What is a Minaret

A minaret is the tower from which the adhan is called to invite people to come pray in the mosque–this happens five times a day. Minarets were not an original part of the earliest Muslim mosques in Madina, but were added to the architecture of mosques. Minarets were added to mosques during the reign of the fifth caliph, Mu‘awiyah bin Abi Sufyan beginning with the mosques in Al-Basra, Iraq in 665 AD.^[1]

Construction

A minaret is composed of three sections: the base, which is either square, cylindered or conical, the body of the minaret, and the balcony from where the adhan is called. The top also consists of the neck, the dome, the pippins, and the crescent. The balcony can be reached through a flight of stairs that at the base of the minaret. ^[2]

Minarets of Al-Aqsa

Al-Aqsa has four minarets, none of which are attached to the actual mosques, but distributed in the western and northern sides of the courtyard, where most people are concentrated. The minarets that were built during the Mamluk period were actually built on top of originals believed to be built in the time of Abd Al-Malik, the Umayyad Caliph, when minarets were popular. .^[3]

Below are a list of the Al-Aqsa Minarets:^[4]

The Moroccan Gate Minaret known Al-Fakharya

The Chain Gate Minaret

Al-Ghawanimah Gate Minaret

The Lions’ Gate Minaret