There are several words for house in Arabic, which may seem interchangeable.
Yes and no, because as always, different words express different nuances!
Bayt ( بَيـت ), the ‘basic’ house
Al Bayt is a generic word. It is also found in Hebrew, and is almost identical (Bayith). It’s the most generic ‘base word’ for a house, a dwelling. Even if you live in a flat ( شقة ) you can perfectly well say ‘fil bayt’ for ‘at home’.
In Morocco, there is the Bayti ( بيتي ) association for the protection of children, whose logo represents the roof of a house over children. Indeed, bayt is where you live. In the palaces of the Umayyad period, it was the word used to ԁеѕіgnаtе private spaces, distinguishing them from reception areas. This is probably why in ‘darija’ only, bayt (plural byout) is used to designate the room in the house, ghourfa ( غُرْفَةُ ) in standard Arabic.
Bayt also refers to a house in the sense of a family or dynasty: the House of Windsor, for example.
In Islam, Ahl al-Bayt ( أهلُ الْبَیت ), the ‘people of the house’ refers to the close and immediate entourage of the Prophet, namely Fatima, the Prophet ‘s wife, and the Imams Ali, Hassan and Hussein, as well as, ’for, the “12 infallible Imams”. The notion of ‘people of the house’ was indeed at the heart of the confrontation that led to Shi’ism, since for the latter, only the ‘people of the house’ had the right to lead Muslims. The expression Ahl al-Bayt is not reserved for Shi’ism: it appears three times in the Quran, twice with the general meaning of family and once with the meaning of ‘relatives of the Prophet’. But for Sunnis, the Ahl al Bayt do not have the infallibility and leadership role that Shias give them: they are simply to be respected and loved. Because of this meaning, Bayt is not used for ‘secular’ dynasties.
Finally, Bayt al-Maqdis ( بيت المقدس ), the house of the sanctuary, is the Arabic name for Jerusalem, now shortened to Al Quds ( القدس ), the holy place.
Since his accession to the throne, King Mohammed VI has been Chairman of the Al Quds Committee and the Bayt Mal Al Quds Acharif Agency ( بيت مال القدس الشريف ) or ‘The House of the Noble and Sacred Place’ for the implementation of social projects in Al Quds with the aim of contributing to the protection of the Holy City, the preservation of its religious and cultural heritage, as well as the support of its inhabitants.
Manzil ( منزل ), the (large) house
Al Manzil represents a large house, a dwelling. This is also the word gіѵеn in brackets to describe the ‘villa’ (فيلا ) in the Arabic Wikipedia, so foreign to Arab culture is this concept of a house largely open to the outside world ! It can also refer to a building.
The same word can be used to define a part of the Quran. It is in fact divided into seven ‘manziloun’ of roughly equal length, for those who want to read the Quran in a week.
Finally, a mistranslation by the Latin monks equated ‘manazil’ with ‘manzil’. Now these manazil, singular ‘manzil’ are areas of the sky corresponding to the passage of the moon. Translated by ‘mansio’, they give us the houses of astrology!
Al Manzil is also the name of many hotels and even a town in the Sefrou region.
Dar (دار ), the ‘closed’ house
Ad Dar (solar letter) is a house ѕurrоunԁеԁ by walls. While this may seem natural, it should not be forgotten that in Arab civilisation, the dwelling can also be a tent. Dar is par excellence the urban house, or village house, found behind the walls of a medina neighbourhood and whose facades overlooking the alleyway (derb, درب ) are virtually blind. Dar is a ‘structure’.
This is the name given to the ‘Mothers’ Houses‘, Dar Al Oumouma (دور الأمومة), which have been developed by the INDH jointly with Unicef since 2006 to offer expectant mothers a para-medical waiting structure so that they can give birth in good conditions, when they are far from hospital.
Dar is also a ‘residence’, a large prestigious house. Thus, in the Habous district of Casablanca, Dar Al Ala (دار الآلة) or the ‘house of the instrument’ is a delightful museum devoted to Arab-Andalusian music, in two houses joined together (but which are not riads).
Ad-Dar Al Baïda (الدار البيضاء), which gave its Arabic name to Anfa, the economic capital of Morocco, which has been translated into Casablanca, did not refer to just any white house, but to the Sultan’s palace, as in Meknes and Marrakesh. In short, the White House of the United States!
By extension, Dar is the space enclosed and protected by a border, as in the expressions Dar Al Islam (دار الإسلام ), Dar Al Harb (دار الحرب) and Dar Al al-Sulh (دار العهد) which refer to Muslim countries respectively, countries that are in a state of war with Islam (domain of war) and non-Muslim соuntrіеѕ where the latter can live in peace (domain of agreement).
Riad (رياض), the “garden house”
In Arabic, riad actually means garden. By extension, the term riad is used to designate a multi-storey house built around a patio and an interior garden. The façade is blind and the interior courtyard provides light and ventilation. It must be a real garden, not an interior courtyard (in which case it would be a ‘dar’ or ‘manzil’).
The garden is divided into four flowerbeds representing the four parts of the world. At its centre is a fountain. In larger riads, there may also be canals running between the four parts. The garden is planted with trees and flowers. There is no swimming pool!
Although the city of riads par excellence is Marrakesh, capital of the Almoravids who exported these Islamic gardens to Andalusian Spain, they can also be found in other imperial cities, and even a rеіntеrрrеtаtіоn in Casablanca! In the 1920s, Marius Boyer built a large villa for a certain ‘Monsieur G’ (Gabriel Veyre?), featuring a Seville patio and a riad, named as such by the magazine ‘Bâtir’, which featured a photo report. With, of course, a large outdoor garden to boot!
Today, the word ‘riad’ is used and abused to sell anything and everything, including small houses that are simply located in the medina.
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Marius Boyer
Mohammed VI
