What Makes a Mosque, Pt. 2: Suleyman the Magnificent Builds A Mosque
Commissioning a mosque was both an act of piety and a political statement in the Ottoman empire. Surrounded by building complexes that provided social services ranging from a public fountain to a caravanserai, mosques anchored new neighborhoods in old cities. Who commissioned what was carefully linked to social status. Small officials commissioned small mosques. Grand viziers commissioned grand mosques. And when the greatest Ottoman emperor and the greatest Ottoman architect teamed up to build a new imperial mosque in Istanbul, you got something, well, magnificent.
In 1550, Suleyman the Magnificent had ruled the Ottoman empire for thirty years. He had defended Islam against Christians to the west and Shiite heretics to the east. He had expanded his empire’s boundaries from Budapest to Basra. He had built mosques everywhere his armies went. Now he was ready to build the big one in Istanbul itself.
Sinan was the acknowledged master of Ottoman architecture. Originally an officer and engineer in the Ottoman army, Sinan had caught the emperor’s eye with his talent for building temporary bridges for an army on the march. Under Suleyman’s patronage, he moved from bridges to buildings when he became Chief Architect of the Ottoman court in 1537. By 1550, Sinan was famous for his treatment of foundations and domes.
Together, Suleyman and Sinan built a mosque that was an Ottoman answer to Hagia Sophia. When the Ottomans conquered Istanbul in 1453, Mehmet the Conqueror physically appropriated the Byzantine cathedral for use as the imperial mosque. Sinan’s act of appropriation was more subtle.
Built a thousand years before the Suleymaniye Mosque, Hagia Sophia is an architectural masterpiece. Its massive elliptical dome seems to float above the nave of the church because it rests on a ring of windows that separate it from the structure. Glittering mosaics dissolve the interior space of the building into shadowy mystery.
Sinan used the same structural scheme as the Hagia Sophia to create a totally different affect in the Suleymaniye Mosque. In a sixteenth century version of form follows function, the structure that holds the dome in place is clearly visible. Instead of disguising the tension between the curves of the dome and the straight horizontal lines of the building below, Sinan accentuates it. The result? The dome of heaven soars above the human world of prayer.
What Makes a Mosque? Part One
Glazed tiles, soaring minarets and a central dome don’t make a mosque, any more than a steeple makes a church.
In the early days of Islam, when Muslims numbered in the dozens, Mohammed's followers prayed together in the open courtyard outside his house in Medina. Once the numbers of the faithful grew a little larger, the Prophet stood on a portable set of steps so he could be seen and heard when he preached. Mohammed's brother-in-law issued the call to prayer from the flat roof of the house: no minaret needed.
Over the centuries, elements of the little house in Medina developed into a set of architectural components that most Muslims, in most places, at most times, agreed made a mosque. A large open space where the community could gather for the Friday prayer. A qibla wall that pointed out the direction of Mecca, usually marked with a decorated niche (mihrab). A source of water for the ritual ablutions that every Muslim must perform before the five daily prayers. Even that portable set of steps lived on in the elaborate stairs that in many mosques lead up to the pulpit (minbar) from which the community's religious leader preaches after the Friday prayer. Minaret optional.
There may be a consensus about what a mosque must include, but there has never been a consensus about what a mosque looks like. Muslims around the world have used local materials and local ideas about sacred spaces to create a wide variety of building forms. Mosques have been modeled on Byzantine churches, Hindu temples, and the little brown church in the dell. They've included hospitals, libraries, fountains, schools, soup kitchens, and the medieval equivalent of a truck stop. They’ve been built from marble, bamboo, clapboard, and mud. The one thing all of them have in common is the qibla wall shows worshippers which way to turn toward Mecca.
In the next few posts, I'll introduce you to some of my favorite mosques and the people who built them. You may be surprised.