Domes On Mosques

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Domes on mosques Aug 22, 2006
Is it true that you can tell if a mosque is Sunni or Shia by the color of the dome?

For example, I've been told that a green dome means the mosque is Shia.

Just wondering....

OldAsiaHand
Dubai Forums Enthusiast
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Aug 22, 2006
Nope.

The colour of the dome of a mosque doesn't have a sectarian significance - they really just reflect the prevailing cultural/architectural preferences at the time and place the mosque is built.

The mosque of the Prophet in Medina, for instance, that was built by Turks has a green dome - and this was built by Sunni muslims. The Domes of many beautiful mosques in Iran and Iraq are blue, but so were many domes in Turkey.

There are certain styles of dome which are prevalent in Iran and predominantly shia - the styles are very decorative, but there is no rule as such. There are plain shia mosques and there are decorative sunni mosques too.

There are different styles of domes and a search on the internet will list these.

Modern mosques have all shades of domes - I've seen silver, brown and golden domes. Al Aqsa mosque has a golden dome, for example.

Cheers,
Shafique
shafique
Dubai Shadow Wolf
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Domes Aug 23, 2006
Thanks!

I was wondering about those blue domes, etc. as well as the green ones.

I've seen alot of different types of mosques around Dubai. I assume that most of them are Sunni.
OldAsiaHand
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