The first Mosque in Al-Islam was erected by Mohammed at Kuba, near Al-Madinah:  shortly afterwards, when he entered Meccah as a conqueror, he destroyed the three hundred and sixty idols of the Arab Pantheon, and thus purified that venerable building from its abominations.  He had probably observed in Syrian Bostra the two forms appropriated by the Christians to their places of worship, the cross and the parallelogramic Basilica; he therefore preferred for the prayers of the “Saving Faith” a square,-some authors say, with, others

[p.92]without, a cloister.  At length in the reign of Al-Walid (A.H. 90) the cupola, the niche, and the minaret made their appearance; and what is called the Saracenic style became for ever the order of the Moslem world.

The Hindus I believe to have been the first who symbolised by an equilateral triangle their peculiar cult, the Yoni-Linga:  in their temple architecture, it became either a conoid or a perfect pyramid.  Egypt denoted it by the obelisk, peculiar to that country; and the form appeared in different parts of the world:  thus in England it was a mere upright stone, and in Ireland a round tower.  This we might expect to see.  D’Hancarville and Brotier have successfully traced the worship itself, in its different modifications, to all people:  the symbol would therefore be found everywhere.  The old Arab minaret is a plain cylindrical or polygonal tower, without balcony or stages, widely different from the Turkish, modern Egyptian, and Hijazi combinations of tube and prism, happily compared by a French traveller to “une chandelle coiffee d’un eteignoir.”  And finally the ancient minaret, made solid as all Gothic architecture is, and provided with a belfry, became the spire and steeple of our ancestors.

>From time immemorial, in hot and rainy lands, a hypaethral court, either round or square, surrounded by a covered portico, was used for the double purpose of church and mart,-a place where God and Mammon were worshipped turn by turn.  In some places we find rings of stones, like the Persian Pyroetheia; in others, circular concave buildings representing the vault of heaven, where Fire, the divine symbol, was worshipped; and in Arabia, columnar aisles, which, surmounted by the splendid blue vault, resemble the palm-grove.  The Greeks adopted this idea in the fanes of Creator Bacchus; and at Pozzuoli, near Naples, it may be seen in the building vulgarly called the Temple of Serapis.  It was equally well known

[p.93]to the Kelts:  in some places the Temenos was a circle, in others a quadrangle.  And such to the present day is the Mosque of Al-Islam.