Mosque
A mosque, also called a masjid, is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard.
Originally, mosques were simple places of prayer for the early Muslims, and may have been open spaces rather than elaborate buildings. In the first stage of Islamic architecture, early mosques comprised open and closed covered spaces enclosed by walls, often with minarets, from which the Islamic call to prayer was issued on a daily basis. It is typical of mosque buildings to have a special ornamental niche set into the wall in the direction of the city of Mecca, which Muslims must face during prayer, as well as a facility for ritual cleansing. The pulpit, from which public sermons are delivered on the event of Friday prayer, was, in earlier times, characteristic of the central city mosque, but has since become common in smaller mosques. To varying degrees, mosque buildings are designed so that there are segregated spaces for men and women. This basic pattern of organization has assumed different forms depending on the region, period, and Islamic denomination.
In addition to being places of worship in Islam, mosques also serve as locations for funeral services and funeral prayers, marriages, vigils during Ramadan, business agreements, collection and distribution of alms, and homeless shelters. To this end, mosques have historically been multi-purpose buildings functioning as community centres, courts of law, and religious schools. In modern times, they have also preserved their role as places of religious instruction and debate. Special importance is accorded to, in descending order of importance: al-Masjid al-Haram in the city of Mecca, where Hajj and Umrah are performed; the Prophet's Mosque in the city of Medina, where Muhammad is buried; and al-Aqsa Mosque in the city of Jerusalem, where Muslims believe that Muhammad ascended to heaven to meet God around 621 CE.
During and after the early Muslim conquests, mosques were established outside of Arabia in the hundreds; many synagogues, churches, and temples were converted into mosques and thus influenced Islamic architectural styles over the centuries. While most pre-modern mosques were funded by charitable endowments, the modern-day trend of government regulation of large mosques has been countered by the rise of privately funded mosques, many of which serve as bases for different streams of Islamic revivalism and social activism.
Etymology
The word mosque entered the English language from the French mosquée, probably derived from Italian moschea, from either Middle Armenian մզկիթ, Medieval , or Spanish mezquita, from , either from Nabataean masgĕdhā́ or from , probably ultimately from Nabataean Arabic masgĕdhā́ or Aramaic sĕghēdh.History
Origins
Islam was established in Arabia during the lifetime of Muhammad in the 7th century CE. The first mosque in history could be either the sanctuary built around the Ka'bah in Mecca, known today as Al-Masjid al-Haram, or the Quba Mosque in Medina, the first structure built by Muhammad upon his emigration from Mecca in 622 CE, both located in the Hejaz region in present-day Saudi Arabia.Other scholars reference Islamic tradition and passages of the Quran, according to which Islam as a religion precedes Muhammad, and includes previous prophets such as Abraham. In Islamic tradition, Abraham is credited with having built the Ka'bah in Mecca, and consequently its sanctuary, Al-Masjid al-Haram, which is seen by Muslims as the first mosque that existed. A hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari states that the sanctuary of the Ka'bah was the first mosque on Earth, with the second mosque being Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem, which is also associated with Abraham. Since as early as 638 CE, the Sacred Mosque of Mecca has been expanded on several occasions to accommodate the increasing number of Muslims who either live in the area or make the annual pilgrimage known as Hajj to the city.
Either way, after the Quba Mosque, Muhammad went on to establish another mosque in Medina, which is now known as Al-Masjid an-Nabawi. Built on the site of his home, Muhammad participated in the construction of the mosque himself and helped pioneer the concept of the mosque as the focal point of the Islamic city. The Prophet's Mosque is considered by some scholars of Islamic architecture to be the first mosque. The mosque had a roof supported by columns made of palm tree trunks and it included a large courtyard, a motif common among mosques built since then. Rebuilt and expanded over time, it soon became a larger hypostyle structure. It probably served as a model for the construction of early mosques elsewhere. It introduced some of the features still common in today's mosques, including the niche at the front of the prayer space known as the mihrab and the tiered pulpit called the minbar.
Diffusion and evolution
The Umayyad Caliphate was particularly instrumental in spreading Islam and establishing mosques within the Levant, as the Umayyads constructed among the most revered mosques in the region: the Qibli Mosque and Dome of the Rock both part of Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem, and the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, and also built other important mosques in the region including the Great Mosques of Aleppo and Hama. They also renovated and expanded other mosques like the Prophet's Mosque in Medina the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, the Great Mosque of Sanaa, and the mosques of Kufa, Basra and Amr ibn Al-As. The designs of the Dome of the Rock and the Umayyad Mosque were influenced by Byzantine architecture, a trend that was revived much later with the rise of the Ottoman Empire.File:Great Mosque of Kairouan, courtyard.jpg|left|thumb|250x250px|The Great Mosque of Kairouan, in Tunisia, with its minaret being one of the oldest standing minarets in the world
The Great Mosque of Kairouan in present-day Tunisia was the first mosque built in the Maghreb, with its present form serving as a model for other Islamic places of worship in the Maghreb. It was the first in the region to incorporate a square minaret, which was characteristic of later Maghrebi mosques, and includes naves akin to a basilica. Those features can also be found in Andalusi mosques, including the Great Mosque of Cordoba, as they tended to reflect the architecture of the Moors instead of their Visigoth predecessors. Still, some elements of Visigothic architecture, like horseshoe arches, were infused into the mosque architecture of Spain and the Maghreb.
Muslim empires were instrumental in the evolution and spread of mosques. Although mosques were first established in India during the seventh century, they were not commonplace across the subcontinent until the arrival of the Mughals in the 16th and 17th centuries. Reflecting their Timurid origins, Mughal-style mosques included onion domes, pointed arches, and elaborate circular minarets, features common in the Persian and Central Asian styles. The Jama Masjid in Delhi and the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, built in a similar manner in the mid-17th century, remain two of the largest mosques on the Indian subcontinent.
One of first grand mosques in East Asia was established in the eighth century in Xi'an. The Great Mosque of Xi'an, whose current building dates from the 18th century, does not replicate the features often associated with mosques elsewhere. Minarets were initially prohibited by the state. Following traditional Chinese architecture, the Great Mosque of Xi'an, like many other mosques in eastern China, resembles a pagoda, with a green roof instead of the yellow roof common on imperial structures in China. Mosques in western China were more likely to incorporate elements, like domes and minarets, traditionally seen in mosques elsewhere.
File:Ampel Mosque in 2008.jpg|thumb|Ampel Mosque old mosque in Surabaya, Indonesia
A similar integration of foreign and local influences could be seen on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java, where mosques, including the Ampel Mosque, were first established in the 15th century. Early Javanese mosques took design cues from Hindu, Buddhist, and Chinese architectural influences, with tall timber, multi-level roofs similar to the pagodas of Balinese Hindu temples; the ubiquitous Islamic dome did not appear in Indonesia until the 19th century. In turn, the Javanese style influenced the styles of mosques in Indonesia's Austronesian neighbors: Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines.
Another indigenous style to West Africa is the Sudano-Sahelian with its use of mudbricks and adobe plaster, examples of this style include the Great Mosque of Djenné in Mali, the largest mud-brick building in sub-Saharan Africa, and the Agadez Grand Mosque, in Niger.
The Ottomans developed an architectural style characterized by large central domes, pencil-shaped minarets, and open façades. Mosques from the Ottoman period are still scattered across Eastern Europe, but the most rapid growth in the number of mosques in Europe has occurred within the past century as more Muslims have migrated to the continent. Many major European cities are home to mosques, like the Grand Mosque of Paris, that incorporate domes, minarets, and other features often found with mosques in Muslim-majority countries. The first mosque in North America was founded by Albanian Americans in 1915, but the continent's oldest surviving mosque, the Mother Mosque of America, was built in 1934. As in Europe, the number of American mosques has rapidly increased in recent decades as Muslim immigrants, particularly from South Asia, have come in the United States. Greater than forty percent of mosques in the United States were constructed after 2000.