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Minbar
Arabic:
minbar
Pulpit in a mosque, placed next to the mihrab. The minbar is used with the khutba, the Friday sermon, and the khatib (the person performing the Friday sermon) ascends it. But he stops on one of the lower steps, as the top of the minbar is restricted to the Prophet only.
Early on, the minbar soon got an important function for transmitting official proclamations were made, whether it be from the secular rulers or from religious leaders.
A minbar is considered as a good place for baraka, blessings, and for giving oaths.
There seems to have been some Christian influence on what shape the minbar took early on in the beginning of the history of the mosques. But its history goes back to the very beginning of Islam, to the time of the Prophet. Its introduction is probably an expression of the Prophets position in the society, where the minbar worked as a throne. The minbar of the Prophet had no more than two steps, and a seat. It was the caliph Mu'awiyya who in 670 CE (50 H) raised the minbar of Muhammad with 6 steps, and this became the pattern for all minbars ever after, even if Mu'awiyya's act was strongly opposed.
There were numerous disagreements on whether a mosque should have a minbar when there were no ruler around to ascend it. But minbars had become a normal part of even province mosques well before 700 CE. And in some mosques, more than one minbar is found. Minbars soon came to be covered with a curtain, after pattern of Ka'ba.
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By: Tore Kjeilen
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