A lot can be said about a water fountain.

There are some incredibly beautiful drinking fountains and reflection pools in Islamic architecture. But what I like to ask students is..... so what??

Water is not just water in the Islamic world, it connects humans to the primordial beginnings of mankind, and brings humans into an intimate relationship with God. Sure, water is important in most belief systems for ritual, but water in abundance and active is characteristically Islamic. Water is de-ritualized in a sense in these spaces because it is a feature of the architectural environment. For example, no religious professional guards the rights to the water, and unlike "holy water" in other faith traditions, it doesn't have supernatural powers. According to Muslim sacred history,

Innallaha ta'ala khalaqa kulla shay’im minal-ma’.

“Allah created everything from water.” (Related by Ibn Hibban.)

The Prophet Muhammad, through his revelation, said that water, not light, was the first thing God created. And why did God start with water? Because it was necessary for all living things? To refresh? Interesting question for discussion. Water was important in central Arabia during the time of the Prophet (and still today), being a desert land where water is scarce. That God would be so closely associated with water tells us something about Islam's view of God -- as providing rest, comfort, rejuvenation... as does the oasis for the bedouins in the desert.

But there is also something symbolic about the eternal in water. I should clarify: in Islam, water isn't eternal; only God is eternal. But that water was created first makes it the closest to eternity of anything in creation. In its liquid and gaseous states, water doesn't really have a beginning or end. This quality of water reminds me of the poem by Jewish poet Yehuda Amichai, "The waters cannot return in repentance"

The waters cannot return in repentance

To where would they return?

To the faucet, the sources, the ground, the roots,

the cloud, the sea, into my mouth?

The waters cannot return in repentance,

every place is their seas/days of old, their waters of old,

every place a beginning and end, and a beginning.

On the social level, drinking fountains also symbolize egalitarianism -- they are communal places where anyone can come to drink, regardless of age, gender, class, etc., again calling to mind the unity, or oneness of God.

It's neat how something so mundane as a water fountain can be imbued with the sacred -- but in Islam, that is exactly the point. :)