Architecture of

Illustrious
mosques
Kaaba the foremost mosque:
• kaaba was a place of worship for Angels before the
creation of man.
• Later, a house of worship was built on the location
by Adam and Eve which was lost during the ood in
Noah's time and was  nally rebuilt by Abraham and
Ishmael as mentioned later in the Quran.
• muslims believe that Abraham—and his son, Ismail,
constructed the Kaaba. Tradition holds that it was
originally a simple unroofed rectangular structure.
The Quraysh tribe, who ruled Mecca, rebuilt the pre-
Islamic Kaaba in c. 608 CE with alternating courses
of masonry and wood.
Architucture:
• The Kaaba is a cuboid stone structure made of granite. It is
approximately 13.1 m (43 ft) high
• with sides measuring 11.03 m (36.2 ft) by 12.86 m (42.2 ft).
•  Inside the Kaaba, the oor is made of marble and limestone.
• The interior walls, measuring 13 m (43 ft) by 9 m (30 ft), are
clad with tiled,
• white marble halfway to the roof, with darker trimmings along
the oor.
• The oor of the interior stands about 2.2 m (7.2 ft) above the
ground area where tawaf is performed.
Rukne yamami:
• The wall directly adjacent to the entrance of the Kaaba has six tablets inlaid with inscriptions,
and there are several more tablets along the other walls.

• Along the top corners of the walls runs a green cloth embroidered with gold Qur'anic verses.

• Caretakers anoint the marble cladding with the same scented oil used to anoint the Black
Stone outside.

• Three pillars (some erroneously report two) stand inside the  Kaaba, with a small altar or table
set between one and the other two. (It has been claimed that this table is used for the placement
of perfumes or other items.) 

• Lamp-like objects (possible lanterns or crucible censers) hang from the ceiling. The ceiling itself
is of a darker colour, similar in hue to the lower trimming.

• A golden door—the bāb al-tawbah (also romanized as Baabut Taubah, and meaning "Door of

Repentance")—on the right wall (right of the entrance) opens to an enclosed staircase that leads
to a hatch, which itself opens to the roof.

• Both the roof and ceiling (collectively dual-layered) are made of stainless steel-capped teak
wood.
• Al-Ḥajaru al-Aswad, "the Black Stone", is located on the Kaaba's eastern
corner.

• Its northern corner is known as the Ruknu l-ˤĪrāqī, "the Iraqi corner",

• its western as the Ruknu sh-Shāmī, "the Levantine corner",

• its southern as Ruknu l-Yamanī, "the Yemeni corner" taught by Imam Ali.

•  The four corners of the Kaaba roughly point toward the four cardinal

directions of the compass. Its major (long) axis is aligned with the rising of
the star Canopus toward which its southern wall is directed,

• while its minor axis (its east-west facades) roughly align with the sunrise
of summer solstice and the sunset of winter solstice.
• The entrance is a door set 2.13 m (7 ft) above the ground
on the north-eastern wall of the Kaaba, which acts as
the façade. [2] In 1979 the 300 kg gold doors made by
chief artist Ahmad bin Ibrahim Badr, replaced the old
silver doors made by his father, Ibrahim Badr in
1942.[11] There is a wooden staircase on wheels, usually
stored in the mosque between the arch-shaped gate of
Banū Shaybah and the Zamzam Well.
• Mīzāb al-Raḥmah, rainwater spout made of gold. Added
in the rebuilding of 1627 after the previous year's rain
caused three of the four walls to collapse.
• Gutter, added in 1627 to protect the foundation from
groundwater.
• Hatīm (also romanized as hateem), a low wall originally
part of the Kaaba. It is a semi-circular wall opposite, but
not connected to, the north-west wall of the Kaaba. This
is 131 cm (52 in) in height and 1.5 m (4.9 ft) in width, and is
composed of white marble.
• At one time the space lying between the hatīm and
the Kaaba belonged to the Kaaba itself, and for this
reason it is not entered during the tawaf.
• Al-Multazam, the roughly 2 meter space along the
wall between the Black Stone and the entry door. It
is sometimes considered pious or desirable for a
hajji to touch this area of the Kaaba, or
perform dua here.
• The Station of Ibrahim (Maqam Ibrahim), a glass and
metal enclosure with what is said to be an imprint
of Abraham's feet. Ibrahim is said to have stood on this
stone during the construction of the upper parts of
the Kaaba, raising Ismail on his shoulders for the
uppermost parts. [12]
• Corner of the Black Stone (East).
• Corner of Yemen (South-West), Rukan e Yamani. Pilgrims
traditionally acknowledge a large vertical stone that
forms this corner.
• Corner of Syria (North-West), Arabic Rukn e Shaami.
• Corner of Iraq (North-East). This inside corner, behind a curtain, contains
the Babut Taubah, Door of Repentance, which leads to a staircase to the
roof.

• Kiswah, the embroidered covering. Kiswa is a black silk and gold curtain
which is replaced annually during the Hajj pilgrimage.Two-thirds of the way
up is a band of gold-embroidered Quranic text, including the Shahada, the
Islamic declaration of faith.

• Marble stripe marking the beginning and end of each circumambulation. [

• A panoramic digital reconstruction of the interior can be seen on Google

Streetview.

• A virtual reality model of the interior and exterior can be seen on Sketchfab
• A drawing of the Kaaba.
• A technical drawing of the Kaaba showing
dimensions and elements
• Rukn al-Yamani
• Each numbered item in the following list
corresponds to features noted in the diagram image.
Kaba construction plan:
Masjid e aqsa:
Al_aqsa the succeeding mosque:
• Al-Aqsa Mosque (Arabic: ‫ـﺼﻰ‬َ ‫ـﺠـﺪ ْاﻻَ ْﻗ‬
ِ ‫ـﺴ‬ َ ‫ ْٱﻟ‬, ) located in
ْ ‫ـﻤ‬
the Old City of Jerusalem,
• The mosque was built on top of the Temple Mount,
known as Haram esh-Sharif in Islam.
•  Muslims believe that Muhammad was transported from
the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to al-Aqsa during the Night
Journey.
•  Islamic tradition holds that Muhammad led prayers
towards this site until the 17th month after his migration
from Mecca to Medina, when Allāh directed him to turn
towards the Kaaba in Mecca.
Background:
• The second Abbasid caliph Abu Ja'far al-
Mansur declared his intent to repair the mosque in
753,
• he had the gold and silver plaques that covered the
gates of the mosque removed and turned
into dinars and dirhams to nance the reconstruction
which ended in 771.
• A second earthquake damaged most of al-Mansur's
repairs, excluding those made in the southern
portion.
• The rectangular al-Aqsa Mosque and its precincts are 144,000 square meters (1,550,000 sq ft), although the mosque itself is about 4,600 square meters
(50,000 sq ft) and could hold up to 5,000 worshipers. [46]  It is 83 m (272 ft) long, 56 m (184 ft) wide. [46]  Unlike the  Dome of the Rock , which re ects
classical  Byzantine architecture, the Al-Aqsa Mosque is characteristic of early Islamic architecture. [47]

• Dome

• The silver-colored dome consists of lead sheeting

]
•

• Facade and porch

• The facade of the mosque. It was constructed by the  Fatimids , then expanded by the Crusaders, the  Ayyubids and the Mamluks

• The facade of the mosque was built in 1065 CE on the instructions of the Fatimid caliph  al-Mustansir Billah . It was crowned with a balustrade consisting of arcades
and small columns. The Crusaders damaged the facade, but it was restored and renovated by the Ayyubids. One addition was the covering of the facade with tiles.
[21]
 The second-hand material of the facade's arches includes sculpted, ornamental material taken from Crusader structures in Jerusalem. [51] The facade consists of
fourteen stone arches, [3][ dubious  – discuss ]  most of which are of a  Romanesque style. The outer arches added by the Mamluks follow the same general design. The
entrance to the mosque is through the facade's central arch. [52]

• The porch is located at the top of [ dubious  – discuss ]  the facade. The central bays of the porch were built by the  Knights Templar  during the  First Crusade,[ dubious  – discuss ]  but
Saladin's nephew  al-Mu'azzam Isa  ordered the construction of the porch itself in 1217. [21][ dubious  – discuss ]

• Interior
• Nothing remains of the original dome built by Abd al-Malik. The present-
day dome was built by az-Zahir and consists of wood plated with
lead enamelwork.[18]  In 1969, the dome was reconstructed in concrete and
covered with anodized aluminum, instead of the original ribbed lead
enamel work sheeting. In 1983, the aluminum outer covering was replaced
with lead to match the original design by az-Zahir. [48]

• Beneath the dome is the Al-Qibli Chapel (Arabic: ‫ اﻟﻤﺼﻠﻰ اﻟﻘﺒﻠﻲ‬ al-Musalla al-

Qibli); also known as al-Jami' al-Qibli Arabic: ‫اﻟﻘ ْﺒﻠﻲ‬
ِ ‫اﻟﺠﺎﻣﻊ‬, a Muslim prayer
[49]
hall, located in the southern part of the mosque.  It was built by the
Rashidun caliph Umar ibn Al-Khattab in 637 CE.

• Al-Aqsa's dome is one of the few domes to be built in front of

the mihrab during the Umayyad and Abbasid periods, the others being the
Umayyad Mosque in Damascus (715) and the Great Mosque of Sousse (850).
[50]
 The interior of the dome is painted with 14th-century-era decorations.
During the 1969 burning, the paintings were assumed to be irreparably lost,
but were completely reconstructed using the trateggio technique, a
method that uses ne vertical lines to distinguish reconstructed areas from
original ones. [48
• The al-Aqsa Mosque has seven aisles of  hypostyle naves with several additional small halls to the west and east
of the southern section of the building. [22] There are 121 stained glass windows in the mosque from the Abbasid
and Fatimid eras. About a fourth of them were restored in 1924. [31]

• Interior view of the mosque showing the central naves and columns

• The mosque's interior is supported by 45 columns, 33 of which are  white marble and 12 of stone. [46] The column
rows of the central aisles are heavy and stunted. The remaining four rows are better proportioned. The capitals
of the columns are of four different kinds: those in the central aisle are heavy and primitively designed, while
those under the dome are of the Corinthian order,[46]  and made from Italian white marble. The capitals in the
eastern aisle are of a heavy basket-shaped design and those east and west of the dome are also basket-shaped,
but smaller and better proportioned. The columns and piers are connected by an architectural rave, which
consists of beams of roughly squared timber enclosed in a wooden casing.[46]

• A great portion of the mosque is covered with whitewash, but the drum of the dome and the walls immediately
beneath it are decorated with mosaics and marble. Some paintings by an Italian artist were introduced when
repairs were undertaken at the mosque after an earthquake ravaged the mosque in 1927. [46]  The ceiling of the
mosque was painted with funding by King Farouk of Egypt.[52]

• The minbar (" pulpit") of the mosque was built by a craftsman named Akhtarini from Aleppo on the orders of the
Zengid sultan Nur ad-Din. It was intended to be a gift for the mosque when Nur ad-Din would capture
Jerusalem from the Crusaders and took six years to build (1168–74). Nur ad-Din died and the Crusaders still
controlled Jerusalem, but in 1187, Saladin captured the city and the minbar was installed. The structure was
made of ivory and carefully crafted wood.  Arabic calligraphy, geometrical and oral designs were inscribed in
the woodwork. [53]  After its destruction by Rohan in 1969, it was replaced by a much simpler minbar. In
January 2007,  Adnan al-Husayni—head of the Islamic  waqf in charge of al-Aqsa—stated that a
new  minbar would be installed; [54]  it was installed in February 2007. [55]  The design of the new minbar was drawn
by Jamil Badran based on an exact replica of the Saladin Minbar and was nished by Badran within a period of
ve years. [53]  The minbar itself was built in Jordan over a period of four years and the craftsmen used "ancient
woodworking methods, joining the pieces with pegs instead of nails, but employed computer images to design
the pulpit [minbar]."[
Sultan ahmed mosque:
• The Sultan Ahmed Mosque(Turkish: Sultan Ahmet
Camii) is a historic mosque located in Istanbul,
 Turkey
Architecture:
• The Sultan Ahmed Mosque has ve main domes,
six minarets, and eight secondary domes
• On the upper side it has a big chain. The upper area
is made up of 20000 ceramic tiles each having 60
tulip designs. In the lower area it has 200 stained
glass windows. [5]
• The Blue Mosque, as it is popularly known, was
constructed between 1609 and 1616 during the rule
of Ahmed I. Its Külliyecontains Ahmed's tomb,
a madrasah and a hospice. Hand-painted blue tiles
adorn the mosque’s interior walls, and at night the
mosque is bathed in blue as lights frame the
mosque’s ve main domes, six minarets and eight
secondary domes. [2] It sits next to the Hagia Sophia,
another popular tourist site.
• The most important element in the interior of the
mosque is the mihrab, which is made of nely
carved and sculptured marble, with a stalactite
niche and a double inscriptive panel above it.
Minarets:
• six minarets (the other three being the
modern Sabancı Mosque in Adana, the Hz. Mikdat
Mosque in Mersin and the Green mosque in
Arnavutköy). According to folklore, an architect
misheard the Sultan's request for "altın minareler"
(gold minarets) as "altı minare" (six minarets), at the
time a unique feature of the mosque of the Ka'aba in
Mecca. When criticized for his presumption, the
Sultan then ordered a seventh minaret to be built at
the Mecca mosque. [13]
Mosque of damascus:
• The Umayyad Mosque, also known as the Great
Mosque of Damascus (Arabic: ‫ ﺟﺎﻣﻊ ﺑﻨﻲ أﻣﻴﺔ اﻟﻜﺒﻴﺮ‬,
 Romanization:Ğāmi' Banī 'Umayya al-Kabīr),
located in the old city of Damascus, is one of the
largest and oldest mosques in the world.
Architecture:
• The ground plan of the Umayyad Mosque is
rectangle in shape and measures 97 meters (318 ft)
by 156 meters (512 ft). A large courtyard occupies the
northern part of the mosque complex, while
the haram ("sanctuary") covers the southern part.
The courtyard is enclosed by four exterior walls. The
level of the stone pavement had become uneven
over time due to several repairs throughout the
mosque's 
Stone arabescus:
• The largest dome of the mosque is known as the
"Dome of the Eagle" (Qubbat an-Nisr) and located
atop the center of the prayer hall. The original
wooden dome was replaced by one built of stone
following the 1893 re. It receives its name because
it is thought to resemble an eagle, 
• Within the Umayyad Mosque complex are
three minarets. The Minaret of the Bride (Madhanat
al-Arus) was the rst one built and is located on the
mosque's northern wall.
The badshahi mosque:
Badshahi mosque:
• The Badshahi Mosque (Punjabiand Urdu: ‫ﺑﺎدﺷﺎﮨﯽ‬
‫ﻣﺴﺠﺪ‬, or "Imperial Mosque") is a Mughal era masjid
in Lahore, capital of the Pakistani province
of Punjab[1], Pakistan
• The Badshahi Mosque was commissioned by
Emperor Aurangzebin 1671, with construction of the
mosque lasting for two years until 1673
Architecture:
• As a gateway to the west, and Persia in particular,
Lahore had a strong regional style which was heavily
in uenced by Persian architectural styles. Earlier
mosques, such as the Wazir Khan Mosque, were
adorned in intricate kashi kari, or Kashan style tile
work,from which the Badshahi Mosque would
depart.
• At each of the four corners of the mosque, there are
octagonal, three storey minarets made of red
sandstone that are 196 feet (60 m) tall, with an outer
circumference of 67 feet and the inner
circumference is eight and half feet. Each minaret is
topped by a marble canopy. 
Mosque of prophet:
• Al-Masjid an-Nabawī(Arabic:  ‫ـﻮ ّي‬ ِ ‫ـﺠـﺪُ ٱﻟـﻨـ َﺒ‬
ِ ‫ـﺴ‬ َ ‫ ْٱﻟ‬, "The
ْ ‫ـﻤ‬
Prophet's Mosque") is a mosque established and
originally built by the Islamic prophet Muhammad,
situated in the city of Medina in the Hejaz region
of Saudi Arabia. It was the third mosque built in
the history of Islam,[a] and is now one of the largest
mosques in the world.
Architecture:
• The Rawḍah (Arabic: ‫ َر ْو َﺿـﺔ‬, literally "Garden") is an
area between the minbar and burial chamber of
Muhammad. It is regarded as one of the riyāḍ al-
Jannah (Arabic: ‫ـﺠـﻨـﺔ‬ َ ‫ ِر َﻳـﺎض ْاﻟ‬, gardens of Paradise).
[46][10][47]
 A green carpet distinguishes the area from
the rest of the mosque, which is covered in a red
carpet.
Green dome :
•  It was constructed in 1817 CE during the reign of the
Ottoman sultan Mahmud II and painted green in 1837
CE.[10]
• There are two mihrabs in the mosque, one was built
by Muhammad and another was built by the
third Rashidun caliph Uthman. The one built by the
latter was larger than that of Muhammad's and act
as the functional mihrab, whereas Muhammad's
mihrab is a "commemorative" mihrab. [48]Besides
the mihrab,
• The original minbar (Arabic: ‫ ) ِﻣـﻨ ۢـ َﺒـﺮ‬used by
Muhammad was a "wood block of date tree". This
was replaced by him with a tamarisk one, 
• The rst minarets (four in number) of 26 feet (7.9 m)
high were constructed by Umar
•  After the renovation project of 1994, there were ten
minarets which were 104 metres (341 ft) high. The
minarets' upper, bottom and middle portion are
cylindrical, octagonal and square shaped
respectively.[49]
Crystal Mosque
Created out of steel and glass, the mosque is unlike
any other in the world. Its sleek and modern look
re ects o the water and the mosque is often
illuminated from the inside, which makes its glass
domes shine. Keeping with its modern style, the
entire mosque is also, bizarrely, connected with
wireless internet and full IT facilities, seemingly a
point of pride for the architects
The Islam Heritage Park also features
replicas of many of the world’s most famous
mosques from around the world. Oddly
enough, in this theme park embracing
Islamic culture across the globe, the Crystal
Mosque contains elements of Chinese
architecture and design, much to the
irritation of many Malaysians.
Crystal Mosque, written as Kristal in phonetic Malay, is
another mosque that first caught our attention as we were
driving into the city from the airport. Its silver domes were
shining against the waters surrounding it. A colourful band of
light floated below the dome. This less than 5-year-old
mosque is primarily built of smoke coloured glass and steel. I
visited it twice, once at night when the glass was shining as it
reflected the dim moonlight, and again during the day when
we went inside and saw the nuances in its design. During the
daytime, the smoke coloured glass looks as if it’s coated with
gold. Inside the mosque, huge crystal chandeliers hang just
below the domes and I assume this is where the name of the
mosque comes from and not from the glass and steel
structure.
 The Mihrab is in yellow on white has some
intriguing calligraphy all around it. In fact you
can see calligraphy around the doors and
glass at the bottom of the mosque structure.
Corridor leading to the mosque and the
corridor behind it has nice latticework in white,
something that we commonly associate with
Islamic architecture. For me it was one of the
rare modern looking mosques that I have
seen and it was quite a refreshing feeling to
have visited one. Most mosques tend to be
old in their look and feel even if they are not
that old.
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
The mosque was built on a platform nine meters above ground
level at the main entrance of Abu Dhabi [2]. The general plan is
a classical hypostile originally modelled from Moroccan
mosques, combined with domed Ottoman mosque architecture
(figure 1). It consists of a large prayer hall, two small prayer
rooms, one for daily prayers and another for female worshippers.
The halls open into a large courtyard surrounded by arcaded
galleries made of pointed horse-shoe North African arches
raised on double columns. The total building area exceeds
22,412 m², about the size of five football fields, built in two
phases. The first stage consisted of building a reinforced
concrete shell of the mosque then followed by another phase
which included marble cladding for the whole structure, inlaid
decoration and carvings as well as landscaping works.