Dictionary of islamic architecture

mescit
Turkish term for a small mosque without a minbar,
equivalent to the Arabic term masjid.
mihrab
Niche or marker used to indicate the direction of
prayer usually in a mosque.
A mihrab is usually a niche set into the middle
of the qibla wall of a building in order to indicate
the direction of Mecca. The earliest mosques do
not appear to have had mihrabs and instead the
whole qibla wall was used to indicate the direction
of Mecca. Sometimes a painted mark or a tree
stump would be used to reinforce the direction.
In the cave beneath the rock in the Dome of the
Rock there is a marble plaque with a blind niche
carved into it which, if contemporary with the rest
of the structure, may be dated to 692 making it the
oldest surviving mihrab. The first concave mihrab
appears to have been inserted into the Prophet’s
Mosque at Medina during some restorations
carried out by the Umayyad caliph al-Walid I in
706. Excavations at Wasit in Iraq have confirmed
this date for the introduction of the first concave
mihrab where there are two superimposed
mosques; the lower one datable to the seventh
century has no mihrab whilst the upper mosque
has a concave mihrab.
Mihrab built in 1227 of dressed limestone, Great Mosque, Silvan
mescit
Pre-thirteenth-century house, Merv, Turkmenistan

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In addition to its function as a directional indica-
tor it is thought that the first mihrab niches had a
ceremonial or ritual function associated with
symbols of royalty. Certainly the mihrab became a
focus for architectural decoration and was often
embellished with the latest artistic techniques (e.g.
stucco, polychrome glazed tiles, carved woodwork,
glass mosaic, marble inlay). The designs were usually
epigraphic and often geometric or vegetal, but never
with any suggestion of figurative imagery. The area
in front of the mihrab was also emphasized, either
by a maqsura immediately in front of the mihrab or
a raised aisle leading from the courtyard to the niche.
In later mosques, especially in Bengal, multiple
mihrabs are set into the qibla wall, thus diffusing
any hierarchy of sanctity.
There is also an early association of mihrab and
minbar, with the minbar placed next to the mihrab
possibly to lend spiritual authority to the sermon.
In some areas such as East Africa the mihrab is linked
to a recessed minbar niche so that the imam climbs
the minbar by entering a door in the side of the
mihrab. This arrangement, however, is extremely
unusual as the mihrab should be kept free of any
mystical connotations.