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6. The gardens of Islam: a mirror of “paradise” and a way of life
By offering in its suras the image of a terrestrial garden, where luxury and beauty, delight and comfort, reign in harmony, the Quran expresses its eschatological vision of reward to believers who obey the Law. God will give them immortality and greet them in a beautiful paradise called "jennah" or firdows in Arabic, a term borrowed from the ancient Persian term pairi-daêza, which originally referred to an "enclosed space".
The garden is a recurring theme in the diversity of arts and cultures in Islam. According to the cultural settings and periods, the symbolism of the garden produced various cosmological and metaphysical interpretations, and was used in different ways (as a prestigious garden of princes, as a garden of pleasure, or as a funerary garden). The Quranic garden also inspired mystical literature: the perfection and peace of the garden are reminiscent of divine beauty and uniqueness.
Quran 56, 1-32
1 When the Event comes to pass — 2 there is no belying its coming to pass, 3 abasing (some), exalting (others) […].
7 And you are three sorts […]. 10 And the foremost are the foremost — 11 these are drawn nigh (to Allah).12 In Gardens of bliss […]
27And those on the right hand; how (happy) are those on the right hand! 28Amid thornless lote-trees, 29 and clustered banana-trees,30and extensive shade, 31and water gushing, 32 and abundant fruit. 33 neither intercepted, nor forbidden.
Quran 56, 1-33. Trans. Maulana Muhamad Ali (1920).
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Holy_Qur%27an_%28Maulana_Muhammad_Ali%29
(19/12/2014)
Sura 56 has been the object of multiple interpretations, particularly on the three multitudes of men when "The Hour" rings/come. The ordeals from Hell will be reserved for the "men of the left", "the damned ones" (Quran, 56, 11). The left represents a cursed place where the damned will be held near the "throne" of God at the time of the last judgment. Only the "men on the right" and those who are "closer to God" through their exemplary life will enjoy happiness and eternity at the "garden of delights". Who are the people that are "closer" and distinguished with a particular status? According to various interpretations, they are old prophets, the holy "friends of God", and the best Muslims. The image of the splendid reward is that of a "garden of delights" abundant with water and fruits. The garden will provide all comforts and the people on the right will even be able to relish the ziziphus-lotus fruit without having to touch its claw-like needles.
The “Garden of Fidelity”
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Image under URL:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki.._the_Garden_of_Fidelity-right-large.jpg
(19/12/2014)
Babur is the descendant of Tamerlan and “Pad Shah” (ambassador) of Kabul (1504). In Babur nameh, he delivered his autobiography in jagatai, a language from central Asia. He described with passion the gardens he created in Kabul, including the beautiful terraced flower garden of Bagh e Babur in the southwest part of the city. After 1526, the "landscapist-sultan" beautified his Indian conquest by creating gardens. The Tchahar Bagh became the model of Mughal gardens, characterized by perfect symmetry, the geometry of its flowerbeds, a central focus point and a great variety of plants. The tomb of Babur, constructed according to his wishes in his garden in Kabul, became a place of veneration for his successors in the Mughal dynasty. The four spaces of plants are separated by channels arranged in a cross. The cross, inscribed in a circle or a square, symbolizes the four rivers of paradise, the four cardinal points, the four seasons and the four elements of the tradition of ancient Persia. The circle is the image of the sky and the square of the universe. The centre represents the origin of the creation of the universe, but this cosmological dimension does not seem to have been adopted in Islam before the eleventh century.
Western Renaissance gardens and “Islamic” gardens
Babur Gardens are closer to Italian Renaissance gardens than the enclosed gardens described as the archetypal Islamic garden. Water does not whisper in the gardens of Babur: as in the Italian gardens, it runs off from terrace to terrace. The prince himself, with his scientific curiosity, his love of the arts, is not unlike his contemporaries of the Italian Renaissance. As a matter of fact, our gardens have a common ancestry. The model of a geometric garden from the Achaemenid Persia is still present at the end of the Middle Ages in the East and the West. Its quadripartite form is that of the cloister. The geometric garden, meanwhile reinterpreted by Rome and Sassanid Persia, Byzantium and the Arab conquests, gave birth to the Islamic gardens of Sicily and Andalusia, which are an inspiration for the Western Renaissance.
Michèle Constans, "Un jardin après la guerre", Champs culturels 17, p. 19 (no date)
Babur is the descendant of Tamerlan and “Pad Shah” (ambassador) of Kabul (1504). In Babur nameh, he delivered his autobiography in jagatai, a language from central Asia. He described with passion the gardens he created in Kabul, including the beautiful terraced flower garden of Bagh e Babur in the southwest part of the city. After 1526, the "landscapist-sultan" beautified his Indian conquest by creating gardens. The Tchahar Bagh became the model of Mughal gardens, characterized by perfect symmetry, the geometry of its flowerbeds, a central focus point and a great variety of plants. The tomb of Babur, constructed according to his wishes in his garden in Kabul, became a place of veneration for his successors in the Mughal dynasty. The four spaces of plants are separated by channels arranged in a cross. The cross, inscribed in a circle or a square, symbolizes the four rivers of paradise, the four cardinal points, the four seasons and the four elements of the tradition of ancient Persia. The circle is the image of the sky and the square of the universe. The centre represents the origin of the creation of the universe, but this cosmological dimension does not seem to have been adopted in Islam before the eleventh century.
