is one of the key elements of architecture in Islamic religious buildings; which has an ancient background in Iranian architecture. Various opinions have been raised about the formation of the minaret. Some have attributed its beginning to before Islam. The minaret is one of the most important elements of the mosque and Islamic architecture, which means: "the place where the muezzin goes to say the call to prayer", so it is also called the garland and the mosque.
What is a minaret?
Considering the importance of the call to prayer in Islam and its guidance and propaganda functions, the need for a special place for the muezzin was felt. It was reserved for the muezzin. Later, a fence-like wall and a canopy were created around it and evolved.
The minaret is actually a place where a call to prayer goes on top and starts calling the call to prayer. In general, it can be said that the official duty of the minaret is to provide a vantage point from where the muezzin can recite the prayer or call to prayer. The call to prayer is given five times a day: dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and night. In most of today's mosques, the call to prayer is read from the prayer room through a microphone to the minaret speaker system.
Construction and design of minaret
The socio-cultural context of the region has influenced the shape, size and shape of the minarets. Different regions and periods developed different styles of minarets. Typically, the tower axis is cylindrical, cubic (square), or octagonal. The stairs or ramps inside the tower go up counter-clockwise. Some minarets have two or three narrow staircases nested inside each other to allow multiple people to go up and down safely at the same time. At the top of the stairs, a balcony surrounds the upper parts of the tower and from here the muezzin can call the call to prayer.
Some parts of the minaret had multiple balconies along the shaft of the tower. The pinnacle often ends in a lantern-like structure or a small dome, conical roof, or curved stone cap, which is in turn topped by a decorative metal band. Different architectural traditions have placed the minarets in different positions in relation to the mosque. The number of minarets in mosques was also not fixed: originally only one minaret was associated with a mosque, but in some later traditions more were built, especially for larger or more prestigious mosques.