Goodbye marhaba
Musalaha first began as a blog devoted to the personal musings of its author. Over time, it developed into the more refined and academic reflections under the title of Marhaba. Though we’ve said goodbye to Marhaba, we still retain much of the sentiment that lies inherent in this simple Arabic greeting. To that end, enjoy reminiscing about Marhaba’s purpose below, so much of which remains.
Like much of the non-Western world, the cultures of the ‘Middle East’ place high value on warm hospitality. This is reflected in an Arabic greeting like marhaba. For many from the West, this simply means ‘hello’, but in reality it comes from a root meaning ‘open, warm, and welcoming’. Ahlan wa sahlan (literally ‘family and easy’) is a more common greeting and essentially means ‘you’re welcomed as a part of the family’. So welcome to Marhaba – a blog reflecting a desire to create spaces of familial welcome and understanding between Muslims and Christians in its exploration of spirituality, global Christianity, global Islam, and Christian-Muslim relations.
Though Christian-Muslim interaction ultimately occurs in the sharing of lives, a bit of it has been and can be depicted architecturally. On a simple level, when religious and residential structures utilized both Christian and Muslim building techniques, materials, and design, we see the practical outworking of these inter-religious relationships. Beyond this, though, it doesn’t take an overly keen eye to discern the splendor of divine majesty that architects and craftsmen hoped to at least partially hint at in medieval Christian cathedrals and Islamic mosques. A token of this symbolism is discernible in the design of domestic dwellings in northern Africa and western Asia as well. The play of light; a partially-shadowed niche; a courtyard encircled by family space; or the cool of an inviting riyad each beckon an observer from outer simplicity to inner details designed to invoke warmth, comfort, and familiarity. Such architectural detail makes for fine living, but it also enhances our ability to relax and relate. In this light, a part of Marhaba exists to explore the emotional and spiritual symbolism that exists in well-designed architecture, which itself is a practical way of creating a certain type of space. In the end, when spaces of familial welcome are created – architecturally or spiritually – positive interaction might possibly begin.
Beyond this, Marhaba exists as a venue for its author to slide the raw thoughts of his mind into the oven to cook. With your help (comments), perhaps some of these will emerge as something a bit tastier than what they originally were.
