So Domes and Minarets make Mosques...?

Al'salam. Terima kasih kongsi berita Troy ni. Terharu dan sukacita mendengar perkembangan sdr. Muslim di 'kampung' kita di US sana. Saya sendiri meninggalkan RPI 1989 berbekal dua degree dalam subjek yang belum ada orang Malaysia lain ambik situ sejak tu, setahu saya.

The article mentions that the new mosque in Troy will be expensive to build, and it'll have "a dome and two minarets". As an Architect who has studied Islamic Architecture on an RPI exchange program to Istanbul, I can assure you that nowhere in the holy Qur'an or Hadith is there any requirement that a mosque must have a dome and minaret, much less two or more.

Recorded history from the Sahabah shows that our Prophet's first mosque in Madinah was a plain building that was only partially roofed, let alone domed! It was the faith and love of the early Muslims that made it an important structure - fully utilized regardless of the design.

Likewise, original mosques in our Malay World were the timber multi-tiered square pyramidal roof forms that still exist in charming old kampung mosques such as in Kelantan, Pahang and Melaka (above). These were simpler and more suitable for our climate. NO domes needed. We have been Arabized into building expensive domes that have to be cleaned after the tropical rains have deposited their inevitable soot, not to mention the leaks.

If our Troy brothers forego the non-essential dome and minarets, they can save money for possibly more useful expenditure, like education and da'wah. Wallahu'alam.

Nonetheless, I certainly pray for our Troy brothers' success with their mosque.
-nadge-

--- In xrpi@yahoogroups.com, Iznan Husainy H wrote:
>> Aslm ww,

> > http://asbah30.wordpress.com/2007/07/28/my-beloved-masjid-al-hidaya/

> > /izne