A piece of fabric, sometimes a pile carpet, used by Muslims and some Christians during prayer.
This Safavid prayer rug with a silk pile on the ground brocaded with metal threads forms part of a prestigious set of Safavid Persian Niche rugs. Most of the preserved rugs of this group were intended as diplomatic gifts from the Safavid court to the Ottomans. The poetic inscription on the border is executed in nasta`liq script, in Persian verse and includes the name of Sultan Murad. Most probably it refers to the Ottoman Sultan Murad III. Circa 1570-1600 CE. Museum of Islamic Art, Doha[1]
A prayer rug or prayer mat is a piece of fabric, sometimes a pile carpet, used by Muslims, some Christians, especially in Orthodox Christianity and some Baha'i during prayer.
In Islam, a prayer mat is placed between the ground and the worshipper for cleanliness during the various positions of Islamic prayer. These involve prostration and sitting on the ground. A Muslim must perform wudu (ablution) before prayer, and must pray in a clean place.
Prayer rugs are also used by some Oriental Orthodox Christians for Christian prayer involving prostrations in the name of the Trinity, as well as during the recitation of the Alleluia and Kyrie eleison.[2] Its purpose is to maintain a cleanly space to pray to God and shoes must be removed when using the prayer rug.[3] Among Russian Orthodox Christians, particularly Old Ritualists, a special prayer rug known as the Podruchnik is used to keep one's face and hands clean during prostrations, as these parts of the body are used to make the sign of the cross.[4]
Many new prayer mats are manufactured by weavers in a factory. The design of a prayer mat is based on the village it came from and its weaver. These rugs are usually decorated with many beautiful geometric patterns and shapes. They are sometimes even decorated with images. These images are usually important Islamic landmarks, such as the Kaaba, but they are never animate objects.[5] This is because the drawing of animate objects on Islamic prayer mats is forbidden.
For Muslims, when praying, a niche, representing the mihrab of a mosque, at the top of the mat must be pointed to the Islamic center for prayer, Mecca. All Muslims are required to know the qibla or direction towards Mecca from their home or where they are while traveling. Oriental Orthodox Christians position their prayer rugs so that they face east, the direction of prayer towards which they offer prayer.
^"Carpet". Discover Islamic Art.
^Cite error: The named reference Kosloski2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Bishop Brian J Kennedy, OSB. "Importance of the Prayer Rug". St. Finian Orthodox Abbey. Archived from the original on 25 July 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
^Basenkov, Vladimir (10 June 2017). "Vladimir Basenkov. Getting To Know the Old Believers: How We Pray". Orthodox Christianity. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
^Cite error: The named reference Gantzhorn1998 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
A prayerrug or prayer mat is a piece of fabric, sometimes a pile carpet, used by Muslims, some Christians, especially in Orthodox Christianity and some...
Anatolian rug is a term of convenience, commonly used today to denote rugs and carpets woven in Anatolia and its adjacent regions. Geographically, its...
Islamic prayerrugs ('Jai'namaz'), Jewish Torah ark covers (parochet), and Christian altar covers. Since the High Middle Ages, oriental rugs have been...
a place to sit on the floor (e.g., when playing with children or as a prayerrug), reducing sound from walking (particularly in apartment buildings), and...
which are on the eastern wall of the house. Among Old Ritualists, a prayerrug known as a Podruchnik is used to keep one's face and hands clean during...
Turkic countries. Kilims can be purely decorative or can function as prayerrugs. Modern kilims are popular floor coverings in Western households. The...
rug" more specifically refers to four distinct types of Anatolian carpets which have survived in Transylvania. Transylvanian rugs with a prayerrug design...
that a distinctive breed of Milas rugs came into existence in the 16th century starting with the seccade (prayerrug) which are smaller in dimension. By...
Baloch rugs are eight feet in length, which made them lighter and easier to transport. Nature, animal figurines, religious beliefs in Baluch prayerrug and...
offered no evidence of prayerrugs. The story provided no elaboration on how the rancher knew the rugs in question were Muslim prayerrugs. The author of the...
seven fixed prayer times; prayerrugs are used by some adherents to provide a clean space for believers to offer their Christian prayers to God, e.g....
Scandinavia has a long and proud tradition of rug-making on par with many of the regions of the world that are perhaps more immediately associated with...
space to spread prayerrugs on which to kneel to pray. They use that area every Friday for Jumuah prayer and for prayer (with prayerrugs in general). The...
"подручник", literally "something under an arm") is a small prayerrug, once used in prayer by all Russian Orthodox Christians in the Tsardom of Russia...
century. In the collections of the Textile Museum (Washington, D.C.) Prayerrug from Shusha. 19th century. An Azerbaijani carpet of the Shirvan group...
usually done on dedicated prayerrugs which are treated with especial care. Though common for Islam there is also a prayerrug in Judaism in conjunction...
Mazar-e Sharif. Another staple of Afghanistan is Baluchi rugs, most notably Baluchi prayerrugs. They are made by Afghanistan's ethnic Baloch people in...
and rugs are primarily made in villages, rather than in cities. They are made from materials particular to individual tribal provinces, the rugs of the...
modified compass used by Muslims to indicate the direction to face to perform prayers. In Islam, this direction is called qibla, and points towards the city...
Finnish ryijy. Dating back to the 18th century, a ryijy was often used as a prayerrug during wedding ceremonies; the tapestry was then hung for display in the...
the Gentile Bellini seen at top the rug is the "right" way round; often this is not the case. Later Ushak prayerrugs where both ends have the diagonal...
Western Orthodox Christians make use of the prayerrug to provide a clean space for offering Christian prayers to God. The candles that adorn the home altar...
of his well-known pieces such as We Dreamt Deaf, White Noise American PrayerRug, and Things Are Looking Native, Native's Looking Whiter. Nicholas Galanin...
density of 2,516 kpsi and a silk Hereke prayerrug (ca. 1970 AD) contains 4,360 symmetric kpsi. However, the rug with the highest knot density is a silk...
Ferdowsi. PrayerRug: A prayerrug (Jaa-ye Namaaz) or a traditional Iranian Termeh is placed in the center of the wedding spread. The spreadprayer rug, open...
Global Information