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Hamdard Islamicus 267 Vol. XLI, Nos. 1 & 2

METHODOLOGY OF
MOSQUE-ORIENTED BUILT ENVIRONMENTS

CASE STUDY OF CONTEMPORARY MOSQUES OF
IRAN’S CITIES

ABBAS JAHANBAKHSH1 AND AHMAD AMINPOOR2

1Associate Professor,
2Ph. D Candidate in the field of Islamic Architecture,

Architecture and Urban Design Faculty,
Art University of Isfahan, Iran.

email: abbasjahanbakhsh@yahoo.com

In the desirable society of Islam, the gathering place and pivot space

is “the Grand Mosque”. This can be observed in establishing the al-Masjid
an-Nabawi by the Prophet of Islam ( ). In a situation where many
immigrants were deprived of a house and shelter, the Prophet of Islam ( )
established the al-Masjid an-Nabawi, which became a space for the faithful
people to gather around the Prophet’s guardianship. This process was also
adopted in establishing the subsequent cities, such as Baghdad where the
congregational Friday mosque was the gathering space in the middle of
“the round city”.

During the Renaissance, by virtue of secular humanism, Divine
principles were rejected to be a guideline for social life and replaced with
the findings and creations of autonomous human intellect. Francis Bacon
in New Atlantis (first published in 1627) chose a college as the center of
the city instead of a temple or a church. A similar process is also observable
in contemporary cities of Iran, especially the capital Tehran. Studying the
theoretic bases and the prophetic traditions, this article has searched for
the strategies to revive the social role of the mosques by suggesting that,
in designing the contemporary cities of Iran, the emphasis should be on
“the network of mosques” instead of the “transport network”. The center
of the city would be the Grand Mosque, and the city would be divided
into districts, which would be centered on their own neighbourhood mosques.

Keywords: Islamic city, Islamic architecture, Mosque design, Mosque functions.

Introduction

If we admit that the main role of an architect and an urban designer



Hamdard Islamicus 268 Vol. XLI, Nos. 1 & 2

is to design a life container, and we consider their duty as to promote the
quality of human social life through adjusting the space and the shell, then
before we could design a construction or a city, we should have an
appropriate image of the desirable community and architectural solutions
which result in the improvement of human life; therefore, hereunder a
desirable community based on the Islamic teachings will be briefly
discussed.

Foundations and Theoretical Framework

According to the Islamic beliefs, the human being in all of his
choices is subdued to the Divine’s “formative (takwÊnÊ)” will and does
not have the power of disobedience, he – for the purpose of development

and sublimation context – is provided with this chance in the limited

opportunity of the world to either act against the “legislative (tashrÊ‘Ê)”

will of God, or he may subjugate his will to the legislative Divine’s will

and join the way of “improvement” and right path.

The influence of the human will is not limited to personal life, rather

it affects history and the community. Within the community extension, the

human wills are conjoined to each other and achieve a real unity; as in

the human body, what makes it a unit and coherent body is the unifying

will that is dominant over all of the body parts. The community’s unity

too, is made from the unit wills dominance. The wills being knotted to
the unit will, a kind of collective character is made which is noted by the
holy Qur’Én as the fire leaders and the light leaders, and about the fire
leaders we have in the Qur’Én: “… and the command of Pharaoh was
no right (guide). He will go before his people on the Day of Judgment,
and lead them into the Fire (as cattle are led to water): But woeful
indeed will be the place to which they are led!” (al-Qur’Én, XI:97-98).
The personage of each nation and country is so conjoined to the personage
of the leader they are following, that they have become one personage
and found a common destiny, up to a level that on resurrection day, they
are called with the names of their ImÉms: “One day We shall call
together all human beings with their (respective) ImÉms” (al-Qur’Én,
XVII:71).

Eventually it joins one of two streams of historical guardianship, and



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weakens one of them and strengthens the other one: “Allah is the
Protector of those who have faith: from the depths of darkness He
will lead them forth into light. Of those who reject faith the patrons
are the evil ones: from light they will lead them forth into the depths
of darkness. They will be companions of the fire, to dwell therein
(For ever)”. (al-Qur’Én, II:257).

When the products and subjects (including architecture and urban
design) of these two streams of guardianship are placed in their own
course of history, they become resources which can create higher
capacities (whether for development or for aberrance).

As a result of the emergence of a fundamental change in the
western social values and worldviews since the Renaissance, mankind
didn’t continue following Divine commands. Instead he chose his
autonomous intellect’s findings and creations as a guideline for his social
life. The influence of this change on urban design can be traced in
New Atlantis written by Francis Bacon where he chose “the Salomon
house,” a college, as the center of the city instead of a temple or a
church. The college was “the very eye”1 of the desirable described
kingdom, and an institution which “above all hath the preeminence”2

Bacon knew that the institutions of each society should correspond to the
new social covenant.

The Society of contemporary Iran cannot be considered as an
exception. In order to achieve the Islamic lifestyle, Iran must use the
management and advancement patterns which are different from the
common models of western development. A civilization can be divided
into three dimensions: hardware, software, and human resources.3 The
hardware is the physical and sensible products of the society, while the
software is a compound of ideologies, philosophy, and science, etc.
Pursuing the requirement of an Islamic lifestyle exposes the structural
weakness of the government experts who were trained in the software
which produced the western civilization and could not produce rationality
and different products, and even at least, it hasn’t been agile or optimized
for such a production. The researchers’ investigations indicate the
penetration of humanist, secularist and rationalist foundations into the
common theories of human sciences, but in practice the Muslim specialists
also are in the habit of seeing the universe, the human being and knowledge
in a different way and knew that they, in practice, offer the products



Hamdard Islamicus 270 Vol. XLI, Nos. 1 & 2

which had been similar to the ones of their western colleagues; an
experience about which the English physicist Paul Davies declares: “Many
practicing scientists are also religious. Following the publication of God
and the New Physics, I was astonished to discover how many of my
close scientific colleagues practice a conventional religion. In some cases
they manage to keep these two aspects of their lives separate, as if
science rules six days a week, and religion on Sunday.”4 That’s because
the intertwined system of foundations, methods and theories of different
sciences do not allow for influence and change in the scientific structure
by the personal foundations of the researcher; and this issue creates a
new necessity in revising the software which generates the scientific
theories including the foundations, method, logic and the philosophy
dominant over the method and logic. Therefore, we can imagine a specialist
in architecture or urban design who is Muslim and performs the Qur’Én
and Prophet’s commands, but in professional life, according to the
professional teachings that he had been subject to, and according to the
standards and laws that are dominant over his job quality and profession,
he is a soldier in the stream of secular civilization and makes effort in
its solidification and supremacy.

 On the following, this article tries to investigate upon the principles
and requirements in designing the mosques based on foundations and
methods that are more compatible with Islamic teachings; in this direction,
the position of mosques in Islamic civilization should be taken into
consideration.

The Position of Mosque in Islamic Civilization

In Islamic jurisprudence,5 we can see three kinds of mosque
regarding the position of it within the structure of the Islamic community:
the central mosque, the grand mosque of the towns, and the local
mosque.

Central Mosque

The central mosque is the sacred house of God, about which
the supreme God says: “Remember We made the House a place of
assembly for men and a place of safety”. (al-Qur’Én, II:125). The house



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of God is the main center for the global community of Islam and a pivot
for the formation of the global population. In subsequent rankings,
Masjid an-NabawÊ and the Al-AqÎÉ Mosque have a global role. The
reason beyond the fact that performing a prayer in these mosques results
in special effects and special rewards is that if a person performs a
prayer in these mosques, the reward would be equal to that which a
group of people would receive, and saying prayer in these mosques is as
reviving the Islamic community.6 These mosques are the first-ranked
mosques which are considered as a pattern for other mosques of the
Islamic nation and in fact are the centers for the formation of the total
of Islamic nation.

The Grand Mosque of the Town

The House of God is a place where all the Muslims of the world
gather. Two other mosques are also the gathering places for the Muslims
on various occasions. In the next level, we have the mosques of the
town. In every city, there should be a grand mosque in which the
Friday prayer is held, forming the social texture of the city. In historical
cities of Muslims, the grand mosque together with the government
headquarters (dÉrul imÉrah), governmental tribunals and the judicial
center formed the heart of the city. The grand mosque is the main core
which distinguishes between the city and the village. For example in
Baghdad the congregational Friday mosque was the gathering space in
the middle of “the round city” of ManÎËr. Of course, merely considering
that in a historical period, some Muslims or their governors chose a
special style for their clothing, housing, or urban design, does not make
that style “Islamic,” rather attributing something to Islam means that it
is coordinated with and according to the Divine legislative will. Such a
claim requires a methodical proof. In order to ascribe any command or
action to Islam, we need special regulations and principles to which the
science of jurisprudence is respondent. As we have in the jurisprudential
definition of a city: The city is a place where we can find a governor or
a judge.7

However; the orientalists and western researchers and many of
their eastern Muslim students8 have defined Islamic architecture according
to the architecture of some Muslim societies and have come to results



Hamdard Islamicus 272 Vol. XLI, Nos. 1 & 2

which differ from the jurisprudential results. For example Jean Sauvaget
considers the Bazaar as the center of an Islamic city but not the grand
mosque.9

The Local Mosque

The local or district mosques are in the third place among other
mosques. The grand mosque and local mosques function in urban and
neighbourhood scales respectively. Throughout history, Muslim cities had
some mosques within the residential districts in which the daily prayers
were held. Regarding the number of mosques in a district, each district
might have more than one mosque considering the religious, economic or
social conditions.10

In this way the structure of Islamic society is formed; a structure
in which the Imam of the Islamic nation (Ummah), the Friday prayer
leaders and the local mosque prayer leaders are placed respectively. This
structure is an organizational structure indicating that the Islamic nation
(Ummah) is formed around and defined by the mosques.

The Functions of Mosque According to the Islamic Texts

The most evident functions of the mosque include: abundant
remembrance of God, performance of prayers, worship, and I‘tikÉf.*4

“Did not Allah check one set of people by means of another,
there would surely have been pulled down monasteries, churches,
synagogues, and mosques, in which the name of Allah is
commemorated in abundant measure”. (al-Qur’Én, XXII:40).

“… while ye are in retreat in the mosques”. (al-Qur’Én, II:187).
However, these are not the only functions of the mosque. It is

recommended for Muslims to devote a place in their houses as the
prayer ground, as it is referred to by BukhÉrÊ in chapter “The mosques
in the houses”.11 However, the mosques are not places merely for saying
prayers and they are different from prayer grounds, as they are
fundamentally different from synagogues, churches and the temples of
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

*I‘tikÉf is an Islamic practice consisting of a period of staying in a mosque for
a certain number of days, devoting oneself to worshiping during these days and staying
away from worldly affairs. Ten days I‘tikÉf in the holy month of Ramadan is a regular
Sunnah.



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Sikhs and Buddhists. The mosque is the house of God, the house of
people and the house of ImÉmah. The mosque is the house of a
God Who is not merely the God like a retired watchmaker but also He
is a live, permanent and protective God “Whose hands is the dominion
of all things”. (al-Qur’Én, XXXVI:83). This realm means the monarchy
over every single thing. “Is it not His to create and to govern?”
(al-Qur’Én, VII:54).

The mosques, first of all, are the houses of God and the houses of
ImÉmah: “Behold! We gave the site, to Abraham, of the (Sacred)
House”. (al-Qur’Én, XXII:26). IbrÉhÊm, mentioned in this verse, is the
very same one who had attained the position of ImÉmah: “And remember
that Abraham was tried by his Lord with certain commands, which
he fulfilled: He said: “I will make thee an ImÉm to the Nations.”
(al-Qur’Én, II:124). Preparing the “site of the House” for IbrÉhÊm means
that this place has been allocated for the position of Imamate. The
mosques are the houses of ImÉmah and leadership,* and the relation
between ImÉm and ImÉmah is formed through the structure of the
mosques; therefore, it is the mosques which make the community. The
word “House” has a special concept in Islamic thinking and jurisprudence.
The house is the center for nurturing the human being; it is a place
where the individual personality of mankind is formed and is considered
as the family’s privacy. There is also another kind of house which is the
Islamic community’s house (the mosque), the central mosque of which is
the house of God. Concerning this “house” the holy Qur’Én says: “The first
House (of worship) appointed for men was that at Bakka: Full of
blessing and of guidance for all kinds of beings”. (al-Qur’Én, III:96).
In fact, the first house built for the people is the very house which is in
Mecca that is a cause of guidance for the people of the world. Out of
this verse, it can be concluded that this house is not the only house being
built for the people, but also all the mosques are constructed for the
people; however, that special mosque was the first, making it a blessed
construction and a guidance for the people of the world.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

*Having this view, there would be no need to struggle over the issue whether
to call the Prophet’s ( ) mosque (Masjid al-Nabawi) as the house of Prophet ( )
or the mosque of the town. (For example see: Ayyad, Essam S., 2013, ‘The Mosque
of the Prophet or the House of the Prophet?’ Journal of Islamic Studies, XXIV:3, Suez
Canal University, pp. 273-334).



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Therefore, the purpose of the mosques is to educate and rear
both the individual Muslim and the Muslim nation. These two types of
Muslims are mentioned in the following verse: “And remember Abraham
and Isma’il raised the foundations of the House (with this prayer):
“Our Lord! Accept (this service) from us: For Thou art the All-
Hearing, the All-knowing”. (al-Qur’Én, II:127). Up to here, the Islam
is individual, “And of our progeny a people Muslim, bowing to Thy
(will); (al-Qur’Én, II:128). At this level the Islam is considered as
collective. The process of rearing the human community is like this. The
process of rearing the society starts from rearing a complete person and
continues by rearing his family and results in the emergence of the
Muslim nation.

The emergence of “the Muslim nation for you” is the purpose of
establishing the mosques. This purpose has a lot of prerequisites and
requirements. The Muslim community means a community that is
surrendered to the commands of God, and the relations among the members
of that community are based on obeying God. All the mosques are the
centers for managing and rearing such a community. For this reason,
since the very beginning of Islam, the Holy Prophet ( ) in the mosque
both led the society and educated and reared the Muslims.

Some Prohibited Functions

According to the following traditions, selling and purchasing,
administering legal punishments, and announcing a lost item are among
the prohibited functions inside the mosque.12

According to the Holy Prophet ( ): “If you heard a man seeking
for aberration in the mosque, tell him: God will not reply you, and
indeed the mosque is not a place for such things”13

Strategies to Promote the Social Status of the Mosques

As it was mentioned in previous section, the mosque is the base of
Islamic civilization and the network of mosques is the path of leading the
Islamic nation. In different civilizations, you can find some buildings
which had a basic role in forming the society and gathering the people;



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for example in some pre-Islamic cities of Iran like other similar cities
around the world, the palace or the castle of the governor was at the
center of the city:

Fig. 1
The typical city layout during the period of Medes14

 The descriptions on the figure:
1) The king’s palace; 2) storages and treasuries; 3) residence of the king’s slaves;

4) barrack; 5) city; 6) market place (bÉzÉr); 7) residential areas

Aristotle suggests a “free agora” for the city which “should be
clear of all merchandize”.15 Of course the Greek’s Agoras did not stay
committed to this request of Aristotle and gradually admitted the various
economic and social activities. Romans too, in coordination with
administrative systems and the special needs of their collective life founded
the forums. The main activities being conducted inside the forums included



Hamdard Islamicus 276 Vol. XLI, Nos. 1 & 2

performing the administrative and political affairs of the citizens, doing
commerce and sometimes dealing with some religious affairs. However,
the situation is totally different in Japan. In that land, since long centuries
ago till the present time, the predominant political and social systems did
not have a space for the individual as a free element and placed the
human beings along the defined intellectual and behavioral axes of the
system. The image of this can be found in the geometry dominant over
the cities of Japan. “Hiroba” as “a place for collective life” in Japan,
never had a form like the squares of Rome or Greece. The basic pivot
of the city had been a street, on both extremes of which the temples
were usually placed. These temples comprised some open spaces which
had usually been closed to the people and were merely allotted to the
rituals.16

Fig. 2
The plan and a section of collective space in Japanese cities17



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In Islamic cities, a situation different from these two eastern
and western patterns is dominant. Here, the mosques have a courtyard

being opened to the people and people are free to gather in it; however,

this gathering should not be under economical purposes (as in traditions

where doing business and selling or purchasing are banned in such zones)18

and there should be no intention of ostentation or expressing the oratorical

or poetic arts and the time should not be passed on fun and play

or vanity; and also the mosque, unlike what was common in pre-

Islamic cities of Iran, should not be under the control of a dominant

or tyrant class of people. In this direction, one must notice the

difference of freedom in the viewpoint of Islam and in the Greek meaning

of it. In the humanistic meaning, freedom means to remove the barriers

from the way of achieving what the ego seeks for.19 However, in

Islamic teachings, the passions have been declared as the greatest enemy

of mankind, and freedom is expressed as getting released from the

shackles made by passions and mundane beauties for the Divine flight of

the mankind, as expressed in the following Qur’Énic verse, “… and

prohibits them from what is bad (and impure); He releases them

from their heavy burdens and from the yokes that are upon them.

(al-Qur’Én, VII:157). From this perspective, mankind does not possess

even his own body or life and whatever he has is a trust from the wise

Lord, and he is only permitted to use them in the way of worshiping,
which is the way of prosperity and felicity. With this view of life and
society, the courtyard of the mosque is defined as a place for the collective
life of the believers, and the Islamic city is defined as a mosque-oriented
city.

The important question raised here is whether the strategies
experienced by mankind which were used to change a place into a
center, could be implemented for the mosques as well? The most important
strategies are as follows:

l Increasing the height of a building
l Decorating the building
l Using new, attractive and creative forms
l Creating the temperature and environmental comfort
l Implementing the attractive functions for different people at different



Hamdard Islamicus 278 Vol. XLI, Nos. 1 & 2

ages, especially the recreational and commercial functions and
creating the common urban needs.

Through studying the narrations inserted in the domain of construction
and the function of the mosque, we can answer this question:

A report from the Holy Prophet ( ) negates the strategies of
increasing the height or decorating the building or making it dominant
over others, and recommends making an awning:

The holy Prophet ( ) said: I see you building your mosques
high after I am gone, just as the Jews built their synagogues high
and the Christians built their churches high.20

The holy Prophet ( ) said: I was not commanded to build high
mosques. Ibn AbbÉs ( ) said: You will certainly adorn them as the
Jews and Christians did.21

According to a narration by Ibn Zia from ‘Ó’ishah ( ), by
increasing the population of the Muslims, they increased the area of the
mosque and after a request by the Muslims, the holy Prophet ( )
allowed them to install an awning made from the body and branches of
the palm for the mosque. Then, it started raining over the Muslims and
it was dripping from the ceiling of the mosque. Those who attendees of
the mosque asked the Prophet ( ) to allow them to cover the roof with
mud, but the Prophet ( ) did not let them and ordered them to follow
the method of his Excellency Moses ( ) which was building an awning
from straw and dry firewood. ‘Ó’ishah ( ) says that the condition of
the mosque had been the same till the time the holy Prophet ( ) passed
away.22, 23

Also it is narrated from BehaqÊ that the awning of Moses ( ) had
been such that when he raised his hand, he could touch the ceiling.
(AnÎÉr – supporters – gathered a sum and took it to the Prophet ( )
and suggested to reconstruct and adorn the mosque, and said up to what
time should we say prayer under this ceiling that is a date palm’s straw.
The Prophet ( ) said: the ceiling of my brother’s mosque Moses ( ),
was like that, and I will not return from his way.24

Maybe the spirit of all these commandments can be stated as
negating the physical and material self-glorification

Bin Malik said: The Messenger of Allah ( ) said: The Hour will
not begin until the people compete in (building) mosques.25



Hamdard Islamicus 279 Vol. XLI, Nos. 1 & 2

Of course it should be mentioned that this simplicity was not
an obstacle for the mosque to serve as the heart of the Muslims
community.26

However; studying the historical performance of the Muslims in
most of the regions of the world indicate that this principle is not followed,
and for the purpose of worshiping God and promoting it, some methods
are taken that are negated by the religion. Regarding the theoretical
importance of this issue, we will briefly talk about the necessity of
subordination to our master in the methods in addition to the necessity of
subordination in goals and purposes:

Methodology of Islamic Thinking:
Subordination without Comprehending the Philosophy

The understanding that a command is dispatched from the Supreme

God should be enough reason for the believers to submit to it, because

He is the Lord and owner of everything. Of course a believer is aware

that his Lord is wise, knowledgeable and merciful, and He will not command

but from the domains of mercy, wisdom and knowledge. But this

subordination is not due to a comprehension of the philosophy of an

action, but merely because of the Divine’s command. This is the foundation

of obedience. Performing a physician’s command is not called obedience.

If the patient himself comes to the physician’s recommendation, whether

by studying or by experience, he will execute that knowledge, and there

would be no need for the physician’s recommendation. What we mean
by obedience, is in fact obeying the Lord. This is what is interpreted as
the covenant of obedience. This covenant is in fact the translation of
– ÓmannÉ – “we started believing”: ”Our Lord! we have heard the
call of one calling (Us) to Faith, ‘Believe ye in the Lord,’ and we
have believed”. (al-Qur’Én, III:193). ÓmannÉ means the covenant of
obedience. It can be perceived from the ending verses of the SËrah
Baqarah: “The Messenger believeth in what hath been revealed to him
from his Lord, as do the men of faith. Each one (of them) believeth in
Allah, His angels, His books, and His messengers. “We make no
distinction (they say) between one and another of His messengers.”
And they say: “We hear, and we obey”. (al-Qur’Én, II:285). In this



Hamdard Islamicus 280 Vol. XLI, Nos. 1 & 2

verse the words “They declare” describes believing – Óman. Here the
words “we started believing” – Óman – means “they declared we hear
and obey”. “Obedience” is a condition for the faith covenant. When the
faithful people say “O’ our God, we started believing in you”, that means
O’ God, we accepted you as our Lord and guardian and obeyed your
apostle, and surrendered ourselves to your commands. Most of the time,
the most difficult Divine tests are taken in this way as the Satan was
commanded to prostrate for a creature whose creation from soil he
witnessed. The supreme God definitely could create his vicegerent from
the best and the noblest materials, but in order to examine his servants,
he prescribed for them to be created from worthless clay, and made the
angles and the Satan witness the creation of him, but the Satan declared:
O’ God please exculpate me from prostrating to mankind so that I worship
you in a way that nobody had worshiped before. And the supreme God
said to him that if you want to worship me, you have to worship me in
the way that I commanded you.27 Two other famous examples were
given from the life of the Prophet IbrÉhÊm ( ), who was commanded
to slaughter his son, and Prophet MËsÉ ( ), who witnessed the slaying
of an innocent boy by Khidhr ( ), which show that our capacity to
understand is finite while the way of paradise and bliss is infinite and the
main role of our intellect is identifying the Divinely approved guardian
who can guide us to that infinite goal.28 It does not mean closing rationality
and reason, but it suggests a different methodology which Instead of
creating and inventing solutions based on an independent mankind intellect,
seeks to understand and discover the solutions that the all-wise, Allah,
has revealed.

It seems to be a shortcoming of most of Muslim governors during
the history that have constructed giant mosques that are felt to be
accompanied by self-glorification and materialistic pride. Comparing the
two grand mosques of SeljËk (11th century)29 and SafavÊd (17th century)30

periods in Isfahan may confirm this issue. Such an approach continues
today in Islamic societies as well as in other places where Muslims
design and construct mosques, and the design of mosques is considered
to be the container of artistic creativity31 of the architect.

Failure to comply with this methodological principle has made it
difficult to achieve a mosque-oriented built environment in contemporary
cities of the Muslim world, as urban and architectural experts prefer to



Hamdard Islamicus 281 Vol. XLI, Nos. 1 & 2

pursue the goals of religion with methods that they have “invented”, not
by methods which have been “discovered” from Islamic teachings. In
order to prove this claim, a brief overview of the status of the mosques
in contemporary Iran will be mentioned.

This theoretical discussion can be a guide for the Muslim architects
and urban planners, to remind us that we cannot adopt just any method
or way with the purpose of promoting the Islam or the mosque. But, we
may not be able to expect those monarchs, because of whom many
disasters have been recorded during the history, to have adhered to the
jurisprudential commands and procedures. However, in the case of Iran
and especially after the victory of the Islamic revolution we can see that
in some cases and despite the guidance given by the leaders of the
revolution, the former historical patterns are still being used. In order to
illustrate this issue we will discuss about the congregational Friday mosque
(MuÎallÉ) as a case study in the next part.

The Condition of Mosques in Contemporary Iran and
Some Practical Tips

By the same procedure as mentioned about MadÊnah and Baghdad,
in historical cities of Iran such as Isfahan, Tabriz, Qazvin, Shiraz, etc. the
grand mosques situated at the city central square were the gathering
place.

But from the Qajar period (1795-1921),32 with the arrival of the
military and, consequently, political, cultural and economic modernity,
gradually the traditional urban patterns were replaced with modern urban
patterns. A complete example of this change can be found in the
capital: Tehran. The urban plan of the city was designed by General
Alexander Bohler, a French professor of military science with a number
of Iranian engineers. The pivot of the developed city was a new square
(built in 1860’s) which called ToapkhÉnah (“The Place of Cannons,” or
“Artillery Barracks”) Square.33 It was a central courtyard like other old
squares but, unlike those squares, it did not include a mosque. Its main
function was the maintenance of modern warfare equipment, and the
construction of the adjacent building was not a comprehensive mosque,
but a building belonging to a modern institution: the “ShÉhÊ” (Imperial)
bank.34



Hamdard Islamicus 282 Vol. XLI, Nos. 1 & 2

Fig. 3
ToapkhÉnah square, circa 1890, with ShÉhÊ bank instead of a mosque35

This square was supposed to bring a completely modern face to the
Iranian cities.36

During the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and afterwards,
the social role of the mosques increased, and some cities began to build
new congregational Friday mosques in proportion to the increasing
population of the cities.

For example in Tehran, considering the lack of space and the
difficulty of access to the Friday Prayer in Tehran University, it was
decided to allocate a land with the area of one million square meters to
construct the Prayer Ground. In this regard, the contemporary Friday
Prayer leaders of Tehran in 1988 wrote a letter to Ayatollah KhomeinÊ
the leader of the revolution to specify their duties; Ayatollah KhomeinÊ
replied:

God willing, you will be successful in making an anti-blasphemy
insight, in addition to constructing the Tehran Prayer Ground. Meanwhile,
the plainness of the prayer ground should remind us of the plainness of
the worshiping place of the Muslims of the beginning of Islam, and the
glamour of the mosque buildings of the American Islam should be strongly
prevented. The supreme God approves all those who have assisted in



Hamdard Islamicus 283 Vol. XLI, Nos. 1 & 2

establishing the God’s mosques. (November 14, 1988 – Ayatollah MousavÊ
KhomeinÊ).37

As it can be seen in the body of the letter, ImÉm KhomeinÊ as a
fully qualified jurist, has explicitly specified the desirable physical conditions
for a prayer ground; although in practice, when the job was consigned
over to the expertise body, the dominance of mental patterns and university
standards and teachings, that are often impressed by the western culture,*
caused the prayer ground to take distance from the desirable religious
plainness or get affected by the materialistic orientation. Some pictures
are provided below:

Fig. 4
Tehran new Grand Mosque, MuÎallÉ38

Of course constructing a mosque according to the characteristics
provided in the religion requires to provide some appropriate environmental

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
*The designer of Tehran Prayer Ground is Dr. Parvis Moayed Ahd, who was

first educated in university of Beaux-Arts in the field of architecture and then educated

in Paris Sorbonne University in the field of urbanism. In 1956 he attained the Ph. D

degree in the field of S.A.D. and also he was given an honorary P.H.D. in the field of

architecture (A.A.PHD) by the Sorbonne University in recognition of his cultural

services. And also in 1963, in recognition of presenting cultural and architectural plans,

he was given the first grade degree of architecture by the England Royal University –

A.CH.ASS.SCOL-) http://www.musalla.ir/tabid/158/ArticleId/46/-46.aspx



Hamdard Islamicus 284 Vol. XLI, Nos. 1 & 2

backgrounds. For example one of the commands proposed by Ayatollah
Araki in his courses regarding “urban flourishing systematic jurisprudence”
negates the vertical development and the building of high and multi-floor
constructions inside the cities; and by observing this command, the
necessary background for constructing mosques which correspond to
Divine commands would be provided. In the present conditions, it would
be more difficult to build such a mosque because the symbols of modern
civilization, especially the banks and hotels, are being built with full
ostentation.

In spite of the efforts made to construct comprehensive and central
mosques, the situation was different for local mosques.

The most comprehensive statistical plan concerning the mosques
and religious constructions is the plan provided in 1996.39 According to
this census, in that year there existed 87908 religious places out of which
the mosques with the number of 57635 being equal to 72 percent,
comprising the largest share. Other religious buildings included the prayer
grounds, prayer rooms, shrines and mausoleums. After around 20 years
the number of these mosques increased up to 72000. Although this fact
indicates a 25% increase in the number of mosques, regarding the increase
in the state’s population from 60 million in 1996 to 80 million in 2016, the
mosques per capita has decreased from 1 mosque per 1041 to 1 mosque
per 1111 person. Considering migration from villages to the cities, and the
increase in the population density in the cities, more decrease in the
mosques per capita has been witnessed at the level of megacities. The
targeting for increasing the number of mosques can be calculated under
two different criteria, one of them based on population and the other
based on the spatial distribution.

According to a plan being conducted in 2012 by the Supreme Council
of Cultural Revolution, the access radius for 250 meters was specified
as appropriate for the mosques, and thereupon, it was suggested to
construct mosques for those districts which lack one. The megacity of
Tehran has 1746 mosques, which according to the access standard,
there needs to be constructed 992 more mosques in this city. According
to the population of Tehran which is equal to 7341554, the mosque per
capita in Tehran equals one for 4205 people which in order to reach the
state average, there needs to be constructed 5300 more mosques in
Tehran.



Hamdard Islamicus 285 Vol. XLI, Nos. 1 & 2

Fig. 5
A sample of the first edition maps: specifying the zones with adequate and

inadequate access radius to the mosques being constructed for Tehran districts and
being under construction for other cities of Iran.40

The reviews done by the authors indicate four main barriers in
supplying an appropriate mosque which are as follows:

1) Uncontrolled growth of the city and an increase in population
density, 2) Dissatisfaction with the plain mosques and trying to make
large and luxurious mosques, 3) Not merging the mosque with appropriate
and desirable functions, 4) Lack of paying attention to the network of
mosques as the pivot of urban development.

A brief description of each item is given below:

1) Uncontrolled growth of the city and an increase in population density:

The uncontrolled growth of the city and an increase in population
density has made the city unbalanced and it has become difficult to
equally supply the different functions such as the mosque and other
things. According to urban flourishing systematic jurisprudence,41 and by
reviewing the narrations (riwÉyÉt), it can be found out that in Islam the
city has some limitations and it would not be desirable for it to be
developed without control. This important issue should be taken into
consideration in preparation plans of the country.

2) Dissatisfaction with the plain mosques that are without decorations
and trying to make large and luxurious mosques:

Constructing large mosques, in addition to the problem of increasing



Hamdard Islamicus 286 Vol. XLI, Nos. 1 & 2

the costs of construction and maintenance, causes the mosques to exit
from the local scale and the possibility of visiting and human relationships
are decreased. While through constructing two or a number of small-size
mosques instead of a large one, we can have a more impartial and
convenient distribution of the mosques and allow more potential for human
and emotional bonds. For this purpose, we need to define the city based
on different districts that are of identities. The supreme God says:
“O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a
female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know
each other (al-Qur’Én, XLIX:13). The characteristic of mankind’s creation
in the form of tribes and branches leads them to be divided into smaller
groups. This division makes both recognition and human relations possible,
and underlies the increase in tenderness and social supervision. In designing
the cities, careful attention should be given to the influence of the scale
and providing for the local texture in the process of designing the cities.
The idea of the neighbourhood unit which was proposed by Clarence
Perry in the 1920’s follows such a relation.42 However, in this idea we
can see that the primary school is assigned as the center of the district,
while in Islamic cities, this is the local mosques that are the centers of
districts.

3) Not merging the mosque with appropriate and desirable functions
that can take place within the mosque. The second harm is
relinquishing some functions which were usually taking place in
mosques in the past or the Islamic traditions and commands have
suggested them as appropriate. For example, the mosques have
been the places for teaching and learning since the beginning of
Islam.43 Gradually and since the fourth century A.H., the schools
were founded as the independent establishments. The formal history
of the school, regardless of its informal adventure, started since the
year 1067 (460 A.H.) by opening the Baghdad Great NiÐÉmiyah
School.44

However, positioning of most of seminary schools next to the mosques
and bazÉrs prevents the schools from getting separated from the people’s
life stream. One of the successful physical patterns in this regard is the
pattern of the school mosque which continues till the Qajar era in Iran.45



Hamdard Islamicus 287 Vol. XLI, Nos. 1 & 2

Because of the influence of modernity making way through Iran
and affecting the social systems including the education system, we

could witness the separation of the schools from the mosques; a separation
that has continued up to this time. The harms resulted from this separation

has made some activists in the domain of education to make sporadic but

effective efforts in bringing the education back to the schools.46 One of

other functions that can be merged with the mosque is the public and

specialized libraries. The mosques of the world of Islam have been

places for keeping religious and other books since the early history of

Islam47 (since 7th century). Based on a statistic issued in 2014, the per

capita of libraries area in Iran is for 170 square centimeter and increasing

it has little influence on increasing the per capita of the mosques;48

however, through planning for building the libraries inside the mosques,
we have 7285 libraries being built in Iran mosques which compromise
18858659 books, being used by the number of 1305809 permanent library
members.49 And in the event of the request of the board of trustees of
each mosque, the department of the mosques’ libraries will allocate a
budget for construction or expansion of the libraries inside the mosques.
If there is an urgency in the process of designing and ratifying the
construction of new libraries inside the mosques, we can promote this
relationship as well as the social role of the mosques.

At the present time in the city of Tehran and by an expense incurred
by the municipality, 354 Neighbourhood Houses50 have been built to
settle down the problems of the people of the neighbourhood and this
duty can be merged with the neighbourhood (local) mosques.

It is noteworthy to say that in order to promote the mosques’ social
role, the strategies such as creating the commercial, recreational and
sport spaces inside the mosques, cannot be used, because these activities
are among the negated activities within the narrations and much more
studies need to be done about the positioning of these places in the
neighbourhood of the mosques.

4) Lack of paying attention to the network of mosques as the pivot of
urban development

Since the patterns for comprehensive and detailed plans of the



Hamdard Islamicus 288 Vol. XLI, Nos. 1 & 2

cities of Iran have been derived from similar western plans, usually there
is no independent and special place for the mosques within them and
they have the following three parts:

l The urban transit network
l Land use detailed plan
l Technical building codes

As Harvey shows, Urbanization, in the history of western civilization
has a very special role in the development of capitalism “[by] virtue of
the changing patterns of commodity flows over space and by virtue of
the very nature of the created and produced spaces and places over
which such movements occur.”51 High-capacity transit ways were used
to support the economic interchanges, a process which is compatible
with a society whose main goal is economic growth, but if in another
culture the main reason for gathering as a society is not an economic
affair, it is sensible to replace the urbanization axis of such a society.

As it was said, an Islamic society is based on obeying God, and all
the mosques are the centers for managing and rearing such a society.
For this reason, it can be proposed that the main part of a comprehensive
and detailed urban plan should be a network of mosques, through
which flows the will of Divine leaders, all over the society instead of a
transit network which guarantees the “commodity flow over space”.
Of course it doesn’t mean an Islamic city doesn’t need a transit network
or a secular city doesn’t have churches or mosques, but the point is
which component should be on the position of the pivot of urban
development.

Conclusion

The network of the mosques in the Islamic society is the base of
the formation of the Islamic civilization and is a way for executing the
will of a just guardian who is the base of the unity of the Islamic society.
For this reason in detailed plans, it deserves the highest importance.
Instead of concentrating on designing the pathways network, it is
suggested to design detailed plans based on the mosques’ networks. In
Islamic commands and narrations, some special functional and physical



Hamdard Islamicus 289 Vol. XLI, Nos. 1 & 2

features have been suggested for the mosque which all have been
summarized in the following Table:

TABLE 1

Desirable and Undesirable Functions and Physical Features of
Mosques “According to the Mentioned Islamic Texts”

Desirable Undesirable Undesirable
functions functions physical features

Worshiping and Selling and buying Heightening the
remembering God constructions

Prayer Announcing a lost person Making the
mosque dominant

Education Administering legal Decorating the
punishments mosque

I‘tikÉf Reading myths Building the
mosque for
boasting

On this basis, and in order to increase the social role of the mosques,
the following items are suggested:

1. The city should be divided into distinct, districts having identities.
2. The local mosques should be designed as the center of the districts
3. The local scale should be observed in local mosques and building

the mosques greater than what is necessary should be prevented.
4. The grand mosque should be considered as the center of the city.
5. The grand mosque should be built with appropriate area and enough

capacity for the people of the city.
6. The uncontrolled extension of the cities and the unbalance within

the population distribution should be prevented.
7. The luxury and squander in decoration affairs in the mosques should

be prevented.



Hamdard Islamicus 290 Vol. XLI, Nos. 1 & 2

08. The mosques should be merged with compatible functions such as
the local house, school and the library.

09. The incompatible functions such as the commercial, recreational
and sport sections should not be designed within the mosques

10. The structure of the detailed urban plans should be corrected and
a network of mosques should be part of the plans as the pivot of
urban development.

Notes and Refrences

01. Bacon, Francis, The New Atlantis, Auckland, The Floating Press, 2009, p. 20.
02. Ibid., p. 33.
03. Marashi, Jafar, A New Challenge in Social Categories, Tehran, Industrial

Management Institute, 1997, p. 157, (In Persian).
04. Davis, Paul, The Mind of God, New York, Simon &. Schuster Inc., 1992, p. 14.
05. Adopted from Araki, Mohsen, The Course for the Mosque Jurisprudence, Tehran,

2013-2014.
06. Ibid.
07. Mohammad Abdolsattar, Osman, Al-Madina al-Islamia, Kuwait, Alam al-Moarefa,

1988, p. 16.
08. See: Rabbat, N., What is Islamic Architecture Anyway?, Journal of Art

Historiography, 2012.
Abu-Lughod, J.L., The Islamic City-Historic Myth, Islamic Essence, and

Contemporary Relevance, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 1987,
19(2), pp. 155-176.

Arkoun, M., Islamic Cultures, Developing Societies, Modern Thought, In:
Hayat Salam (Ed.), Expressions of Islam in Buildings, Singapore, Concept Media,
1990.

Negila, G.A., In Jayyusi, S.K., Holod, R., Petruccioli, A. and Raymond, A.,
The City in the Islamic World, Handbook of Oriental Studies, Section 1, the Near
and Middle East, v. 94, 2008, Leiden, Boston, Brill.

Haneda, Masashi and Miura, Toru, Islamic Urban Studies: Historical
Review and Perspectives, London, Kegan Paul International, Distributed by
Columbia University Press, 1994.

09. Al Sayyad, N. and Tureli, L., Islamic Urbanism, International Encyclopedia of
Human Geography, Kitchin, R. and Thrift, N. (Eds.), Oxford, Elsevier, 2009,
pp. 598-606.

10. Mohammad Abdolsattar, Osman, Al-Madina al-Islamia, Kuwait, Alam al-Moarefa,
1988, p. 216.

11. Bukhari, Mohammad Ibn Isma’il, ØaÍÊÍ al-BukhÉrÊ, Arabic Republic of
Egypt, Ministry of Endowments, the Supreme Council of Islamic Rites, the



Hamdard Islamicus 291 Vol. XLI, Nos. 1 & 2

Committee for Reviving the Religious Traditions, Cairo, Egypt, 1989, vol. I,
p. 289.

12. Ibn Maja, Sunan, Al-Hafiz, Abi Abdillah Mohammad Ibn Yazid al-Qazvini Ibn
Maja, Beirut, Daroljail, 1997, vol. II, p. 66.

13. Muslim, Ibn al-Hajjaj, ØaÍÊÍ al-Muslim, Cairo, Dar al-Hadith, 1991, vol. I,
p. 397.

14. Habibi S. Mohsen, From Village to City, Tehran, Publications of Tehran University,
2001, p. 8.

15. Aristotle, The Politics, Translated by Ernest Barker, New York, Oxford University
Press, 2009, p. 278.

16. Falamaki, Mohammad Mansour, Formation of Architecture in the Experiences of
Iran and West, Tehran, Faza, 2006, pp. 73-77.

17. Source, ibid., p. 78.
18. If you witnessed a person who sells or buys something in the mosque, tell him

the supreme God will not give benefit to your business and if he announced a
lost thing: tell him there will be no refund to your loss, Al-Tirmidhi, Sunan,
Cairo, Darolhadith, 1998, p. 394.

19. Chirkov, Valery I., Ryan, Richard M., Sheldon, Kennon M., Human Autonomy
in Cross-Cultural Context, Dordrecht, Springer, 2011, p. 4.

20. Ibn Majah, Sunan, Al-Hafiz, Abi Abdillah Mohammad Ibn Yazid al-Qazvini Ibn
Maja, Beirut, Daroljail, 1997, vol. II, p. 61.

21. AbË-DawËd, Sulayman ibn al-Ash’ath as-Sijistani, Sunan, Cairo, Daro al-Hadith,
1998, p. 226.

22. Ibn-Zia, Mohammad Ibn Ahmad, TÉrÊkh al-Mecca & al-Masjid al-×arÉm &
al-MadÊnah & al-Qabr al-SharÊf, Mecca, Al-Maktaba al-Tejaria Mostafa Ahmad
al-Baz, 1995, vol. I, p. 267.

23. Some similar traditions in the same context have been cited in the following
resources:

Koleini, Mohammad Ibn Yaqoob, Al-KÉfÊ, Tehran, Dar al-Kotob al-Islamia,
1986, vol. III, p. 296.

Bukhari, Mohammad Ibn Ismaeil, ØaÍÊÍ al-BukhÉrÊ, 1989, vol. III, p. 364.
24. Samhoodi, Ali Ibn Ahmad, VafÉ al-VafÉ Bel-AkhbÉr DÉr al-MuÎÏafÉ, Beirut, Dar

al-Kotob al-Elmia, 2006, vol. I, p. 381.
25. Ibn Majah, Sunan, 1997, vol. II, p. 60.
26. Spahic, Omer, An Analysis of the Expansion of the Mosque of the Prophet by

Caliph ‘Umar B. Al-KhaÏÏÉb (d. 24 A.H./744 C.E.), Hamdard Islamicus, 2017,
vol. XL(1), pp. 31-50.

Ayyad, Essam S., I Have not Been Commanded to Apply Tashyid to
Mosques’: A Prophetic Perspective of Mosque Architecture, Journal of The
Islamic Quarterly, 2015, vol. LIX, pp. 1-34.

27. Qotboddin Ravandi and Saeid Ibn Hebatollah, The Stories of Prophets (Ravandi),
Mashhad, Islamic Researches Center, 1988, p. 43.

28. Mirbagheri, S. Mohammad Mahdi, Basics of “the Guardianship of the
Jurisprudent”, Theory, Qom, Tamaddon-e-Novin, 2015, p. 84, (In Persian).

29. Rafiee Mehrabadi, Abolghasem, The National Monuments of Isfahan, Tehran,
Anjoman-e-Asar-e-Melli, 1973, (In Persian).

30. Ibid.



Hamdard Islamicus 292 Vol. XLI, Nos. 1 & 2

31. Kuppinger, Petra, Piously creative: Islam, art, and creativity in Stuttgart, Germany,
Culture and Religion, October, 2017, pp. 1-20.

32. Ettehadie Nezam-Mafi, Mansoureh., Qajar Iran, In: The Oxford Handbook of
Iranian History, (Ed.), NewYork, Oxford University Press, 2012, pp. 319-345.

33. Mehan, Asma, Manifestation of power: Toopkhaneh Square, Tehran. Spaces and
Flows. 2017, (2):77-88. Bani Masoud, Amir, Iranian Contemporary Architecture.
Tehran, Honar-e-Memari, 2006, p. 103, (In Persian).

34. Ghobadian, Vahid, Architecture of Tehran during Naseredin Shah period, Tehran,
Pashootan, 2006, p. 108.

35. Source: Denis Wright, The English amongst the Persians: Imperial Lives in
Nineteenth-Century Iran, I.B. Tauris, 2001, p. 110.

36. Habibi S. Mohsen, From Village to City, Tehran, Publications of Tehran University,
2001, p. 141.

37. Khomeini, Rouhollah, Imam Khomeini’s Scripture, Tehran, Imam Khomeini’s
Works’ Regulation and Printing Institute, 2001, vol. XXI, p. 189.

38. Tehran Prayer Ground’s Retrieved December 15, 2016. From:www. Musalla.ir
39. Statistical Center of Iran, Statistical Results of Documentation of Mosques and

Religious Places. Tehran. 1998.
40. Source: Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution, Preparation Plan for the Mosques

of Tehran. Tehran. 2012.
41. Ayatollah Araki, Mohsen, The Course for Urban Flourishing Systematic

Jurisprudence, Qom, 2014-2016.
42. Clarence Arthur Perry, The Neighborhood Unit, A Scheme of Arrangement for the

Family-life Community, Published in 1929 as Monograph 1 in vol. VII of Regional
Plan of N.Y. Regional Survey of N.Y. and Its Environs.

43. Kiani, Mohammad Yousef, Iranian Architecture of the Islamic Period, Tehran,
Samt, 2012.

44. Hillenbrand, Robert, Islamic Architecture, Translated by Iraj Etesam, Tehran,
Urban Process and Planning Co., 1998, p. 216.

45. Hosseini Alamdari, Arash; Seyed Ehsan Mousavi, Hamid Keramati Sheikholeslami,
Maryam Saadatmand, The Typology of the Mosque-Schools of Iran Based on the
Method of Access, Bagh-e Nazar, 2017, vol. LIII, pp. 57-68.

46. Official Website of the Center of Supervision on Mosques Affairs. Retrieved
March 18, 2018. From: news.masjed.ir/fa/newsagency/31020

47. Laugu, Nurdin, Muslim libraries in history, Al-Jamiah, 2005, XLIII, pp. 57-97.

48. Statistical Center of Iran, The Report of the Indices for Article 68 of the 5th Plan

of Development 2010-2014, Tehran, Statistical Center of Iran, 2016.
49. Official website of Department of the Mosques’ Libraries: Retrieved March 18,

2018. From: www.masjedketab.ir
50. Official website of Tehran Municipality Retrieved March 18, 2018. From:

http://www.tehran.ir/Default.aspx?tabid=135&articleid=17636& dnnprintmode=
true&mid=501&SkinSrc=[G]Skins%2F_default%2FNo+Skin& ContainerSrc=
[G]Containers%2F_default%2FNo+Container

51. Harvey, David, Rebel Cities: from the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution,
London, Verso, 2012, p. 42.

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