They usually include a mosque, meeting rooms, Islamic religious schools (madrassas), residences for a teacher or caretaker, hospitals, and other buildings for community purposes. Shrine is modern day building which encompasses of actual dargah as well but not always.

The number of minarets per mosque also varies, from one to as many as six. These towers were built to be “landmarks of Islam”—to be visible from afar and to stamp a site with Islamic character. Spiral minaret in Samarra, Iraq.

“Mosque” is the English name for a place of Muslim worship, equivalent to a church, synagogue or temple in other faiths. The Arabic term for this house of Muslim worship is “masjid,” which literally means “place of prostration” (in prayer).

A mosque is a place where Muslims worship. The word mosque comes from the Arabic word masjid. A larger, ‘collective’, mosque is called a masjid jāmi.

What is another word for mosque?

The English word “mosque” denotes a Muslim house of worship. The word evolved from the Arabic term masjid, which means “place of prostration.” During prayer, Muslims briefly kneel and touch their foreheads to the ground as a sign of submission (literally, Islam) to the will of God.

These included creating a common coinage, establishing Arabic as the official language throughout the empire, and standardizing weights and measures. They also built some of the most revered buildings of Islamic history including the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus.

Ibn Misjaḥ

According to Ibn Ishaq and some other authorities, Ali was the first male to embrace Islam. Tabari adds other traditions making the similar claim of being the first Muslim in relation to Zayd ibn Harithah or Abu Bakr.

Muhammad