Identification and Ranking the Criteria of Site Selection for Construction of Mosques in Roadways

Mosques as one of the most obvious aspects of community and identity in Islam play a fundamental role in both appearance and spiritual aspects. Thus, this study aims to identify and rank the factors of locating mosques in roadways, and is considered a descriptive study, in terms of purpose and nature. The statistical population consists of 10 experts in the field of construction of mosques in roadways. The samples have been chosen purposefully, and the data collection has been through interviews. Open and axial coding methods were used for data analysis regarding identification of the factors in data based method and for analysis of the content of the interviews. For ranking the factors AHP method has been used. The results show that economic factors (budget and allocation of suitable lands), cultural and religious factors (Islamic-Iranian architecture, proximity to historic buildings, considering the religion of the passengers and considering the culture of the people of the region) and environmental factors (air pollution from authorized factories, lack of ground water pollution, not destroying forests and grasslands and observing environmentally protected areas) and social factors (safety, fundraising, consideration of hygiene), are among the important factors for construction of mosques in roadways. In prioritization, economic, cultural and religious, environmental and social factors are allocated 1 to 4, respectively.