man Turkish minarets have a simple design, like
great pencils or rockets pointing heavenward.
New minaret styles have been devised by modern
architects, as can be seen at the magnificent Faysal
Mosque in Islamabad, pakistan, and the Islamic
Cultural Center in New York City, United states.
Minarets were not used everywhere, however.
Traditional mosques in east aFrica, Kashmir,
South India, and malaysia did not have them. In
the modern period minarets have become nearly
universal. However, it is still possible to find
mosques that lack them. This may be due to a
variety of factors, including local tradition, build-
ing codes, lack of resources, or conscious decision
by mosque governing boards to devote funds for
other purposes.
Minarets have also gained a symbolic value
beyond the limits of Islamic cultures and societ-
ies. They have been adapted for use in synagogue
architecture, especially in Sephardic Jewish com-
munities. They also hold a prominent place in
romanticized Euro-American representations of
the Middle East, particularly in popular art, car-
toons, and the cinema. Minarets have even been
used in the architecture of amusement parks,
theaters, and shopping centers in eUrope and the
Americas.
See also christianity and islam; cities; sep-
hardic JeWs.
Further reading: Doris Behrens-Abouseif, The Minarets
of Cairo (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press,
1985); Jonathan Bloom, “The Minaret: Symbol of Faith
and Power.” Saudi-Aramco World 53, no. 2 (2002): 26–
35; Omar Khalidi, “Import, Adapt, Innovate: Mosque
Design in the United States,” Saudi-Aramco World 53,
no. 6 (2004).
minbar
The minbar is a seat raised on six or seven steps
that is located against the qibla wall of mosqUes. It
is used by the imam to deliver the khutba (sermon)
on Fridays as it insures his visibility and allows his
voice to be better heard by the assembly. At the end
of the khutba, the imam descends from the minbar,
turns to face the qibla wall (usually in front of the
mihrab) and leads the assembled community in
prayer. The association between the minbar and
the imam’s aUthority is one reason it continues
to be the most important element of mosques. Its
importance was even greater in the past.
Historical sources inform us that the first minbar
was created for the prophet mUhammad’s use at his
mosque in medina. A carpenter who observed the
Prophet’s fatigue during the Friday assemblies con-
trived a simple raised seat with steps that allowed
the Prophet to sit while facing and addressing his
followers. After the Prophet’s death his successors
(the first caliphs) used this seat but did not sit on
the top step in honor of the Prophet’s memory. This
seat came to be known as the minbar, a term whose
Arabic root signifies “amplification.”
Art historians have attempted to fix the ori-
gins of the minbar by relating it to the pulpits
of churches or the thrones of palaces. The role
and importance of the mosque minbar, however,
derives from its connection to the khutba and to
the khutba’s own political, social, and religious
import. By extension, the minbar was related to
the authority of the leadership that sponsored
the khutba and protected Islam. Even when rulers
no longer delivered it themselves, the khutba was
given in their name and became the primary means
of announcing and legitimating new rulers.
Since the khutba was delivered in the main
or community mosques of towns and cities, the
minbar itself became a marker of the presence
of populations large enough to warrant a Friday
mosque (some medieval geographers calculated
the size of towns through the number of their
minbars). It also marked the boundaries of towns,
especially in situations where religious authori-
ties allowed only one Friday mosque per city. For
example, Hanafi law allows for multiple Friday
mosques in a single city (which accounts for their
numbers in Ottoman Constantinople) whereas
the Shafii law allows only one (which accountsminbar 475 J