Minarets are tall towers attached to mosques, used for the traditional call to prayer and as landmarks in Muslim cities. They are not part of traditional Islamic practice, but are regarded as important and often beautifully decorated. They also help ventilate mosques in hot climates.
A minaret is a tall, slender tower that is attached to a mosque, a Muslim place of worship. There are several uses for minarets, but perhaps the most famous is the traditional call to prayer, which is often emitted from balcony minarets. Many people associate minarets with Muslim culture and the Muslim world, and they are common features in the urban landscapes of Muslim regions, where the skyline can be dotted with an assortment of minarets of all shapes and sizes.
Muslims actually regard minarets as bid’a, or “innovations.” The first minaret was built long after the Prophet Muhammad’s death, and thus minarets are not part of the traditional practice of Islam. Furthermore, the minarets do not appear to have been built specifically for the purpose of issuing the call to prayer or adhan, which was initially issued from the roof of the mosque or called in the streets. Despite the fact that minarets are new, they have come to play an important role in Muslim society.
One thing a minaret does is make a mosque very identifiable. In Muslim cities, communities often spring up around mosques, with people who frequent a specific mosque and view its minaret as a comfortable and familiar feature of the neighborhood. Travelers sometimes find themselves using the minarets as orientation landmarks, as they often tower over the surrounding architectural features, making them very easy to find. The competing calls to prayer ringing out from the various minarets with the assistance of loudspeaker systems can also be a beautiful thing to hear.
Many mosques have more than one minaret, and the minarets are often beautifully carved, painted and tiled, making them works of art and functional architectural features. Just like Christian churches, mosques have subscription funds and hold fundraisers to restore their minarets and build new ones, and particularly wealthy Muslims can donate the construction of a minaret to their mosque as an act of faith.
In the hot desert countries that many Muslims call home, the minaret also helps ventilate the mosque, acting as a vent to draw in hot air. These graceful spiers are often reticulated, aiding circulation, and topped with fanciful domes and other architectural features to make them particularly distinctive. The practice of erecting tall spiers over places of worship appears to be common to many faiths; you may see it simply as an advertisement and a desire to draw you closer to God.
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