WHAT IS A MOSQUE?
“Every Nation has its spiritual shrines, centres of belief they are centres of national heritage and tradition, focal points for the pride and dignity of a people” (Conti, F. and Creagh, P. 1979, Centres of Belief, p6). For the estimated 1.8 Billion Muslims around the world (almost 25% of the world population), these centres are known as Masjid or a Mosque. The Arabic word ‘masjid’ translates to a “place of prostration” to God. In literal terms, a mosque refers to a place of worship for Muslims. The act of worship carried out within a space qualifies that space to be a mosque regardless of the type of building. Shahed Saleem, an architect, author and at present a lecturer at the University of Westminster makes mention that “A mosque has an exceptionally simple programme, needing only an open space that is clean, in which people can face Mecca and offer their prayers. Along with running water for ritual ablution before prayer, there is no other spatial, liturgical or sacred requirement. This means that every formal and architectural representation of the mosque we see beyond this is a cultural accretion accumulated across time and culture.” (Saleem, 2012) … courtesy of Architects journal. This statement by Saleem implies that the archetype of a mosque is unrestricted and almost limitless. In theory, a mosque can take any architectural form and visual language as there is no ‘one’ style or form to it. Looking back at Islamic history, the Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) mosque in the city of Medina was a simple construction of Opposite - Figure 3: Home Prayer Space, Birmingham, (Albakar Mukadam, 2021)
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