A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. Muslims often refer to the mosque by its Arabic name, masjid. The primary purpose of the mosque is to serve as a place where Muslims can come together for prayer. Nevertheless, mosques are known around the world nowadays for their general importance to the Muslim community as well as their demonstration of Islamic architecture. House of prayer in Islam. A mosque is symbolically very important to Muslims, and is a humble way for man to recreate pure divine presence on earth. But mosques are not built according to what is believed to be divine patterns, even if they are divinely guided, nor after very clear rules, except on some few points. It shall have a clear indication of the direction of Mecca, qibla. The indication is in most mosques a mihrab, a niche in the wall. A mosque shall have a roofed area in front of the mihrab, and doors can be placed in the walls where the mihrab is not. Masjid is a word meaning ‘place for prostration’, and were used by the early Muslims for houses of worship, even for other religions. Today the Arabic ‘masjid’, and the English ‘mosque’ are used exclusively for religious houses in Islam.
