No other building is so charged with symbolism, so hemmed in by established architectural convention, and so likely to be scrutinised by friends and critics alike. From this apraisal of the complex and challenging subject of the architecture of the contemporary mosque, Ismail Serageldin, James Steel and many specialist contributers, proceed to offer a valuable insight into the developement of this building type over the last three decades.In his introductory essays Ismail Serageldin provides an historical background and explanation of the developement of the mosque, its constructiv form, constituent parts, and place in the Muslim city. He proceeds to suggest a framework within which the contemporary mosque should be judged, taking into account its inherent design challenges. He discusses the different building approaches - the popular, traditional, populist and adaptive modern - and the different building types - the large state mosque, major landmark structure, communitycentere complex, small local mosque and "zawiya." Then, since from its inception the mosque has varied more by region than period, the book is divided into six sections according to geographical area. It examines the Islamic heartland of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the Maghreb, Turkey and Iran, and includes an evaluation of the mosque built in the more recently established Muslim societies of the West. Each case study - which is introduced by an essay discussing the historical, social and typological context of the area - presents the most important and influential mosque through detailed commentaries, critiques and extensive illustrations.This book provides an important picture of contemporary mosque architecture.