Minaret
Although the origin and early function(s) of the minaret have not been clearly identified, the structure was used as a high platform by muezzins (Muslim criers) to call worshipers to daily prayer. During the life of Muhammad (c. 570–632) worshipers at Medina were called to prayer from a rooftop, perhaps in imitation of the Jewish practice of blowing the shofar or ram's horn or the Christian practice of ringing a clapper.
Later, however, as Islamic architecture began to flourish, minarets became an integral part of the design of major mosques and were constructed at the corners of mosque courtyards or were built as free-standing towers. Apart from their use by the muezzins, minarets became convenient locators of mosques from relatively long distances, for travelers and new residents seeking places of worship.
The first minaret was said to have been constructed in Basra in present-day Iraq around 665. Later, the caliph Mu ʿawuyah I (c. 602–680) issued a decree for the addition of minarets to various mosques in Egypt and elsewhere in his domain. Constructed of stone, these early minarets also came to symbolize the power of the expanding Arab empire and of Islam as a religion. The Umayyad mosque in Damascus, built between 705 and 715, is an early preserved example; the mosque was constructed over a Christian church.
Over the centuries the structural design of minarets became much more elaborate and grandiose, reaching heights of over thirty meters and more. An unusual free-standing minaret in spiral form, at Samarra in modern Iraq, was built between 848 and 852. Particularly elaborate and imposing were those built by the Ottoman sultans: the Suleimanlye mosque in Istanbul, built by the famous architect Sinan around 1550, displayed a pair of minarets with heights in excess of sixty meters.
Further Reading
Creswell, K. A. C. (1926) "The Evolution of the Minaret, with Special Reference to Egypt." Burlington Magazine 48:134–140, 252–259, 290–298.
Mohammad, G. R. (1964) "The Minaret and Its Relationship to the Mosque in Early Islam." 2 vols. Ph.D. thesis, University of Edinburgh.
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