“Introduction", in The Friday Mosque in the City: Liminality, Ritual, and Politics

Abstract

The Friday Mosque in the City: Liminality, Ritual, and Politics Explores the relationship between two important entities in the Islamic context: the Friday mosque and the city. Earlier scholarship has examined these concepts separately and, to some degree, in relation to each other. This volume seeks to understand the relationship between them. Inorder to begin this discussion, defining the terminology is necessary. The English term mosque’ derives from the Arabic Masjid, a term designating a place of prostration, whereas the term jami‘,which is translated variously as Friday mosque, great mosque or congregational mosque, originates from the Arabic term jama‘, meaning to gather. The religious obligation for Muslims to congregate on Fridays eventually created an Islamic social code. Similarly, the migration from Mecca to Medina was instrumental in transforming a society based on tribal kinship into a community (umma). The Prophet himself played a vital role in establishing the first congregational space in Medina. Whatever the original terminology that defined it,this space is usually accepted as the prototype of the ‘mosque’ by architectural historians. The distinctions in terminology are important because, according to Islamic legal tradition,the presence of a Friday mosque was an important parameter in defining a city (madina).