Datasets:
rahular
/
simple-wikipedia

Dataset card Data Studio Files Community
3
text
stringlengths
1
10.6k
Most mosques have minarets. Minarets are tall towers. Usually they are at one of the corners of the mosque. The top of the minaret is the highest point in the mosque, and usually the highest point in the area around the mosque. The tallest minaret in the world is in the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, Morocco.
The first mosques had no minarets. The most conservative Islamic groups, like "Wahhabis", still avoid building minarets. They see them as simply a fancy decoration and unnecessary. The first minaret was built in 665 in Basra during the reign of the Umayyad caliph Muawiyah I. Muawiyah encouraged the building of minarets, as they were supposed to be the same as bell towers on Christian churches. Because of this, mosque architects used the shape of the bell tower for their minarets. Both the minaret and the bell tower serve the same purpose — to call the faithful to prayer.
Before the five required daily prayers, a "muezzin" calls the worshippers to prayer from the minaret. In many countries like Singapore where Muslims are not the majority, mosques are stopped from loudly playing the call to prayer. The main problem is the use of electronic amplification of the call, which is now widely used by mosques.
The domes were often placed directly above the main prayer hall. They represent the universe that Allah created. At first, these domes were small. They only took up a small part of the roof near the "mihrab". Later, they took the whole roof above the prayer hall.
Domes normally have the shape of a hemisphere. The Mughals in India popularized onion-shaped domes in South Asia and Persia. Some mosques have several domes, as well as the main large dome. The other domes are often smaller.
Domes would help the "imam" be heard, as the sound waves would bounce in and then out of the dome making the voice louder.
All mosques have a prayer hall, which is also called "musalla". Normally, there is no furniture in it except for prayer mats or rugs. These are necessary, as Islamic prayer is usually done kneeling.
Some mosques have Arabic calligraphy and "Qur'anic" verses on the walls to help worshipers focus on the beauty of Islam and its holiest book, the "Qur'an", as well as for decoration.
The "qiblah wall" is usually at the other side of the entrance to the prayer hall. This wall is specially decorated. In a properly sited mosque, it will be set perpendicular to a line leading to Mecca. People pray in rows parallel to the "qiblah" wall. They arrange themselves so they face Mecca. In the "qiblah" wall, usually at its center, is the "mihrab", a niche or depression showing the direction of Mecca. The "mihrab" serves as the place where the imam leads the five daily prayers.
All people must wash themselves before they pray. Mosques often have fountains or other facilities for washing in their entrances or courtyards, so that people can perform the washing ritual before prayer.
At very small mosques, worshippers may use restrooms for their ritual washing, or wu'du. In traditional mosques, there is often a building specially for washing. This is often in the center of the courtyard. In the prayer halls, people must not wear shoes for much the same reason.
Modern mosques should appeal to the community they serve. For this reason, other facilities may also be available at the mosque, like health clinics, libraries, and sports halls.
There may be decorative tiles, plaster or coloured mosaics on the walls. There are no pictures or statues.
Adult Muslims are expected to pray five times a day. Most mosques have formal prayers for each of these times. If performing the prayer is difficult, for example for ill people, then exceptions are made.
Mosques also hold a special prayer service, called "jumuah". This is done once a week. It is a form of Sabbath and replaces the Friday prayers at the mosque. Daily prayers can be done anywhere. However, Muslims are expected to do their Friday prayer at the mosque.
When a Muslim dies, a funeral prayer is normally held. It is held outdoors in a courtyard or square close to the mosque. The prayers have all the worshippers present, including the imam, taking part. During eclipses, mosques will host special prayers called eclipse prayers.
There are two large holidays ("Eids") in the Islamic calendar. During these days, there are special prayers at mosques in the morning. Larger mosques will normally hold them for their own communities as well as the people from smaller local mosques. Mosques, especially those in countries where Muslims are the majority, will also host "Eid" prayers outside in courtyards or town squares.
There are many events in "Ramadan", Islam's holiest month. During "Ramadan", Muslims must fast during the day. Mosques organise "iftar" dinners after sunset. These are done after the fourth required prayer of the day. Part of the food is given by members of the community, which creates nightly potluck dinners. The community contribution to these dinners is required. For this reason, mosques with smaller communities may not be able to hold the "iftar" dinners daily.
Some mosques will also hold meals in the morning before dawn. Mosques will often invite poorer members of the community to these meals. Islam sees giving charity during Ramadan as good acts.
Larger mosques sometimes offer special, optional prayers. They are done after the last required prayer of the day. During each night of prayers, one member of the community who has memorized the entire Qur’an will recite a part of the book. It can last for up to two hours. Sometimes, several such people (not necessarily of the local community) take turns to do this. During the last ten days of Ramadan, larger mosques will host all-night programs to observe "Laylat al-Qadr". It is the night Muslims believe that the Islamic prophet Muhammad first received Qur'anic revelations. On that night, between sunset and sunrise, mosques employ speakers to teach the worshipers about Islam. Mosques or the community usually provide meals at times through the night.
During the late twentieth century, more and more mosques have been used for political purposes. Modern-day mosques in the Western world want to educate good citizens. The details differ greatly from mosque to mosque and from country to country.
Countries with small Muslim populations use mosques as a way to support civic participation. They are more likely to do this than Muslim-majority countries of the Greater Middle East. American mosques host voter registration and civic participation drives. In the United States, Muslims are often immigrants, or the children of immigrants. Mosques want to interest these people for politics. They also want to keep them informed about issues that concern the Muslim community. People who attend the services at the mosque regularly are more likely to take part in protests, to sign petitions, and to involve themselves in political matters.
A link between political views and mosque attendance can still be seen in other parts of the world. After the al-Askari Mosque bombing in February 2006, imams and other Islamic leaders used mosques and Friday prayers to call for calm and peace during the widespread violence.
Beginning in the late twentieth century and continuing into the early twenty-first century, a small number of mosques have also become a base for extremist imams to support terrorism and extreme Islamic ideals. Finsbury Park Mosque in London is a mosque that has been used in this manner.
Like other places of worship, mosques can be at the center of social conflicts.
Babri Mosque was the centre of such a conflict up until the early 1990s when it was demolished. Before a solution could be found, the mosque was destroyed by about 200,000 Hindus. It took place on 6 December 1992. The mosque was built by Babur to mark the birthplace of Ram. It was believed to be on a site of an earlier Hindu temple. The conflict over the mosque was directly linked to rioting in Bombay (present-day Mumbai) as well as bombings in 1993 that killed 257 people.
In February 2006, a bombing seriously damaged Iraq's al-Askari Mosque. This increased the existing tensions. The conflict between two Muslim groups in Iraq had already led to other bombings. However mosque bombings are not limited to Iraq. In June 2005, a suicide bomber killed at least 19 people at an Afghan mosque. In April 2006, there were two explosions at India's Jama Masjid.
After the September 11 attacks, several American mosques were targets of attacks. These ranged from simple vandalism to arson.
The Jewish Defense League was suspected of plotting to bomb the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City, California. There were similar attacks in the United Kingdom after the 7 July 2005 London bombings. Outside the Western world, in June 2001, the Hassan Bek Mosque was the target of attacks. The attacks involved hundreds of Israelis angry at Arabs for a previous attack.
Saudi involvement in building mosques around the world only goes back to the 1960s.
In the 1980s, the Saudi Arabian government began to pay for the building of mosques in countries around the world. An estimated US$45 billion has been spent by the Saudi Arabian government for mosques and Islamic schools in foreign countries. "Ain al-Yaqeen", a Saudi newspaper, reported in 2002 that Saudi money may have helped to build as many as 1,500 mosques and 2,000 other Islamic centers. Saudi citizens have also given a lot of money to mosques in the Islamic world, especially in countries where they see Muslims as poor and oppressed. Following the fall of the Soviet Union, in 1992, mosques in Afghanistan received money from Saudi citizens. The King Fahd Mosque in Culver City, California and the Islamic Cultural Center of Italy in Rome are two of Saudi Arabia's largest investments in foreign mosques as former Saudi king Fahd bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud gave US$8 million and US$50 million to the two mosques, respectively.
In a mosque, people should keep focused on worshiping "Allah". For this reason, there are a number of rules about the correct behaviour in a mosque. Some of these rules are the same all over the world, such as no shoes should be worn in the prayer hall. Other rules are different from mosque to mosque.
It is generally seen as good to have someone who leads the prayers, though this is not strictly necessary. The person who usually leads the prayers is called "imam". He must be a free and honest man. He should also be an authority when it comes to answering questions on religion. In mosques that were built or that are kept up by the government, the imam is selected by the ruler. In private mosques, the community selects the imam, through majority voting.
Only men may lead prayers for men. Women are allowed to lead prayers for congregations where there are only women.
In addition to washing, there are other rules that also apply to those who enter the mosque, even if they do not wish to pray there. It is forbidden to wear shoes in the carpeted area of the prayer hall. Some mosques also do not allow wearing shoes in other parts, even though these may not be devoted to praying.
Islam requires that its believers wear clothes that show modesty. As a result, both men and women must follow this rule when they attend a mosque (though mosques may not always enforce the rules). Men are supposed to come to the mosque wearing loose and clean clothes that do not show the shape of the body. Similarly, women who come to the mosque are expected to wear loose clothing, shirts, pants that cover to the wrists and ankles and cover their heads such as with a hijab. Many Muslims, regardless of their ethnic background, wear Middle eastern clothing associated with Arabic Islam to special occasions and prayers at mosques.
Mosques are places of worship. For this reason, those inside the mosque should be respectful to those who are praying. Loud talking or discussion of topics that could be disrespectful, is forbidden in areas where people are praying. It is also considered as rude to walk in front of Muslims in prayer or otherwise disturb them.
Islamic law requires men and women to be separated in the prayer hall. Ideally, women should pray behind men. The second caliph Umar at one time stopped women from attending mosques, especially at night, because he feared they may be teased by males, so he made them to pray at home. Sometimes a special part of the mosque was railed off for women; for example, the governor of Mecca in 870 had ropes tied between the columns to make a separate place for women.
Many mosques today will put the women behind a barrier or partition or in another room. Mosques in South and Southeast Asia put men and women in separate rooms, as the divisions were built into them centuries ago. In nearly two-thirds of American mosques, women pray behind partitions or in separate areas, not in the main prayer hall; some mosques do not admit women at all. Although there are sections only for women and children, the Grand Mosque in Mecca is desegregated.
A few scholars of Islamic law believe that non-Muslims may be allowed into mosques, as long as they do not sleep or eat there. Followers of the "Maliki" school of Islamic jurisprudence disagree. They say that non-Muslims may not be allowed into mosques at all.
Different countries have different opinions on the question. Nearly all the mosques in the Arabian Peninsula as well as Morocco do not allow non-Muslims. The Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca is one of only two mosques in Morocco currently open to non-Muslims.
In modern-day Saudi Arabia, the Grand Mosque and all of Mecca are open only to Muslims. Likewise, the Masjid al-Nabawi and the city of Medina that surrounds it are also off-limits to those who do not practice Islam. For mosques in other areas, it has most commonly been taken that non-Muslims may only enter mosques if granted permission to do so by Muslims and if they have a proper reason.
In modern Turkey non-Muslim tourists are allowed to enter any mosque, but must obey the rules of decorum. Visiting a mosque is allowed only between prayers; visitors must wear long trousers and take off their shoes; women must cover their heads; no photos; no loud talk is allowed. No references to other religions are allowed (no crosses on necklaces, no cross gestures etc.).
However, there are also many other places in the west as well as the Islamic world where non-Muslims are welcome to enter mosques. Most mosques in the United States, for example, report receiving non-Muslim visitors every month. Many Mosques throughout the United States welcome non-Muslims as a sign of openness to the rest of the community and to encourage conversions to Islam.
Dogs are usually banned from entering mosques, but on 24 September 2008, the Muslim Law Council UK made special ruling, called a "fatwa", which granted a blind Muslim permission to take his guide dog into the mosque.
It is common for a smaller mosque to serve as a hostel for Muslims on "haj" (pilgrimage to Mecca). Sometimes mosques are used for refugees, or as temporary homes for homeless people. Obligations to neighbours in Islam are very strict, and specific. In the Qur'an Mohammed(pbuh) said that a person who helps others in the hour of need, and who helps the oppressed; that person God will help on the Day of Travail (agony). There are other commands, such as helping the poor and being nice to people. An important part of being Muslim, or just being part of the mosque, is taking care of people who need help. A mosque is a social, as well as a religious, group.
A madrassa is a little different from a mosque. A madrassa focuses on teaching Islam, usually to children and young people.
When Spain was under Muslim control, some of the most beautiful buildings were mosques. After 1491, Spain was under Christian control. However, the Christians did not tear down the mosques. They simply put a crucifix in them to make them into churches. These mosques influenced the Renaissance architecture (way of building) in Europe.
Mammal
The class Mammalia are a group of vertebrate animals. They have fur or hair and a very precise kind of temperature regulation.
With the exception of the monotremes, all mammals bear live young. Unlike other vertebrates, they are the only animals that produce milk for the young through their mammary glands. Parental care of the young is universal among mammals, sometimes for extended periods.
Most marsupial and eutherian mammals have a reproductive cycle known as the oestrous cycle (U.S: estrous cycle). Females are sexually active only during the oestrous stage, when they are 'on heat' for a few days each month. If an ovum is not fertilized, the endometrium (uterus lining) is resorbed. Oestrus cycles may occur once or twice a year, or many times a year. Each group of mammals has its own frequency.
Humans and primates, are quite different. They have a menstrual cycle. In this case, females are sexually receptive at any time, but only fertile when an ovum is released from an ovary. In this case, the endometrium (if not needed for an fertilised egg) is discarded. The endometrium is shed, and takes with it a certain amount of blood. In this system, eggs are released from the ovaries mostly in the middle of the cycle, away from the menstrual period. This ovulation is 'concealed', meaning, it is not obvious when it occurs. This process, so it is thought, tends to keep the male and female together, which is unusual in mammals with the oestrous cycle.
One diagnostic feature is the lower jaw which, unlike earlier forms, is composed of a single bone, the dentary. This is one feature which can be seen in fossils, or at least those which are complete enough to have the lower jaw. Mammals have three little bones in their inner ear, the ear ossicles. The ear ossicles are bones which were, long ago, part of the lower jaw in early proto-mammals.
There are quite a number of other features, particularly in the skull and limbs, so that it is usually possible to identify and describe a mammal from its skeleton alone.
Another diagnostic feature is the neocortex of the brain, which no other vertebrate has. This is involved in the kind of flexible behavior and learning typical of mammals. Reptiles and birds have much of their behavior controlled by "inherited behavior chains", which roughly translates as "instincts". Almost all animals can do some learning, but mammals do far more than other vertebrates. Their behavior is much more flexible than lizards, for example, and that is made possible by their neocortex.
Other things in the life of mammals seem to be connected with this flexibility and learning. Play is a kind of early learning period in which, according to one theory, mammals develop skills which they will need in life. All mammalian young play, and this is very obvious in the more intelligent mammals (primates, cats).
The emotions of mammals are very noticeable, and rather similar to ours. It is possible, and quite common, for humans to have a friendly relationship with another mammal. It is quite impossible for a human to have any kind of relationship with a snake or a gecko (for example). This is because the reptile simply does not have the same basic emotions as a human.
There are about 50 characters which are typical of mammals, and some of the most important are discussed above. A few more examples will make it clear that mammals are very different from reptiles and birds:
In the language of cladistics, these 50 unique characters are apomorphies which prove that mammals are a clade descended from a common ancestor.
All mammals feed milk to their young, and protect and look after them.
The vast majority of mammal species give birth to live young, these are the placental mammals, most of which are classified as Eutheria and a small number are classified as marsupials.
Marsupials are mammals with pouches to carry young in, like the kangaroo.
There are only five species (the monotreme mammals) that lay eggs, the duck-billed platypus "Ornithorhynchus", and four species of spiny anteater "Echidna". The monotremes are confined to Australia and New Guinea, and are the sole survivors of an earlier group of mammals.
In terms of number of species mammals, with 5488 species, are not the most successful vertebrates. Birds, with about 10,000 species have nearly twice as many, and reptiles have just as many as birds. Fish have even more species. There are 27,000 species of fish, of which nearly 26,000 are bony fish.
Despite this, many zoologists do regard mammals as a successful group of animals. One reason is that they are successful in all habitats on Earth. In the air, in the water, in forests, in the colder regions of the world, and above all on grasslands, where they are outstandingly successful.
In the air, the bats (Chiroptera) are the mammalian order with the most species. They 'own' the nighttime, since birds are largely diurnal (daytime) animals. Bats are hugely successful, mostly as nighttime predators of insects.
Seagoing mammals, the Cetacea and the pinnipeds, are very successful and significant predators. This includes the whales, seals, walrus, dolphins and others.
The terrestrial mammals are fewer in number of species than lizards, but they are huge in individual numbers, and far more important in the life of the terrestrial biomes. Their ability to move from place to place and adapt has made them a most effective group. Many mammals live in cold places. These mammals have thick hair or blubber to keep them warm. Others may live in rainforests. On land the rodents (rats, mice) are hugely successful, more common in numbers than any other mammals. Large mammals on land have been hunted to extinction in some parts of the world, but the ones which remain are now better protected.
Last, but certainly not least, are the primates. Their natural habitat, with few exceptions, are the forests. Most live in the trees, with hands that grasp, good colour vision, and intelligence. In the Pliocene period some moved out onto the savannahs as grassland replaced forests. Mankind is the result of this shift into the savannahs.
The evolutionary relationships among land vertebrates is as follows:
This sort of classification is not traditional, but it does reflect our knowledge of palaeontology and evolution.
A somewhat standardized classification system has been adopted by most current mammalogy classroom textbooks. It is based on living animals. The following taxonomy of extant and recently extinct mammals is from Vaughan et al. 2000.
Class Mammalia
Mammals can be divided in a number of orders:
Because two quite different dates are given in the taxobox, an explanation is needed. Rowe defines mammals as "the taxon originating with the most recent common ancestor of extant [living] Monotremata and Theria". That puts the emphasis heavily on living mammals, where, as Rowe points out, the database of characters is extensive.
Kemp explains the problem with that approach: "If the definition of a mammal is based rigorously upon possession of all the characters of living mammals, then some fossil forms that are extremely mammalian in anatomy... are excluded".
"An altogether different perspective on defining Mammalia is based on traditional palaeobiological practice. An arbitrary decision is made about which characters to select as defining characters... Characters deemed appropriate are those reflecting the... fundamental mammalian biology. The essence of mammalian life is to be found in their endothermic temperature physiology, greatly enlarged brain, dentition capable of chewing food, highly agile, energetic locomotion, and so on. The organisms that achieved this grade of overall organisation are deemed to be Mammalia... Around the end of the Triassic period, about 205 mya, a number of fossils are found of very small animals that have [most] of the skeletal characters of modern mammals".
This difference in outlook explains the difference in the two dates given in the taxobox.
Number
A number is a concept from mathematics, used to count or measure. Depending on the field of mathematics, where numbers are used, there are different definitions:
Numbers are also used for other things like counting. Numbers are used when things are measured. Numbers are used to study how the world works. Mathematics is a way to use numbers to learn about the world and make things. The study of the rules of the natural world is called science. The work that uses numbers to make things is called engineering.
There are different ways of giving symbols to numbers. These methods are called number systems. The most common number system that people use is the "base ten" number system. The "base ten" number system is also called the decimal number system. The base ten number system is common because people have ten fingers and ten toes. There are 10 different symbols {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9} used in the base ten number system. These ten symbols are called digits.
A symbol for a number is made up of these ten digits. The position of the digits shows how big the number is. For example, the number 23 in the decimal number system really means (2 times 10) plus 3. Similarly, 101 means 1 times a hundred (=100) plus 0 times 10 (=0) plus 1 times 1 (=1).
Another number system is more common for machines. The machine number system is called the "binary" number system. The binary number system is also called the base two number system. There are two different symbols (0 and 1) used in the base two number system. These two symbols are called bits.
A symbol for a binary number is made up of these two bit symbols. The position of the bit symbols shows how big the number is. For example, the number 10 in the binary number system really means 1 times 2 plus 0, and 101 means 1 times four (=4) plus 0 times two (=0) plus 1 times 1 (=1). The binary number 10 is the same as the decimal number 2. The binary number 101 is the same as the decimal number 5.
English has special names for some of the numbers in the decimal number system that are "powers of ten". All of these power of ten numbers in the decimal number system use just the symbol "1" and the symbol "0". For example, ten tens is the same as ten times ten, or one hundred. In symbols, this is "10 × 10 = 100". Also, ten hundreds is the same as ten times one hundred, or one thousand. In symbols, this is "10 × 100 = 10 × 10 × 10 = 1000". Some other powers of ten also have special names:
When dealing with larger numbers than this, there are two different ways of naming the numbers in English. Under the "long scale", a new name is given every time the number is a million times larger than the last named number. It is also called the "British Standard". This scale used to be common in Britain, but is not often used in English-speaking countries today. It is still used in some other European nations.
Another scale is the "short scale", under which a new name is given every time a number is a thousand times larger than the last named number. This scale is a lot more common in most English-speaking nations today.
Natural numbers are the numbers which we normally use for counting: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, etc. Some people say that 0 is a natural number, too. The set of all natural numbers is written as formula_1.
Another name for these numbers is positive numbers. These numbers are sometimes written as +1 to show that they are different from the negative numbers. But not all positive numbers are natural (for example, formula_2 is positive, but not natural).
If 0 is called a natural number, then the natural numbers are the same as the whole numbers. If 0 is not called a natural number, then the natural numbers are the same as the counting numbers. So if the words "natural numbers" are not used, then there will be less confusion about whether zero is included or not. But unfortunately, some say that zero is not a whole number, while others say that whole numbers can be negative. "Positive integers" and "non-negative integers" are another way to include zero or exclude zero, but only if people know those words.
Negative numbers are numbers less than zero.
One way to think of negative numbers is to use a "number line". We call one point on this line zero. Then we will label (write the name of) every position on the line by how far to the right of the zero point is. For example, the point one is one centimeter to the right, and the point two is two centimeters to the right.
However, the point one centimeter to the left of the zero point cannot be point one, since there is already a point called one. We therefore call this point minus one (−1, as it is one centimeter away but in the opposite direction).
A drawing of a number line is below.
All the normal operations of mathematics can be done with negative numbers:
Since finding the square root of a negative number is impossible for real numbers (as negative times negative equals positive for real numbers), the square root of -1 is given a special name: "i". This is also called the imaginary unit.
Integers are all the natural numbers, all their opposites, and the number zero. Decimal numbers and fractions are not integers.
Rational numbers are numbers which can be written as fractions. This means that they can be written as "a" divided by "b", where the numbers "a" and "b" are integers, and "b" is not zero.