Mihrab

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Mihrab

A mihrab is a niche

Niche (architecture)

The niche is ouner place in classical architecture is an exedra or an apse that has been reduced in size, retaining the half-dome heading usual for an apse....
in the wall of a mosque

Mosque

A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. Muslims often refer to the mosque by its Arabic name, masjid, ? . The word "mosque" in English refers to all types of buildings dedicated for Islamic worship, although there is a distinction in Arabic between the smaller, privately owned mosque and the larger, "collective" mosque ,...
that indicates the qibla
Qibla

Qiblah is an Arabic language word for the direction that should be faced when a Muslim prayer during Salah. Most mosques contain a mihrab in a wall that indicates the qiblah....
, that is, the direction of the Kaaba

Kaaba

The Kaaba "Cube" is a cuboidal building in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is the Most holy place#Islam in Islam. The building is more than two thousand years old, and according to Islamic tradition the first building at the site was built by Abraham ....
in Mecca

Mecca

Mecca , also spelled Makkah , Makka is a city in Saudi Arabia. Home to the Masjid al-Haram, it is the holy city in Islam and plays an important role in the faith....
and hence the direction that Muslim

Muslim

:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits "....
s should face when praying. The wall in which a mihrab appears is thus the "qibla wall."

Mihrabs should not be confused with the minbar
Minbar

A minbar is a pulpit in the mosque where the Imam stands to deliver sermons or in the Hussainia where the speaker sits and lectures the congregation....
, which is the raised platform from which an Imam

Imam

File:Medaillon chiite.jpgAn imam is an Islamic leadership position. Often the leader of a mosque and the community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads the prayer during Islamic gatherings....
(leader of prayer) addresses the congregation.

word mihrab originally had a non-religious meaning and simply denoted a special room in a house, a throne room in a palace for example.

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Encyclopedia

A mihrab is a niche

Niche (architecture)

The niche is ouner place in classical architecture is an exedra or an apse that has been reduced in size, retaining the half-dome heading usual for an apse....
in the wall of a mosque

Mosque

Kaaba

Mecca

Muslim

Imam

History

The word mihrab originally had a non-religious meaning and simply denoted a special room in a house, a throne room in a palace for example. The Fath al-Bari

Fath al-Bari

Fath ul-Bari fi Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari or Fathul Bari or "Grant of the Creator" is the most valued Sunni Islam commentary of Sahih Bukhari, written by Ibn Hajr Asqalani in 18 volumes....
(p. 458), on the authority of others, suggests the mihrab is "the most honorable location of kings" and "the master of locations, the front and the most honorable." The Mosques in Islam (p. 213), in addition to Arabic sources, cites Theodor Nöldeke

Theodor Nöldeke

Theodor N?ldeke , Germany Semitic scholar, was born at Harburg, and studied at university of G?ttingen, Vienna, Leiden and Humboldt University of Berlin....
and others as having considered a mihrab to have originally signified a throne room.

The term was subsequently used by the Prophet Muhammad

Muhammad

Muhammad Patronymic#Arabic Abd Allah ibn Abd al Muttalib , is the founder of the Major religious groups of Islam and is regarded by Muslims as a Rasul and prophet of , the last and the greatest law-bearer in a series of prophets....
to denote his own private prayer room. The room additionally provided access to the adjacent mosque, and the Prophet would enter the mosque through this room. This original meaning of mihrab - i.e. as a special room in the house - continues to be preserved in some forms of Judaism

Judaism

Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts....
where mihrabs are rooms used for private worship. In the Koran (xix.12), the word mihrab refers to a sanctuary/place of worship.

During the reign of the Uthman Ibn Affan (r. 644-656), the Caliph

Caliph

The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the leader of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah....
ordered a sign to be posted on the wall of the mosque at Medina

Medina

Medina is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Prophet Muhammad....
so that pilgrims could easily identify the direction in which to address their prayers (i.e. that of Mecca

Mecca

Mecca , also spelled Makkah , Makka is a city in Saudi Arabia. Home to the Masjid al-Haram, it is the holy city in Islam and plays an important role in the faith....
). The sign was however just a sign on the wall, and the wall itself remained flat. Subsequently, during the reign of Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik

Al-Walid I

Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik or Al-Walid I was an Umayyad caliph who ruled from 705 - 715. He continued the expansion of the Islamic empire that was sparked by his father, and was an effective ruler....
(Al-Walid I, r. 705-715), the mosque of the Prophet - the Masjid al Nabawi - was renovated and the governor (wali
Wali

Wali , is an Arabic word meaning "trusted one"; it generally denotes "friend of God" in the phrase ??? ???? waliyu 'llah It should not be confused with the word Wali which is an administrative title that was used in the Muslim Caliphate, and still today in some Muslim countries....
) of Medina, Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz, ordered that a niche be made to designate the qibla
Qibla

Qiblah is an Arabic language word for the direction that should be faced when a Muslim prayer during Salah. Most mosques contain a mihrab in a wall that indicates the qiblah....
wall (which identifies the direction of Mecca), and it was in this niche that Uthman's sign was placed.

Eventually, the niche came to be universally understood to identify the qibla wall, and so came to be adopted as a feature in other mosques. A sign was no longer necessary.

The Koranic passage (xix.12) that refers to a mihrab – "... then he [i.e. Zakariya] came forth to his people from the sanctuary/place of worship ..." – is inscribed on or over some mihrabs.

Present-day use

Today, Mihrabs vary in size, are usually ornately decorated and often designed to give the impression of an arched doorway or a passage to Mecca

Mecca

Mecca , also spelled Makkah , Makka is a city in Saudi Arabia. Home to the Masjid al-Haram, it is the holy city in Islam and plays an important role in the faith....
.

In exceptional cases, the mihrab does not follow the qibla direction. One example is the Mezquita

Mezquita

The Mezquita of Cordoba is a Roman Catholic cathedral and former mosque situated in the Andalusian city of C?rdoba, Spain. Originally built as a church, after the Muslim conquest the building was confiscated for use as a mosque and greatly expanded until it became the second-largest mosque in the world....
of Córdoba, Spain

Córdoba, Spain

viktor chucchuc he sucsuck my dick||-||-|File:Cordoba Water Wheel.jpg|}Cordova is a city in Andalusia, southern Spain, and the capital of the C?rdoba ....
that points South instead of Southeast. Among the proposed explanations, there is the localization of the ancient Roman cardo

Cardo

In ancient Roman city planning, a cardo or cardus was a north-south-oriented street in cities, military camps, and Colonia e. Sometimes called the cardus maximus, the cardo served as the center of economic life....
street besides the old temple the Mezquita was built upon.