Mihrab Umar ibn al-Khattab (محراب عمر بن الخطاب) marks the prayer place established by Sayyiduna Umar ibn al-Khattab (RA) at Masjid al-Aqsa after the Muslim…
Mihrab Umar ibn al-Khattab (محراب عمر بن الخطاب) marks the prayer place established by Sayyiduna Umar ibn al-Khattab (RA) at Masjid al-Aqsa after the Muslim entry into Jerusalem. The mihrab, a niche indicating the direction of Makkah, stands along the southern side of Masjid al-Aqsa, within the area known as Musalla Umar beside the Qibli prayer hall. Its position preserves the association between Sayyiduna Umar ibn al-Khattab (RA), the second caliph, and the restoration of congregational prayer at al-Aqsa. Sayyiduna Umar’s prayer at al-Aqsa When Jerusalem came under Muslim rule, Sayyiduna Umar ibn al-Khattab (RA) travelled from Madinah to receive the city. The historian al-Tabari records that he entered the sanctuary, prayed at the Mihrab of Nabi Dawud (AS), and later led the Muslims in the dawn prayer, reciting Surah Sad and Surah al-Isra. Al-Tabari also relates that Sayyiduna Umar ibn al-Khattab (RA) consulted Sayyiduna Ka‘b al-Ahbar (RA) about where the Muslim prayer place should be established. He rejected a position that would place the Rock between the worshippers and Makkah, directing that the prayer place face the Ka‘bah without adopting the Rock as its orientation. A named landmark in the early books of Jerusalem The Mihrab of Sayyiduna Umar ibn al-Khattab (RA) was already treated as a distinct landmark by the Jerusalem scholar Ibn al-Murajja al-Maqdisi, whose eleventh-century work on the merits of Bayt al-Maqdis includes a chapter devoted to it. Later restoration of the mihrab is associated with the Ayyubid renewal of Masjid al-Aqsa following the recovery of Jerusalem under Salahuddin al-Ayubi in 583 AH/1187.