Editing Mosque (section)

==History==
===Origins===
{{See also|List of the oldest mosques}}

Islam was established in Arabia during the lifetime of [[Muhammad]] in the 7th century CE.<ref name="Watt2003">{{Cite book |last=Watt |first=William Montgomery |author-link=W. Montgomery Watt |title=Islam and the Integration of Society |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AQUZ6BGyohQC |year=2003 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-17587-6 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=AQUZ6BGyohQC&pg=PA5 5] |access-date=2019-06-30 |archive-date=2023-01-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230116132754/https://books.google.com/books?id=AQUZ6BGyohQC |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[List of the oldest mosques|first mosque]] in history could be either the sanctuary built around the ''[[Kaaba|Ka'bah]]'' in [[Mecca]], known today as ''[[Al-Masjid al-Haram]]'' ('The Sacred Mosque'), or the [[Quba Mosque]] in [[Medina]], the first structure built by Muhammad upon his [[Hijra (Islam)|emigration from Mecca]] in 622 [[Common Era|CE]],<ref>{{harvnb|Tajuddin|1998|p=135}}</ref> both located in the Hejaz region in present-day Saudi Arabia.<ref name="Palmer2016">{{Cite book |author=Palmer |first=Allison Lee |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aMsvDAAAQBAJ&pg=236 |title=Historical Dictionary of Architecture |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-4422-6309-3 |edition=2nd |page=236 |language=en |quote=The first mosque is considered to be either the one built around the Kaaba, or "House of God", in Mecca, now called Al-Masjid Al-Haram, or the Quba Mosque in Medina, Saudi Arabia, built when Muhammad arrived there from Mecca in 622. |access-date=2023-12-26 |archive-date=2023-12-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231226065604/https://books.google.com/books?id=aMsvDAAAQBAJ&pg=236 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Other scholars reference Islamic tradition<ref name="Esposito1998">{{Cite book |last=Esposito |first=John |title=Islam: The Straight Path (3rd ed.) |year=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-511234-4 |pages=9, 12}}</ref><ref name="Esposito2002b">Esposito (2002b), pp. 4–5.</ref><ref name="Peters2003">{{Cite book |last=Peters |first=F.E. |title=Islam: A Guide for Jews and Christians |year=2003 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-11553-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/islamguideforjew00fepe/page/9 9] |url=https://archive.org/details/islamguideforjew00fepe/page/9 }}</ref> and passages of the Quran,<ref>{{qref|2|7-286|b=y}}</ref><ref>{{qref|3|96|b=y}}</ref><ref>{{qref|22|25-37|b=y}}</ref> according to which Islam as a religion precedes Muhammad, and includes previous prophets such as Abraham.<ref name="Alli2013">{{Cite book |last=Alli |first=Irfan |title=25 Prophets of Islam |publisher=eBookIt.com |isbn=978-1-4566-1307-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5nRJK9sLjLsC |year=2013 |access-date=2019-06-30 |archive-date=2021-04-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414010428/https://books.google.com/books |url-status=live }}</ref> In Islamic tradition, [[Abraham in Islam|Abraham]] is credited with having built the ''Ka'bah'' in Mecca, and consequently its sanctuary, ''Al-Masjid al-Haram'', which is seen by Muslims as the first mosque that existed.<ref>{{harvnb|Kuban|1974|p=1}}</ref><ref name="Michigan C 1986">{{Cite book |author=Michigan Consortium for Medieval and Early Modern Studies |editor1=Goss, V.P. |editor2=Bornstein, C. V. |title=The Meeting of Two Worlds: Cultural Exchange Between East and West During the Period of the Crusades |publisher=Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University |volume=21 |page=208 |isbn=978-0-9187-2058-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p44kAQAAMAAJ |year=1986 |access-date=2019-06-30 |archive-date=2023-12-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231228023032/https://books.google.com/books?id=p44kAQAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Abu Sway 2011">{{Cite news |author=Mustafa Abu Sway |title=The Holy Land, Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Qur'an, Sunnah and other Islamic Literary Source |publisher=[[Central Conference of American Rabbis]] |url=http://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/Abusway_0.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728001911/http://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/Abusway_0.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-28 }}</ref><ref name="Dyrness2013">{{Cite book |author=Dyrness, W. A. |title=Senses of Devotion: Interfaith Aesthetics in Buddhist and Muslim Communities |publisher=[[Wipf and Stock]] Publishers |volume=7 |page=25 |isbn=978-1-62032-136-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=inJNAwAAQBAJ |date=2013}}</ref> A [[hadith]] in [[Sahih al-Bukhari]] states that the sanctuary of the ''Ka'bah'' was the first mosque on Earth, with the second mosque being [[Al-Aqsa]] in [[Jerusalem]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.searchtruth.com/book_display.php?book=55&translator=1&start=0&number=585#585|title=55. Prophets – Sahih Al-Bukhari – 585|website=www.searchtruth.com|language=en|access-date=2018-06-05|archive-date=2018-06-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613062602/https://www.searchtruth.com/book_display.php?book=55&translator=1&start=0&number=585#585|url-status=live}}</ref> which is also associated with Abraham.<ref name="Michigan C 1986"/> Since as early as 638 CE, the Sacred Mosque of Mecca has been expanded on several occasions to accommodate the increasing number of Muslims who either live in the area or make the annual pilgrimage known as ''[[Hajj]]'' to the city.<ref>{{harvnb|Dumper|Stanley|2007|p=241}}</ref>

Either way, after the Quba Mosque, [[Muhammad in Medina|Muhammad went on to establish another mosque in Medina]], which is now known as ''[[Al-Masjid an-Nabawi]]'' ('The Prophet's Mosque'). Built on the site of his home, Muhammad participated in the construction of the mosque himself and helped pioneer the concept of the mosque as the focal point of the Islamic city.<ref name="chiu678">{{harvnb|Chiu|2010|pp=67–8}}</ref> The Prophet's Mosque is considered by some scholars of [[Islamic architecture]] to be the first mosque.<ref name="Petersen_p.195–6">{{harvnb|Petersen|1996|pp=195–196}}: "The first mosque was the house of the Prophet Muhammad in Medina. This was a simple rectangular (53 by 56 m) enclosure containing rooms for the Prophet and his wives and a shaded area on the south side of the courtyard which could be used for prayer in the direction of Mecca. This building became the model for subsequent mosques which had the same basic courtyard layout with a prayer area against the qibla wall."</ref><ref name=":24">{{harvnb|Bloom|Blair|2009|p=549|loc=''Mosque''}}: "The first mosque, a building that Muhammad erected at Medina in 622, is usually described as the Prophet's house but was probably intended from the outset as a community center as well. Initially, it was a rectangular enclosure of unbaked brick, a little over 50 m square, but a portico of palm trunks supporting a roof of palm-frond thatch was quickly erected on the north side of the court, facing Jerusalem, the first qibla, or direction in which Muslims sent their prayers [...]. In 624 when the qibla was changed to Mecca, another such arcade was built on the south side, facing that city. Muhammad and his family lived in rooms built on to one side of the enclosure, and Muhammad was buried in one of these rooms in 632. During the 7th and early 8th centuries, Muhammad's mosque was repeatedly enlarged and rebuilt, becoming a flat-roofed hypostyle structure with a central court and a prayer-hall deeper than the three other porticos. [...] The form of the mosque of the Prophet was closely imitated in the early congregational mosques built in the Iraqi cities of Wasit, Kufa and Basra, and in the mosque built at Daybul in Sind (now Banbhore, Pakistan)."</ref> The mosque had a roof supported by columns made of palm tree trunks<ref name=":0522">{{Cite book |last=Tabbaa |first=Yasser |title=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three |publisher=Brill |year=2007 |isbn=978-90-04-16165-8 |editor-last=Fleet |editor-first=Kate |location= |pages= |language=en |chapter=Architecture |quote=If Mecca provided the first Muslim shrine, the city of Medina, to which Muḥammad migrated in 622 C.E., may have provided the germ of the idea for the Muslim place of prayer, the masjid, in the form of the house of the Prophet himself. Descriptions of the house allow us to reconstruct it as a mud-brick rectangular enclosure consisting of an open courtyard, a three-aisled roofed space to the south, a one-bay space inside the northern wall, and eight separate rooms annexed to the eastern wall. The eight rooms housed Muḥammad's wives; the northern vestibule was a waiting area; the southern space served various residential, official, and ritual functions. The roof was supported by palm trunks and its southern wall, after 6/628, contained a three-stepped platform (minbar), from which Muḥammad spoke and adjudicated. Despite its rudimentary form and construction, Muḥammad's house would provide the basic model for the first mosques. |editor-last2=Krämer |editor-first2=Gudrun |editor-last3=Matringe |editor-first3=Denis |editor-last4=Nawas |editor-first4=John |editor-last5=Rowson |editor-first5=Everett}}</ref> and it included a large courtyard, a motif common among mosques built since then.<ref name="chiu678" /> Rebuilt and expanded over time,{{sfn|Petersen|1996|pp=182–184}} it soon became a larger [[hypostyle]] structure.<ref name=":24" /> It probably served as a model for the construction of early mosques elsewhere.<ref name="Petersen_p.195–6" /><ref name=":24" /><ref name=":0522" /> It introduced some of the features still common in today's mosques, including the niche at the front of the prayer space known as the ''[[mihrab]]'' (first added in the [[Umayyad period]]){{sfn|Petersen|1996|pp=182–184}} and the tiered pulpit called the ''[[minbar]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Cosman|Jones|2008|p=610}}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed">
File:After their time in Mina has passed, pilgrims head back to Mecca. - Flickr - Al Jazeera English.jpg|2010 Aerial view of the largest mosque in the world, [[Great Mosque of Mecca|The Sacred Mosque (''Al-Masjid Al-Ḥarām'')]] of [[Mecca]] in the [[Hejaz]] region of [[Saudi Arabia]], with the [[Kaaba]] in the center
File:Madinah, Al haram at night (2512058060).jpg|Islam's [[Holiest sites in Islam|second holiest site]] [[Al-Masjid an-Nabawi]] (The [[Muhammad in Islam|Prophet]]'s Mosque) in Medina
File:Jerusalem-2013-Temple Mount-Al-Aqsa Mosque (NE exposure).jpg|Islam's [[Holiest sites in Islam|third holiest site]] Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem
File:Umayyad Mosque (2020-01-07).jpg|Inside view of another holy site, the [[Umayyad Mosque]] built by the Umayyad Caliphate
File:Quba Mosque (2).jpg|The [[Quba Mosque]] in [[Medina]], Hejaz, [[Saudi Arabia]]
File:Al Sahaba Mosque, Massawa.jpg|The [[Mosque of the Companions, Massawa|Mosque of the Companions (''Masjid As-Sahabah'')]] in [[Massawa]], [[Eritrea]], [[Horn of Africa]]
File:Main entrance of Masjid al-Qiblatayn.jpg|''[[Masjid al-Qiblatayn]]'' (Mosque of the two [[Qiblah]]s) in Medina
File:Kerbela Hussein Moschee.jpg|One of the holiest sites in [[Shia Islam]], the [[Imam Husayn shrine|Imam Hussayn Mosque]] in [[Karbala]]
</gallery>

===Diffusion and evolution===
[[File:Blue Mosque Courtyard Dusk Wikimedia Commons.jpg|thumb|[[Courtyard]] of the [[Blue Mosque, Istanbul|Blue Mosque]] in [[Istanbul]], [[Turkey]]]]
The [[Umayyad Caliphate]] was particularly instrumental in spreading Islam and establishing mosques within the [[Levant]], as the Umayyads constructed among the most revered mosques in the region — [[Al-Aqsa Mosque]] and [[Dome of the Rock]] in [[Jerusalem]], and the [[Umayyad Mosque]] in [[Damascus]].<ref>{{harvnb|Kuban|1985|p=27}}</ref> The designs of the Dome of the Rock and the Umayyad Mosque were influenced by [[Byzantine architecture]], a trend that continued much later with the rise of the [[Ottoman Empire]].<ref>{{harvnb|Flood|2001|pp=101–103}}</ref>

The [[Great Mosque of Kairouan]] in present-day [[Tunisia]] was the first mosque built in the [[Maghreb]] (northwest Africa), with its present form (dating from the ninth century) serving as a model for other Islamic places of worship in the Maghreb. It was the first in the region to incorporate a square [[minaret]], which was characteristic of later Maghrebi mosques, and includes [[nave]]s akin to a [[basilica]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.qantara-med.org/qantara4/public/show_document.php?do_id=1287&lang=en |publisher=The Qantara Project |title=Minaret of the Great Mosque of Kairouan |year=2008 |access-date=5 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511205253/http://www.qantara-med.org/qantara4/public/show_document.php?do_id=1287&lang=en |archive-date=11 May 2013 }}</ref><ref name="elleh114">{{harvnb|Elleh|2002|pp=114–115}}</ref> Those features can also be found in [[Al-Andalus|Andalusi]] mosques, including the [[Great Mosque of Cordoba]], as they tended to reflect the architecture of the [[Moors]] instead of their [[Visigoths|Visigoth]] predecessors.<ref name="elleh114" /> Still, some elements of [[Visigothic architecture]], like [[horseshoe arch]]es, were infused into the mosque architecture of Spain and the Maghreb.<ref>{{harvnb|Ruggles|2002|p=38}}</ref>

[[File:Faisal mosque2.jpg|thumb|left|[[Faisal Mosque]] in [[Islamabad]] is the largest mosque in Pakistan and in South Asia with a capacity of 300,000]]

Muslim empires were instrumental in the evolution and spread of mosques. Although mosques were first established in India during the seventh century, they were not commonplace across [[Indian subcontinent|the subcontinent]] until the arrival of the [[Mughal Empire|Mughals]] in the 16th and 17th centuries. Reflecting their [[Timurid dynasty|Timurid]] origins, [[Mughal architecture|Mughal-style]] mosques included [[onion dome]]s, [[ogee|pointed arches]], and elaborate circular minarets, features common in the [[Persian architecture|Persian]] and [[Architecture of Central Asia|Central Asian styles]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bloom|Blair|2009|p=182}}</ref> The [[Jama Masjid, Delhi|Jama Masjid]] in [[Delhi]] and the [[Badshahi Mosque]] in [[Lahore]], built in a similar manner in the mid-17th century,<ref>{{harvnb|Bloom|Blair|2009|p=187}}</ref> remain two of the largest mosques on the Indian subcontinent.<ref>{{harvnb|Asher|1992|p=202}}</ref>

The first mosque in [[East Asia]] was established in the eighth century in [[Xi'an]]. The [[Great Mosque of Xi'an]], whose current building dates from the 18th century, does not replicate the features often associated with mosques elsewhere.<ref name="cow30">{{harvnb|Cowen|1985|pp=30–35}}</ref> Minarets were initially prohibited by the state.<ref name="ahm109">{{harvnb|Ahmed|2002|p=109}}</ref> Following traditional [[Chinese architecture]], the Great Mosque of Xi'an, like many other mosques in eastern China, resembles a [[pagoda]], with a green roof instead of the yellow roof common on imperial structures in China. Mosques in western China were more likely to incorporate elements, like domes and minarets, traditionally seen in mosques elsewhere.<ref name="cow30" />[[File:Kampung Hulu Mosque.JPG|thumb|[[Kampung Hulu Mosque]], the oldest mosque in Malaysia]]A similar integration of foreign and local influences could be seen on the [[Indonesia]]n islands of [[Sumatra]] and [[Java]], where mosques, including the [[Demak Great Mosque]], were first established in the 15th century.<ref name="blobla439">{{harvnb|Bloom|Blair|2009|p=439}}</ref> Early Javanese mosques took design cues from [[Hindu temple architecture|Hindu]], [[Buddhist architecture|Buddhist]], and Chinese architectural influences, with tall timber, multi-level roofs similar to the pagodas of [[Balinese temple|Balinese Hindu temples]]; the ubiquitous Islamic dome did not appear in Indonesia until the 19th century.<ref name="ahm109" /><ref>{{harvnb|Bloom|Blair|2009|p=281}}</ref> In turn, the Javanese style influenced the styles of mosques in Indonesia's [[Austronesia]]n neighbors—[[Malaysia]], [[Brunei]], and the Philippines.<ref name="blobla439" />

Several of the early mosques in the Ottoman Empire were originally churches or cathedrals from the [[Byzantine Empire]], with the [[Hagia Sophia]] (one of those converted cathedrals) informing the architecture of mosques from after the [[fall of Constantinople|Ottoman conquest of Constantinople]].<ref>{{harvnb|Essa|Ali|2010|pp=230–231}}</ref> The Ottomans developed [[Ottoman architecture|their own architectural style]] characterized by large central domes (sometimes surrounded by multiple smaller domes), pencil-shaped minarets, and open façades.<ref>{{harvnb|Essa|Ali|2010|pp=231–232}}</ref>

[[File:Great-Mosque-of-Tirana-2018.jpg|thumb|left|[[Namazgah Mosque]] in 2018. It was the largest mosque in the [[Balkans]] at the time of completion.]]
Mosques from the Ottoman period are still scattered across [[Eastern Europe]], but the most rapid growth in the number of mosques in Europe has occurred within the past century as more Muslims have migrated to the continent. Many major European cities are home to mosques, like the [[Grand Mosque of Paris]], that incorporate domes, minarets, and other features often found with mosques in Muslim-majority countries.<ref name="blobla193">{{harvnb|Bloom|Blair|2009|p=193}}</ref> The first mosque in North America was founded by [[Albanian American]]s in 1915, but the continent's oldest surviving mosque, the [[Mother Mosque of America]], was built in 1934.<ref>{{harvnb|Nimer|2002|pp=39–40}}</ref> As in Europe, the number of American mosques has rapidly increased in recent decades as Muslim immigrants, particularly from [[South Asia]], have come in the United States. Greater than forty percent of mosques in the United States were constructed after 2000.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Grossman |first=Cathy Lynn |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/religion/story/2012-02-29/islamic-worship-growth-us/53298792/1 |newspaper=USA Today |title=Number of U.S. mosques up 74% since 2000 |date=29 February 2012 |access-date=6 October 2013 |archive-date=17 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917220154/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/religion/story/2012-02-29/islamic-worship-growth-us/53298792/1 }}</ref>

===Inter-religious conversion===
{{see also|Conversion of non-Muslim places of worship into mosques|List of former mosques in Spain|List of former mosques in Portugal}}
[[File:Turkey-3019 - Hagia Sophia (2216460729).jpg|thumb|The [[Hagia Sophia]] in [[Istanbul]], Turkey, was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453]]

According to early [[List of Muslim historians|Muslim historians]], towns that surrendered without resistance and made treaties with the Muslims were allowed to retain their churches and the towns captured by Muslims had many of their churches converted to mosques.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Houtsma |first=M. Th. |title=E.J. Brill's First Encyclopedia of Islam, 1913–1936 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Va6oSxzojzoC&pg=PA321 |access-date=21 February 2013 |year=1993 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-09791-9 |page=320}}</ref> One of the earliest examples of these kinds of conversions was in [[Damascus]], Syria, where in 705 [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyad]] [[caliph]] [[Al-Walid I]] bought the church of [[John the Baptist|St. John]] from the [[Christians]] and had it rebuilt as a mosque in exchange for building a number of new churches for the Christians in Damascus. Overall, [[Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan]] (Al-Waleed's father) is said to have transformed 10 churches in Damascus into mosques.<ref>Houtsma p. 21</ref>

The process of turning churches into mosques were especially intensive in the villages where most of the inhabitants [[Religious conversion|converted]] to Islam.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}} The [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid]] caliph [[al-Ma'mun]] turned many churches into mosques. [[Ottoman Turks]] converted nearly all churches, monasteries, and chapels in [[Constantinople]], including the famous [[Hagia Sophia]], into mosques immediately after [[fall of Constantinople|capturing the city in 1453]]. In some instances mosques have been established on the places of [[Judaism|Jewish]] or Christian sanctuaries associated with [[Bible|Biblical]] personalities who were also recognized by Islam.<ref name="Masdjid1">{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Hillenbrand |first=R |editor=P.J. Bearman |editor2=Th. Bianquis |editor3=[[Clifford Edmund Bosworth|C.E. Bosworth]] |editor4=E. van Donzel |editor5=[[Wolfhart Heinrichs|W.P. Heinrichs]] |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]] Online |title=Masdjid. I. In the central Islamic lands |publisher=Brill Academic Publishers |issn=1573-3912}}</ref>

Mosques have also been converted for use by other religions, notably in southern Spain, following the conquest of the Moors in 1492.<ref>{{Cite book |title=How Islam Plans to Change the World |last=Wagner |first=William |publisher=Kregel Publications |page=[https://archive.org/details/howislamplanstoc0000wagn/page/99 99] |quote=When the Moors were driven out of Spain in 1492, most of the mosques were converted into churches |isbn=978-0-8254-3965-0 |year=2004 |url=https://archive.org/details/howislamplanstoc0000wagn/page/99 }}</ref> The most prominent of them is the [[Cathedral–Mosque of Córdoba|Great Mosque of Cordoba]], itself constructed on the site of a church demolished during the period of Muslim rule. Outside of the [[Iberian Peninsula]], such instances also occurred in southeastern Europe once regions were no longer under Muslim rule.