HUMA 1845 Lecture Notes - Lecture 79: Jama Masjid, Minbar, Mihrab
6 Jan 2018
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Document Summary
There are two words for mosque in arabic masjid and jami". Related to sujud, (ar. prostration), masjid means a building for prayer; jami" denotes a place of gathering. Emulating the stone platform that the prophet muhammad ascended to give his sermons, the minbar has been an essential feature of a congregational mosque since the year 750 c. e. It stands next to the mihrab (ar. signifier of the direction of the prayer) an ornamental arched niche set into the qibla wall to indicate the direction of mecca. Mecca became the focal center of islam in 629. Another eighty years passed before the mihrab niche made its appearance in mosque architecture. Prior to that innovation, the orientation of prayer was indicated either by a spear standing upright in the sand in an open desert mosque without walls, or by a piece of rock, as in the prophet"s house in.
