Minaret

A minaret is a special kind of tower that is often built next to or as part of a mosque. These tall towers have many purposes. One of their main jobs is to help share the Muslim call to prayer with the community. A person called a muezzin stands in the tower and announces the time for prayer to everyone nearby.

Besides calling people to prayer, minarets also act as important landmarks. They show that a mosque is nearby and stand as proud symbols of the Islamic faith in the area. Minarets come in many different shapes and sizes. Some are short and wide, while others rise very high and thin into the sky, each style adding its own beauty to the landscape.

Etymology

Two Arabic words describe the minaret tower: manāra and manār. The English word "minaret" comes from manāra, through the Turkish word minare.

Originally, manāra meant a "lamp stand" and is related to the Hebrew word for menorah. Both words come from the Arabic root n-w-r, which relates to "light". Manār also meant a "place of light" or a "sign" to guide people, and both words could refer to a lighthouse.

Functions

A minaret is a tall tower often built next to mosques. Its main job is to help the person who gives the call to prayer, called a muezzin, be heard by everyone. This call happens five times a day: at dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and night. In many modern mosques, the call is made inside the prayer hall and sent to speakers on the minaret.

Minarets also have an important meaning. They show that a place follows Islam and help people recognize mosques. They were also a way for leaders to show their power and importance.

Construction and design

Minarets come in many shapes and sizes, influenced by the culture of the area where they are built. They can have circular, square, or octagonal shapes. Inside, there are stairs or ramps that spiral up in a counterclockwise direction. Some minarets have several narrow stairways inside each other so many people can move up and down safely. At the top, there is often a balcony where the call to prayer is made. Some minarets have balconies along their height. The top of a minaret may have a lantern-like shape, a small dome, a pointed roof, or a curved stone top, finished with a decorative metal piece.

Minarets are made from whatever building materials are available in the region. In some tall, thin minarets from the Ottoman style, hot iron was poured into spaces inside the stones to help hold them together, making the towers stronger against earthquakes and strong winds.

• Elements of typical minaret design

• Inside the stairway of a minaret in Mostar

• Inside the Giralda minaret in Seville, which has ascending ramps instead of stairs

• An ornate balcony at the Qutb Minar in Delhi

• Example of a lantern structure at the top of a minaret at the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore

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  Example of a metal finial in Istanbul

Origins

Early mosques did not have minarets. Instead, people would call to prayer from smaller structures or rooftops. For example, in Medina, the early Muslims used the doorway or roof of Muhammad's house for this purpose.

The exact beginning of minarets is not fully known. Some older ideas suggest they came from church steeples in Syria or even from ancient ziggurats in Babylonian and Assyrian lands. More recent studies show that the first true minaret towers appeared much later, around the 9th century, under the rule of the Abbasids. These early towers were more like symbols than tools for calling to prayer.

The first minaret towers were added to important mosques, like the Great Mosque of Mecca, in the late 8th century. One of the oldest surviving minarets is from the Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia, built in 836. Other early minarets include those from Siraf in Iran and the Great Mosque of Damascus in Syria. These towers grew taller and more elegant over time, becoming common features of mosques by the 11th century.

Regional styles

China

Near the Huaisheng Mosque in Guangzhou stands the Tower of Light, also called the Guangta minaret, built in 1350. This minaret mixes Islamic and Chinese architecture. Its round shape and inner staircases look like minarets from Iran and Central Asia, such as the Minaret of Jam.

Egypt

Minarets in Egypt have changed over time. The minaret of the 9th-century Ibn Tulun Mosque was modeled after spiral minarets from Samarra, though the current tower was rebuilt in 1296. During the Fatimid period (10th–12th centuries), most new mosques did not have minarets, except for the Mosque of al-Hakim, built between 990 and 1010, which has two unique minarets. These minarets later got extra square sections around their bases and their tops were redone in 1303.

Iran, Central Asia, and South Asia

Starting in the 11th and 12th centuries, minarets in Iran had round shafts with square or octagonal bases that narrowed toward the top. These became common across Central Asia and South Asia. The Kalyan Minaret in Bukhara is famous for its brick patterns. The Minaret of Jam in present-day Afghanistan, built around 1175, is tall and decorated. The Qutb Minar in Delhi, built in 1199, follows the same design.

Iraq

The oldest minarets in Iraq date from the Abbasid period. The Great Mosque of Samarra, built between 848 and 852, has one of the earliest minarets—a tall, round brick tower with a spiral staircase. It is the largest early minaret in the world.

Maghreb and al-Andalus

Minarets in the Maghreb and historical al-Andalus usually have square shafts and two sections: a tall main shaft and a smaller top section finished with copper or brass spheres. The minaret at the Great Mosque of Kairouan, built in 836, is the oldest in North Africa and has three levels.

Turkey

The Seljuks of Rum built minarets influenced by Iranian styles. Ottoman architecture continued this with tall, slim minarets often topped with a crescent moon. The Üç Şerefeli Mosque in Edirne, finished in 1447, was the first sultanic mosque to have minarets with multiple balconies. The Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, built in 1574, has the tallest Ottoman minarets at 70.89 meters.