Introductory Article about Mosques Architectural Development and ...

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Shed Roof (Suffa) Prophet’s Residence Figure 1 The old former structural configuration of the Prophet mosque in Medina. The Holy Mosque in Makkah was not converted to a mosque at that time. It was an open air temple for the Quraysh triple and the people of Makkah who forced the Prophet to leave Makkah. 1.2: Emerging of Basic Elements of Mosques: A Portico (Zullah) Courtyard Mosques are places of worship used for prayer, public speaking, preaching, lecturing, and Quran recitations. All activities performed in mosques are related to speech audibility and intelligibility. Compared to Churches, a good understanding of the speech and Quran recitation is required. Therefore, the design of their acoustical features and basic elements that are related to the acoustical behavior requires careful consideration if good listening conditions are to be achieved. In old churches, intelligibility of sound was not important while all the activity inside the church was carried in Latin language and the worshippers was asked only to repeat the prayers but not forced to understand. On the other hand, Quran recitation in prayer, public speaking,
preaching and lecturing all require high level of intelligibility while all these activity are carried in Arabic language and have to be understood by the worshippers. Prophet Mohammed Mosque formed a model for the subsequent mosques throughout the Islamic world in its combination of basic elements (Qibla wall, Mihrab, Minaret, Minbar). These mosques have been influenced by the subsequent civilizations in respect of architectural form, space, construction system, and building materials. These materials have evolved and developed to a significant and variable extent in different parts of the Islamic world. The main functions of each of the basic element are still the same up to nowadays. Mihrab literally means “praying niche”. It is the most important feature in the mosque and it’s the center point of the qibla wall. It is semicircular in plan having a semicircular arched top all inserted in the qibla wall. It indicates the direction of prayer and its idea and design were inherited from the prophet mosque when after his death people marked the place where he used to stand to lead prayer by a stone afterward the stone was replaced by a Mihrab. The second important feature is called Qibla wall literally means “facing wall”. It is the wall facing Makkah and it’s the most decorated part of any mosque. This wall contains a Mihrab in its center and a the third element called Minbar ,commonly an elevated floor to the right of the Mihrab, as illustrated in Figure 2 and Figure 3.Unlike in Holy Haram in Makkah, worshippers form parallel lines to the qibla wall while they are in Group Prayer mode (as will be described later in subsequent article). The qibla wall perpendicular to the imaginary line that point to Al- Qaba in Makkah. Such a wall is not exist in The Holy Haram in Makkah where worshippers surrounding and praying facing Al-Qaba. The last important feature is called Minaret. Minaret literally means “slender tower with balconies”. It was added to the basic element to ensure that the voice of the Muaddin (The person making the call for prayer (adhan)) could be heard at far away distances. This remarkable addition was in 673 AD when Umayyad the governor of Egypt demolished the first mosque of Amr at Fustat which could no longer accommodate the growing number of worshippers and replace it with a new design with four minaret that were inherited from the Syrian church towers according to the wishes of Califa Muawiya. No Mihrab or Minaret where provided in the original construction of the prophet house, but a wooden Minbar with three steps where added later to the main construction features where the Prophet can deliver the Friday speech (kutba) and daily speeches and be more visible and audible to the worshippers when they are in large number. It was an important feature replacing the traditional way of leaning on one of his house palms to deliver daily speeches. Minbar became an essential piece of acoustical and visual tools to make the Imam voice heard better and to be more visible for a lager number of audience. The house was kept as mosque (courtyard type) where the prophet was buried after his death.
Page 1: Introductory Article about Mosques
Page 5 and 6: Back Door wall Praying Niche (Mihra
Page 7 and 8: (a)
Page 9 and 10: (c)
Page 11 and 12: Contemporary Mosques: This type can
Page 13 and 14: 2.2: Room-Acoustic Parameters in Mo
Page 15: RASTI, Reverberation Time, Backgrou

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