MOSQUE

islamic place of worship.

Mosque is an anglicized French cognate for the Arabic word masjid, which literally means "place of prostration." In the most abstract sense, any private or public space properly prepared for the purposes of performing the five obligatory prayers of Islam (salat) constitutes a mosque. The term mosque, however, is most commonly used to refer to a space which has been permanently or semipermanently demarcated as a place of public Muslim worship.

While many mosques share such common features as a prayer niche (mihrab), pulpit (minbar), and area for performing ritual ablutions, the size, layout, and architecture of any given mosque is usually particular to its own specific historical, social, and cultural context. In many well-established Muslim communities, the largest and most centrally located mosque will often function as the masjid al-jami, or central mosque, where a large number of wor-shippers gather for the Friday noon congregational prayer (salat al-jumʿa) and sermon (khutba). Not unlike their counterparts in other religious traditions, mosques and larger mosque complexes often serve as a primary locus for a variety of communal gatherings and activities, ranging from social-service programs and political rallies to Qurʾan study groups and scholarly lectures.

see also islam; qurʾan.

Bibliography

Creswell, K. A. C. Early Muslim Architecture, revised edition. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon, 1969; New York: reprint, Hacker Art Books, 1979.

Hoag, John D. Islamic Architecture. New York: Abrams, 1977; reprint, New York: Rizzoli, 1987.

scott alexander