A building of might and faith : Rafiq Hariri and the Muhammad al-Amin mosque : on the political dimensions of religious architecture in contemporary Beirut
(2010)
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- Authors
- Supervisors
- Ait-Chaalal, Amine
- Abstract
- (en) Set up in three main parts, this dissertation explores the emergence of Rafiq Hariri as a political actor (I), the historic origins of the Muhammad al-Amin Mosque project (II) and the association of the former Lebanese prime minister with Lebanon’s main Sunni place of worship (III). Besides being a powerful testimony to the impressive reconstruction effort in Lebanon in general and in Beirut in particular, this monumental mosque also represents a symbol of political and religious identification. The aim of this research is double: to track down the gradual involvement of the former head of government in sponsoring a 150 year old project, and to enquire about the ways the construction of a mosque can strengthen the legitimacy of a political actor within a multi-confessional societal context. Based on field research (2004 – 2009) and a systematic analysis of written, visual and oral sources, the objective is to explain how the appearance of this sanctuary of Lebanese Sunni officialdom participates in a wider dynamic that apprehends religious architecture in Beirut (at least partly) as a set of semi-public and semi-sacred spaces where the intricacies and links between politics, religion and urban sociology materialize in tangible and observable way. In fact, both the coming about of this prestigious mosque and the transformations of the adjacent Maronite cathedral illustrate the political subtleties of religious architecture as well as the ambiguities of intermingling communities. Moreover, the Muhammad al-Amin Mosque and the commemorative tomb of Rafiq Hariri installed immediately next to it offer an interesting field of observation that reveals developments, struggles and practices which document just how a reputation and a political legacy are being constructed, negotiated, mobilized, oriented and reoriented, according to the needs and wishes of the elites. Through a substantial biographical essay on Rafiq Hariri (chapters 1-3), juxtaposed to a recollection of the various construction phases of the Muhammad al-Amin Mosque (ch. 4), a detailed description (ch. 5) and a critical analysis of the latter by local experts (ch. 6), this research presents itself as a study that encompasses several disciplines and adopts, as a consequence, a methodological pluralism. Although the author concentrates the bulk of his attention on the complexities and interests at stake in contemporary Lebanon (ch. 7-8), in a final chapter he also examines a selection of major religious architectural projects, in order to provide for a wider contextualisation, both in time and space. The conclusion is that, no matter the place or the time and notwithstanding occasional exploitations of it, (religious) architecture turns out to be a fertile prism which, rather than a competition among communities reflects their diversity and exemplifies their interaction.
- Affiliations
Citations
Vloeberghs, W. (2010). A building of might and faith : Rafiq Hariri and the Muhammad al-Amin mosque : on the political dimensions of religious architecture in contemporary Beirut. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/148339