MOSQUE, a Mohammedan house of prayer. The word is derived, through the Italian moschea, front the Arabic medid, a place of prayer. The form of the oldest mosques (at Jerusalem and Cairo) is evidently derived from that of the Christian basilica, the narthex being the origin of the court, with its arcade, and the eastern apses repre senting the principal buildings of the mosque facing Mecca. The original forms became, however, entirely obliterated in the progress of Mohammedan architecture, and the mosques, with their arcaded courts, gateways, domes, and minarets, became the most characteristic edifices of Saracenic art. Wherever the Mohammedan faith prevailed, from Spain to 'India, beautiful examples of these buildings exist. They vary consider ably in style in different countries, the Saracens generally borrowing much from the architecture of the various nations who adopted their faith. In India, the mosques have many features in common with the temples of the Jains, while in Turkey they resemble the Byzantine architecture of Constantinople. Everywhere the dome is one of the leading and most beautiful features of the mosques, which commonly consist of porticoes surrounding an open square, in the center of which is a tank or fountain for ablution. Arabesques of the Koran inscribed upon the walls, which are generally white-washed, and never bear any device representing a living thing, are the only ornaments of the interior. The floor is generally covered with mats or carpets; there arc no seats. In the s.e is a kind of pulpit (Mimbar) for the imam; and in the direction in which Mecca lies (the Kiblell), there is a niche (Mehrab) toward which the faithful are required to look when they piny. Opposite the pulpit, there is generally a platform (Dikkelt), surrounded by a parapet, with a desk bearing the Koran, from which portions are read to the congregation. The five daily prayers (see which are generally said at home—especially by the better classes—on week-days, are raid in the mosque by the whole congregation on Fridays, the days of Al-Gumah, or the assembly. the Moslem Sundays, together with some additional prayers, nod at times a
sermon is superadded to the service. It is not customary for women to visit the mosques, and if they do, they are separated from the male worshipers. The utmost sDlemnity and decorum are preserved during the service, although in the Lours of the Afternoon (when there is no worship) people are seen lounging, chatting, even engaged in their trade, in the interior of the sacred building. On entering the mosque, the Mos lem takes off his shoes, carries them in his left hand, sole to sole, and putting his right foot first over the threshold, he then performs the necessary ablutions, and finishes by putting nis shoes and any arms he may have wlth him upon the matting before him. The congregation generally arrange themselves in rows parallel to that side of the mosque in which is the niche, and facing that side. The chief officer of a mosque Pt the nazir, under whom are two imams, a kind of religious official, in no way to be com pared with what we understand by a clergymen of a creed, but who performs a certain number of religious rites, as long as the nazir allows him to do so, and who, being very badly remunerated, generally has to find some other occupation besides. There are further manyTersons attached to a mosque in a lower capacity, as inu«ldins (q.v.), bowwabs (door-keepers), etc., all of whom are paid, not by the contributions levied upon the people. but from the funds of the mosque itself. The revenues of mosques are derived from lands. With many of the larger mosques, there are schools, academies (medressehs), and hospitals connected, and public kitchens, in which food is prepared for the poor.