MOSQUE, the place of public worship amongst Muhammadans. The Jams Masjid is the chief mosque of the city, where general service is held every Friday. The word is derived from the Arabic Masjid or Masgid. It is generally a square, with three walls so built that looking to the back wall the worshipper faces Mecca. The Kazi or other preacher stands on a mimbar, a small dais with three steps built against the back wall. The first mosque of the Muhammadans was erected by Mahomed at Medina ; shortly afterwards, when he entered Mecca as a conqueror, he destroyed the idols of the Arab pantheon, and purified that venerable building of its abominations. He had probably observed in Syria the two forms appro priated by the Christians to their places of wor ship, the cross and the basilica ; he therefore preferred a square to a parallelogram, some authors say with, others without, a cloister, for the prayers of the saving faith. At length, in the reign of El Walid (about A.H. 90), the cupola, the niche, and the minaret made their appearance, and what is called the Saracenic style became the order of the Muhammadan world.
Several of the mosques of India are of large dimensions. One in Bombay would hold 4000 worshippers. The mosque at Constantinople was originally the St. Sophia Church of the Christians. It is the largest building in the world. One in the Ahmadabad collectorate was built by Balol Khan Kazi at an expense of 1 lakh of rupees, about the 13th century. The Khan Masjid, built about the 12th century, and the Jama Masjid, each cost about 2 lakhs. The Jama Masjid at Cham panir, in Gujerat, is said to have been built by Muhammad Shah A.D. 1484. It is of white sand stone, beautifully cut and act.
The mosque at Ajmir was commenced A.D. 1200, and completed by Altamsh 1210-1236, and is called the Arhai din ka jhornpm. It was con structed from a Jaina temple. Its courtyard has a screen of seven inches, on which Cufic and Togra inscriptions are interwoven with archi tectural decorations. A mere mention must be made of the tomb at Sipri near Gwalior ; and that of Slier Shah near Sasseran in Shahabad ; at Jaunpore (Jonpur), the Jams Masjid and Lal Darwaza Masjid ; at Ahmadabad, the Jaina Masjid and other mosques ; and tombs and mosques at Sirkej and`Butwa ; the Jama Masjid at Cambay, erected A.D. 1325, in the time of Mahmud Shah Ghori ; the tomb of Mahmud Begurra near Kaira ; at Mandu, the great mosque, the Dharmsala, the Jahaz Mahal; in Bengal, the Kadam Rasul mosque, the Minar at Gaur, and the Adina mosque at Malda.
In Egypt, mosques are matted or carpeted, and over is spread the chandni, a carpet of white cotton cloth. In India, the ordinary flooring is of stone slabs, and usually the sole object to be seen is a small pulpit niche, the mihrab, and near to it the mimbar or three steps built on the wall next to Mecca, on or near which the Kazi, Maki, Imam stand. There is nothing to distract the worshipper's attention, and every one seems absorbed in devotion. The Rev. Norman MiLeod, D.D. (Eastward, p. 67), alludes to this, and says that the whole service imparts the impression of worship to an unseen God. It is perhaps some thing in their character, either original or ac quired, or in their faith, or perhaps to their being accustomed to a more out-of-door life, that enables them so entirely to abstract themselves from their ordinary avocations, and to engage with such reverent earnestness in prayer. But every traveller in the east will see Muhammadans spread their carpets on the ground, or place their staff or sword in front of them, and bend their knee in lowly homage to their Maker, and, in all the bustle of a crowded bazar, or on ship board, remain apparently as much abstracted as if in a desert. Muhammadanism, adds the reverend author, owes its origin to Judaism and Christianity : like them is derived from Abraham, and is the worship of the one God; and Christians, he thinks, are apt to undervalue the good obtained from its divinely-reflected beams, which in some degree irradiate spots that would otherwise be in outer darkness. Muhammadanism was perhaps seen in its brighter aspects at Baghdad during the khalifat, and at Cordova, to which Christians repaired for a liberal education. But, in India, it has ever been a mere ritualistic worship, with certain dogmatic formula; in Arabic words, the meanings of which are known to very few even of those acquainted with the words themselves'. Umar Khayyam says,— • Pagodas are like mosques, true houses of prayer, 'Tis prayer that church bells waft upon the air ; Kaaba and temple, rosary and cross, Are but divers tongues of world-wide prayer.' There is a curious resemblance in this verse to the words of Abul Fazl, the minister of the emperor Akbar, words in which the poet is sup posed to represent his royal master's views as well as his own, ' If it be a mosque, people murmur the holy prayer ; If it be a Christian church, people ring the bell from love to thee.'