Exploring the Giving Practices in American Mosques: Why Do Muslims Give So Little to Their Mosques?

This article represents the first effort to explore the giving practices of Muslims in American mosques. The research for this article was based on two studies: (1) a previously published study, “The American Mosque 2011,” which consisted of 524 telephone interviews of mosque leaders; and (2) a previously unpublished 2013 study of 3 mosques and the 2016 follow-up interviews with donors from the three mosques. The results show that mosque attendees give much less than their counterparts in churches. Interviews with donors in the three mosques were conducted in order to draw some preliminary conclusions as to why the giving rate in mosques is low. The interviews indicate that one of the underlying factors for the low rate of giving is that mosque attendees do not have a clear theology for giving to mosques and that a culture of giving to mosques does not exist among immigrant Muslims. It must be emphasized that this article is exploratory. Broader and more in-depth studies are needed to develop definitive conclusions about giving practices in mosques

Tajikistan: Almost Two Thousand Mosques Closed in 2017

Tajikistan has claimed to have closed almost 2,000 mosques in 2017. Officials claimed they were closed at the request of local residents, but have not been able to explain why they only allow mosques with a capacity far below the possible numbers of worshippers

City Wide Adhan as heard from between Masgid Sultan Hassan and Masgid Al-Rifaai on 01-27-2010 at 12:07pm: Dhurh Adhan

Five times a day in the 83 square mile city of Cairo, over 30,000 muezzins call out the adhan, or call to prayer, calling believers to come and to pray. This Dhurh (mid-day) adhan was recorded in the neighbourhood of Sayeda Aisha between two of the biggest and most famous mosques in Cairo. The recording captures the voices of the muezzins of the neighbourhood and beyond, all of whose calls begin a few seconds apart. The muezzins calling from far away mosques and mosques closest to location can be heard: please control the volume accordingly.Audio recordings from 10 locations in Cairo representing the city-wide call to prayer (over 30,000 muezzins reciting each of the 5 times per day) as heard from each area/neighbourhood, with supporting photographs of the locations and what is seen from said location.Hartley Film Foundation, National Geographic All Roads Film Project, Lucius and Eva Eastman Fun

Budaya Ketahanan Gempa pada Arsitektur Masjid Tradisional Indonesia: Earthquake Resilience Culture in Indonesian Traditional Mosques Architecture

This research aimed to study the structure of traditional mosques in Indonesia in relation to the culture in constructing earthquake-resistant architecture on earthquake-prone areas. The research was conducted in qualitative descriptive manner by studying the construction of traditional mosques in Indonesia, the comparison of the construction’s character to the construction of mosques in non-prone areas, the condition of traditional mosques before and after the earthquake. Javanese mosques have  different construction system than mosques on less earthquake areas. The structure relatively authentic, it is more resistant to earthquake than those that has undergone changes. It was concluded that large architectures such as mosques also have a construction tradition in relation to earthquake resistance

City Wide Adhan as heard from Road 9 in Ma’adi on 01-19-2010 at 3:00pm: ‘Asr Adhan

Five times a day in the 83 square mile city of Cairo, over 30,000 muezzins call out the adhan, or call to prayer, calling believers to come and to pray. This ‘Asr (afternoon) adhan was recorded on a rooftop on Road 9 in the neighbourhood of Ma’adi. The recording captures the voices of the muezzins of Cairo, all of whose calls begin a few seconds apart from one another. The muezzins calling from far away mosques and mosques closest to location can be heard: please control the volume accordingly.Audio recordings from 10 locations in Cairo representing the city-wide call to prayer (over 30,000 muezzins reciting each of the 5 times per day) as heard from each area/neighbourhood, with supporting photographs of the locations and what is seen from said location.Hartley Film Foundation, National Geographic All Roads Film Project, Lucius and Eva Eastman Fun

City Wide Adhan as heard from Al-Azhar Park on 01-26-2010 at 12:05pm: Dhurh Adhan

Five times a day in the 83 square mile city of Cairo, over 30,000 muezzins call out the adhan, or call to prayer, calling believers to come and to pray. This Dhurh (mid-day) adhan was recorded at Al-Azhar Park in the neighbourhood of Islamic Cairo. The length of the recording is almost 8 minutes, because the muezzins all begin a few seconds apart. The muezzins calling from far away mosques and mosques closest to the park can be heard: please control the volume accordingly.Audio recordings from 10 locations in Cairo representing the city-wide call to prayer (over 30,000 muezzins reciting each of the 5 times per day) as heard from each area/neighbourhood, with supporting photographs of the locations and what is seen from said location.Hartley Film Foundation, National Geographic All Roads Film Project, Lucius and Eva Eastman Fun

City Wide Adhan as heard from Shera Falaky on 01-15-2010 at 5:21am: Fajr Adhan

Five times a day in the 83 square mile city of Cairo, over 30,000 muezzins call out the adhan, or call to prayer, calling believers to come and to pray. This Fajr (dawn) adhan was recorded on Falaky Street in the neighbourhood of Sayeda Zeinab, two blocks from the Saad Zaghloul metra stop. The recording captures the voices of the muezzins of Cairo, all of whose calls begin a few seconds apart from one another. The muezzins calling from far away mosques and mosques closest to location can be heard: please control the volume accordingly.Audio recordings from 10 locations in Cairo representing the city-wide call to prayer (over 30,000 muezzins reciting each of the 5 times per day) as heard from each area/neighbourhood, with supporting photographs of the locations and what is seen from said location.Hartley Film Foundation, National Geographic All Roads Film Project, Lucius and Eva Eastman Fun

Dependency of biological contaminants on temperature and relative humidity within praying halls of mosques

The widespread use of Air Conditioning Split Units (ACSU) to cool the air inside mosques may pose potential adverse health effects, secondary to exposure to biological contaminants. To address this issue, the dependencies of biological contaminants (bacteria and fungi) on temperature (T) and relative humidity (RH) of the ‘mosques’ indoor air were evaluated. A total of 25 mosques were investigated during the periods in which their respective congregators were performing Zohor or Friday, and Asar prayers. The recorded average indoor bacteria and fungi concentrations were 382.6±143.9 cfu/m3 and 229.4±165.5 cfu/m3, respectively. However, the study found that masses of bacteria aerosol within the indoors of certain mosques (10 out of 17 ACSU mosques and 1 out of 8 non-ACSU mosques) exceeded the limit recommended by Malaysian standard for indoor air quality (500 cfu/m3). Meanwhile, the results of regression analyses suggested that T and RH of the indoor air have high influence on airborne bacteria and fungi. The variations in bacteria concentrations due to the influence of T and RH in ACSU mosques (T= 92.3%; RH= 90.3%) were higher than in non-ACSU mosques (T= 82.75%; RH= 81.7%) whereas the variations in fungi concentrations in non-ACSU mosques (T=70.45%; RH= 71.45%) were higher than in ACSU mosques (T= 66.05%; RH= 60.7%). This research shows that the growth of bacteria and fungi within the prayer halls of mosques in Malaysia is very much dependent on its indoor T and RH

Architectural Characteristics Study on Community Mosques in Priangan 1900 – 1942

Priangan was a region with a distinctive historical background and administrative unity. The region consisted of 7 regencies in present West Java Province. There were some old community mosques in the region. The aim of this paper is to formulate architectural characteristics of Priangan old community mosques and their overall development. The mosques are no longer observable today. Therefore, the study is referring to old documentations. The oldest available documentations of such mosques were presented in the form of photos from Dutch colonial era, after the ethical policy. Therefore, the study is limited from the year 1900 to 1942. Based on the photos, the mosques were resketched by outlining the intended variables, which are building mass, transitional space, and roof. There were some common architectural characteristics that can be concluded from Priangan old community mosques. The common characters are single mass, surrounding verandah, and two stacked pyramidal roof. On the overall development, the mosques showed the peak of architectural characteristics variations on the photos that were taken in the year 1925

Architectural planning of Minia mosques

Minia  maintains twenty-four archaeological mosques adopt several models follows: the local architectural planning between the courtyard and open riwaqs, and planning with naves without courtyard. There are four mosques take planning component of the courtyard and riwaqs ranging in date from the Fatimid age, and twenty mosques planning to take the naves and overdraft without a courtyard ranging in date from the Fatimid and Muhammad Ali ages includes one mosque with five naves, eleven mosques with four naves, five mosques of three naves and three Mosques of two naves. The objective of this study to highlight the evolution of the architectural planning of the mosques in Minia governorate, which was one of the most important provinces in Upper Egypt, in the architectural heritage, The variables of comparison where mosques have been established since the Arab conquest of Egypt has maintained were noted in the planning and architectural elements, while in the mosques of the renovation and reconstruction in many periods, it retained Architectural assets, which was mostly to the Fatimid age, also found that the mosque has seen the upswing in the Mamluk and Ottoman ages. Whether the planning with open Riwaqs around the courtyard or naves without courtyard, and the development of the architectural elements which include facades and entrances, minarets and arches. The research, in the methodology followed, based on the identification of the architectural planning stages of the development of the mosques on: 1. The descriptive approach through the study of architectural planning and follows this through different ages. 2. The analytical and comparative approach by the various characteristics of the models and patterns of architectural planning and comparative study with a number of mosques