The term mihrab in the Qur'an

[Rami Tanous]

Dear all,

I wanted to ask if you could direct me to bibliographic references that discuss the origins of the word mihrab in the Qur'an,

and any possible Jewish, Christian or other influences on its usage in the Qur'an and Islamic literature.

Thanks,

Rami.

[Mehdy Shaddel]

   Dear Rami,
   As you know well, the Qur'an is the first book in Arabic, and for questions regarding the origins of the Qur'anic terms, the first place one must be looking into is the Qur'an itself. I looked it up and found only four attestations for the word. Strangely enough, it is always used in connection with Biblical characters. Twice for referring to the quarter in which Mary used to live, once for the place where it was revealed to Zachariah that he is going to beget John-presumably in the Temple Mount-and once in David's story-I am doubtful about where the word mihrab here refers to, probably the Temple Mount again.
   Some scholars-stepping in the path of classical Islamic scholars, looking into the words' roots-have argued that mihrab has possibly something to do with harb (war, fight), and hence means the place of fighting, a battlefield, arguing that it is the place where the Muslim fights the devil. But this argument is not convincing for many-including me.
   One of the best places to look for such things is always EI2. The entry could be found in volume VII, page 7 onwards. See also Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an, volume IV, page 429, under the entry Mosque. It asserts that the first mihrabs were introduced into Umayyad mosques of Damascus and Medina. Also see idem, volume I, pp. 162 and 165, under Art and Architecture and the Qur'an.
   I am interested in the topic and I would be happy to hear from you if you find anything of importance pertaining to the question.
   Kind Regards,
   May

[Sasha Treiger]

Dear Rami,

 

The word "mihrab" in the Qur'an means "sanctuary" or "temple" and in the Mary / Zachariah passages it is essentially a reference to the Holy of Holies of the Jerusalem Temple (where, as you know, according to the Protoevangelium of James and the Church tradition dependent on it, Mary grew up -- this is the origin of the feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple, celebrated on November 21).

 

This is also the meaning of the term "mihrab" in Judeo-Arabic (see Blau's Dictionary of Judaeo-Arabic, s.v.: he shows that in Sa'adiah Gaon's translation of the Psalms, "mihrab" renders "dbir" = Holy of Holies), Christian Arabic, and even occasionally philosophical Arabic (Avicenna relates a story about a "mihrab haykal Asqlebiyus" which had the inscription: "Know yourself, O man, so you might know your Lord").

 

The origin of the word is Ethiopic (Eth. məkwərāb means "temple").

 

What we know today as "mihrab" (=niche in the mosque, showing the direction of the Meccan "temple") is a secondary meaning.

 

Here are some studies on "mihrab" (in various meanings):

 

Nuha N. N. Khoury, “The Miḥrāb: From Text to Form,” International Journal of Middle East Studies, 30.1 (1998): 1-27

Heribert Busse, “The Tower of David/Miḥrāb Dāwūd: Remarks on the History of a Sanctuary in Jerusalem in Christian and Islamic Times,” Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 17 (1994): 142-165

E. Whelan, “The Origins of the miḥrāb mujawwaf: A Reinterpretation,” International Journal of Middle East Studies 18 (1986): 205-223

On the Ethiopic origin see: Dan Shapira, “Stray Notes on Aksum and Himyar,” Scrinium 2 (2006): 433-443, at p. 443n29  [http://byzantinorossica.org.ru/sources/scr02/scr02-433-443.djvu]; W. Leslau, Comparative Dictionary of Ge‘ez (Classical Ethiopic), p. 341.

 

Hope this helps.

Best,

Sasha

 

--
Dr. Alexander Treiger
Associate Professor
Religious Studies Programme
Dalhousie University
atre...@dal.ca
http://dal.academia.edu/AlexanderTreiger
902-494-3493

 

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[William Hume]

Dear Professor Trieger,

Do you know whether the "nontraditional"/ modern-critical consensus would be that "mih.rab" and "haykal" are equivalent, as used in the Qur'an?  In other words, is there a post-Quranic distinction between the two that evolved?  I continue to compile a list of equivalent terms in the Qur'an, as potential "differentiators" or markers of Two Sources.  WSH

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[Sasha Treiger]

Dear William,

 

I don't know if they are strictly equivalent -- mihrab seems in some contexts to refer specifically to a sanctuary within a temple, rather than to the temple in general. I think unltimately it boils down to an analysis of the Qur'anic passages containing the word mihrab.

 

These are:

Q. 3:37 [God providing for Mary in the miḥrāb, i.e. the Holy of Holies]; 38:21 [two rivals entering the miḥrāb to present their case to David; cf. 2 Sam. 12]; 3:39 [Zakariah is praying in the miḥrāb to have a son, and the angels tell him about John]; 19:11 [Zakariah is coming out of the miḥrāb to speak to the people in signs]; 34:13 [the jinn make maḥārīb for Solomon]

 

Maybe others on the list can comment on what the current consensus on the meaning of the term is.

 

Best wishes,

Sasha 

[Daniel Bannoura]

Dear Sasha and all,

It's very doubtful that the Qur'an is referring specifically to a sanctuary within the temple, else it would be making at atrocious historical mistake. According to the Talmud, and the Jewish tradition in general, no woman was allowed into the Inner Court, not the least inside the temple proper (hekel) (cf. Ber. 3, Ned. 11). We can also be certain that Q. 3:37 above was not referring to the Holy of Holies, as it was accessed once a year by the High Priest -both kohen and male!

In the passage Q 3:36-39 the word miḥrāb is mentioned twice, first where Zachariah runs into Mary with the child (v.37), and second when the angels appear to him while praying (v.39). According to the biblical tradition, Zachariah would have been praying inside the temple itself by the Alter of Incense (the other being the Alter of Burned Offering, cf. Luke 1:8-11; also Exodus 30:1-10, 39:38; Numbers 4:11). See the outline of Herod's temple.

Now according to the apocryphal Gospel of James, Mary's supposed mother, Anna, who was barren, gave the child to service as a consecrated virgin in the Temple in Jerusalem when she was three years old, much like Hannah took Samuel to the Tabernacle as recorded in the Tanakh (1 Samuel 1-2). If that passage has any merit, Mary would have lived and served in the Outer Court (or Women's Hall). As far as I'm concerned, the Gospel of James simply lifted that story from 1 Samuel, as to draw a connection between David and Jesus (with both Samuel and Mary bringing about the Messiah). The author of the gospel also mentions certain Jewish customs that probably did not exist (e.g. the existence of consecrated temple virgins, akin to the Vestal virgins of Rome). This could be one of the reasons that the church considered the gospel of James apocryphal!

Coming back to the Qur'anic text: If we stay away from the revisionist interpretation that the author(s) of the Qur'an was/were drawing on available sources concerning the infancy life of Mary without much understanding or knowledge of Jewish traditions and temple life, we could safely assume that the Qur'an uses the word miḥrāb  to refer to the temple generically (Outer and Inner Courts with Temple proper). The same way of writing is used in the New Testament: Mary and Joseph found Jesus "in the temple" talking with the teachers (Luke 2:46), which was probably in the Outer Court where most of Jesus' Temple teachings took place. Also Matthew 21:12 recounts Jesus going "into the temple" and driving out merchants and overturning the tables of the money changers; merchants and money changers would have occupied the Court of Gentiles, in the outer grounds of the temple. 

I hope this is helpful.

Daniel Bannoura

​Islamic Studies - Divinity School

University of Chicago​

(773) 540-7182

[Sasha Treiger]

Hello Daniel and All,

 

Personally, I believe that the Qur'an draws on the Gospel of James (or related traditions), and that the Gospel of James is trying to make a theological point when it says that the virgin Mary grew up in the Holy of Holies, rather than in the outer court (it says so explicitly: "And Joseph stood up from the sackcloth, and called Mary, and said to her: O thou who hast been cared for by God, why hast thou done this and forgotten the Lord thy God? Why hast thou brought low thy soul, thou that wast brought up in the holy of holies, and that didst receive food from the hand of an angel?").

 

I don't think the author of the Gospel of James was necessarily ignorant of the Jewish tradition and was thus committing a historical blunder. To the contrary, I think the author was perfectly clear about the fact that only the High Priest was ever allowed into the Holy of Holies (and that only on the Day of the Atonement). The point he is trying to make is that DESPITE THAT, MIRACULOUSLY, the Virgin Mary was allowed in there and grew up there (presumably because Zachariah was inspired by the Holy Spirit to take her in there). (Just as when other Gospel writers argued that she was able to miraculously conceive while being a virgin, they were not ignorant, of course, that this would not be the habit of nature...)

 

The theological point the Gospel of James is trying to make, I think, is that by growing up in the (Old-Testament) Holy of Holies, the Virgin Mary has now become the New Holy of Holies in which God the Word would dwell.

 

This is in fact how the significance of the event is interpreted in Orthodox church hymns on the feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple, e.g.:

 

"Into the Holy of holies / is the holy and immaculate one / led by the Holy Spirit; / and she is fed by a holy angel, / in that she is the most holy temple / of our holy God, / Who hath sanctified all things by her entry / and hath deified the nature of mortal men // which had fallen."

 

So I think the Qur'an was familiar with this tradition (whether from the Gospel of James directly or from other sources), and thus the term "mihrab" in the Mary / Zachariah passages might well refer specifically to the Holy of Holies (even if that is odds with the Jewish tradition). I don't think that's a revisionist argument. I believe the Qur'an expected its audience to be familiar with these kinds of traditional Christian stories and interpretations and it thus alludes to them.

 

Warmly,

Sasha 

[SAMIR Khalil]

Thank you Sasha,

I think your interpretation and explanation corresponds more to what we know from the spread of this apocryphal text in the Oriental Christian communities, including the Syriac (and Arab) speaking Churches. More generally, a lot of Qur’anic verses dealing with Christian traditions are borrowed from apocryphal stories.

What you mentioned from the Byzantine Liturgy corresponds to the traditional Christian tradition. I suggest that you develop the whole question of “miḥrāb” in an article including the different aspects: philological, historical in connection with Judaism (by the way, thank you Daniel for your contribution) and with Christianity, and theological.

Fr. Samir

 

---

From: sashat...@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 2013 12:34:43 -0300

Subject: Re: [nascas] Re: The term mihrab in the Qur'an

To: nas...@googlegroups.com

[Sasha Treiger]

Thank you, Father Samir!

You are very kind. I might do that one day.

This is part of a larger project (currently on the back burner).

Best wishes always,

Sasha

[Daniel Abraham]

May I bring to your attention the interesting aspect of the Arabic meaning of mīḥrāb? According to Ibn 'Ashūr in Tafsīr al-Taḥrīr wa al-Tanūīr vol. 3 p. 237:

it is said: that the mīḥrāb is derived from war (ḥarb), because the worshiper inside it was in a war like with the devil, it is like they made that place a tool to wage war on the devil.

http://islamport.com/w/tfs/Web/2397/750.htm

http://ia600502.us.archive.org/22/items/tahrer_tanwer/thtn03.pdf

Also, may I bring to your attention the Arabic meaning of Raheb (monk) which could mean "fearer". 

It seems like there was some monastic traditions going around during this period which suggest God fearing people living in isolation to battle the devil. 

[Sasha Treiger]

Thank you, Daniel!

Best wishes,
Sasha

On 7/24/13, Daniel Abraham <same...@gmail.com> wrote:
> May I bring to your attention the interesting aspect of the Arabic meaning

> of *mīḥrāb*? According to *Ibn 'Ashūr* in *Tafsīr al-Taḥrīr wa al-Tanūīr*

> vol.
> 3 p. 237:
>
> it is said: that the mīḥrāb is derived from war (ḥarb), because the
>> worshiper inside it was in a war like with the devil, it is like they made
>>
>> that place a tool to wage war on the devil.
>
>
> http://islamport.com/w/tfs/Web/2397/750.htm
>
> http://ia600502.us.archive.org/22/items/tahrer_tanwer/thtn03.pdf
>
> Also, may I bring to your attention the Arabic meaning of Raheb (monk)
> which could mean "fearer".
>
> It seems like there was some monastic traditions going around during this
> period which suggest God fearing people living in isolation to battle the
> devil.
>

[Stephan Huller]

Hi Everyone

I have absolutely no expertise in Arabic but was revisiting the problem of the term mihrab in the Quran and think I may have found a solution.  Of course it involves the acceptance of a 'slip' in transmission which is never popular or reassuring.  I would welcome the input of scholars with greater erudition.  

I am especially interested in the last of four references to the terminology in the Qur'an 34:13 [the jinn make maḥārīb for Solomon]

This is a well known story which goes back to Eccl 2.8 where demons are said to have built the temple and the walls which surrounded the city.  In the descriptions of the construction there are passages that refer to the "broad wall". The returnees reused sections of the older wall in their reconstructed city.

 

"Next unto him repaired Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, of the goldsmiths. Next unto him also repaired Hananiah the son of one of the apothecaries, and they fortified Jerusalem unto the broad wall ( הַחוֹמָ֥ה הָרְחָבָֽה)." 

The idea here is that Nehemiah expanded upon a section of wall that was already constructed by Solomon.  Indeed the entire construction project as a whole is described as "great and broad" (הַרְבֵּ֖ה וּרְחָבָ֑ה) in the next chapter.  

Thanks

[SAMIR Khalil]

Dear all,

Here is an article on mihrab written by Christian ROBIN written in 1991 (here p. 152-155). I send it in attachment. There is also an article in the Encyclopaedia of Islam. I remember also an article by the late Gérard TROUPEAU: I hope to find it.

Fr. Samir

---

Date: Thu, 12 May 2016 12:35:30 -0700
From: stephan....@gmail.com
To: nas...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [nascas] Re: The term mihrab in the Qur'an

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[SAMIR Khalil]

Here is the reference to TROUPEAU's article: "Le mot mihrâb chez les lexicographes arabes", in: Alexandre Papadopoulo (Ed.), Le Mihrab dans l'Architecture et la Religion Musulmanes (Brill 1988), p. 60-64.

Fr. Samir

---

Date: Thu, 12 May 2016 12:35:30 -0700
From: stephan....@gmail.com
To: nas...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [nascas] Re: The term mihrab in the Qur'an

[Stephan Huller]

Excellent.  Thank you!

[Nikolai Seleznyov]

Perhaps, these two papers may be useful too.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22915640/whelan.pdf

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22915640/khoury.pdf

Nikolai