The minaret is a tall, often slender tower attached to a mosque, ostensibly to provide an elevated place from which the muezzin (muʾaddhin) gives the call to prayer (adhān) . Along with the dome, the minaret is the most visible marker of the presence of Islam in a place, giving a characteristic "Islamic" appearance to the skylines of such cities as Cairo and Istanbul. Yet the earliest mosques had no minarets, and there is some debate as to when and where the feature was first introduced. Minarets can be of virtually