What Islam Did For Us by Tim Wallace-Murphy

Author:Tim Wallace-Murphy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Watkins Media
Published: 2011-12-20T00:00:00+00:00

The Gothic Arch

The basic principle of Gothic architecture is the pointed arch that enabled the medieval masons to build to previously unprecedented heights in such a graceful style. Both the gifted English architectural historian, William Anderson, and the French scholar, Jean Boney, claim that the Gothic arch was introduced from Islamic culture.31 My good friend Gordon Strachan is convinced that the origin of the pointed arch lies outside Europe and agrees with both William Anderson and Jean Boney that its origin is Islamic and, furthermore, that it came from the Holy Land. Gordon believes that the Gothic arch results from, ‘a unique blending of indigenous building skills with the architectural genius of Islam’.32

The Templars, during their residence in Jerusalem, met members of the Sufi orders who were undergoing a revival in their fortunes at that time.33 The Sufis were the main mystical order of Islam who were devout believers in a mystical form of inter-faith pluralism epitomized by the words of Jalaluddin Rumi: ‘The religion of love is apart from all religions. The lovers of God have no religion but God alone.’ Strachan claims that as a result of their contact with the Sufis, the Templars learnt the geometric method used to design the Islamic mukhammas or pointed arch. They put this to the test in Jerusalem building a three-bayed doorway with pointed arches on the Temple Mount that can still be seen today. Thus knowledge of sacred geometry gained an immense boost from contact between the initiatory orders of both faiths, and the end result was the development of the pointed arch into a totally new style of sacred building.

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