prayer (their
use), they may also be intended to commemorate
the generosity or enhance the prestige of the per-
son who funded them or to signal the presence
of a Muslim community in a new setting (their
function). In this sense, Islamic architecture is no
different from other architectures. It operates as
shelter and as sign, and it is created within rela-
tionships that bind clients, designers, architects,
builders, suppliers, and users.
See also bazaar; cities; hoUses; mihrab; mina-
ret; orientalism; pUrdah.
Nuha N. N. KhouryFurther reading: Oleg Grabar, The Formation of Islamic
Art (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1973);
Robert Hillenbrand, Islamic Architecture: Form, Func-
tion, and Meaning (Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh
Press, 1997); Renata Holod and Hasan-Uddin Khan,
The Mosque and the Modern World: Architects, Patrons,
and Designs since the 1950s (London: Thames & Hud-
son, 1997); George Michell, ed., Architecture of the
Islamic World: Its History and Social Meaning (London:
Thames & Hudson, 1978).Arkoun, Muhammad (1928– ) noted
modern Muslim philosopher and intellectual
Muhammad Arkoun is one of the most prolific
and academically influential liberal Muslim intel-
lectuals of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
He is among the first generation of Muslim intel-
lectuals who have intentionally directed their
works towards Western audiences and people
living in the majority Muslim world. Most of his
works have appeared originally in French and
later have been translated into Arabic and other
languages.
Arkoun was born on January 2, 1928, in the
Berber village of Taourirt-Mimoun in algeria.
He has written more than 100 books and articles
and has lectured throughout the world. He is a
senior research fellow and member of the boardThe Court of the Lions in the Alhambra, Granada,
Spain (13th/14th century) (Federico R. Campo)
Arkoun, Muhammad 61 J