Minaret

For the mountain formation, see Minarets (California).

Minarets (Arabic manara (lighthouse) منارة, but more usually مئذنة) are distinctive architectural features of Islamic mosques. Minarets are generally tall spires with onion-shaped crowns, usually either free standing or much taller than any surrounding support structure.

Functions of Minaret

Mosque in Aswan, Egypt, with minarets.

As well as providing a visual cue demarcating a Muslim community center and territory, the call to prayer is traditionally given from the top of the minaret. In some of the oldest mosques, such as the Great Mosque of Damascus, minarets originally served as watchtowers illuminated by torches (hence the derivation of the word from the Arabic nur, meaning "light"). In more recent times, the main function of the minaret was to provide a vantage point from which the muezzin can call out the adhan, calling the faithful to prayer. In most modern Mosques, the adhan is called not in the minaret, but in the musallah, or prayer hall, via a microphone and speaker system.

In a practical sense, these are also used for natural air conditioning. As the sun heats the dome, air is drawn in through open windows and up and out of the shaft, thereby causing a natural ventilation.

Minarets have been described as the "gate from heaven and earth", and as the Arabic language letter alif (which is a straight vertical line).

The world's tallest minaret (at 210 meters) is located at the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, Morocco. The world's tallest brick minaret is Qutub Minar located in Delhi, India. There are two 230 meter tall minarets under construction in Tehran, Iran.

Construction

Minarets basically consist of three parts: a base, shaft, and a gallery. For the base, usually the ground underneath the towering minarets is excavated until a hard foundation is reached. Gravel and other supporting materials may be used as a foundation, and it is rare that one is built directly upon ground-level soil. Single minarets within an elongated body are either conical (tapering at the top), cylindrical (a circular shaft) or polygonal (with edges, as opposed to cylindrical). Stairs circle the shaft in a counter-clockwise fashion, providing the necessary structural support for highly elongated shafts. The gallery is a balcony which encircles the upper section where the muezzin will give the call to prayer. It is covered by a roof-like canopy and adorned with ornamentation, such as decorative brick and tile work, cornices, arches and inscriptions. Originally plain in style, a minaret's origin in time can be determined by the level of the gallery's ostentation.

Local Styles

Styles and architecture can vary widely according to region and time period. Here are a few styles and the localities from which they derive:

Turkish (11th cen)

1,2,4 or 6 minarets related to the size of the mosque. Slim , circular stickwise minarets. Equal cross-section.

Egypt (7th cen) / Syria (until 13th century)

Low square towers sitting at the four corners of the mosque.

Iraq

Free-standing conical minaret surrounded by a spiral staircase.

Egypt (15th century)

Octagonal. Two balconies, the upper smaller than the lower, over projecting friezes of stalactite vaulting, surmounted by an elongated finial.

Persia (17th century)

Generally two pairs of slim towers flanking the mosque entrance, terminating in covered balconies and encased in blue tile.

Tatar (18th century)

A sole minaret is used, placed at the center of a gable roof. (See Marjani Mosque for the image and ru:Мечеть с минаретом на крыше).

Morocco

Generally a single minaret, which is normally square. The only octagonal minaret known is located in Chefchaouen.

China - Emin Minaret built in 1778 by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty

Examples

• 
  The Charminar in Hyderabad, India
• 
  The minaret of the Al Muhdhar
• 
  The Sultan Ahmet Mosque Minarets in Istanbul, Turkey.
• Jamia Mosque Minaret, Sialkot, Pakistan
  Jamia Mosque Minaret, Sialkot, Pakistan

Opposition to minarets

See also: Minaret controversy in Switzerland

As a symbolic marker of Muslim presence, minarets have occasionally elicited political and religious opposition in traditionally non-Muslim countries. Notably, in 2007 Swiss right-wing politicians, including leaders of the co-governing Swiss People's Party, announced the launch of a people's initiative that would amend the constitution to prohibit the building of minarets (but not of mosques themselves). Switzerland has currently only two minarets, in Zürich and Geneva, but the construction of several others is being planned.

External links

• Minarets, at the Encyclopedia of the Orient
• Minaret Photo Gallery
• Minaret@Everything2.com
• Minaret Types An Architectural review
• The Minaret The weekly student newspaper of the University of Tampa
• 230 metre tall Minarets Under construction in Iran
• The minaret, Symbol of a civilization