| Mosque, a building that serves as the main place of worship for Muslims. Mosques are of various sizes and types; the Friday mosque-in which the entire congregation assembles to perform the ritual Friday prayers-is by far the largest and most important. The great age of mosque building extends from the 7th century, when Islam was founded in Arabia, to the 16th century.The first mosque was the courtyard of Muhammads own house in Medina (AD622), in present-day Saudi Arabia. The wall of the courtyard facing in the direction of the holy city of Mecca-called the qibla wall-was provided with a roofed area where prayers were recited; the other three walls were lined with shallow arcades. This scheme became the basic plan for all later mosque design, of which the three main elements continued to be the courtyard, the qibla wall, and the roofed prayer hall. In the center of the qibla wall is the mihrab, or prayer niche, that indicates the direction of Mecca. Next to the mihrab is the mimbar, a pulpit from which the Friday sermon is preached. |
