The Comparative Study of Locating and Building Mosques In the Early Islamic Periods and the Shi‘i Mosques On the Basis of the Quranic Verses and Islamic Traditions

The early Islamic mosques were built on the model of Medina mosque and using the Quranic teachings. This method changed through time and gradually the Quranic teachings paled in locating and building mosques. This article uses a descriptive-analytical research method and chooses cases from the early Islamic period in Iran and other Shiite mosques to investigate two different periods in building mosques in Iran comparatively as well as the history of development in building them on the basis of the Quranic verses and Islamic traditions. To analyze the issue, eight principles in building mosques were extracted from the Quranic verses and traditions, and then the extent and the mode of their affecting building mosques in the Islamic period and the Shiite mosques were assessed. According to the results of the study, the Quranic principles in building mosques were classified into eight principles all of which were observed in building the early instances of mosques. In Shiite mosques, however, only four of the principles were observed, including the following ones: stability and strength (both using poor quality building materials and techniques of quick building made later mosque less strong); locating in social places; possibility of going to mosques on foot; building local mosques; and paying heed to light in the mosques.