Why Mosques Look the Same

The dome and the minaret have become the icons for mosques around the world. But you can find mosques in many different shapes and forms. So how did we get here? It all has to do with the conquest of a Christian stronghold and modern geopolitics.

00:00 - 01:09 - Do you know how a mosque looks?
01:09 - 02:28 - Can you draw a mosque?
02:28 - 02:53 - A place of prostration
02:53 - 03:46 - Minaret and dome as a symbol
03:46 - 06:49 - The Hagia Sofia Influenced Mosque Design
06:49 - 07:22 - That fuzzy feeling
07:22 - 08:01 - A new standard
08:01 - 14:38 - Modern Mosques

Research/Story/Edit: Jochem Boodt
Motion Graphics: Haris T & Jochem Boodt
Artwork: @hoogyoutube

Sources:

Hoteit, A. (2015). Contemporary architectural trends and their impact on the symbolic and spiritual function of the mosque. International Journal of Current Research.
Khan, H. (2008). Contemporary Mosque Architecture. Isim Review
Kishwar Rizvi - The Transnational Mosque. Architecture and Historical Memory in the Contemporary Middle East.
M Hattstein & P Delius (Eds. 2000), ‘Islam Art and Architecture’, Konemann.
Saqer Sqour - Influence of Hagia Sophia on the Construction
of Dome in Mosque Architecture

Hi there, my name is Jochem Boodt. I make the show The Present Past, where I show how the present has been influenced by the past. History, but connected to the present and fun!

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Comment for corrections:

Dome of the Rock is actually not a mosque but a shrine. My bad!

[nenenindonu]

Fun fact : Minaret architectures are actually much richer in diversity compared to actual Mosques. Ottoman, Mamluk, Abbasid, Seljuk, Timurid Minarets are just some of the many iconic structures

[DevSarman]

The 'traditional' style of mosques in Indonesia/Maritime Southeast Asia are marked by having a distinct pyramid-shaped roof. A good example of these is the Great Mosque of Demak in Central Java province, along with mosques in more rural areas of both Minang and Banjar people as well.

[kmmmsyr]

Another huge Turkish impact on Islamic community as a whole is its symbol.
Many people consider crescent (sometimes with a star) to be the symbol of Islam. However, it has no religious roots. In fact, it is the symbol of Islam because Muslims around the world adopted the flag of the Ottomans, who were also caliphs, de jure leaders of the entire Sunni community. When you look at the flags of Muslim countries, you can see that countries that didn't want much to do with Ottomans don't have crescent on their flags. Arab countries except Tunis, Algeria and Libya don't have crescent on their flags, because they were founded by rebellion against Ottomans, while Tunis, Algeria and Libya has because they were taken by force from Ottomans by European colonists. Ottomans failed to conquer Morocco multiple times, it doesn't have crescent on its flag. Iran is a Shia country that fought Ottomans for centuries, again, it doesn't have crescent on its flag.

[YTLSF]

The Taj Mahal is however not in any way in the Ottoman style, it is Mughal style, with strong Safavid inspiration

[h.p.]

You are my go to history trivia channel now. It's honestly unbelievable how such a new channel has got this much "professional" content presentation. I really love your videos man!

[adamjones]

Bro very nice and respectful video. As a Muslim i love the way you spoke with no stereotypical or satire comments about mosques or Muslims.

[miliba]

Many Chinese mosques have the same architectural exterior design as other traditional Chinese buildings. Ive been to the mosque in Beijing and have seen many more in Yunnan

[wyqtor]

In Morocco the minarets are all square towers. Even the bell tower of the Cathedral of Sevilla, called La Giralda, started off as one.

[auliarifaldi]

There is an architecht in Indonesia that has a modern view on mosque architecture. His name is Ridwan Kamil. He designed many mosques across the country and some across the world. Examples of mosque designed by him are Asmaul Husna Tangerang, Al Irsyad Padalarang, and Al Safar 88 km. All of his mosques have design that completely artistic and modern yet have so many islamic value that conscripted through its architecture. The Al Safar one is a controversial one for the conservatists since it adopts so many triangles in its design that viewed as "illuminati". There's also an open debate between an islamic scholar and Ridwan Kamil about how mosque should be properly designed.

Despite of that, he has build mosques everywhere. He is now governor of West Java and he is stil building mosques. Two mosques that is in his works right now. The one is Al Jabbar as a grand mosque for West Java (I personally love this mosque architecturally), and the most recent is Al Mumtadz as a tribute for his son who died in Switzerland while swimming.

Really, you should see mosques designed by him. They're majestic!

[aysenur]

Hi Jochem! Just wanted to say that you spoke in a good amount of nuance in a relatively short amount of time, so great job!
I'm a uni student who volunteers in the Süleymaniye Mosque every week. I got the opportunity to talk about the mosque, Islam, and Turkish culture with many visitors from all over the world. Just yesterday I enjoyed talking like 2 hours with a Czech guy who lived 10 years in China and we also had this exact same topic. We compared the pictures we took from mosques in China and Istanbul and other places and it's pretty interesting to come across to your video after that discourse. You had a sub my friend👍
And if you visit Istanbul again, I hope I can come across you in Süleymaniye!

[nugzarmikeladze]

Mosque in Batumi, Georgia is an old building and never had a dome, but few years ago they added the golden dome.

[Journal_Haris]

I was a fan before watching this...now I'm an entire AC unit 💯

Really unique and less talked about topic that definitely needed some light shed on. Keep it up Jochem

[alichahin]

Calling the well known type of Moroccan mosque minaret, that has been prevalent in the country for centuries, as having Big Ben style completely missing the chance to mention that Morocco has never been occupied by the Ottomans and has had its own separate and different architecture.

[makotopark]

Check out mosque architecture in Indonesia. They range from classical domes to impressive contemporary, futuristic designs. Southern Philippines have adapted some mosque designs such as pagoda style.

[antonioapv]

Nice video, but there's a minor mistake at the beginning: the Dome of the Rock is not a mosque, the mosque of the area is the Al-aqsa, which is useful as an example of a non ottoman mosque.

[mendelopdenorth]

What a great video once again!

I’ve been subscribed for a couple of weeks now, and I’ve liked all your videos, but somehow this one jumped out to be me as having particularly high production value. The street interviews, the animations, the facts and the narrative are all top notch. But above all, I think, for lack of a better word, your ‘vibe’ is just outstanding. It’s genuine, curious, humble, attentive and understanding. I feel like you explain enough for everything to be clear, but not so much as to be over-explaining. In other words: I feel like you take your audience seriously, and don’t talk down to them. You expect us to pay attention, to already know something about the world, and to be curious as well. I think that allows you to make videos that are challenging and interesting, without being snobby or overly pretentious. Keep up the good work!

[itsdavidmora]

Brilliant use of one very visual item to weave together history! I also really appreciate you highlighting the cultural exchange — not just clash — between religions and cultures.

[Fallacia_Konstantinos]

Traditional Islamic architecture (mosques) is very diverse, like the Sudanosahelian in West Africa, the Maghrebi & Moorish in N.W. Africa, the classical Arabic, the Ottoman, the Persian-Central Asian and Central Asian-Indian (mungul architecture) and at the end the Omani, Yemeni and Swahili architectures that are so alike (+ Somali).

[kriswibowo]

In Java, Indonesia the oldest Mosque architect was assimilated and acculturated with traditional Java architecture influenced by Hinduism and Buddhism. especially in Kudus, Central Java they built Minaret looks like Hinduism Temple