Mosque

in Istanbul, Turkey.]]
A **mosque** is a place where Muslims worship. The word *mosque* comes from the Arabic word *masjid*.  A larger, 'collective', mosque is called a *masjid jāmi*. Larger mosques offer more services to their community.

For many Muslim people, a mosque is more than a place of worship. Muslims worship, study and discuss Islam, and do many other things in a mosque and its compounds. In the United Kingdom, many mosques are used as community centres. They are also used to teach about Islam. Religious festivals and gatherings are held in mosques. Weddings are one example. Mosques have rules to control what people do inside. One of these is that it is disrespectful to disturb another person who is worshipping.

Many mosques are known for their Islamic architecture. The earliest mosques, opened in 7th century were open-air spaces. They are the *Quba Mosque* and *Masjid al-Nabawi*.  Later Mosques were buildings that were specially designed. Nowadays, mosques are in every continent, except Antarctica.

## Architecture 
, Sri Lanka, has striking Moorish and Colonial architecture with a candy-striped facade.]]
Many mosques are famous works of architecture. They are often built in a style that has stayed the same for many centuries. Many mosques have prayer halls, domes, and minarets. They may also have a courtyard. Mosques are often built with patterned walls.

Mosques were first built on the Arabian Peninsula. The Muslims who built them used old architectural styles. They also combined these styles in new ways. A major influence was the palaces built during the Parthian and Sassanid dynasties of Persia. The *Sarvestan palace* from the Sassanid era is a good example of this. It has an arched entrance and a central dome. These features already existed in Persia before Islam.

After the Arab invasion of Persia, the new style, with its Sassanid influence, was used for the new Islamic world. Many forms of mosques have developed in different regions of the Islamic world. Important mosque types include the early Abbasid mosques, T-type mosques, and the central-dome mosques of Anatolia. In the 20th century, many countries that grew rich from oil paid for the building of many new mosques. The rulers of these countries often hired leading architects to design these mosques. They included non-Muslims.

### Arab plan 
 in Cairo, Egypt has a hypostyle hall]]
Many early mosques have a square or rectangular plan. They also have a prayer hall and an enclosed courtyard. This is known as *Arab-plan*. The first mosques of this type were built during the Umayyad Dynasty.

The flat roof of the prayer hall was supported by columns. Many rows of columns were needed to support such roofs;

### Central dome 
The Ottomans began building *central dome mosques* in the fifteenth century. These mosques have a large dome centered over the prayer hall. There may also be smaller domes, which are off-center over the prayer hall or the rest of the mosque. This style was heavily influenced by the Byzantine religious architecture with its use of central domes.

The first mosques had no minarets. The most conservative Islamic groups, like *Wahhabis*, still avoid building minarets. They see them as simply a fancy decoration and unnecessary. The first minaret was built in 665 in Basra during the reign of the Umayyad caliph Muawiyah I. Muawiyah encouraged the building of minarets, as they were supposed to be the same as bell towers on Christian churches. Because of this, mosque architects used the shape of the bell tower for their minarets. Both the minaret and the bell tower serve the same purpose — to call the faithful to prayer.

Before the five required daily prayers, a *muezzin* calls the worshippers to prayer from the minaret. In many countries like Singapore where Muslims are not the majority, mosques are stopped from loudly playing the call to prayer. The main problem is the use of electronic amplification of the call, which is now widely used by mosques.

### Domes 
The domes were often placed directly above the main prayer hall. They represent the universe that Allah created. At first, these domes were small. They only took up a small part of the roof near the *mihrab*. Later, they took the whole roof above the prayer hall.
Domes normally have the shape of a hemisphere. The Mughals in India popularized onion-shaped domes in South Asia and Persia. Some mosques have several domes, as well as the main large dome. The other domes are often smaller.

Domes would help the *imam* be heard, as the sound waves would bounce in and then out of the dome making the voice louder.

### Prayer hall 
All mosques have a prayer hall, which is also called *musalla*. Normally, there is no furniture in it except for prayer  or rugs. These are necessary, as Islamic prayer is usually done kneeling.

Some mosques have Arabic calligraphy and ''Qur'anic* verses on the walls to help worshipers focus on the beauty of Islam and its holiest book, the *Qur'an*, as well as for decoration.

The *qiblah wall* is usually at the other side of the entrance to the prayer hall. This wall is specially decorated. In a properly sited mosque, it will be set  to a line leading to Mecca. People pray in rows parallel to the *qiblah* wall. They arrange themselves so they face Mecca. In the *qiblah* wall, usually at its center, is the *mihrab*, a niche or depression showing the direction of Mecca. The *mihrab'' serves as the place where the imam leads the five daily prayers.

 outback is different from the grand designs of older Islamic communities. Bourke cemetery, New South Wales.]]

### Washing (wudhu) 
All people must wash themselves before they pray. Mosques often have fountains or other facilities for washing in their entrances or courtyards, so that people can perform the washing ritual before prayer.
At very small mosques, worshippers may use restrooms for their ritual washing, or wu'du. In traditional mosques, there is often a building specially for washing. This is often in the center of the courtyard. In the prayer halls, people must not wear shoes for much the same reason.

### Modern features 
Modern mosques should appeal to the community they serve. For this reason, other facilities may also be available at the mosque, like health clinics, libraries, and sports halls.

### The inside of mosques 

File:Inside Shah Faisal Mosque.jpg|Inside the Shah Faisal Mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan
File:Cairo Sulayman Pasha 3.jpg|Inside the Sulayman Pasha Mosque in Cairo, Egypt
File:Nasr ol Molk mosque inside colorful.jpg|The Nasr ol Molk Mosque in Shiraz, Iran

There may be decorative tiles, plaster or coloured mosaics on the walls. There are no pictures or statues.

## Religious functions 
### Prayers 
 at the Umayyad Mosque]]

Adult Muslims are expected to pray five times a day. Most mosques have formal prayers for each of these times. If performing the prayer is difficult, for example for ill people, then exceptions are made.

Mosques also hold a special prayer service, called *jumuah*. This is done once a week. It is a form of Sabbath and replaces the Friday prayers at the mosque. Daily prayers can be done anywhere. However, Muslims are expected to do their Friday prayer at the mosque. During eclipses, mosques will host special prayers called eclipse prayers.

There are two large holidays (*Eids*) in the Islamic calendar. During these days, there are special prayers at mosques in the morning. Larger mosques will normally hold them for their own communities as well as the people from smaller local mosques. Mosques, especially those in countries where Muslims are the majority, will also host *Eid* prayers outside in courtyards or town squares.
]]

### Ramadan events 
There are many events in *Ramadan*, Islam's holiest month. During *Ramadan*, Muslims must fast during the day. Mosques organise *iftar* dinners after sunset. These are done after the fourth required prayer of the day. Part of the food is given by members of the community, which creates nightly potluck dinners. The community contribution to these dinners is required. For this reason, mosques with smaller communities may not be able to hold the *iftar* dinners daily.

Some mosques will also hold meals in the morning before dawn. Mosques will often invite poorer members of the community to these meals. Islam sees giving charity during Ramadan as good acts.

Larger mosques sometimes offer special, optional prayers. They are done after the last required prayer of the day. During each night of prayers, one member of the community who has memorized the entire Qur’an will recite a part of the book. It can last for up to two hours. American mosques host voter registration and civic participation drives. In the United States, Muslims are often immigrants, or the children of immigrants. Mosques want to interest these people for politics. They also want to keep them informed about issues that concern the Muslim community. People who attend the services at the mosque regularly are more likely to take part in protests, to sign petitions, and to involve themselves in political matters. After the al-Askari Mosque bombing in February 2006, imams and other Islamic leaders used mosques and Friday prayers to call for calm and peace during the widespread violence.

Beginning in the late twentieth century and continuing into the early twenty-first century, a small number of mosques have also become a base for extremist imams to support terrorism and extreme Islamic ideals. Finsbury Park Mosque in London is a mosque that has been used in this manner.

### Social conflict 
Like other places of worship, mosques can be at the center of social conflicts.

Babri Mosque was the centre of such a conflict up until the early 1990s when it was . Before a solution could be found, the mosque was destroyed by about 200,000 Hindus. It took place on 6 December 1992. The mosque was built by Babur to mark the birthplace of Ram. It was believed to be on a site of an earlier Hindu temple. The conflict over the mosque was directly linked to rioting in Bombay (present-day Mumbai) as well as bombings in 1993 that killed 257 people.

In February 2006, a bombing seriously damaged Iraq's al-Askari Mosque. This increased the existing tensions. The conflict between two Muslim groups in Iraq had already led to other bombings. However mosque bombings are not limited to Iraq. In June 2005, a suicide bomber killed at least 19 people at an Afghan mosque. In April 2006, there were two explosions at India's Jama Masjid.

After the September 11 attacks, several American mosques were targets of attacks. These ranged from simple vandalism to arson.

The Jewish Defense League was suspected of plotting to bomb the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City, California. There were similar attacks in the United Kingdom after the 7 July 2005 London bombings. Outside the Western world, in June 2001, the Hassan Bek Mosque was the target of attacks. The attacks involved hundreds of Israelis angry at Arabs for a previous attack.

### Saudi influence 
Saudi involvement in building mosques around the world only goes back to the 1960s.
In the 1980s, the Saudi Arabian government began to pay for the building of mosques in countries around the world. An estimated US$45 billion has been spent by the Saudi Arabian government for mosques and Islamic schools in foreign countries. *Ain al-Yaqeen*, a Saudi newspaper, reported in 2002 that Saudi money may have helped to build as many as 1,500 mosques and 2,000 other Islamic centers. Saudi citizens have also given a lot of money to mosques in the Islamic world, especially in countries where they see Muslims as poor and oppressed. Following the fall of the Soviet Union, in 1992, mosques in Afghanistan received money from Saudi citizens. to the two mosques, respectively.

## Rules and behaviour in mosques 
 (Dhaka), the National Mosque of Bangladesh

The structure resembles the Kaaba in Mecca.]]

In a mosque, people should keep focused on worshiping *Allah*. For this reason, there are a number of rules about the correct behaviour in a mosque. Some of these rules are the same all over the world, such as no shoes should be worn in the prayer hall. Other rules are different from mosque to mosque.

### Prayer leader 
It is generally seen as good to have someone who leads the prayers, though this is not strictly necessary. The person who usually leads the prayers is called *imam*. He must be a free and honest man. He should also be an authority when it comes to answering questions on religion.

### Men and women pray in different parts 
.]]
Islamic law requires men and women to be separated in the prayer hall. Ideally, women should pray behind men.  The second caliph Umar at one time stopped women from attending mosques, especially at night, because he feared they may be teased by males, so he made them to pray at home. Sometimes a special part of the mosque was railed off for women; for example, the governor of Mecca in 870 had ropes tied between the columns to make a separate place for women.

### Non-Muslims in mosques 
A few scholars of Islamic law believe that non-Muslims may be allowed into mosques, as long as they do not sleep or eat there. Followers of the *Maliki* school of Islamic jurisprudence disagree. They say that non-Muslims may not be allowed into mosques at all.

In modern-day Saudi Arabia, the Grand Mosque and all of Mecca are open only to Muslims. Likewise, the Masjid al-Nabawi and the city of Medina that surrounds it are also off-limits to those who do not practice Islam. For mosques in other areas, it has most commonly been taken that non-Muslims may only enter mosques if granted permission to do so by Muslims and if they have a proper reason. Many Mosques throughout the United States welcome non-Muslims as a sign of openness to the rest of the community and to encourage conversions to Islam.

### Dogs 
Dogs are usually banned from entering mosques, but on 24 September 2008, the Muslim Law Council UK made special ruling, called a *fatwa*, which granted a blind Muslim permission to take his guide dog into the mosque.

## Mosques as hostels 
It is common for a smaller mosque to serve as a hostel for Muslims on *haj* (pilgrimage to Mecca). Sometimes mosques are used for refugees, or as temporary homes for homeless people. Obligations to neighbours in Islam are very strict, and specific. In the Qur'an Mohammed said that a person who helps others in the hour of need, and who helps the oppressed; that person God will help on the Day of Travail (agony). There are other commands, such as helping the poor and being nice to people. An important part of being Muslim, or just being part of the mosque, is taking care of people who need help. A mosque is a social, as well as a religious, group.

A madrassa is a little different from a mosque. A madrassa focuses on teaching Islam, usually to children and young people.

## Mosques in Spain 
 was a mosque. Today, it is the cathedral of Cordoba.]]
When Spain was under Muslim control, some of the most beautiful buildings were mosques. After 1491, Spain was under Christian control. However, the Christians did not tear down the mosques. They simply put a crucifix in them to make them into churches. These mosques influenced the Renaissance architecture (way of building) in Europe.

## References