Minaret

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For other uses, see Minaret (disambiguation).

Minaret of the Great Mosque of Testour

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Minaret (/ˌmɪnəˈrɛt, ˈmɪnəˌrɛt/;[1] Persian: ‫ مأذنة‬mo'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.[citation needed] They are generally a tall spire with a conical or onion-
shaped crown.
Contents
 1 Functions
 2 Construction
 3 History
 4 Local styles
 5 See also
 6 References
 7 Further reading
 8 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.[citation needed]
Minarets may be conical (tapering), square, cylindrical, or polygonal (faceted).[citation needed] 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
Different types of Minaret. 1. Iraq 2. Morocco 3. Turkey 4. India, 5. Egypt 6. Asia.

The oldest standing minaret is in Tunisia's Great Mosque of Kairouan.[8]

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 opposite the qibla wall.[3] These towers were built across the empire in 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]

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]

A depiction of the muezzin's call to prayer from the balcony of a minaret.

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 circular platforms and cylindrical shafts with 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 has a unique spiral minaret.

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 minarets of 12th century Iran often had cylindrical 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 Süleymaniye Mosque in Turkey has minarets reaching 70 meters.
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, Ouezzane, Asilah, and Tangier - and the round minaret of
Moulay Idriss.