محراب
Miḥrāb
The niche in a mosque wall that shows the direction of Mecca, toward which worshippers pray.
What it means
The miḥrāb is a recess in the wall of a mosque that faces Mecca, the qiblah, and the imam stands before it to lead the prayer. It marks the direction so that worshippers need not search for it, and it usually lies in the centre of the wall, often richly decorated. Early mosques did not have one. The word is also in the Quran, where it names a private chamber or place of worship. Zechariah would enter the miḥrāb where Mary stayed and find her provided with food (3:37), and David’s opponents climbed into his (38:21). In architecture the niche became a central feature of Muslim art, with calligraphy and carved arches.
Often misunderstood as
It is sometimes called an altar, but it carries no offering and holds nothing sacred; it only indicates the direction of prayer.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 54, listed as MIḤRĀB. The definition is restated here.