The Mosque

The first mosque

The first mosque was built by Muhammad in his own house in Medina. With the new religion, a new type of building  would be created in accordance to the needs and aspirations of the community of the faithful. However, the new faith stated also a continuity between the revelations of the Jews and Christians and the message of Muhammad. According to H. Stierlin (1), the initial architectural solution adopted by the founder of Islam "was inspired by synagogues, in particular that of Dura-Europos, on the Euphrates" (Stierlin, 1996- p16)

In contrast,  Ettinghausen and Grabar (1987) characterize the initial model of the mosque, the house of Muhammad  in Medina, as an "accidental prototype":  it was a basic point of departure in its simplicity and functionality, that could be easily adapted and expanded as needed.  

The combination of religious and domestic structure in the "first mosque" of Muhammad was abandoned afterwards for obvious reasons, but subsequent mosques were built next to the rulers' palaces. The mosque was at the same time a religious building, a political and a community center. The architectural importance of the mosque form, as it developed from its initial humble beginnings ( built with available materials and also from remnants parts of ancient constructions, such as columns, etc) is that it "reintroduced the hypostyle hall into the Middle East" (Ettinghausen and Grabar, 1987, p. 36)

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Standard components of the mosque

Antecedents of the mosque

Pre-Islamic indigenous religious architecture in Arabia:

 Plan of the temple of Huqqa (west of Mârib, Yemen)
dating from the 2nd century A.D.

The plan of the Temple of Huqqa shows elements such as a courtyard with porticoes, fountain for ablutions, oblong hall, colonnade, raised podium, that anticipate some of the essential features of the first mosque built by Muhammad in Medina. Another "prototype", according to Stierlin,  of the first mosque is the synagogue of Dura-Europos, Syria,  from the 3rd century A.D.

Plan of the synagogue of Dura-Europos, Syria, 3rd century A.D.

The analogies with Muhammad's mosque in Medina include (Stierlin, 1996)  the portico with columns, oblong hall, a stonework throne on the top of stairs: a precursor of the Islamic minbar, a niche to the right of the throne that recalls the mihrab. Although the first mosque in Medina did not included a mihrab, it later became an essential element of mosques.

The first mosque, as observed, was a multifunctional building: a place for religious functions, social gatherings, court of law and educational center. Its large courtyard can therefore be understood as appropriated to these various functions.  The symbolic meaning of the courtyard, as the form of the mosque evolved, may also be understood as a type of transitional space towards the devotional internal space of ritual prayer.

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(1) Stierlin, Henri, Islam: Early Architecture from Baghdad to Cordoba, Volume I, Koln, 1996

16th century illustrations of the Mosque of the Prophet, Medina and the Ka'ba, Mecca

source: Rivoira, G. T. - Moslem Architecture, London, 1918

Al-Masjid al-Nabawi, Mosque of the Prophet, Medina (today)

The original mosque was built by Muhammad next to the house where he settled after his journey to Medina in 622 AD. The original mosque was an open-air building with a raised platform for the reading of the Qur'an. It was a rectangular enclosure of 30 × 35 m (98 × 115 ft), built with palm trunks and mud walls, and accessed through three doors: Bab Rahmah (Door of Mercy) to the south, Bab Jibril (Door of Gabriel) to the west and Bab al-Nisa' (Door of the Women) to the east. The basic plan of the building has since been adopted in the building of other mosques throughout the world.

Inside, Muhammad created a shaded area to the south called the suffah and aligned the prayer space facing north towards Jerusalem. When the qibla (prayer direction) was changed to face the Kaaba in Mecca, the mosque was re-oriented to the south. The mosque also served as a community center, a court, and a religious school. Seven years later (629 AD/7 AH), the mosque was doubled in size to accommodate the increasing number of Muslims.

Subsequent Islamic rulers continued to enlarge and embellish the mosque over the centuries.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Masjid_al-Nabawi