Minbars

One of you today wanted to know more about the minbar, the pulpit found in Friday mosques, otherwise known as congregational mosques. Although Muslims are required to pray five times a day, most days of week people will pray in the smaller and generally unadorned mosques known as masjids. On Friday for mid-day prayers Muslims generally make their way to the larger mosques. One of the things that distinguish this prayer is that it is accompanied by a sermon, given by a professional preacher-scholar in the larger cities. Hence the utility of the minbar, the pulpit from which the sermon is preached.

Minbars were also thought of as a place where public announcements could be made, especially in the event of a communal crisis. When a city was threatened by plague, famine, or siege, people would gather naturally in the congregational mosques and it was from the minbar that the most respected members of the community could speak. This may account for why Genghiz Khan or his handlers thought the minbar of the congregational mosque of Bukhara was an appropriate place for him to address the survivors of his siege, sack, and massacre of the city. Hence the somewhat bizarre spectacle of the non-Muslim Genghiz Khan addressing the Muslims of the city he had just largely destroyed.

A fine minbar was one of the distinctive marks of a city, a source of pride for its inhabitants, noted by travelers who passed through, the highest of the woodworking arts. The images above are a random sample of some of the best ones.