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Typically, such emphasis would be conferred by a mihrab, a niche-like structure that serves as the focal point on the qibla wall. However, in this case, the mihrab takes the form of a narrow vertical recess that extends to the wall's height, with a barely noticeable alteration in the wall's angle occurring between the mihrab and the minbar. [2]
Mihrab (Arabic: محراب, miḥrāb, pl. محاريب maḥārīb) is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the qibla, the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a mihrab appears is thus the "qibla wall".
The mosque's mihrab, whose decor is a remarkable witness of Muslim art in the early centuries of Islam, is distinguished by its harmonious composition and the quality of its ornaments. Considered as the oldest example of concave mihrab, it dates in its present state to 862–863 AD. [77] Upper part of the mihrab Luster tiles of the mihrab
The text is a fragment of the Surat al-Fath (Sura of Victory) from the Qur'an. [1] Below this inscription band, the qibla wall is covered in multicolored marble paneling, centered around the mihrab (the niche symbolizing the direction of prayer) which is framed by its own golden inscription and whose central half-dome hood features a sunrise ...
[12]: 178–180 On either side of the mihrab are two doors giving access to small chambers, one of which was used to store the wooden minbar (a ceremonial pulpit). Above and right in front of the mihrab is a large square cupola filled with a dome of finely-carved and painted muqarnas (stalactite or honeycomb-like geometric sculpture). Similar ...
Behind the qibla wall, on the south side of the mosque, are several chambers and smaller annexes, including the imam's chamber, the minbar's storage chamber, a library, and a mida'a or ablutions chamber (Arabic: ميضأة). [3]
[13]: 72 [15]: 135 [4]: 37 The original mihrab was replaced with a new one of Zirid style at the middle of the shortened qibla wall. [31] The minaret, which might have originally been located at the middle of the courtyard's north side (like at the Great Mosque of Kairouan), would have thus found itself at the corner of a reduced courtyard.
The twin mihrab and minbar niches are built into the qibla wall, which is typical of the mosques of the region. [ 3 ] Among its most distinctive characteristics are its spare, unmortared, split stone masonry, its square minaret tower, and its conscious lack of adornment, keeping with the strict Malikite beliefs of the city's founders.