The minaret is literally the epitome of all Islamic architecture. This tower is the most eye-catching 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, the 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 the coastal cities, fires were lit on their tops 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 placed one on top of the other, is a retrospection of the Lighthouse of Alexandria - a universally recognized architectural miracle of ancientpeace.
Unfortunately, only the description of Pharos of Alexandria survived to 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 Mesopotamia. For example, anyone familiar with the shape of the ziggurat can trace its resemblance to the 50-meter Al-Malwiya Minaret 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 the minarets of square and cylindrical section.
Assignment of minarets
It is from the minaret that the call to prayer is heard every day. At the mosque there is a specially trained person - muezzin, whose duties include daily five-time notification of the start of 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 sharafs (one-two, or 3-4): the height of the minaret is a parameter that determines their total number.
Because some of the minarets are very narrow, this spiral staircase could have countless circles, so climbing such a staircase became a whole test and sometimes took hours (especiallyif the muezzin was old).
The functions of the muezzin are now more simplified. He no longer needs to climb the minaret. What happened, you ask, what changed Islamic rules so much? The answer is extremely simple - technological progress. With the development of mass notification technologies, all the work for the muezzin began to be performed by a loudspeaker installed on the minaret's sharaf: 5 times a day, audio recordings of the adhan - the call to prayer - are automatically played on it 5 times a day.
The history of the construction of minarets
The very first mosque with towers resembling minarets was built in Damascus in the 8th century. This mosque had 4 low square towers, almost indistinguishable in height from the general architectural structure. Each individual tower of this mosque vaguely resembled a minaret. What these turrets, which remained from the fence of the Roman temple of Jupiter, which previously stood on the site of this mosque, meant, 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 Muslims to prayer. A little later, several more pyramidal tops were erected over these sunken towers, after which they began to resemble the minarets of the Mamluk era, like those in Samarra.
Then there was a tradition according to which only the Sultan could build more than one minaret at the mosque. The buildings that were built on the orders of the rulers were the pinnacle of the architectural art of Muslims. To strengthen their ruling position, the sultans did not skimp on decoration and materials,they hired the best architects and rebuilt mosques with so many minarets (6 or even 7) that sometimes it was not physically possible to complete another minaret. What such a scale, pomp, 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 play a trick on the Sultan and sent him a box with precious stones and jewelry so that he could continue building on them.
The Sultan, furious with ridicule, ordered his architect to crush all the jewels, knead them into building material and build a minaret out of it. According to some indirect records, this minaret of the Suleymaniye Mosque shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow in the sun for a very long time.
Design of minarets
The minaret as an element of the mosque creates together with it a single, inseparable architectural complex. There are several basic elements that form a minaret. What these elements are visually can be seen in almost any mosque complex.
The minaret tower is set on a solid foundation of gravel and fixing materials.
Along the perimeter of the tower there is a sherefe hinged balcony, which, in turn, rests on muqarnas - decorative ledges that serve as support for the balcony.
At the very top of the minaret is the cylindrical Petek tower, on whichspire with crescent.
Mostly minarets are made of hewn stone, because it is the most resistant and durable material. The internal stability of the structure is ensured by a reinforced stairwell.
