Is it okay to use a mosque in a fantasy setting with no religion?
This is my first time ever using reddit but I desperately need other opinions as I am not religious whatsoever.
I've been trying to create a fantasy world for one of my characters to explore and I wanted one of the lands they enter to be inspired by ancient persia/Iranian architecture and culture. I wanted to add a traditional mosque and palace in the region however there is no religion in this fanatasy setting so I don't know if it would be appropriate to use mosques. I wanted it to be a very important historical library filled with ancient texts of magic and history where people are taught about said magic and history. I have heard on another subreddit that mosque are also used as educational and gathering centers but i wanted to make sure that is true. I want it to also be a big civic gathering hall aswell. I wanted it to be a building for my character to get a very good amount of her magical knowledge from and said library is very important in this story.
But would it be appropriate to use a mosque as inspiration? I know it's a place of worship and high importance so I was debating with myself if I should even use the architecture as inspiration. I don't want to appropriate any culture, I truly just admire the architecture and how beautiful it looks. I want to represent the culture and it's people respectfully and also be considerate. i am doing as much research as possible so that's why I came here to ask for additional sources and opinions. If you think I should ask a different subreddit please let me know
Posted Jul 18, 2026, 3:23 AM UTC