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
Thanks for that Cindy. Missed it.
One of the links included is very illuminating.
http://www.zimbio.com/Islamization/articles/goXKJCengHT/Christianity+Minarets+Originally+Used+Islam
Christianity’s Minarets Originally Used By Islam To Show Dominance In Conquered Lands
EmailWritten by Cole2 on Dec-6-09 12:15pm
From: islamizationwatch.blogspot.com
Some excerpts:
“...in 1998, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leader of the ruling Islamist party and current Prime Minister of Turkey, recited: “The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers...
“Muhammad founded a creed, perfect for the underdeveloped desert Arab Bedouins. He opposed creating buildings on a grand scale, saying that “Truly the most unprofitable thing that eats the wealth of a believer is building” and that “Every expense of the believer will be rewarded except the expense of the building”.
“... a mosque should be simple and modest, a booth, like the booth of Moses.
“Minarets became a part of mosques in the period of the “Godless” Umayyad dynasty that came to power by ousting the Prophet’s grandson Hasan (661 CE), and later exterminating the Prophet’s offspring, including his other grandson Husayn...
“Umayyad Caliph al-Walid I (r. 695-715) was the first to introduce minarets to mosques, emulating the steeple, a bell-tower structure that was a feature of Christian churches. This move faced strong resistance from the pious, who objected to constructing anything higher than walls of the mosque. They also condemned the rulers for incorporating Christian symbols to sacred mosques.”