SOME REMARKS ON THE SYMBOLIC AND TERMINOLOGICAL MEANINGS ATTRIBUTED TO MINBAR IN HISTORY

The minbars (pulpits), one of the sections of mosque architecture, had an important role in performing some functions in Islamic history dating back to the time of the Prophet. It can be said that he did his actions while he was alive, not only as a prophet, but also as a president and a political leader. The Masjid in Madina was a place of worship for muslims, as well as their meeting place, education-training center, courtroom, military camp, hospital, prison, guesthouse, and finally a state administration center. In early times when the mosque was the center of state administration, his minbar was the place where the administrative, military and political issues of the Muslim community were discussed, but it was also the place where the caliphs receive their allegations from people. In the ongoing historical process, it is certain that these practices in the Prophet's and the Rightly Guided Caliphs' periods had an impact on the acceptance of Minbar as one of the signs of sultanate. The spread of minbars outside Hijaz corresponds to 'Umar b. al-Khattab (r. 13-23/634-44) era in terms of the actualization of great conquest movements. In this period, large Masjids (al-Masjid al-Jami.) for Friday prayer (salat al-jum'a) were built or existing buildings converted into mosque in the conquered cities of Iraq, Dimashq, Iran and Egypt. According to the general opinion, which is included in both the source works and the contemporary studies, the second minbar established after the Prophet's minbar is the one which was founded by 'Amr b. al-'As in al-Fustat on the territory of Egypt. However, the account that 'Umar addressed a speech to the public on the minbar of Basra after the conquest shows that the second minbar recorded in Islamic history may be in Iraq district.