The minaret in the literal sense of the word is the embodiment of all Islamic architecture. This tower is the most catchy element of the structure, the main thing that makes it clear to an inexperienced tourist that it is a mosque in front of him. Nevertheless, a decorative, architectural function is not the main thing in the minaret, its functional purpose is important.
What does the minaret mean? The main theories of its origin
The word "minaret" comes from the Arabic term "manar", which means "lighthouse". The name, as we can see, is symbolic: the minaret, like the lighthouse, was created in order to notify. When the first minarets appeared in coastal cities, lights were lit on their peaks in order to show the ships the way to the bays.
Approximately 100 years ago, the Egyptologist Butler suggested that the standard view of the Cairo minarets of the Mamluk era, which is a tower of several different-sized pyramids, set one on top of the other, is a retrospection of the Alexandria Lighthouse - a universally recognized architectural miracle of the ancient world.
Unfortunately, only a description of Faros of Alexandria reached the contemporaries. Nevertheless, it is known for certain that the lighthouse was intact at the time when the Arabs entered Egypt, so the hypothesis of borrowing architectural forms from it is quite plausible.
Some researchers believe that the minarets are the architectural heirs of the ziggurats of the Entre Rios. For example, anyone who is familiar with the shape of a ziggurat can trace its resemblance to the 50-meter minaret of Al-Malviya in Samarra.
Also, one of the theories of the origin of the form of minarets is the borrowing of their architectural parameters from church towers. This version refers to minarets of square and cylindrical sectional shape.
The appointment of minarets
It is from the minaret that the call for prayers is heard every day. At the mosque there is a specially trained person - the muezzin, whose job responsibilities include a daily five-time notification of the beginning of a prayer.
In order to climb to the top of the minaret, namely the sharaf (balcony), the muezzin goes up the spiral staircase inside the minaret. Different minarets have a different number of scarves (one, two, or 3-4): the height of the minaret is a parameter that determines their total number.
Since some minarets are very narrow, there could be countless circles at this spiral staircase, so climbing up such a staircase became a whole test and sometimes took hours (especially if the muezzin was old).
Currently, the functions of the muezzin are more simplified. He no longer needs to climb the minaret. What happened, you ask, what has changed Islamic rules? The answer is extremely simple - technological progress. With the development of mass notification technologies, the loudspeaker mounted on the scarf of the minaret began to do all the work for the muezzin: 5 times a day, audio recordings of azan — a call to prayer — are automatically played on it.
The history of the construction of minarets
The very first mosque with towers resembling minarets was erected in Damascus in the 8th century. This mosque had 4 low towers of square section, almost indistinguishable in height from the general architectural structure. Each individual tower of this mosque remotely resembled a minaret. What designated these turrets, the remaining from the enclosure of the Roman temple of Jupiter, which previously stood on the site of this mosque, is not known for certain.
Some historians believe that these Roman towers were not removed because they were used as minarets: from them the muezzins called on Muslims to pray. A little later, several more pyramidal tops were erected over these settled towers, after which they began to resemble minarets of the Mameluke era like those in Samarra.
Then a tradition developed that only a sultan could build more than one minaret at a mosque. The structures that were built by orders of the rulers were the pinnacle of Muslim architectural art. To strengthen their ruling position, the sultans did not skimp on decoration and materials, hired the best architects and rebuilt mosques with so many minarets (6 and even 7) that sometimes there was no physical opportunity to build another minaret. What such scale, splendor, immoderation in the construction of mosques and minarets could mean, the following story can clearly show us.
When the Suleymaniye Mosque was being built, for unknown reasons there was a long break. Upon learning of this, the Safavid Shah Tahmasib I set out to tease the sultan and sent him a box with precious stones and jewelry so that he could continue the construction on them.
The Sultan, furious with ridicule, ordered his architect to crush all the jewels, knead them in building material and build a minaret from it. According to some indirect records, this minaret of the Suleymaniye Mosque for a very long time shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow in the sun.
Minaret construction
The minaret as an element of the mosque creates together with it a single, inextricable architectural complex. There are several basic elements that make up the minaret. What these elements are in visual terms can be seen in almost any complex of the mosque.
The minaret tower is mounted on a solid foundation of gravel and fixing materials.
Along the perimeter of the tower there is a hinged balcony scheref, which, in turn, is based on mukarn - decorative ledges that support the balcony.
At the very top of the minaret is the cylindrical Petek tower, on which a spire with a crescent moon is erected.
Basically, minarets are made of ashlar, because it is the most resistant and durable material. The internal stability of the structure is ensured by a reinforced stairwell.