The religious factor of Samarra city (the Grand Mosque)

Ruqayya Ahmed Juma
Under the supervision of Lect. Dr. Shaimaa Ne’ma Muhammad

This mosque, in addition to its large area, is distinguished by the shape of its minaret, which made it one of the most famous mosques in the Islamic world. This minaret is distinguished by its unique architectural style and its graceful spiral shape, which is considered today one of the most famous archaeological landmarks in the city of Samarra, located northwest of Baghdad. This historic city was a delight to the onlookers and the lady of the world’s cities during its period of prosperity that extended over half a century and more, so it was called (Sir Man Ra’a) or Samarra.
The spiral minaret in Samarra is considered one of the most important minarets in the Islamic world and the most unique and distinctive in terms of architecture and construction. For the first time, a minaret of this size and this distinctive style has been built. It is not only distinguished by its strange shape, but also by many other advantages. If we look at the features of other minarets in the Islamic world, we find that they all share the fact that they are climbed from the inside until reaching the top from which the muezzin recites the call to prayer. Most minarets share the fact that they are cylindrical buildings with tapering ends. They are also all built as internal building units, i.e. attached to the mosque building and its other annexes from the inside, and the entire building is surrounded by an external wall – fence. As for the Samarra minaret, it differs from all of that, firstly because of its unique spiral shape as an unconventional piece of architecture. It is spacious from the bottom and its width decreases as it ascends until it reaches the top. This minaret is composed of multiple layers. Secondly, because of its location in relation to the mosque building, as it stands outside the mosque wall and is located in front of the northern wall, 27.25 meters away from it, i.e. it is a separate, self-contained building. Its third feature is that the ascent to its summit is from the outside via its staircase that rotates around its axis upwards counterclockwise, and for this reason people would see the muezzin from a distance as he ascended the minaret and knew when the time for prayer had arrived. As for its fourth feature, it is that it is the tallest and largest minaret built at that time.