In a recent exchange of emails with George I happened to mention our involvement in a project for High Wycombe. He suggested I posted something about it on the forum.
A few months ago Anthea and I were co-opted onto a steering committee trying to establish a new Islamic garden in High Wycombe. As yet we have no site, although a few ideas for one, we have very little money either but bags of enthousiasm. We are bringing out a nicely produced brochure with the object of making as many people as possible aware of what we are trying to achieve. We have a senior councillor on our committee and our MP attended our last meeting. A business plan has been produced so we are in earnest. At one of the meetings I scribbled out a quick pencil sketch for one of the sites near the River Wye (The Wycombe Wye not that one with Tintern Abbey
). The rest of the committee were taken with it and asked me to draw it a little less sketchily so that it could be included in the brochure. Here it is.
We have also had advice and a talk by Emma Clarke who has written two books on the subject, is Senior Tutor at The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts, London, and designed an Islamic garden for him at Highgrove.
Here is an extract from her presentation to us in March this year: -
There is no doubt that the traditional Islamic garden is one of the finest examples of Islamic art. For the British – the ‘nation of gardeners’ – what better way of introducing the civilisation of Islam than through its great tradition of gardens? The beauty of a garden may break down barriers in an enjoyable and soothing way and is accessible to all.
Symbolic language is an essential element of all sacred and traditional art since, hand-in-hand with beauty, it leads us from the outer, visible world to the inner, invisible world, from form to essence. True beauty in art demands the sensitive employment of proportion, harmony, balance, rhythm and colour, the aim being to exalt nature and capture her inner wisdom. It results in a clear beauty of calm repose, reflecting the unity of spirit that characterises traditional Islamic art. It is objective and impersonal and is centred on Divine Unity.
The Islamic garden was born out of a divine meeting-place between four factors. First, the idea of Paradise as a garden is a very ancient one, pre-dating all three Abrahamic religions by centuries; the second is the oasis, the quintessential desert garden of fresh water and date palms; the third is the garden’s geometric design based on the number four, deriving from the ancient Persian prototype; and finally, the defining cause of the Islamic garden, the Qur’an, infusing all of the other factors with a spiritual and intellectual world vision.
It is centred on a square, the geometric form of the number four, associated with all things earthly: the four cardinal directions, the four elements and the four seasons, and the cube, the three-dimensional shape of the number four, representing solidity, the Earth. The circle is the great symbol of the celestial realm, a living symbol of the meeting-place between heaven and earth. In an Islamic garden, the central fountain is often circular, representing one of the heavenly fountains.
The Qur’an speaks of four rivers: one of water, one of milk, one of honey and one of wine. Each of the four gardens contains its own fruit-bearing tree: the olive, the date palm, the fig and the pomegranate; and each also contains its own fountain. It is important to remember that ‘Peace’, Salaam, is the only word spoken there.
The word ‘paradise’ actually means ‘enclosed by walls’ and so we have the idea of an area isolated from its surroundings to create and protect a place of fertility and ease within. Thus, one of the characteristics of the Islamic garden is its seclusion: it is a sanctuary for contemplation.
Water is without doubt the supreme element in the Islamic garden, with shade coming a close second. For the pre-Islamic Arabs, these two were indispensable for survival in the desert and were revered as sacred. There are many references in the Qur'an to the fountains, flowing waters, shade-giving trees and perfect temperate climate of Paradise, the phrase most often used being Jannat tajri min tahtiha al-anhar, ‘Gardens Underneath which Rivers Flow’. The idea of water flowing ‘underneath’ probably arose from the demands of a desert existence where the only source of water for most of the year was from the oases or underground irrigation systems. In the gardens themselves the water is not underground but, in order to irrigate the flowerbeds, it often has to flow in channels under the pathways, thereby giving the visitor the impression of actually being in a garden ‘underneath which rivers flow.’
Water in a traditional Islamic garden is always formal, in straight lines, and never ostentatious. Geometrically patterned channels or rills, together with pools, are designed in a dazzling variety of enchanting ways. There is a constant interplay between movement and stillness, which both soothes and mirrors the soul, the water ‘murmuring’ gently.
We have now mentioned four of the five main elements of an Islamic garden, namely: the geometric layout based on the number four, water, shade and enclosure; the fifth element is the harmonious interweaving of architecture with the garden. The importance of order, balance and proportion between all the elements is a vital factor in determining the resulting harmony and beauty of the garden.
So, when asking the question, is it possible – or desirable – to make a traditional Islamic garden in different cultures and climates to those in which it was born, the answer is definitely ‘Yes’. In our increasingly tense world where mass migration has become the norm, the art of the Islamic garden may serve as an ambassador for the beauty and truth of the religion of Islam. To end where we began – there is no doubt that a beautiful garden will make a far greater and more positive contribution to this than any amount of inter-faith dialogue.I think it will be a slow process but will be wonderful if we can achieve it.
Eric H
