mosque
mosque. Muslim house of prayer orientated towards Mecca. There are two distinct types: the masjid for daily prayers, and the Great or Friday mosque (masjid al-jámi') for communal worship and addresses given by the imam from a mimbar. Very large congregational mosques may be of the hypostyle type (i.e. with many columns, such as the C8 Great Mosque, Damascus); the four-iwan type, with one vaulted hall as the entrance leading to a large court in the centre of each side of which is an iwan (e.g. Friday Mosque, Isfahan, Iran (C11–C15); and domed mosques, culminating in the centrally-planned mosques with domes or half-domes covering large uncluttered spaces (e.g. the Süleymaniye Mosque, Istanbul, by Sinan (1550–7) ). From C8 mosques acquired at least one minaret, and most modern mosques usually have minarets and domes.
Bibliography
B&B (1994);
Frishman & and Khan (1994);
Hillenbrand (1994)
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