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The qibla is the direction of the Kaaba, a cube-like building at the centre of the Sacred Mosque (al-Masjid al-Haram) in Mecca, in the Hijaz region of Saudi Arabia. Other than its role as qibla, it is also the holiest site for Muslims, also known as the House of God (Bayt Allah) and where the tawaf (the circumambulation ritual) is performed during the Hajj and umrah pilgrimages.
The second, outer row of eleven columns creates an eleven-sided outer arcade. The qibla wall contains the mihrab or prayer niche and is flanked by two smaller columns. [1] There are a total of seventeen columns in the structure, excluding the mihrab. One of the oldest historical sources (903 CE) states that initially there used to be twenty ...
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 mihrab is a niche or alcove, typically concave, set into the qibla wall (the wall standing in the direction of prayer) of a mosque or other prayer space. It symbolized and indicated the direction of the qibla to worshippers. It also acquired ritual and ceremonial importance over time, and its shape was even used as a symbol on some coinage.
View of the mosque's hypostyle interior. The mosque's layout is somewhat irregular, suggesting multiple modifications throughout its history. [3] The floor plan is roughly rectangular: the southeast wall (corresponding to the qibla or direction of prayer) is 44.24 m (145.1 ft) long, the northeast wall is 19.35 m (63.5 ft) long, the southwest wall is approximately 20.3 m (67 ft) long, and the ...
Later, another set of these arcades were built to reinforce them. The external edicule of a mihrab built in the walls is topped by an arch. The outside veneer of the qibla divider is strengthened by a 30 cm wide brace that finishes the establishment. This mihrab has a broken arch that resides on top of two columns with rectangular capitals. [5]
[65] [d] Excluding the two aisles on each side of the central nave, each aisle was made up of eleven arches running perpendicular to the qibla. The central nave was twice the breadth of the other aisles and had a gabled roof with a dome. [68] [e] The mosque likely lacked the side doors of its predecessor. [57]
Of the two alternative entrances, one opens into the southern arcade while the other opens between the northern and western arcades. [1] Unlike other tombs in Cairo, Kujuk's mausoleum, which predates the mosque, is not aligned according to the qibla ("orientation with Mecca") and instead is aligned with the street. This structure is the ...