What spiritual experiences and experiences of place do Islamic community spaces provide? Does the architectural experience within a mosque affect a Muslim’s religious experience? How do these experiences help shape a congregation's’ identity?
Many people, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, associate mosques with features that have been adopted over time, whether the domes and minarets of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, or the expansive courtyards and intricate tiling of the Shah Mosque in Isfahan. Yet, as Muslims have moved West, despite some notable prestigious mosques with international funding and wealthy benefactors, many congregations have been forced to inhabit repurposed buildings that fit smaller budgets and allow for less conspicuous gatherings. These mosques have become community spaces for immigrants and Muslim Americans who are searching for both a religious and social community as well as a support system.
In this study, I investigate how the structure of Philadelphia Islamic community spaces affects the religious experience of the Muslims who utilize them. My research shows that the interaction between form and experience is continuous: the structure of an Islamic community space does not just shape the experience of the Muslims utilizing it but those Muslims’ experiences are in turn shaping the space’s structure and how the community makes meaning of it. This continuous and annular relationship between structure and experience specifically for Islamic community center speaks to the evolution of Muslim American communities; communities change, necessities change, and thus spaces change which triggers the cycle over again. Thus, there is not one explanation of how structure affects religious experience inside Islamic community centers but rather an important relationship that must be noted and ought to be investigated further.
