[min-uh-ret, min-uh-ret] 
| a lofty, often slender, tower or turret attached to a mosque, surrounded by or furnished with one or more balconies, from which the muezzin calls the people to prayer. |
| min·a·ret (mĭn'ə-rět') n. A tall slender tower attached to a mosque, having one or more projecting balconies from which a muezzin summons the people to prayer. [French, from Turkish minārat, from Arabic manāra, lamp; see nwr in Semitic roots.] |
minaret
(Arabic: "beacon"), in Islamic religious architecture, the tower from which the faithful are called to prayer five times each day by a muezzin, or crier. Such a tower is always connected with a mosque and has one or more balconies or open galleries. At the time of the Prophet Muhammad, the call to prayer was made from the highest roof in the vicinity of the mosque. The earliest minarets were former Greek watchtowers and the towers of Christian churches. The oldest minaret in North Africa is at al-Qayrawan, Tunisia. It was built between 724 and 727 and has a massive square form
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