Mihrab

A mihrab is a niche set into a mosque’s wall to mark the qibla—the direction of Mecca’s Kaaba that Muslims face during prayer. The wall containing it is called the qibla wall. The minbar, a raised platform used by the imam to address worshippers, stands to the mihrab’s right.

The word *miḥrāb* has a complex origin, with several scholarly theories. It may derive from Old South Arabian (possibly Sabaic), where it referred to a part of a palace or a temple area used for a specific religious ritual involving an overnight retreat. Another possibility links it to an Ethiopic word for “temple” or “sanctuary,” related to a Sabaic term meaning “to dedicate” and cognate with Akkadian “to bless” and Hebrew “cherub.” Arab lexicographers traditionally trace it to the Arabic root for war or fighting, leading some to interpret it as a “fortress” or a “place of battle (with Satan),” especially since mihrabs were used as private prayer chambers. Originally, the word had a non-religious meaning, simply denoting a special room in a house—such as a throne room in a palace. It was described as the most honorable location of kings, the front and master of locations. The Islamic prophet Muhammad later used the term for his own private prayer room, which also provided access to the adjacent mosque. This original sense of a private worship room persists in some forms of Judaism. In the Qur’an, the word (with the definite article) mostly refers to the Holy of Holies, as when Zechariah emerges from the mihrab to address his people.

The earliest mihrabs were simple—a stripe of paint or a flat stone panel on the qibla wall. They may have functioned like a maqsura, marking where the imam led prayers and where official duties like dispensing justice occurred. In Medina’s Mosque of the Prophet, a large stone block initially indicated the north wall oriented toward Jerusalem (the first qibla), but was moved to the south wall when the qibla shifted to Mecca. This mihrab also marked where Muhammad would plant his lance before leading prayers. During the reign of Umayyad caliph al-Walid I, the Mosque of the Prophet was renovated, and the governor of Medina ordered a niche to designate the qibla wall—the first concave mihrab, called *miḥrāb mujawwaf*. Scholars debate its origin: some link it to Christian church apses, others to Buddhist alcove shrines or niches. Niches were common in Late Antique architecture, used as hollow spaces or to house statues, and the mihrab niche may also relate to the recessed area sheltering a throne in royal audience halls.

The next documented concave mihrab was added to the Umayyad Mosque of Damascus during its construction by al-Walid, followed by one in the Mosque of ‘Amr ibn al-‘As in Fustat. Concave mihrabs then spread widely and became a standard mosque feature. The oldest surviving example is a marble mihrab at the Iraq Museum, likely from the 8th century, possibly made in northern Syria before being moved to Baghdad’s Great Mosque of al-Mansur, then later to a 17th-century mosque, and finally to the museum. It features Classical or Late Antique motifs, with spiral columns flanking the niche and a scalloped shell-like hood above. Eventually, the niche became universally understood as the qibla marker, so no additional sign was needed. Today, mihrabs vary in size but are often ornately decorated, sometimes flanked by pairs of candlesticks (though without lit candles). In Ottoman mosques, these candlesticks were made of brass, bronze, or beaten copper with bell-shaped bases. In rare cases, a mihrab does not follow the qibla direction, as seen in the Masjid al-Qiblatayn, or Mosque of the Two Qiblas.