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A mosque is a place of worship for followers of the Islamic faith. Masjid (مسجد) is the Arabic term for a mosque. This term is used widely throughout the Islamic world, and the word masjid is widely preferred by many Muslims.
The first mosque was the house of the Prophet Muhammad in Medina, a city north of Mecca to which the followers of Muhammad had withdrawn in 622. The reconstructions of Muhammad's house show a large courtyard containing a relatively small house. After many worshippers complained about the heat of the midday sun, Muhammad had a row of palm trunks erected on one side of the courtyard and a roof of palm fronds laid between the columns and the outer wall, creating a shaded prayer space. He himself stood at one end of this simple arcade to preach.
Muslims are commanded to offer Namaaz (Prayer) five times a day: morning (Fajr), midday (Dhuhr), afternoon (Asr), sunset (Maghrib), and evening (Isha)- see Five Pillars of Islam for details. A muezzin calls the worshippers to prayerPrayer is an effort to communicate with a God, or to some deity or deities, either to offer praise to the deity, to make a request of the deity, or simply to express one's thoughts and emotions to the deity. There are a variety approaches to understanding from the minaretAswan, Egypt, with minarets. Samarkand, Uzbekistan Minarets ( Arabic and Urdu: minra pl. minar are distinctive architectural features of Islamic mosques. They are generally tall, graceful spires, with onion-shaped crowns, usually either free standing or m (Arabic manara).
Because Islamic prayer must be preceded by ritual purification, mosques have fountainA fountain is an arrangement where water is forced into the air under pressure, creating a jet. The pressure may be gravitational, or may be produced by a motor-driven pump. A famous fountain rises from the surface of Lake Geneva. However, many fountainss (ablution fountain) or other facilities for washing in their entryways or courtyards. In many mosques this function is elaborated into a freestanding building in the center of a courtyard.
Entry into the mosque from the ablution area - courtyard or vestibule - leads to an open room without furniture. The architecture of this prayer hall is typically undifferentiated - often a forest of columns or a grid filled with adjacent domes covers the space. The visually emphasized area is usually the wall opposite the entry, the Qibla wall. The qibla wall should, in a properly oriented mosque, be set perpendicular to a line leading to Mecca ( ArabicArabic is a Semitic language, fairly closely related to, for instance, the Hebrew language and the Aramaic language, spoken throughout the Arab world and widely known outside it. It has been a literary language for over 1500 years, and is the liturgical l, "Makkah"). The faithful kneel in rows parallel to the qibla wall and thus have arranged themselves to face Mecca. In the qibla wall, usually in its center, is the MihrabMihrab pl. is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the qibla, i. the direction of Kaaba that Muslims should face when praying. The wall is called the qibla wall. The mihrab gives the impression of a door or a passage to Mecca. They vary in size, a niche or depression indicating that this is the qibla wall. The mihrab is not occupied by any furniture, unlike the apse often found around the altar of Christian churches. If there is a raised minbarThis article is about the type of pulpit. See also Minbar (planet) for the fictional planet from the Babylon 5 setting. A Minbar is a pulpit in the mosque where the Imam (leader of prayer) stands to deliver sermons khutbah . The minbar is usually shaped a, or pulpit for Friday sermons, it is to the side of the mihrab.
Mosque in Galle, Sri Lanka Many forms of mosque have evolved in different regions of the Islamic world. Notable mosque-types include the early Abbasid mosques, T-type mosques, and the central-dome mosques of Anatolia. The oil-wealth of the 20th century drove a great deal of mosque construction using designs from leading non-Muslim modern architects and promoting the careers of important contemporary Muslim architects. The Aga Khan Award for Architecture, offered since 1977, rewards both architects working in manners rooted in Islamic tradition and those working in international styles.
See also: Islamic architecture, List of famous mosques