MINARET

Tower associated with a mosque.

The minaret has been used for centuries by muezzins (Arabic mu'adhdhinun, Muslim criers) for the call to daily prayers, but its original use is unclear. The earliest mosques in Arabia had no minaret, and the first towers in seventh-century Cairo (Egypt) and Damascus (Syria) may not have been built expressly for the call.

Minarets have been designed in many styles over time and space. Early ones were often square or octagonal, some with winding exterior staircases, while the sixteenth-century Ottomans built needle-thin, cylindrical minarets with conical peaks. Today, the muezzin does not always climb the minaret to call for prayers; minarets are often outfitted with loudspeakers.

elizabeth thompson

min·a·ret / ˌminəˈret/ • n. a tall slender tower, typically part of a mosque, with a balcony from which a muezzin calls Muslims to prayer.DERIVATIVES: min·a·ret·ed adj.

minaret

minaret Tower of a mosque from which the muezzin calls a Muslim to prayer. A mosque may have several minarets, and they vary enormously in shape and height. The earliest minarets (c.673) were built in Egypt as low square towers; later Persian developments included covered balconies and tiling.

minaret. Tall, slender tower (circular, rectangular, or polygonal on plan), usually attached to a mosque, with one or more projecting balconies from which Muslims are called to prayer.

Bibliography

Bloom (1989);
Hilenbrand (1994);
Jane Turner (1996)

minaret a slender tower, typically part of a mosque, with a balcony from which a muezzin calls Muslims to prayer. Recorded from the late 17th century, the word comes from French or Spanish and ultimately, via Turkish, from Arabic manār(a) ‘lighthouse, minaret’, based on nār ‘fire or light’.