Bringing mosques back to the heart of society

Photo: A group reading the Quran at Masjid al Nabawi in Medina, Saudi Arabia, on Nov 30, 2016. Historically, mosques fulfilled educational, social and administrative needs. Today, the educational function of mosques is mostly limited to Quran reciting classes. Abd. Halim Hadi/Shutterstock.com

Architects and designers in the Middle East are creating structures in urban communities filled with life all day long instead of only during prayer times

The emergence in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) of American-style car-oriented urban design has diluted the importance of the mosque from being the hub of social, cultural and educational life to becoming merely a house of prayer used only at specific times in a day.

Architects and urban designers are beginning to question this trend and are advocating a return to the mosque’s traditional role in society, exemplified by, for instance, Al Daleel mosque in Sharjah, which was built in 1919 alongside the thriving Souq Al Asra. The oldest mosques evolved as their role in the community grew, adding educational and communal facilities.