Mosque, << mosk, >> is a building used for Muslim worship. Some mosques are simple assembly halls for prayer. Cathedral, or Friday, mosques are large, elaborate buildings designed to house all the adult believers in a community. Mosques also have served as places of religious instruction, as tombs, and as temporary homes for traveling scholars.
A typical mosque has a courtyard surrounded by four halls called iwans. In most cases, there is a fountain or well for ceremonial washing in the courtyard. The inner wall closest to the holy city of Mecca has a decorative niche or arch called a mihrab, which indicates the direction Muslims must face when praying. In numerous mosques, flat surfaces are decorated with painted or tile patterns or with scriptural quotations in elegant handwriting called calligraphy. Most mosques have from one to six towers called minarets, from which muezzins (criers) call the faithful to prayer. Many mosques contain a pulpit, called a minbar.
See also Al Aqsa Mosque .
