The Muezzin's balcony in the minarets of Iraq until the end of The Age of Al-Khani

Abstract

Minarets are among the most important architectural elements that define the architectural identity of Islamic buildings, and Iraq is among the Islamic countries that have had a large share in preserving many Islamic buildings, and the prominent element among its elements was the minaret. The viewer on the horizon of Iraqi cities notes at first sight the forms of their minarets that It decorates that horizon with multiple forms and different heights, and it reflects the summary of architectural engineering thought, which was characterized by the compatibility between the architectural design and the functional purpose, which is represented by the highest call of prayer, and with the passage of time it has other forms and functions, and as the number increased in the one mosque, and its position varied between the pillars of the mosque, or To the sides of the prayer house, or above the entrance or next to it, and its presence was not limited to mosques, but appeared in some Islamic buildings, such as schools, Perhaps the most prominent element in the minaret that achieves the compatibility between the architectural design and the functional purpose is its balcony or basin, which gives an impression of the engineering capabilities and technical skill in its composition despite the simplicity of the components that make up this element of muqarnas and the fence of the basin and the revolving corridor . We have known this element with different designations in Islamic countries, and we have stood on it, and we have found that it differs rhetorically and agrees with content, and as we have tried to return the first beginnings of this element in Islamic architecture, we have shown the role of the Islamic faith in finding it and defining its career path so that no harm occurs in the place it supervises and we discussed what This architectural element, like other elements of Islamic architecture, was subjected to many theories in which orientalists attributed it to the Christian churches' towers, and some of them returned it to the pagan temples, Roman guard posts and observation, or to the lighthouse of Alexandria or to the Babylonian zigzags or guard towers in the Arabian Peninsula.                                                              

 Whatever the origin that was attributed to him, the interest that Islam gave to its function and form, increased the civilization of the building, a spiritual element characterized by elegance and originality and made it a new architectural phenomenon that singled out the Islamic city with no one else, then we studied the presence of this element in the common patterns in Iraq in terms of composition, shape and decoration And we provided an estimate of its shape in the minarets in which this element was subjected to the fall, based on evidence of comparison with the available examples and the remains of the parts that indicate its shape.