[Oztrich Boy]

It’s Freudian

[Sender]

A minaret is a tuned antenna to Allah. If they have four or more, it’s a tuned array.

[mnehring]

Here is an old paper from the American Oriental Society on the history.

http://www.jstor.org/pss/3087601

[ClearCase_guy]

I better make popcorn.

[Slyfox]

A minaret is simply the collective erection of every muslim man who wishes he could get it up.

[2banana]

It is so the islamic crier can call the people to prayer 5 times a day (in the years before megaphones and electricity - you needed to get high up and have a booming voice).

Today - it is used to dominate the landscape so show the world that this is now islamic land.

[MrEdd]

Bateries not included

[freedomfiter2]

Steeples and Minarets are both phalic symbols.

[Cindy]

Google is your friend for that kind of stuff.

However, I’m charitable tonight, so just click on the link here with your mouse and start reading:

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/minaret/index

[mamelukesabre]

seems rather obvious to me that a minaret is a stylized representation of a flame. A giant torch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Saint_Basil_Moscow_crop.jpg

[Vendome]

The purpose of a Minaret?

 

[Nervous Tick]

It’s where hajjis go to bang goats, away from the prying eyes of the Imam.

(It’s not that the Imam MINDS if the hajjis bang goats — it’s that if a peon happens to have a cute one, the Imam will take it for himself. Allahu akbar! Goat is good!)

[muawiyah]

The explanation for the minaret is very simple.

Back before Islam when the Arabs were pagans worshipping many gods, demons, spirits, and so forth they had a "SKY GOD" and an "EARTH GOD" just like everybody else on the planet at one time or the other. (SEE FRIDAY and WEDNESDAY for a rough explanation).

Anyway, unlike virtually everyone else, the Arabian "skygod" was FEMALE while the Arabian "earthgod" was MALE.

The Arabs built minarets to commune with the skygod.

The 6th and 7th century "reforms" kept the minarets sans their original pagan meanings (supposedly).

The other deal is there really aren't any trees in most of Arabia so if you wanted to climb up one to see who was coming over the hill you'd first need to build one. And as phallic as they may be the Arabs have yet to come up with a minaret to rival the Washington Monument!

Take that sand pounders.

[wtd]

Bat Ye'or discusses a related issue in her book "The Dhimmi" Notice that all non-Muslim , 'dhimmi' structures had to be lower, or demolished to the extent that it was lower than any Muslim structure. The minaret soars above all the other structures as a symbol of dominance and conquest. One should also consider that in this day and age of time keeping devices and mobile devices, there is ample variety of methods to send out the call to prayer five times a day without the use of minarets and loudspeakers blaring that awful belly-achin triumphalism.. .allahu akbar (our god is greatest). Also note Robert Spencers “Blogging the Koran” :

The Fatiha (Opening) is the first sura (chapter) of the Qur’an and most common prayer of Islam. If you’re a pious Muslim who prays the five requisite daily prayers of Islam, you will recite the Fatiha seventeen times in the course of those prayers.

From Wafa Sultan’s book “A God Who Hates” pg. 168:

“A Muslim prays five times a day, and on each occasion he recites the Fatiha, the first verse of the Koran, a number of times. This verse describes Christians as “those who have gone astray” and Jews as “those who have incurred Your wrath.” We see from this that Muslims execrate Christians and Jews a number of times in the course of a single prayer, which they repeat five times a day.

[wtd]

continued. . .via dictionary.com

execrate –verb 1. to detest utterly; abhor; abominate. 2. to curse; imprecate evil upon; damn; denounce: He execrated all who opposed him.

No mosque - anywhere, in which the call to prayer takes place, and in which congregants chant the fatiha - is interested in building bridges or extending tolerance. They are however fully intent on gaining exceptional degrees of tolerance from all non-believers. When it comes to Islam, tolerance is a one way street. Believe it or else.

[weeder]

It symbolizes what they’re going to stick up our asses, if we don’t soon wake up.

[fire4effect]

Wonder if the architechs of the ground zero mosque intend to build these high wnough that they become part of the NY skyline?