Jump to content

Mosque

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 67.170.98.175 (talk) at 05:12, 6 January 2006 (→‎Other functions). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Mosque; Aswan, Egypt.

A mosque is a place of worship for followers of the Islamic faith. Muslims all over the world often refer to the mosque by its name in Arabic, masjid (pl. masajid) (Arabic: مسجد—pronounced: /mas.ˈɡʲid/ or /mas.ˈʤid/).

Etymology

Mosques were known to the English-speaking world well before the word to describe them was established. However, in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, variations of the word began to be used. Moseak, muskey, moschy, and mos'keh were just some of the variations that came into use until it was decided that mosquee, imitating Middle French, Italian, and Old Spanish, would become the standard [1]. In the early eighteenth century, the modern spelling became the most popular and standard spelling of the word.

The Arabic word for mosque, masjid, means temple in the language. This comes from the Arabic root sajad which means to prostrate (from the prostrations performed during Islamic prayers). Chinese Muslims refer to mosques in Chinese as roughly "pure conversion (Islamic) temples" (Chinese: 清真寺; pinyin: qīngzhēnsì).

The first mosques

The first mosque in the world was the Masjid Al Haram around the Ka'bah in Makkah, Saudi Arabia[2]. The first mosque in Medina, a city north of Makkah, was the house of the Prophet Muhammad, Masjid al-Nabawi, to which the followers of Muhammad had withdrawn in 622.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.

Functions

File:Mosque.Qibla.01.jpg
Muslims performing salah

Prayers

Muslims are commanded to offer prayer (salah) five times a day: before sunrise (fajr), at midday (dhuhr), in the afternoon (asr), at sunset (maghrib), and in the evening (isha'a). Although Muslims are not required to offer prayer inside a mosque, it is considered seventy times better to offer prayer in congregation at a mosque than to offer it alone.

In addition to holding the five ordinary daily prayers, mosques hold Friday prayers (Arabic transliteration: jumu'ah). While the ordinary daily prayers can be performed at any location, it is required that all teenage and adult men attend Friday prayers at the mosque. During the month of Ramadan, tarawih prayers are usually offered in major Sunni mosques. These prayers, which can last for up to two hours each night, result in the entire Qur'an being recited within the holy month. However, these prayers are only recommended in Sunni Islam and non-existent in Shi'a Islam. Other special prayers offered at the mosque include the funeral prayers (Arabic transliteration: janazah) and Eid prayers offered in commemoration of the two Islamic festivals, Eid ul-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. Both the funeral prayers and Eid prayers are traditionally held outdoors in a large courtyard. Some mosques, especially those in less favorable climates, will offer Eid prayers indoors in the same location as the five daily prayers. However, funeral prayers may not be held in the same location as the daily prayers, and thus they are held outside or in another area regardless of the climate.

Before the five required daily prayers, a muezzin calls the worshippers to prayer from the minaret (Arabic transliteration: manara). Although, the call to prayer (adhan) is not required, nearly every mosque practices it as it is a recommended practice or sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad.

Other functions

Mosques are not meant solely for the purpose of prayer. Mosques are also community centers, places where Muslims are able to gather for social activities. During Ramadan, mosques will host iftar dinners where Muslims can break their fasts. Large mosques will often host dinners and other events where politicians and important Islamic scholars are invited to speak. Many mosques will have offer classes for those interested in learning more about Islam; Arabic and Qur'anic recitation classes are commonplace at mosques outside Arabic-speaking countries. Full-time schools for students in elementary school, and sometimes in high school, can be found at some mosques in countries where Muslims are not the majority and students are unable to get an Islamic education in state-funded schools. Some mosques will even have recreational facilities, such as basketball courts, or medical facilities to help promote the mosque as a place where the community can come together.

File:People washing up to pray at badshahi mosque.JPG
People washing before prayer at the Badshahi mosque in Lahore, Pakistan

Appearance of mosques

Because prayer must be preceded by ritual purification, mosques often have ablution fountains or other facilities for washing in their entryways or courtyards. However, worshippers at very small mosques often have to use restrooms to perform their ablutions. In traditional mosques, this function is often elaborated into a freestanding building in the center of a courtyard.

Because cleanliness is very important inside the mosque, nearly all mosques prohibit worshippers from entering the carpeted prayer hall with shoes on. Thus, foyers with shelves to put shoes and racks to hold coats are commonplace among mosques. To add to this cleanliness and purity of the mosques, many mosques do not admit non-Muslims into the buildings. However, Western mosques in countries where Muslims are not the majority are more likely to allow non-Muslims to enter mosques and attend mosque functions in an attempt to show openness.

The actual mosque, the prayer hall, has no furniture. Unlike in most other places of worship, images of spiritual figures or other animals cannot be found in mosques as Islam prohibits the association of other figures with God. Instead, mosques will often have Arabic calligraphy and verses from the Qur'an on the walls. Mosques generally have at least one large dome over the center of the prayer area. Very large mosques will also have a forest of columns arranged in a grid pattern throughout the prayer area. Most mosques will have at least one minaret, or tall spire, from which the muezzin issues the call to prayer. Larger mosques will have two or more minarets simply for appearance.

Mihrab at a mosque in Cairo

The qibla wall

Usually opposite the entrance, the qibla wall is the visually emphasized area inside the prayer hall. The qibla wall should, in a properly oriented mosque, be set perpendicular to a line leading to Mecca, the location of the Ka'bah. The faithful kneel in rows parallel to the qibla wall and thus have arrange themselves so they face Mecca. In the qibla wall, usually at its center, is the mihrab, a niche or depression indicating the qibla wall. Usually the mihrab is not occupied by furniture either, unlike with the altars of Christian churches. Sometimes, especially during Friday prayers, a raised minbar or pulpit is located to the side of the , or pulpit for Friday sermons (qutba), it is to the side of the mihrab. Regularly, the mihrab serves as the location where the imam leads the five daily prayers.

Types of mosques

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 twentieth 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.

Interior of the Mezquita in Cordoba, Spain with columns arranged in a grid pattern.

Traditional mosques

The idea of having a dome centered over the prayer hall was pioneered by the mosques of the Ottoman empire. The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul although it was originally built as a church examplifies the design with a dome in the center and minarets around the outside. Mosques since that time have incorporated the dome as the marker of the center part of the prayer hall. The thick, large columns seen in the Mezquita in Cordoba were hallmarks of the Abbasid caliphate. Another popular style was the "T-type" mosque which called from a slightly longer hall leading up to the mihrab at the front-center of the mosque. Sometimes, "T-type" mosques would also be accompanied with more than one dome with the largest being at the intersection of the two segments of the "T". Over the centuries, however, the Abbasid mosques and especially the Ottoman central-dome mosques remained the basis of Islamic places of worship.

Modern-day mosques

Mosques do not have to be elaborate with minarets, courtyards, columns, and domes to be considered mosques. Mosques simply have to hold the five prayers daily. As a result, many present-day mosques, especially in the Western world, are converted buildings without those features usually associated with Islamic places of worship. Muslims in prayer will face in the direction of Mecca even if there is no qibla wall denoting it. The imam will offer his Friday sermons (khutbas) and lead prayers about a meter in front of the first line in prayer. At mosques without minarets, and even at some mosques with minarets, the muezzin will issue the call to prayer from inside the mosque. Modern mosques with public address systems will often broadcast the call to prayer over a loudspeaker so Muslims in and around the mosque can hear it.

Notable mosques

Notable mosques, for size and Islamic significance include:

Men and women in the mosque

Mosques around the world will deal with gender seperation within the mosque in different ways. Mosques in Muslim-majority countries tend to adhere to stricter gender separation rules. Meanwhile, mosques with smaller congregations and mosques in countries where Muslims are a small minority will tend to allow greater mixing of the sexes. However, at nearly every mosque around the world, gender separation is visibly present.

Women as imams

Main article: Women as imams

The most notable restriction common among nearly every mosque is that against women leading prayer. Although some hadith state that women allowed to lead prayer in front of all-female congregations, mosques almost always have more men than women present during prayer. Recently, in China, women have been allowed to lead prayer in front of all-female congregations [3]. When it comes to leading prayer in front of mixed-gender congregations, the consensus is that only men are allowed to lead prayer. However, there have been a few women, most notably Dr. Amina Wadud, who have defied that ruling and have opted to lead mixed-gender prayers and Friday prayers.

Separation in the mosque

A common hadith citing the seperation between the genders during prayer states:

The best rows of men are the front rows and the worst (rows of men) are the back rows, and the best rows of women are the back rows and the worst (rows of women) are the front rows. [4]

In many mosques today, men and women will be seperated along the guidelines outlined in the hadith. Smaller mosques in particular will separate the front male rows and the back female rows with an empty row. However, it is more common among mosques to take the seperation in gender a step farther by seperating the two genders with a partition so that both men and women are unable to see the opposite gender during prayer. In those instances, men will almost always have the larger section as men attend mosques more often then women. Other mosques will have completely different rooms and entrances for male and female worshippers. Outside of prayer, social events are often segregated along gender. Depending on the mosque, that segregation can range from having men and women sit in seperate areas of the mosque or social hall to reserving events for only one gender. Some mosques, especially in China, will have male-only and female-only mosques for both prayer and social events. [5]

Non-muslims in mosques

Most mosques prohibit non-Muslims from entering although many mosques in countries where Muslims are not the majority will allow outsiders in as a show of openness. The Masjid al-Haram in Makkah has the strictest prohibition against non-Muslims entering since the entire city of Makkah is off-limits to non-Muslims. The ban on non-Muslims being allowed into the Masjid al-Haram is mentioned in the Qur'an:

O ye who believe! Truly the Pagans are unclean; so let them not, after this year of theirs, approach the Sacred Mosque. And if ye fear poverty, soon will Allah enrich you, if He wills, out of His bounty, for Allah is All-knowing, All-wise. (9:28, Yusuf Ali)

Many mosques have extended that prohibition to other mosques in Saudi Arabia and the Arab world, particularly to the Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina[6]. The Hassan II Mosque remains the only mosque in Morocco open to non-Muslims[7].

See also

References

  1. Online Etymology Dictionary. Accessed December 24, 2005.
  2. Encyclopedia of the Orient. Mosque. Accessed January 2, 2006.
  3. British Broadcasting Corporation. Chinese Muslims forge isolated path. Accessed January 2, 2006. Last Updated September 15, 2004.
  4. The Reign of Islamic Da'wah. Accessed January 2, 2006.
  5. Islam Online. Chinese Islam with its own unique characteristics. Accessed January 2, 2006. Updated February 26, 2005.
  6. About.com. FAQ: Why Are Only Muslims Allowed to Visit Mecca?. Accessed January 2, 2006.
  7. Africa FAQ. Can a non-Muslim visit mosques in Morocco?. Accessed January 2, 2006.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mosque&oldid=34073940"