Music, Sound, and Architecture in Islam

It is a great privilege and honor for me to write a foreword to this volume— an innovative exploration of the relationship between the aural/sonic arts and the visual/spatial arts in Muslim societies. Comprising contributions from scholars working in an array of disciplines, the collection examines how the sonic arts, such as music, shape and are shaped by the physical spaces in which they are performed. In so doing, it provides us with new perspectives on the dynamic relationship between various forms of art in cultural, sociopolitical, and religious spaces. More important, the volume’s essays demonstrate how a multisensory approach—one that combines sound with built structure, music with architecture, time with space—can lead to a deeper and more nuanced understanding of Muslim cultures.