Visiting The Met? Essential Architectural Elements of a Mosque The essential architectural elements include: The qibla is the direction Muslims face when praying toward the Ka'ba in Mecca. The qibla wall is the wall in a mosque that faces Mecca. The mihrab is a niche in the qibla wall indicating the direction of Mecca; because of its importance, it is usually the most ornate part of a mosque, highly decorated and often embellished with inscriptions from the Qur'an see image 4.
The minbar is a pulpit in the form of a staircase on which the prayer leader imam stands when delivering a sermon after Friday prayer. The pulpit is usually situated to the right of the mihrab and is often made of elaborately carved wood or stone fig. A minaret is a tall tower attached or adjacent to a mosque. It is designed so the call to prayer, issued from mosques five times a day, can be heard loud and clear throughout a town or city.
Alternatively, the call may be made from the roof or entrance, and is now often projected with the aid of microphones and speakers. The minaret is also a visual symbol of the presence of Islam. See the six minarets of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, fig. Most mosque courtyards sahn contain a public fountain, where believers can perform ablutions, the ritual washing of the hands, feet, and face required before prayer. In the arid lands of Arabia, water is revered as a gift from God, and fountains also have symbolic meaning, alluding to the four rivers of Paradise mentioned in the Qur'an.
Because it is the directional focus of prayer, the qibla wall, with its mihrab and minbar, is often the most ornately decorated area of a mosque. The rich decoration of the qibla wall is apparent in this image of the mihrab and minbar of the Mosque of Sultan Hasan in Cairo, Egypt see image higher on the page.
Mosque lamp, 14th century, Egypt or Syria, blown glass, enamel, gilding, There are other decorative elements common to most mosques. For instance, a large calligraphic frieze or a cartouche with a prominent inscription often appears above the mihrab. Another important feature of mosque decoration are hanging lamps, also visible in the photograph of the Sultan Hasan mosque. Light is an essential feature for mosques, since the first and last daily prayers occur before the sun rises and after the sun sets.
Before electricity, mosques were illuminated with oil lamps. Although not a permanent part of a mosque building, lamps, along with other furnishings like carpets, formed a significant—though ephemeral—aspect of mosque architecture. Mihrab, —55, just after the Ilkhanid period, Madrasa Imami, Isfahan, Iran, polychrome glazed tiles, Most historical mosques are not stand-alone buildings.
Many incorporated charitable institutions like soup kitchens, hospitals, and schools. Some mosque patrons also chose to include their own mausoleum as part of their mosque complex.
Nevertheless, because of the common function of the mosque as a place of congregational prayer, certain architectural features appear in mosques all over the world.
The most fundamental necessity of congregational mosque architecture is that it be able to hold the entire male population of a city or town women are welcome to attend Friday prayers, but not required to do so. To that end congregational mosques must have a large prayer hall. In many mosques this is adjoined to an open courtyard, called a sahn.
Within the courtyard one often finds a fountain, its waters both a welcome respite in hot lands, and important for the ablutions ritual cleansing done before prayer.
Mecca is the city in which the Prophet Muhammad was born, and the home of the most important Islamic shrine, the Kaaba. The direction of Mecca is called the qibla , and so the wall in which the mihrab is set is called the qibla wall.
No matter where a mosque is, its mihrab indicates the direction of Mecca or as near that direction as science and geography were able to place it. Therefore, a mihrab in India will be to the west, while a one in Egypt will be to the east.
A mihrab is usually a relatively shallow niche, as in the example from Egypt, above. The minbar is often located on the qibla wall to the right of the mihrab.
A minbar is a pulpit from which the Friday sermon is delivered. Simple minbars consist of a short flight of stairs, but more elaborate examples may enclose the stairway with ornate panels, doors, and a covered pulpit at the top. One of the most visible aspects of mosque architecture is the minaret , a tower adjacent or attached to a mosque, from which the call to prayer is announced. Minarets take many different forms—from the famous spiral minaret of Samarra, to the tall, pencil minarets of Ottoman Turkey.
Not solely functional in nature, the minaret serves as a powerful visual reminder of the presence of Islam. Most mosques also feature one or more domes, called qubba in Arabic. While not a ritual requirement like the mihrab, a dome does possess significance within the mosque—as a symbolic representation of the vault of heaven. The interior decoration of a dome often emphasizes this symbolism, using intricate geometric, stellate, or vegetal motifs to create breathtaking patterns meant to awe and inspire.
In mosques with only a single dome, it is invariably found surmounting the qibla wall, the holiest section of the mosque. The Great Mosque of Kairouan, in Tunisia not pictured has three domes: one atop the minaret , one above the entrance to the prayer hall, and one above the qibla wall. Mosque lamp, 14th century, Egypt or Syria, blown glass, enamel, gilding, Because it is the directional focus of prayer, the qibla wall, with its mihrab and minbar , is often the most ornately decorated area of a mosque.
The rich decoration of the qibla wall is apparent in this image of the mihrab and minbar of the Mosque of Sultan Hasan in Cairo, Egypt see image higher on the page. Mosques usually have one or more minarets, or towers, from which the muezzin calls Muslims to prayer five times a day. In addition to their functional use, these minarets have become distinguishing elements of mosque architecture. In large mosques in particular, minarets have the effect of tempering the enormity and magnificence of the domed structure by conveying to the viewer the elevation of divinity above the pretensions of human grandeur.
Most mosques also have a dome, and the line connecting the center of the dome to the niche is supposed to point toward Mecca. Throughout the world there are many mosques that are not actually directed toward Mecca, but such misalignment is due to inaccurate methods for determining the direction of Mecca and does not imply a disregard for this requirement. The mosque is not a self-contained unit, nor is it a symbolic microcosm of the universe, as are some places of worship in other religions.
Rather, the mosque is always built as a connection with Mecca, the ultimate home of Muslim worship that metaphorically forms the center of all mosques.
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