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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]
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".
To the right of the mihrab in the central tower is a second niche, the pulpit or minbar, from which the imam preaches his Friday sermon. [18] The towers in the qibla wall do not contain stairs linking the prayer hall with the roof. Instead there are two square towers housing stairs leading to the roof.
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 mihrab, a niche symbolizing the qibla (direction of prayer), is set in the middle of the qibla wall (the southern wall) of the prayer hall and is a central focus of its layout. The prayer hall has a "T"-plan, in that the central nave aligned with the mihrab and another transverse (i.e. perpendicular) aisle running along the qibla wall are ...
The minbar does still feature finely-crafted bronze doors with geometric patterns. A dado of marble also runs along the other two walls of the iwan, although at a much shorter height. A stone platform, known as a dikkat, stands in the middle of the space and was where reciters of the Qur'an would recite aloud for communal prayers.
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.
The mihrab does not contain any decorations. The minaret did not exist initially, and it was added later in 1348 according to the scripture available inside the prayer hall. [1] The date of construction is inscribed on the minbar commissioned specifically for the mosque, and on the part of the marble which is used for the minaret. [1]