MINBAR

Generally pronounced mimbar ( منبر‎ ). The pulpit in a mosque from which the k͟hut̤bah (or sermon) is recited. It consists of three steps, and is sometimes a moveable wooden structure, and sometimes a fixture of brick or stone built against the wall. Muḥammad, in addre ing the congregation, stood on the uppermost step, Abū Bakr on the second, and ʿUmar on the third or lowest. ʿUs̤mān fixed upon the middle step, and since then it has been the custom to preach from that step. The Shīʿahs have four steps to their mimbars. IMG:3048615538088815629_p476.png:A MIMBAR IN AN INDIAN MOSQUE. A MIMBAR IN AN INDIAN MOSQUE. ( W. S. Chadwick .) IMG:3048615538088815629_p349-2.png:A MIMBAR IN AN EGYPTIAN MOSQUE. A MIMBAR IN AN EGYPTIAN MOSQUE. ( W. S. Chadwick .) The mimbars in the mosques of Cairo are elevated structures, but in Asia they are of a more primitive character. Burton says: “In the beginning the Prophet leaned, when fatigued, against a post, whilst preaching the k͟hut̤bah or Friday sermon. The mimbar, or pulpit, was an invention of a Madīnah man of the Banū Najjār. It was a wooden frame, two cubits long by one broad, with three steps, each one span high; on the topmost of these the Prophet sat when he required rest. The pulpit a umed its present form about A.H . 90, during the artistic reign of El Walid.” IMG:3048615538088815629_p350.png:A MIMBAR IN MOSQUES AT PESHAWAR. A MIMBAR IN MOSQUES AT PESHAWAR.