The Minaret

The Minaret
ISBN-10
1474437222
ISBN-13
9781474437226
Category
Islamic art and symbolism
Pages
416
Language
English
Published
2018-04-17
Publisher
Edinburgh Studies in Islamic Art
Author
Jonathan M. Bloom

Description

Bloom reveals that the Minaret, long understood to have been invented in the early years of Islam as the place from which the muezzin gives the call to prayer, was actually invented some two centuries later to be a visible symbol of Islam. Drawing on buildings, archaeological reports, medieval histories, geographies, and early Arabic poetry, he reinterprets the origin, development, and meanings of the minaret and provides a sweeping historical and geographical tour of the minaret's position as the symbol of Islam.