thumb|Mihrab in the [[Prophet's Mosque, Medina]]
Mihrab (, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the qibla, the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a mihrab appears is thus the "qibla wall".
The minbar, which is the raised platform from which an imam (leader of prayer) addresses the congregation, is located to the right of the mihrab.
Etymology
The origin of the word miḥrāb is complicated, and multiple explanations have been proposed by different sources and scholars. as well as "part of a temple where tḥrb (a certain type of visions) is obtained," from the root word ḥrb "to perform a certain religious ritual (which is compared to combat or fighting and described as an overnight retreat) in the mḥrb of the temple." whose equivalent in Sabaic is mkrb of the same meaning, does not however carry any relation to religious rituals) thus leading some to interpret it to mean a "fortress", or "place of battle (with Satan)," the latter due to mihrabs being private prayer chambers. The latter interpretation though bears similarity to the nature of the ḥrb ritual.
The word mihrab originally had a non-religious meaning and simply denoted a special room in a house; a throne room in a palace, for example. The Fath al-Bari (p. 458), on the authority of others, suggests the mihrab is "the most honorable location of kings" and "the master of locations, the front and the most honorable." The Mosques in Islam (p. 13), in addition to Arabic sources, cites Theodor Nöldeke and others as having considered a mihrab to have originally signified a throne room.
The term was subsequently used by the Islamic prophet Muhammad to denote his own private prayer room. The room additionally provided access to the adjacent mosque, and Muhammad entered the mosque through this room. This original meaning of mihrab – i.e. as a special room in the house – continues to be preserved in some forms of Judaism where mihrabs are rooms used for private worship. In the Qur'an, the word (when in conjunction with the definite article) is mostly used to indicate the Holy of Holies. The term is used, for example, in the verse .<!-- "sanctuary" in Pickthall and Rodwell, "chamber" in Abdullah Yusuf Ali, "place of worship" in Mohammad Habib Shakir -->
History
thumb|8th-century marble mihrab found in the al-Khassaki Mosque in [[Baghdad, now housed at the Iraq Museum|left]]
The earliest mihrabs generally consisted of a simple stripe of paint or a flat stone panel in the qibla wall.