Mosque

House of prayer in Islam.

A mosque is symbolically very important to Muslims, and is a humble way for man to recreate pure divine presence on earth. Mosques are not built according to divine patterns but are divinely guided. Nor are there very clear rules to what a mosque should look like, except on some few points. Mandatory elements are a structure that clearly indicates the direction of Mecca (this direction is called qibla). The indication is in most mosques a mihrab, a niche in the wall. A mosque must have a roofed area in front of the mihrab. There can be no doors in the wall where the mihrab is placed for the other walls, there can be as many doors as the builders want.

There are two types of mosques: the main mosque is called jamaca, and is the one where the Friday prayer is performed. The jamacas are often richly adorned.

The other type of mosque is called masjid, and are local and smaller mosques. While these can be richly adorned, the can seldom be compared to the jamacas.

Masjid is a word meaning 'place for prostration' and were used by the early Muslims for houses of worship, even for other religions. Today the Arabic 'masjid', and the English 'mosque' are used exclusively for religious houses in Islam.

The first mosque is the one in Mecca, defined as the area that surrounded the Ka'ba, the most holy shrine to Islam. But the model of early mosques, was the courtyard of Muhammad's house in Madina, which was constructed in 622 CE. This was organized with a qibla, which at first faced the direction of Jerusalem. To the left of this qibla, houses for Muhammad's wives, were erected. There were three entrances to the courtyard. An area of the courtyard was roofed, and here prayer was performed. Later the direction of the qibla was changed, to face Mecca.

This Madina mosque had social, political, and judicial functions, in addition to housing Muhammad's family. The religious functions were mixed with other functions. Rules on prayers seem to have not been shaped at the first period, much because this was the period in which the Koran was revealed to Muhammad the rules had not been given.

Mosques soon grew into becoming more complex and uniform in their shape. A minbar, the pulpit, from where the Friday prayer is held, was placed next to the mihrab. Within few years after the death of Muhammad, mosques became such important symbols, that when Muslim conquerors established themselves somewhere, a mosque was put up first, and then the military camp was built around it. This building process was inspired by the Madina example. But in the cases where the Muslims conquered principal cities, they constructed their mosque in the place that was the centre of former religions.

In the beginning of Islam, tribes and sects in Islam often marked their independence or their purity by putting up mosques of their own or by defining a certain part of the mosque as their part. This pattern have changed through history, but the situation today is not as tolerant as it might appear. Muslims of all creeds are in theory free to enter all mosques, but a Muslim of one orientation will in reality find mosques used by Muslims of other orientations inappropriate. A travelling Muslim will try to find a mosque which is used by people belonging to his own creed (Sunnis, Shi'is, and Kharijis are the main division points.) Other mosques are defined as inappropriate because they are under control of the government or dominated by Islamists. But most major mosques, the jamaca are seen upon as neutral, and are used by Muslims of all creeds.

Most mosques today are closed to non-Muslims, but this was a regulation that was developed through the first century of Islam. There was an increase in the emphasis on the sanctity of the mosque, more and more elements of the mosque was regarded as sacred, and any mosque was commonly regarded as bayt allah, 'House of God'.

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