Mosque

A Mosque (Arabic مسجد Masjid, DMG masǧid, place of prostration ') is a ritual place of the Islamic Community Prayer and beyond the political, legal and practical life teaching values ​​in the sense of Islam as well as a social meeting place. Connected rooms and outbuildings can also be a place for teaching and conversations or for shops, travel agencies, etc., as well as venue for celebrating social occasions.

• 4.1 designs
• 4.2 style elements

• 5.1 Cleanliness
• 5.2 prayer line
• 5.3 concentration
• 5.4 Dress Code
• 5.5 Gender segregation
• 5.6 Access to non-Muslims

Construction

The basic construction of a mosque consists of a prayer hall, one or more minarets, washing facilities and other furnishings. The prayer room is designed depending on the region and climate. Often the mosque is affiliated with a yard or garden with a fountain or pond. It can be connected to the main building other buildings, so that a complex is formed that determines the social, cultural, religious and political life of the Islamic community.

A mosque can also act as a school and Islamic University ( Madrasa ).

The believer is usually sufficient, a clean place to perform the prayer can. A distinction between the simple prayer house or room, the Great Mosque, which can accommodate several hundreds of believers, and the Friday Mosque, which have a pulpit for the Friday sermon and must have a specific size for the believers.

The German word " Mosque " is derived from the Arabic Masjid over its North African pronunciation Masjid, the Spanish and Italian mesquita moschea ago. It is a collective term for all of these different types of mosque and institutions, each with its own name in the Arabic language.

History

The oldest remained from pre-Islamic religious building of Islam is the Kaaba. She herself was never a model for the sacred architecture of Islam. Also, the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem - the first masterpiece of Islamic religious architecture - served only rarely as a model.

The Umayyad Mosque in Damascus - one of the oldest mosques - was the basis for the development of its own pillar indoor architectural style for mosques. It was built on the site of a Christian church.

Facility

The central element of a mosque is the prayer room. Some mosques have a separate prayer room for women, others have a gallery. To the Muslim, a clean enough place for the performance of Islamic prayer. The prayer room need not necessarily be enclosed or covered; the faithful can keep up prayer and outdoors.

The process of prayer is prescribed that: It looks different postures, prayers, praises and recitations from the Quran in front of that one recites quietly for themselves. At the congregational prayer of the imam ( prayer leader ) is guiding the group and recites partially loud. According to the Islamic teachings, the community prayer as evocation of the Islamic Ummah has a higher importance than the work done privately prayer. This explains the great importance of the institution ' mosque ' for the Islamic community ( umma ).

Spatial direction of prayer

Muslims pray towards the Kaaba ( the central shrine in Mecca ). In rooms that regularly serve as a prayer room, the identification of the direction of prayer ( qibla Arabic ) is mandatory. It extends a recognizable highlighting the so-called qibla wall. This can be a line or an arrow, an inscription or a blackboard with the word, Qibla ', other inscriptions and artistic means or the prayer niche ( mihrab Arabic ). The identification of the Qibla is therefore the most important element of a mosque.

Prayer niche

The prayer niche ( mihrab ) has several functions. It features the direction of prayer ( qibla ), the imam takes his place in front of the group and he has an acoustic effect there. The Imam is also facing the Qibla, ie, with his back to the congregation. Due to the semi-circular or polygonal shape of the mihrab niche, sound the loud recitation of the Imam back to the prayer room, so that all believers can understand the words of the Imam and follow the prayer.

Gallery

In a mosque there is often a umwehrte gallery ( Dikka, Turkey mahfil ). The Dikka has the following functions: on the one found in this area, the muezzins, imams and rulers their place, on the other hand is proclaimed from there the Iqama ( " call to prayer " ) in the mosque or reciting the Quran. So the Dikka serves the acoustics so that all believers can hear the prayer call. In modern mosques with speakers the Dikka has only symbolic. Yet she continues to serve as a traditional component and as a separate area of the imams and scholars. The Dikka is created according to the size ratio of the mosque at the back or in the middle. Depending on the size of the mosque, the Dikka either within 30 to 40 cm is higher off the ground or even three meters.

Chair and pulpit

The Imam is free if he recites before the communal prayer from the Koran or the Hadith and the municipality instructs in faith. A sermon ( Chutba ) before the prayer is not required. Nevertheless, many imams follow the example of the Prophet Muhammad and preach to high-traffic times.

This sermon addresses the preacher ( Khatib ) often from a chair ( Kursi ). Originally, the Kursi called a mobile lectern as a storage of the Koran and other religious literature. An elevated chair, standing at the qibla wall and is accessible via a staircase: This results in a rigid component developed. Depending on the frequency large mosques can also have multiple Kursi on the side wall or a pillar in the middle of the mosque. Although the sermon is not binding before the prayer, the presence of a Kursi in mosques still applies as mandatory. The Kursi is increased, so that all can also see the Imam in his sermon. The small, mobile Kursi still serve today as a book shelf, especially if integrated a religious school in the mosque and children are taught in Islam and Quran recitation.

At Friday prayers and on holidays a sermon from the pulpit ( minbar ) of is provided. This makes the minbar in a Friday mosque an indispensable element. The minbar is on the qibla wall, always attached to the right of the mihrab and is frontally accessible via a staircase. The Chutba is held standing on the stairs of the Imam. The original, early Islamic Minbar had three stages. It is significant that the Prophet Muhammad always preached from the third stage from. Since time immemorial, the top step of the Minbar is the Prophet reserved for the imam preaches from the second stage from. Also, the Minbar is the better acoustics and overview. The number of steps of the minbar is based on the original form, so it should have at least three levels, but always a multiple of the number three. The greater the mosque is, the higher the minbar should be.

Minaret

The call to prayer ( adhan ) takes place before the congregational prayer so that the faithful gather in the mosque. The muezzin rises to the minaret and calls the faithful to prayer.

Minarets built since about 700 AD. This tradition probably came from Syria, where early Christian church towers or lighthouses were misused. In the early days of Islam, the muezzin calling the Adhan mostly from the roof of the mosque. Also in the minaret there are different designs depending on the region. Nowadays, there are minarets that are not boarded, but of which proclaim the adhan from speakers.

Architecture

Designs

The spread of Islam led to contact with other cultures, whose designs have been integrated into the sacred architecture. In the debate with Christianity existing churches were often converted into mosques ( known example: Hagia Sophia after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople Opel ).

There are, though chronologically sequential, regional and time differences arisen independently, which, unlike in Western art history, show no linear development. The designs have been created independently from contact with the incarnated cultures. In the Islamized cultural areas, the following traditional floor plans and designs have emerged:

• Portico with open courtyard ( Arabian Peninsula, Spain, North Africa)
• Portico of adobe or rammed earth (West Africa and Sahel )
• Kreuzachsiger Four - Iwan - courtyard (Iran, Central Asia)
• Triple dome with wide courtyard (Indian subcontinent, see Indo- Islamic architecture)
• Main building with its central dome (Turkey, Balkans)
• Freestanding gazebos in a walled garden ( China)
• Central Symmetrical roof levels ( Southeast Asia)

Elements of style

Depending on the design style appropriate forms emerged in facade design, interior design and furniture design. The formal language added throughout the building both in style as well as in the material. We often find the same decoration in different areas again. Depending on regional availability or traditional customary craftsmanship passed the respective institution of natural stone, stucco, clay, wood or metal. Due to the prohibition of images in Islam initially emerged very factual, unadorned rooms. Nevertheless, we saw committed to lift the mosques of civil architecture. This focused on calligraphy, geometry, ornamentation, arabesques and various crafts such as stucco, carpet, forging, sculpting, carpentry, painting and glass tile crafts.

Due to the warm climate in the Islamic countries was the interplay of water, light and shadows of particular importance. The water - as a fountain or water basin in the prayer room or in the courtyard - used for cleaning and cooling. It originated shade shutters with ornate decorations made of wood, natural stone, stucco or metal. In order to brighten the evenings the mosque, oil lamps or candles holders were required which were also outstandingly decorated. The farms were shaded with arcades or colonnades.

The various vaults were used early in the sacred building - sometimes even isolated over the mihrab. Under the Ottomans, and in their area of ​​distribution were - inspired by the Christian Hagia Sophia in Istanbul - central buildings with many domes and a ( up to four) pointed minarets often encountered. The Ottoman architect Sinan led this design to completion (see: Ottoman architecture).

Mosque systems with large open patio are with the Ivan and the Indo- Islamic architecture typical of Iran. Mud buildings can be found in the Sahel, pagoda-like mosques in Indonesia. Minarets can follow very different types: round and square towers, some in shell construction with platforms for the call to prayer.

Rules of conduct and etiquette

Cleanliness

Before the prayer ritual ablution ( wudu ' ) is carried out.

Before entering the mosque, the shoes must be removed. In the lobbies or at the entrance of the mosque, the shoes are kept - but they can also ( to each other facing the soles ) take to the mosque. A Muslim entering the mosque with the right foot and leaves it to the left.

Prayer line

Prayer can virtually manage every Muslim who is of age, dominates the prayer forms and can say the prayers in Arabic. He steps in front of the praying person (as the Imam ), the behind him in orderly rows ( sufuf, sg. Saff ) up. A salaried imam must be a righteous, versed in religious matters man. In mosques, established or maintained by government agencies, the Imam is appointed by the government; in privately donated mosques the imam is determined by the members of the mosque community by majority vote.

Concentration

Because mosques are places of prayer and contemplative meditation, like decency rules apply as for a church visit. Discuss and Loud Call is prohibited as well as to bring animals. The direct passing by in front of a praying person is prohibited, so as not to disturb him in prayer.

Dress Code

Islam writes Muslims against modest clothing. The clothing must be clean of everything and cover the body appropriately. Women need for prayer, the hair covering ( hijab ). For men, a headgear ( Takke ) is optional.

Gender segregation

As women from men in the church are not to be observed, the women pray behind the men, separated in their own rooms or in a gallery. Although there are particularly reserved spaces for women and children, the gender segregation of the Al -Haram Mosque in Mecca does not apply.

Access for non-Muslims

Most Islamic sects allow non-Muslims entering mosques; to prayer times may be denied entry to non-Muslims. The cities of Mecca and Medina are closed to non-Muslims.

Many mosques in the Islamic diaspora welcome visitors as a sign of openness to the majority society but welcome it as an encouragement to convert to Islam. Since 1997, the Open Mosque Day on October 3, the day of German unity is observed in Germany.

Types

• Friday Mosque
• Grave Mosque
• Backyard mosque
• Mescit