MINBAR Platform in a mosque, placed next to the mihrab. The minbar is used with the khutba, the Friday sermon, and the khatib (the person performing the Friday sermon) ascends it.

1. MOSQUE
MINBAR
Platform in a mosque, placed next to the mihrab. The minbar is used with the khutba, the
Friday sermon, and the khatib (the person performing the Friday sermon) ascends it.
MIHRAB
At the midpoint of the wall facing Qibla is a niche or recess that constitutes the central and
sometimes most decorated feature of any mosque, known as the mihrab. The mihrab is not
considered to be a sacred element of the mosque. Rather, it prescribes the the sacred
direction for prayer to Makkah. When in prayer, Muslims will form row upon row, each
parallel to, and facing the qibla wall.
CLASSROOM
Room where Students study.
QIBLA
Within the prayer hall, one wall must face the Masjid al-Haram in Makkah, the direction in

2. which Muslims should face in order to perform salat (called Qibla). This wall is the direction
of the Qibla.
ABLUTION AREA
Area where Muslims perform their wudu (ablution) before commencing salat (prayer). Salat
is not accepted without wudu.
MINARET
Tall tower, near to, or built into, a mosque, where the Muadhin (person who calls people to
prayer) goes up to stand in a high place for everyone to be able to hear when the adhan
(call to prayer) is being called. The earliest mosques were built without minarets, and the
action of adhan could be performed in many other locations.
SAJADAH/ MUSALLA
Clean (commonly carpeted) area within a mosque where Muslims pray in congregation.
IMAM'S QUARTERS
The Imam of a Mosque traditionally lives in a purposely built home adjacent or close to the
mosque. Thus, known as the Imam's Quarters.

3. Mosque: Architectural Aspects
The mosque (from the Arabic masjid, meaning "place of prostrations") has been the place of
congregational prayer for Muslims since the formation of Islam in 622 CE. It takes on numerous
regional styles and varies greatly in size from that of the congregational Friday mosque, called in
Arabic masjid al-jamīʿ, in Persian and Urdu (masjid al-jumʿah), or in Turkish (ulu çami), to a
simple oratory (masjid), to an outdoor space for large assemblies (musalla) for special times such
as Eid festivals.
Formal ritual prayer (ṣalāt)—a sequence of standing, kneeling, and prostration—is one of the
"pillars" of Islam. Muslims often pray alone, but the ummah, the community of believers, is
basic to the mosque. Since Islam does not distinguish between the spiritual and the secular, the
mosque is a center for both. It is the emblematic building of Islam.
For a Muslim the building of a mosque is a pious act. The prophet Muḥammad said, "whoever
builds for Allāh a mosque, seeking by it Allāh's grace, Allāh will build for him a house in
paradise" (related by al-Bukhārī and Muslim). Most mosques are endowed through the creation
of a pious trust or waqf established by the mosque's builder. In most Muslim countries the state
has by now taken over many of the trusts, usually with a ministry of awqāf to manage the
properties.
All mosques are places of worship, but they are not sacred or consecrated spaces. In the Qurʾān
the word masjid, although used many times, is applied only to three specific buildings (usually
considered sacred), the most holy place being the Kaʿbah in Mecca and its surrounding mosque,
al-Masjid al-ḥaram. It is, according to the Qurʾān, "the very first house of prayer established for
humanity.… The place where Abraham stood.…" (Qurʾān III: 95–97). The other places are the
Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem with the Al-Aqsa Mosque (built originally in 715, in its present
form around 1350) and the Mosque of Quba in Medina built by the Prophet himself.
The mosque also often incorporates a variety of other functions. Most common is a madrasah, or
religious school, and small library, a soup kitchen to feed the poor, and a medical facility. Often
there may be a public drinking fountain or well. Sometimes there is a shrine to a saint or ruler,
but the dead are usually buried elsewhere. Graveyards adjacent to mosques do occur, notably in
Eastern Europe. In urban areas shops often form the periphery of the mosque and subsidize the
expenses of the facility.
ARCHITECTURAL AND LITURGICAL ELEMENTS
Architectural elements of the mosque are not prescribed except for the requirement that
worshipers pray facing Mecca, the spiritual center of the Islamic world, and that the surface they
pray on be clean. Worshipers pray in straight rows, generally making the prayer space wide and
shallow. Islam has two main sects, the Sunnī (around 90 percent of Muslims worldwide) and the
Shīʿah, but their mosques are generally architecturally indistinguishable. The most apparent
differences lie in the choice of Qurʾanic verses that are displayed in the building.

4. The direction of Mecca in the prayer hall or space itself is denoted by a qiblah wall and niche
(miḥrāb). The qiblah may be simply marked by a line on the sand or can be part of a building.
The miḥrāb is usually outlined and embellished with calligraphy from Qurʾanic passages. The
imām, who leads the prayers, stands by the miḥrāb in front of the congregation.
A pool, fountain, or simply running water for ritual cleansing (ablutions) before praying is
usually provided, as are prayer mats to maintain the cleanliness of the floor surface and define
individual areas. Worshipers often bring their own rugs to the mosque. Indeed, the prayer hall of
the mosque can be regarded as a modular space based on the dimensions of a prayer mat.
The minaret or minar (from minara, or lighthouse) is usually a tower from which the muezzin
(muʾadhdhān), a specially delegated person, gives the call to prayer (adhān). Traditionally the
human voice has carried the adhān, but in contemporary times the voice is amplified by
loudspeakers to rise above the general cacophony of the city. The minaret also acts as a visual
marker for the mosque.
Other physical elements commonly used are the entrance portal marking the transition into the
mosque from the outside world, the circular dome, an abstraction of the heavens, and the
courtyard (sahn), also used as an overflow prayer space. In a large mosque, there is often a dikka,
or raised platform, on which one person or a small group of worshipers transmit the imām's
postures to those unable to see or hear the imām himself.
Inside the mosque adjacent to the miḥrāb is the mimbar, or pulpit, from which the sermon is
delivered after the Friday prayers. It consists of a movable platform with steps, usually made of
elaborately carved wood.
Islamic civilization has made significant contributions to architecture. One is the use of two- and
three-dimensional geometry at all scales, which not only organizes space but also imparts
symbolic meanings. The three-dimensional muqarnas, the so-called stalactite form, is unique to
Islam. This device is usually used as a transitional element between two surfaces (for example, at
a corner) and acts to "dematerialize" space. Calligraphy, the word of God expressed in written
form, is another important contribution. Such texts on buildings—epigraphy—signal the
presence of Islam and add beauty and complexity to surfaces. Gardens have always been
important reminders to Muslims to be stewards of the earth. They follow geometric principles of
design and scientific and engineering principles dealing with sustainability and nature, for
example, in the recycling of water. Water features are present in almost all gardens, seen as
places of pleasure and individual contemplation, but gardens do not occur frequently in mosques.
TYPOLOGY OF THE MOSQUE
Each region of the Islamic world combines these elements to express a local architecture in
which vernacular and historic traditions are distinguished. Architecturally, the mosque may be
divided into five main types corresponding to historical and regional manifestations.
The first type, the hypostyle mosque, originated in the Arabian Peninsula. It also occurs
elsewhere, with varied form and construction materials. The mosque consists of a rectangular

5. hypostyle, or many-columned covered hall, usually in wood and earth block or brick, with a flat
roof. It is perhaps the most ancient construction method. One enters first into an enclosed
courtyard with its ablutions facility, then into the hall from the side opposite the qiblah wall. A
single square minaret with an internal staircase rises above the building. The hypostyle mosque
was the most dominant form from the seventh to the thirteenth centuries and has not significantly
altered over the ages. Its model was the Mosque of the Prophet—the Masjid an-Nabi—which as
far as we can tell started off as the Prophet's house in Medina, a simple courtyard with rooms on
two sides. In 707 CE the caliph al-Walid replaced it with a new building with minarets added as
visual markers or to carry the adhān. Because of its symbolic importance, it has expanded over
the centuries to accommodate the multitudes that pray in it, until today the early mosque is
unrecognizable.
The Umayyad Great Mosque (715) in Damascus encompasses the former Church of St. John,
itself built on the site of a Roman temple. The Great Mosque of Córdoba, Spain (786–990), has
elegant double-horseshoe arches, into which a cathedral was inserted in the sixteenth century.
Other prominent examples of hypostyle mosques include the Mosque of Ibn Tulun (879) in
Cairo, and the Kutubiyya (twelfth century) in Marrakech, Morocco.
A different hypostyle earth building tradition is found in Northern Africa, especially in Sudan,
and was transmitted by Muslim Arab traders across the African continent to the western sub-
Saharan region. Commonly referred to as the Hausa-Fulani tradition, it combines the use of the
hypostyle hall with buttressed walls and towers to produce a vernacular common to both
monumental and rural buildings. Mosques incorporate older African symbols, such as ancestor
pillar fertility symbols and tops covered in ostrich eggs for strength. Construction methods use
reinforcing stick scaffolding that remains embedded in the structure. It is a living tradition, which
makes these mosques difficult to date. The present building of the Great Mosque of Djenne in
Mali was built in 1909, although the mosque is much older. A recent earth mosque in Yaama
(1962–1982), Niger, uses the same architectural language and appears to be timeless.
There are two interesting exceptions in Africa. In East Africa, where Islam was brought from
India and Oman and rooted itself in the coastal area, there is Indian-inspired mosque architecture.
The second is the Afro-Brazilian mosque, so named for West African slaves in Brazil who
worked as church builders. In the late nineteenth century they returned to Niger and surrounding
countries, where they produced mosques that are clearly Portuguese Catholic baroque. Local
people regard them as traditionally Islamic.
The next type is the mosque with four iwans, which occurs mainly in Iran, Central Asia, and
Afghanistan, developed from the indigenous Iranian building used for houses, madrasahs, and
caravansaries. In Iran the traditional vault-and-dome building was used to develop iwans, or
vaulted open porches, encompassed by a giant portal (pishtaq) arranged around a central
courtyard. Off one iwan is the prayer hall. The local tile-making techniques transferred from
China produced blue-and-white ceramics to cover the important entrance portals and the miḥrāb.
Epigraphy attained artistic heights.
The iwan mosque coalesced during the Seljuk dynasty (1038–1194) and penetrated Egypt under
the rule of Salah ad-Din (Saladin) and his Ayyūbid dynasty (1171–1250). Under the patronage of

6. Mamlūk sultans (1250–1517) elaborate mosque complexes marked the power and wealth of the
rulers. The Tilakari Mosque-Madrasah (1660) in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, is a fine example of
this style, but the pinnacle of perfection is the Masjid-i Shah (1637) in Isfahan, Iran. This type
remained in the architecture of the region and was also transmitted to Central Asia and India,
where it was transformed.
The third type is the Indian mosque, fully developed by the Imperial Moguls (1526–1828). It is
characterized by a wide rectangular prayer hall covered with triple domes, a courtyard with a
pool of water surrounded by colonnades, and a monumental entrance. Building material in the
Indo-Pakistani subcontinent was mainly brick, and construction techniques and decorative
schemes combined the Persian and Hindu traditions. Mosques varied in scale from the small
Moti (Pearl) Masjid of 1662 in the Delhi Red Fort to the magnificent large Badshahi Mosque
(1674) in Lahore.
The Ottomans (1281–1922) in Anatolia developed in the sixteenth century the fourth type, the
central domed mosque, that has become the dominant model for contemporary architecture. It is
characterized by a large central domed space without columns. It places pencil-thin minarets at
the building's corners. The origins of this form lie in the Byzantine centralized basilica plan of
the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul (then Constantinople). It was taken to unprecedented heights by the
great architect Sinan in the Sulemaniye Complex (1557) in Edirne, and in the picturesque Sultan
Ahmet or Blue Mosque (early seventeenth century) of Istanbul, designed by his disciple
Mehemet Agha. Both the courtyard and prayer hall are square in plan, with the courtyard open to
the sky and surrounded by domed porches.
The same typology occurs again in Indonesia and Malaysia, where there is essentially a unified
central space but in a very different style and in wood construction. Islam spread via the sea
routes to Southeast Asia in the eighteenth century. The buildings in this region retained their own
traditional forms based on the Javanese pavilion with its central two- to five-tiered pyramidal
roof. The structure of the main hall is supported by four columns (saka-guru), with the roof
covered with either wood shingles or clay tiles. The ablutions space is usually housed in a
separate pavilion. The minaret, when present, is a freestanding structure, made usually of brick.
The complex is often surrounded by a compound wall. Mosques throughout the archipelago
adhere to this model, with variations such as elevation onto stilts. A good example is the Masjid
Agung (1474) in Demak, Central Java, the oldest extant mosque in the region. Until the
nineteenth century Javanese mosques were often not oriented toward Mecca but retained the
culturally auspicious east-west axis: this, however, has changed. Minarets too, perhaps to be
more normative, are now commonplace. (However, some of the coastal towns reveal clearly their
Indian antecedents.)
The last type is the Chinese pavilion mosque, developed using architecture associated with
Chinese culture. (The exception is the western Xinjiang region, where wood and brick building
traditions of Central Asia prevail.) The first Muslims appeared in China during the Tang dynasty
(618–907) and soon began building with indigenous Chinese architecture. The Chinese mosque
employs the traditional pitched roof form with upturned ends, a timber structure, and a
rectangular columnar prayer hall. As in Southeast Asia, the complex consists of independent
structures, each housing a different function. Even the gateway and the minaret are separate

7. structures. The minaret is a square to octagonal several-tiered pagoda. The mosque form is
essentially indistinguishable from other public buildings. The surrounding high wall encloses
Chinese gardens, where the transition between one area and another is marked by traditional
Chinese moon gates. The most famous example of this type is the Great Mosque of Xian (eighth
century, in present form from 1392). It has a minaret-pagoda, a series of pavilions and gardens,
and a qiblah wall with a very ornate miḥrāb made of wood. Another example is the Niu Jie (Ox
Street) Mosque (1362) in Beijing. Islam adapted the techniques and meaning of local architecture
while bringing in new elements.

8. Introduction to Mosque Architecture
Mimar Sinan,courtyardof the Süleymaniye Mosque,İstanbul,1558
From Indonesia to the United Kingdom, the mosque in its many forms is the quintessential
Islamic building. The mosque, masjid in Arabic, is the Muslim gathering place for prayer. Masjid
simply means “place of prostration.” Though most of the five daily prayers prescribed in Islam
can take place anywhere, all men are required to gather together at the mosque for the Friday
noon prayer.
Mosques are also used throughout the week for prayer, study, or simply as a place for rest and
reflection. The main mosque of a city, used for the Friday communal prayer, is called a jami
masjid, literally meaning “Friday mosque,” but it is also sometimes called a congregational
mosque in English. The style, layout, and decoration of a mosque can tell us a lot about Islam in
general, but also about the period and region in which the mosque was constructed.

9. Diagram reconstruction of the Prophet's House, Medina, Saudi ArabiaThe home of the Prophet
Muhammad is considered the first mosque. His house, in Medina in modern-day Saudi Arabia,
was a typical 7th-century Arabian style house, with a large courtyard surrounded by long rooms
supported by columns. This style of mosque came to be known as a hypostyle mosque, meaning
“many columns.” Most mosques built in Arab lands utilized this style for centuries.

10. Commonfeatures
The architecture of a mosque is shaped most strongly by the regional traditions of the time and
place where it was built. As a result, style, layout, and decoration can vary greatly. 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.
Sahn(courtyard)
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.
Mihrab
& minbar, Mosque of Sultan Hassan, Cairo, 1356-63

11. Mihrab(niche)
Mihrab, Great Mosque of
Cordoba, c. 786
Another essential element of a mosque’s architecture is a mihrab—a niche in the wall that
indicates the direction of Mecca, towards which all Muslims pray. 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

12. shallow niche, as in the example from Egypt, above. In the example from Spain, shown right,
the mihrab’s niche takes the form of a small room, this is more rare.
Minaret(tower)
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.

13. Qubba(dome)
Mimar Sinan, Minaret,
Süleymaniye Mosque, Istanbul, 1558
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. Some mosque types incorporate multiple domes
into their architecture (as in the Ottoman Süleymaniye Mosque), while others only feature one.
In mosques with only a single dome, it is invariably found surmounting the qibla wall, the holiest

14. section of the mosque. The Great Mosque of Kairouan, in Tunisia has three domes: one atop
the minaret, one above the entrance to the prayer hall, and one above the qibla wall.
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..
Furnishings
Mosque lamp, 14th century,
Egypt or Syria, blown glass, enamel, gilding, 31.8 x 23.2 cm
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. In most cases
the calligraphic inscriptions are quotations from the Qur’an, and often include the date of the
building's dedication and the name of the patron. Another important feature of mosque

15. 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. Hundreds of
such lamps hung inside a mosque would create a glittering spectacle, with soft light emanating
from each, highlighting the calligraphy and other decorations on the lamps’ surfaces. 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.
Mosquepatronage
Mihrab, 1354–55, just after the Ilkhanid period, Madrasa Imami, Isfahan, Iran, polychrome
glazed tiles, 343.1 x 288.7 cm
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. The endowment of charitable institutions is an
important aspect of Islamic culture, due in part to the third pillar of Islam, which calls for
Muslims to donate a portion of their income to the poor.
The commissioning of a mosque would be seen as a pious act on the part of a ruler or other
wealthy patron, and the names of patrons are usually included in the calligraphic decoration of

16. mosques. Such inscriptions also often praise the piety and generosity of the patron. For instance,
the mihrab now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, bears the inscription:
And he [the Prophet], blessings and peace be upon him, said: “Whoever builds a mosque for
God, even the size of a sand-grouse nest, based on piety, [God will build for him a palace in
Paradise].”
The patronage of mosques was not only a charitable act therefore, but also, like architectural
patronage in all cultures, an opportunity for self-promotion. The social services attached the
mosques of the Ottoman sultans are some of the most extensive of their type. In Ottoman Turkey
the complex surrounding a mosque is called a kulliye. The kulliye of the Mosque of Sultan
Suleyman, in Istanbul, is a fine example of this phenomenon, comprising a soup kitchen, a
hospital, several schools, public baths, and a caravanserai (similar to a hostel for travelers). The
complex also includes two mausoleums for Sultan Suleyman and his family members.
Süleymaniye Kulliyesi (view of kitchens and caravanserai), Istanbul

17. Common Types of Mosque Architecture
Since the 7th century, mosques have been built around the globe. While there are many different
types of mosque architecture, three basic forms can be defined.
I. TheHypostyleMosque
It makes sense that the first place of worship for muslims, the house of the Prophet Muhammad,
inspired the earliest type of mosque - the hypostyle mosque. This type spread widely throughout
Islamic lands.
Diagram reconstruction of the Prophet's House, Medina, Saudi ArabiaThe Great Mosque of
Kairouan, Tunisia, is an archetypal example of the hypostyle mosque.

18. The mosque was built in the ninth century by Ziyadat Allah, the third ruler of the Aghlabid
dynasty, an offshoot of the Abbasid Empire. It is a large, rectangular stone mosque with a
hypostyle (supported by columns) hall and a large inner sahn (courtyard). The three-tiered
minaret is in a style known as the Syrian bell-tower, and may have originally been based on the
form of ancient Roman lighthouses. The interior of the mosque features the forest of columns
that has come to define the hypostyle type.
Sahn and
minaret, Great Mosque of Kairouan, Tunisia, c. 836-75
The mosque was built on a former Byzantine site, and the architects repurposed older materials,
such as the columns—a decision that was both practical and a powerful assertion of the Islamic
conquest of Byzantine lands. Many early mosques like this one made use of older architectural
materials (called spolia), in a similarly symbolic way.

19. Ancient
capitals (spolia), Great Mosque of Kairouan, Tunisia
On right hand side of mosque’s mihrab is the maqsura, a special area reserved for the ruler found
in some, but not all, mosques. This mosque’s maqsura is the earliest extant example, and its
minbar (pulpit) is the earliest dated minbar known to scholars. Both are carved from teak wood
that was imported from Southeast Asia. This prized wood was shipped from Thailand to
Baghdad where it was carved, then carried on camel back from Iraq to Tunisia, in a remarkable
display of medieval global commerce.
Maqsura,
Great Mosque of Kairouan, Tunisia
The hypostyle plan was used widely in Islamic lands prior to the introduction of the four-iwan
plan in the twelfth century. The hypostyle plan’s characteristic forest of columns was used in

20. different mosques to great effect. One of the most famous examples is the Great Mosque of
Cordoba, which uses bi-color, two-tier arches that emphasize the almost dizzying optical effect
of the hypostyle hall.
Interior
of the Great Mosque of Cordoba, Spain, 8th-10th centuries
II. TheFour-IwanMosque
Just as the hypostyle hall defined much of mosque architecture of the early Islamic period; the
11th century shows the emergence of new form: the four-iwan mosque. An iwan is a vaulted
space that opens on one side to a courtyard. The iwan developed in pre-Islamic Iran where it was
used in monumental and imperial architecture. Strongly associated with Persian architecture, the
iwan continued to be used in monumental architecture in the Islamic era.

21. Iwan,
Ctesiphon, Iraq, c. 560 Space Museum Archive
Plan of the Great Mosque of
Isfahan, Iran, showing iwans opening onto the sahn (court)

22. In 11th century Iran, hypostyle mosques started to be converted into four-iwan mosques, which,
as the name indicates, incorporate four iwans in their architectural plan.
The Great Mosque of Isfahan reflects this broader development. The mosque began its life as a
hypostyle mosque, but was modified by the Seljuqs of Iran after their conquest of the city of
Isfahan in the 11th century.
Like a hypostyle mosque, the layout is arranged around a large open courtyard. However, in the
four-iwan mosque, each wall of the courtyard is punctuated with a monumental vaulted hall, the
iwan. This mosque type, which became widespread in the 12th century, has maintained its
popularity to the present.
View of
three (of four) Iwans, Great Mosque of Isfahan, Iran, 11th - 17th centuries, looking toward the
south (qibla) iwan
In this type of mosque the qibla iwan, which faces Mecca, is often the largest and most ornately
decorated, as at Isfahan’s Great Mosque. Here, the mosque’s two minarets also flank the lavish
qibla iwan. The Safavid rulers refurbished these walls with new tiles in the 16th century.

23. Iwan,
Great Mosque of Isfahan, Iran
Though it originated in Iran, the four-iwan plan would become the new plan for mosques all over
the Islamic word, used widely from India to Cairo and replacing the hypostyle mosque in many
places.
III. TheCentrally-PlannedMosque
While the four-iwan plan was used for mosques across the Islamic world, the Ottoman Empire
was one of the few places in the central Islamic lands where the four-iwan mosque plan did not
dominate. The Ottoman Empire was founded in 1299. However, it did not become a major force
until the 15th century, when Mehmed II conquered Constantinople, the capital of the late Roman
(Byzantine) Empire since the 4th century. Renamed Istanbul, the city straddles the European and
Asian continents, and, having been a Christian capital for over a thousand years, had a wholly
different cultural and architectural heritage than Iran. The Ottoman architects were strongly
influenced by Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, the greatest of all Byzantine Churches and one that
features a monumental central dome high over its large nave.

24. Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus, Hagia Sophia, 537, IstanbulMany Ottoman
mosques in the late 15th and early 16th centuries referenced Hagia Sophia’s dome; however, it
was not until the masterful work of Mimar Sinan, the greatest Ottoman, if not Islamic, architect,
that the domes of Ottoman mosques competed with and arguably surpassed that of Hagia Sophia.
Sinan experimented with the central plan in a series of mosques in Istanbul, achieving what he
considered his masterpiece in the Mosque of Selim II, in Edirne, Turkey. Built for Selim II, son
of Suleyman during the golden age of the Ottoman Empire, it is considered the greatest
masterpiece of Ottoman architecture. It represents a culmination of years of experimentation
with the centrally-planned Ottoman mosque.

25. Mimar
Sinan, Dome interior, Selimiye II Mosque in Edirne, Turkey, 1568-74
Sinan himself boasted that his dome was higher and wider than that of the Hagia Sophia,
highlighting the sense of competition with the earlier Byzantine building. In the Selim Mosque,
Sinan distilled previous ideas about the central plan into a simple and perfect design. The interior
octagonal space was made more spacious by 8 massive piers that pushed back into the walls, and
a rhythmic harmony was created through apertures of small and large arches framed by joggled
voussoirs, filling the large space with light and color.
MosqueArchitectureAroundtheWorld
The three mosque types described above are the most common, and most historically significant,
in the Islamic world. Despite their common features, such as mihrabs and minarets, one can see
that diverse regional styles account for dramatic differences in the colors, materials, and the
overall decoration of mosques. The bright blue and white tiled mihrabs of fourteenth-century
Iran are a world apart from the muted colors and stone inlay of an Egyptian mihrab of the same
century.

26. Minaret,
Bahasa Indonesia: Masjid Menara Kudus Jawa Tengah, Indonesia, 1549
Even more regional differences appear when one looks beyond the central Islamic lands to the
architecture of Muslims living in places like China, Africa, and Indonesia, where local materials
and regional traditions, sometimes with little influence from the architectural heritage of the
central Islamic lands, influenced mosque architecture.
The minaret at Kudus, Indonesia, for instance, reflects the influence of Hindu architecture. The
Djingarey Berre Mosque of Timbuktu, in Mali, similarly responds to the pre-Islamic traditions of
its own region, utilizing a unique West African style and using earth as the primary building
material.

27. Djingarey Berre Mosque, Timbuktu, Mali, 1327
An early mosque in Xian, China, uses a very clearly Chinese style of architecture, but also
incorporates more typical Islamic elements, like squinches and a distinctly Islamic-style arched
mihrab.
Great
Mosque of Xi'an, China, 1392

28. Contemporarymosquearchitecture
Mihrab, Great Mosque of Xi'an,
China, 1392
Contemporary mosque architecture often represents a remarkable blending of styles, drawing
from diverse architectural traditions to create something recognizably “Islamic,” that fulfills all
the architectural requirements of a communal mosque and is contemporary in style. In Pakistan,
the King Faisal Mosque, 1986 blends contemporary architecture with visual references to
traditional forms. The building is strikingly modern, yet plays with the form of the tent structures
of Bedouin nomads. This large mosque also incorporates Ottoman-influenced pencil-thin
minarets into its modern design.

29. Vedat
Dalokay, Shah Faisal Masjid, Islamabad, 1986