The main Elements of the

Mosque
Introduction about the Mosque
The mosque
Its evolution
The first mosque built in Islam was Qibāa’ Mosque in
Medina (the first structure built by the prophet
Muhammad upon his emigration from Mecca) then the
prophet's mosque built also in al-Madīna which is now
known as Al-Masğid an-Nabawī so that it followed the
plan of mosques during first ages.
The Prophet's mosque 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
• The mosque was also constructed with a large
courtyard surrounded by four arcades. Mosques were
built of mud bricks and palm tree trunks then other
architectural elements of the mosque were added as
minarets.
• Hypostyle mosques are the earliest type of mosques,
pioneered under the Umayyad Dynasty. These
mosques have square or rectangular plans with
courtyard (sahn) and covered prayer hall
• Hypostyle
• A structure composed of supporting columns beneath
a flat roof. This was very popular in mosque
construction, particularly in the early periods.
• Function of the mosques
• Mosques are places of worship, also a place for
consultation in matters of Muslims and
administration of the state then later developed to
be places for education where lessons of religion
and science were given
• Architectural development
• The use of columns to support the roof of mosques
instead of palm trunks, concave prayer niches
instead of flat prayer niches, walls decorated by
stucco walls. The vegetal decorations of tree leaves
and stems were used also the use geometrical
motifs and Arabic calligraphy of its different types.
• The main elements of the mosque
• 1-Minaret
• Al-Mi'zana in Arabic, is a tower that traditionally
accompanies a mosque building. It is an architectural
element from which the call to prayer, or aḏāan, is
made. The call to prayer is issued five times each day
• The earliest mosques lacked minarets during the time
of prophet Muḥammad so Bilāl bin Rabāḥ used to
ascend the roof to call for prayers.
• The first one who built minaret in Islam was
Muʿāūwīyyah ibn Abī Sufīyān in the Ummayyad
mosque in the Levant.
• Throughout the ages, the design of
minarets was different from time to
another. Minarets have had various forms
(in general round, squared, spiral or
octagonal) depending on the period and
architectural tradition. The number of
minarets by mosques is not fixed;
originally one minaret would accompany
each mosque, but some architectural
styles can include multiple minarets
1-Base 2-Square Shaft 3-Balacony 4-5-Balustrade 6-cylindrical shaft
7-Pavilion 8-top of minaret(Helmet shape)
9-Finial (Crescent)
• the dome (al-Qubbah)
• the dome , it has semi-circular shape for the echo. It is used in
Islamic architecture to cover the religious buildings
• 4-the open court (Ṣaḥn)
• The court of a mosque whether it be opened or closed in the
center of the religious building. Mostly, it is surrounded by either
four riwaqs or iwans.
• the Abulation fountain(maīyḍa'ah)
• An ablution fountain where Muslims should clean
up and get their abulation before prayers. It is
used to be in the middle of the open court
• Riwaq
• The meaning of this word differs according to the
context in which it was used. In a mosque, it
means an arcade carried on columns or pillars. In
a house, it means a living unit with all its
dependencies.
• Bā’ikah
• An arcade; a series of opened or blind arches
joined together by columns or piers.
• Arch
• The Muslims used different types of arches in their
buildings, and the reason for the existence of
these arches was for two reasons, the first is the
durability of the roof, and the second is to give an
aesthetic shape to the model.
• Arab Islamic architecture used different types of
arches. In Egypt, the horseshoe knot prevailed in
the architecture of the Tulunid era, then the
arched knot was used in the Fatimid era to crown
the windows of the Al-Azhar and Al-Hakim
mosque
• Kinds of Arches in Islamic Architecture:
• Pointed arch
• Horse-shoe arch
• Semi-circular arch
• Madā'nī arch (see letter M)
• Pulpit is an elevated place from which the imam of the
mosque gives his sermon on Friday. Intricate geometric
patterns with mother of pearl inlay and ivory usually adorned
Minbar. Wood was the most common material used for the
construction of minbars, however stone and marble were
used as well.
•
• the prayer niche(miḥrāb)
• A prayer niche found in religious buildings
indicating the direction to the Ka‘ba in
Mecca. It symbolized and indicated the
direction of the qibla to worshippers. The first
prayer niche was flat then later on, caliph
ʿumar Ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz introduced the
concave one. The Miḥrāb can be either flat
or a concave recess in the wall; the latter
form is the most popular one. The direction
of qibla (Ka‘ba in Mecca) is South-East.
• Most Miḥrāb were decorated with stucco carvings,
marble dadoes or mosaic. Some, however, were
left plain like the one in the ḫānqāh of Barqūq in
the Northern Cemetery of Cairo. Another type of
Miḥrāb is the portable one which flourished
during the Fatimid period. These mihrabs were
wooden, intricately decorated and can be moved
from one place to the other. Interesting examples
can be seen in the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo.
• Muqarnas /Stalactite/honey comb vaults
• One of the most important decorative
elements of Islamic architecture. They are
composed of small arches carved of the
building material and arranged on top of each
other forming honeycombs. Another
definition would be the division of a squinch
into a number of small niches. Made from
different materials like stone, brick, wood or
stucco, its use in architecture spread over the
entire Islamic world
• Mosque of al-Nāṣir Muḥammad Ibn Qalāwūn
• It is an early 8th/14th century mosque which is also
called the Mosque of the Citadel. It was built by the
Mamluk sultan Al-Nāṣir Muḥammad in 718/1318 as
the royal mosque of the Citadel, where the sultans
of Cairo performed their Friday prayers. The
mosque is located across the street from the
courtyard access to the Mosque of Muhammad Ali.
• Architectural description
• From Outside
• It was built as a regular free standing rectangle .It
is surrounded by four stone simple facades free
from decorations. The N-Western façade is the
main one which is decorated by 18 rectangular
arched windows (9 on each side of the entrance)
surmounted by rectangular arched crenellations .
The entrance is in the middle of stone façade
which projected out 1.5ms from the façade and
found inside it a tri-lobbed shallow recess having
an arched portal .
• The NE façade is built of stone and distinguished by
simplicity free from decorations except 18
rectangular arched windows (9 on each side of the
entrance) surmounted by semi-circular
crenellations. The entrance is projected out from
the façade and found inside tri-lobbed shallow
recess having an arched portal. The Southern
façade doesn't differ from those facades so that it
is built of stone and distinguished by simplicity free
from decorations except 20 rectangular arched
window . It differs from them by having 3 piers at
Eastern corner and 1 pier only at Western corner.