Attributes of an Ideal Eco-Friendly Residence based on Islamic Tenets

Whilst environment is man’s habitat and supplies his most essential needs, the environmental issues have become a global crisis. The issues may be traced back to the industrial revolution and the ensuing need for more residences and expansion of urbanism and con sequently the unleashed exploitation of nature. Apart from the extensive changes it required, the revolution was associated with the departure from religious thoughts in favor of the spread of such modern philo sophical principles as individualism, rationalism, changed status of the God and human, and the idea that man must dominate the nature, thus man begin ning to neglect and turn his back on the environment. With the arrival of modernity to Iran and the Iranians imitation of the West, indiscriminate constructions and maximum use of natural resources was begun and it had dire consequences which were followed by the destruction of the environment, notwithstanding its prolonged and rich history of Islamic thoughts, which would have been of profound help in prevent ing the mentioned repercussions had they been in voked. Through a close look at the Islamic teachings one can easily find instructions that reveal the general position of Islam on how the natural sources must be used with the due regard to the ensuing environmen tal issues. On the other hand, in the monistic view resulting from the Islamic culture none of the phe nomena and subjects related to human life are inde pendent of each other. Therefore when Islam speaks of the protection of the environment, it means paying attention to it in all aspects of man’s life. One of the most important aspects of human life is considering the pivotal role of accommodation and the interaction between human, nature and architec ture. In this paper the question is that what criteria and principles for achieving the optimal housing are introduced by Islam. For this purpose, in this paper by studying Islamic thoughts, the ways which help to achieve ideal ac commodation are discussed. Thus, with the Grounded theory as the research method, the criteria of an Is lamic eco-friendly ideal house are explored. In the end, parameters of the ideal and contemporary hous es are compared to pin point the requirements neces sary to achieve an optimal residence. The results showed that unity, balance, interaction with nature, and faith and religiosity are the basic principles of interaction with the environment that should be considered in the design of houses. Hence, a model is developed to achieve the ideal Islamic housing. This model shows that Islamic residence can contribute to restoring identity to architecture, reduc ing environment damages, reviving Islamic culture, improving social relationships, and economic devel opment in various fields such as energy efficiency and conversation of natural resources.