Minbar

Minbar in the Ortaköy mosque in Istanbul.

A minbar (also called mimbar sometimes, Arabic: منبرcode: ar is deprecated ) is a special place in a mosque. It is used by the Imam to speak to the congregation, to deliver sermons. Usually, minbars are raised (to be higher than the crowd, much like pulpits); These sermons are usually called khutbah ( خطبه ). In a minbar, the speaker is standing while he is giving the lecture. An alternative to this is to have a Hussainia where the speaker can sit down while giving the lecture.

Very often, the minbar is shaped like a small tower. The minbar is located to the right of the mihrab, the niche that indicates the direction of prayer (i.e. towards Mecca).

Minbar Media

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  Ottoman-era minbar of the Molla Çelebi Mosque in Istanbul.

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  The minbar of the Great Mosque of Kairouan in Kairouan, Tunisia, the oldest minbar in existence, still in its original location in the prayer hall of the mosque. (Photograph from the 19th century, before a modern protective glass barrier was installed)

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  The Fatimid minbar in the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, commissioned in 1091

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  El Aksa (i.e., al-Aqsa) Mosque. Cedar pulpit & mihrab LOC matpc.03246 (cropped and retouched)

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  Details of geometric motifs and inlay work on the Mamluk-era Minbar of al-Ghamri (c. 1451) at the Khanqah of Sultan Barsbay, Cairo

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  Ilkhanid-era minbar in the Great Mosque of Na'in in Iran (1311)

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  Marble minbar of the Mamluk-era Aqsunqur Mosque in Cairo (circa 1347)

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  Minbar of the Friday Mosque in Mandu, India (circa 1454)

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  The Mughal-era minbar of the Friday Mosque in Delhi (17th century) is an example of a minbar without a canopy.