Natural Lighting Philosophy and its Engineering in the Islamic Interior Spaces
Illumination definition has a big indicative and functional importance in the Islamic culture. The Holy Quran refers to illumination definition in many situations to describe the greatest illumination in the world which is Allah’s Illumination. Then it is used in Holy Quran to refer to Allah’s Speech, the Holy Quran itself. Also, the definition is used to refer to several concepts such as Islam religion, revelation, faith, knowledge, and life.
For its functional importance, the connection of much ritualistic worship in Islamic religion with the sun and moon light provides an aspect of importance and privacy. As well as, the clarity principle is the thing which makes the Islamic religion distinguishing from other ambiguous religions, so this is what requires reflecting the Natural lighting in the Islamic buildings including firstly the mosques.
Using of Natural Lighting in those buildings was not apart from the splendid artistic and plastic values the Islamic arts are distinguished by, but the Islamic engineers used illumination in the inner spaces to ensure and show the aesthetic values in the different spaces from unity and variation to movement, abstraction, and lightness and other aesthetic values. The illumination was the most prominent factor in achieving those aesthetic targets.
The use of Islamic arts of known engineering proportionality principles since ancient civilizations, was not limited to reproduction, but beyond that to develop them and deal with them in ways unprecedented, where their understanding illumination had his deep impact in highlighting these creations, as has totally different lighting patterns with Interior Islamic spaces, in a manner very creative and harmony with the surrounding.
The colors and lighting effects have big role in symbolic connotations in Islamic culture where the Holy Quran mentions six colors in different connotations, as the same color was carrying in certain cases positive connotations and in other contexts was carrying negative connotations, which opened the door to thinking and using different colors that suitable to the inner space before considering it just as a color.
Through applying the philosophical and engineering dimensions of illumination on an architectural model, it is clear to us that illumination and its correct understanding was the most important architectural component that enabled the Muslims engineers achieve a set of plastic and artistic targets as well as achieving functional political targets through the successful usage of Natural lighting in a parts of the Al-Hambra Palace.