Minaret

Minaret (/ˌmɪnəˈrɛt, ˈmɪnəˌrɛt/;[1] Persian: ‫ﻣﺄذﻧﺔ‬

mo'azzene, Azerbaijani: minarə, Turkish: minare,[2] from
Arabic: ‫ ﻣﻨﺎرة‬manarah[2]) is a type of tower typically built
into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets serve multiple
purposes. While they provide a visual focal point, they are
generally used for the Muslim call to prayer (adhan). The
basic form of a minaret includes a base, shaft, a cap and
head. They are generally a tall spire with a conical or
onion-shaped crown.

Contents
Functions
Construction
History
Local styles
See also
References Minaret of the Great Mosque of Testour
Further reading
External links

Functions
In the early 9th century, the first minarets were placed opposite the qibla wall.[3] Oftentimes, this
placement was not beneficial in reaching the community for the call to prayer.[3] They served as a
reminder that the region was Islamic and helped to distinguish mosques from the surrounding
architecture.[4]

In addition to providing a visual cue to a Muslim community, the other function is to provide a vantage
point from which the call to prayer, or adhan, is made. The call to prayer is issued five times each day:
dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and night.[5] In most modern mosques, the adhān is called from the
musallah (prayer hall) via microphone to a speaker system on the minaret.[5]

Construction
The basic form of minarets consists of four parts: a base, a shaft, a cap and a head. Minarets may be
conical (tapering), square, cylindrical, or polygonal (faceted). Stairs circle the shaft in a counter-
clockwise fashion, providing necessary structural support to the highly elongated shaft.[6] The gallery is a
balcony that encircles the upper sections from which the muezzin may give the call to prayer.[7] It is
covered by a roof-like canopy and adorned with ornamentation, such as decorative brick and tile work,
cornices, arches and inscriptions, with the transition from the shaft to the gallery typically displaying
muqarnas.[7]

History
The earliest mosques lacked minarets, and the call to prayer was often
performed from smaller tower structures.[3][9][10] Hadiths relay that
the early Muslim community of Medina gave the call to prayer from
the roof of the house of Muhammad, which doubled as a place for
prayer.[3]

Scholarly findings trace the origin of minarets to the Umayyad

Caliphate and explain that these minarets were a copy of church
steeples found in Syria in those times. The first minarets were derived
architecturally from the Syrian church tower. Other references suggest
that the towers in Syria originated from ziggurats of Babylonian and
Assyrian shrines of Mesopotamia.[11][12]

The first known minarets appear in the early 9th century under
Abbasid rule, and were not widely used until the 11th century.[3] These
early minaret forms were originally placed in the middle of the wall
Different types of Minaret. 1.
opposite the qibla wall.[3] These towers were built across the empire in
Iraq 2. Morocco 3. Turkey 4.
India, 5. Egypt 6. Asia.
a height to width ratio of 3:1.[3]

The oldest minaret is the Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia and it

is consequently the oldest minaret still standing.[3][8][13] The construction of
the Great Mosque of Kairouan dates to the year 836.[3][14] The mosque is
constituted by three levels of decreasing widths that reach 31.5 meters
tall.[3][14]

The oldest standing
minaret is in Tunisia's
Great Mosque of
Kairouan.[8]
Minarets have had various forms (in general round, squared, spiral or
octagonal) in light of their architectural function.[6] Minarets are built out of
any material that is readily available, and often changes from region to
region.[3] The number of minarets by mosques is not fixed, originally one
minaret would accompany each mosque, then the builder could construct
several more.[15]
Local styles
Central Asia

During the Seljuk period, minarets were highly decorated with geometric and calligraphic
design.[16] They were built prolifically, even at smaller mosques or mosque complexes.
Additionally, minarets during the Seljuk period were characterized by their circular plans
and octagonal bases.[17] The Bukhara minaret remains the most well known of the Seljuk
minarets for its use of brick patterns and inscriptions.[17]
The "international Timurid" style surfaced in central Asia during the 17th century and is
categorized by the use of multiple minarets.[17] Examples of this style include the
 minarets on the roof of the south gate in Akbar's
Tomb at Sikandra (1613), the minarets on the Tomb of
Jahangir (1628-1638), as well as the four minarets
surrounding the mausoleum of the Taj Mahal.[17]

Egypt
The styles of minarets have varied slightly throughout
the history of Egypt. Most minarets were on a square
base, however, the shaft could be plain or decorated
and topped with various crowns and pavilions.[16] The
tiers of the minaret are often separated by
balconies.[16]
The Mosque of al-Hakim, built between 990 and
1010, has a square base with a shaft that tapers
towards the crown.[16]
East China
Eastern Chinese minarets were heavily influenced by
the Islamic minarets of Iran.[17] They often had A depiction of the muezzin's call to
circular platforms and cylindrical shafts with prayer from the balcony of a minaret.
decorative patterns of the Chinese landscape. [17] The
Tower of Light, also known as the Guangta minaret
(1350), merges aspects of Islamic and Chinese architecture.[17]
Iraq
The Great Mosque of Samarra (848–852) is one of
the earliest minarets and is characterized by a 30-
metre-high (98 ft) cylindrical tower outside the walls of
the mosque.[3] A common Abbasid style of minaret,
also seen in Iraq, is characterized by a structure with
a polygonal base and a thick cylindrical shaft. It is
also typically found on the roof of the mosque.[17]
Two examples of this style are the Mosque of al-
Khaffafin and the Mosque of Qumriyya.
Iran The Great Mosque of Samarra has a
The minarets of 12th century Iran often had cylindrical unique spiral minaret.
shafts with square or octagonal bases that taper
towards their capitals. These minarets became the
most common style across the Islamic world. These forms were also highly decorated.
Pairs of minaret towers that flank the mosque entrance originate from Iran.[16]
Southeast Asia
Tower minarets were not as common in Southeast Asia as mosques were designed to
function more as community structures. Mosques were designed to be much smaller and
occasionally contained staircase minarets.[17]
Tunisia
The minaret at the Great Mosque of Kairouan, built in 836, influenced all other minarets in
the Islamic west.[3] It is the oldest minaret in the Muslim world.
Turkey
The Seljuks of Rum, a successor state of the Seljuks, built paired portal minarets from
brick that had Iranian origins.[16]
In general, minarets in Anatolia were singular and received decorative emphasis while the
mosque remained plain.[16] The minarets were used at the corners of mosques, as seen
in the Divrigi Great Mosque.
The Ottoman empire continued the Iranian tradition of cylindrical tapering minaret forms
with a square base.[16] Minarets were often topped with crescent moon symbols.[16] Use
of more than one minaret, and larger minarets, was used to show patronage.[16]
 For example, the Suleymaniye Dome has minarets
reaching 70 meters.

West Africa
West African minarets are characterized by glazed
ceramics that allowed the structures to take on new
monumental forms.[17] Typically, they are a single,
square minaret with battered walls. Notable
exceptions include a few octagonal minarets in
northern cities - Chefchaouen, Tetouan, Rabat, The Süleymaniye Mosque in Turkey
Ouezzane, Asilah, and Tangier - and the round has minarets reaching 70 meters.
minaret of Moulay Idriss.

See also
List of oldest minarets
List of tallest minarets
2009 Swiss minaret referendum
List of tallest mosques

References
1. "minaret" (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/minaret). Random House Webster's
Unabridged Dictionary.
2. "minaret." (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=minaret) Online Etymology
Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. 21 Mar. 2009.
3. Bloom, Jonathan M. (2013). The minaret. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
ISBN 0748637257. OCLC 856037134 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/856037134).
4. Weisbin, Kendra. "Introduction to mosque architecture" (https://www.khanacademy.org/hum
anities/art-islam/beginners-guide-islamic-art/a/introduction-to-mosque-architecture). Khan
Academy. Retrieved 2018-12-12.
5. "Mosque | place of worship" (https://www.britannica.com/topic/mosque). Encyclopedia
Britannica. Retrieved 2018-12-12.
6. Gamm, Niki (March 9, 2013). "How to build a minaret" (http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ho
w-to-build-a-minaret-42595). Hürriyet Daily News. Retrieved 2018-12-12.
7. Doğangün, Adem; İskender Tuluk, Ö; Livaoğlu, Ramazan; Acar, Ramazan. (May 2002).
"Traditional Turkish minarets on the basis of architectural and engineering concepts" (http
s://www.researchgate.net/publication/229039007_Traditional_Turkish_minarets_on_the_ba
sis_of_architectural_and_engineering_concepts). ResearchGate. Retrieved 2018-12-12.
8. Titus Burckhardt, Art of Islam, Language and Meaning: Commemorative Edition. World
Wisdom. 2009. p. 128 (https://books.google.com/books?id=DBqId4J_sIAC&pg=PA128&dq=
kairouan+oldest+minaret&lr=&cd=22#v=onepage&q=kairouan%20oldest%20minaret&f=fals
e)
9. Donald Hawley, Oman, pg. 201. Jubilee edition. Kensington: Stacey International, 1995.
ISBN 0905743636
10. Creswell, K. A. C. (March 1926). "The Evolution of the Minaret, with Special Reference to
Egypt-I". The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs. 48 (276). doi:10.2307/862832 (https://
doi.org/10.2307%2F862832). JSTOR 862832 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/862832).
11. Creswell, K. A. C. (March 1926). "The Evolution of the Minaret, with Special Reference to
Egypt". The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs. 48.
12. Bloom, Jonathan (1989). Minaret Symbol of Islam. University of Oxford. ISBN 0197280137.
13. Linda Kay Davidson and David Martin Gitlitz, Pilgrimage: From the Ganges to Graceland:
An Encyclopedia, Volume 1. ABC-CLIO. 2002. p. 302 (https://books.google.com/books?id=
YVYkrNhPMQkC&pg=PA302&dq=kairouan+oldest+minaret&lr=&cd=8#v=onepage&q=kairo
uan%20oldest%20minaret&f=false)
14. "Minaret of the Great Mosque of Kairouan (Qantara Mediterranean Heritage)" (https://web.a
rchive.org/web/20130511205253/http://www.qantara-med.org/qantara4/public/show_docum
ent.php?do_id=1287&lang=en). Archived from the original (http://www.qantara-med.org/qan
tara4/public/show_document.php?do_id=1287&lang=en) on 2013-05-11.
15. "Minaret | architecture" (https://www.britannica.com/art/minaret-architecture). Encyclopedia
Britannica. Retrieved 2018-12-12.
16. Fraenkel, J.; Sadan, J. (April 24, 2012). "Manār, Manāra" (https://referenceworks.brillonline.
com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/*-SIM_4903). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second
Edition.
17. Flood, Finbarr Barry; Necipoğlu, Gülru (2017). A Companion to Islamic Art and Architecture.
Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 9781119068570. OCLC 963439648
(https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/963439648).

Further reading
Jonathan M. Bloom (1989), Minaret, symbol of Islam, Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-
19-728013-3

External links
"The Minaret, Symbol of a Civilization" (https://web.archive.org/web/20070929083459/http://
www.muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?articleID=647)
"Minaret" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_New_International_Encyclop%C3%A6dia/Min
aret). New International Encyclopedia. 1905.

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