Is It Offensive to Use a Prayer Mat as Wall Art

A piece of fabric, sometimes a pile carpeting, used by Muslims and some Christians during prayer.

Bergama prayer rug, late 19th century. The niche at the pinnacle represents the mihrab and the management of prayer.

A prayer rug or prayer mat is a piece of fabric, sometimes a pile carpet, used past Muslims and some Christians during prayer.

In Islam, a prayer mat is placed betwixt 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 make clean place.

Prayer rugs are also used past 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.^[i] Its purpose is to maintain a cleanly space to pray to God and shoes must be removed when using the prayer carpet.^[two] Among Russian Orthodox Old Ritualists, a special prayer rug known as the Podruchnik is used to go on one's face up and hands clean during prostrations, every bit these parts of the body are used to brand the sign of the cross.^[3]

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 cute geometric patterns and shapes. They are sometimes even busy with images. These images are usually important Islamic landmarks, such as the Kaaba, but they are never breathing objects.^[4] 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 acme of the mat must be pointed to the Islamic center for prayer, Mecca. All Muslims are required to know the qibla or management towards Mecca from their home or where they are while traveling. Oriental Orthodox Christians position their prayer rugs and then that they face east, the direction of prayer towards which they offering prayer.

History and usage [edit]

In Christianity [edit]

Prayer rugs are used in some traditions of Oriental Orthodox Christianity and Western Orthodox Christianity, to provide a clean space for believers to offering Christian prayers to God.^{[1] [ii]}

During the seven fixed prayer times of Oriental Orthodox Christians, believers incorporate prostrations in the praying of the approved hours that are performed facing east, with Copts "prostrating three times in the name of the Trinity; at the cease of each Psalm … while saying the 'Alleluia'; and multiple times during the more than forty Kyrie eleisons" (cf. Agpeya).^{[i] [2]} Indian Orthodox Christians prostrate thrice during the Qauma prayer, at the words "Crucified for us, Have mercy on u.s.a.!", thrice during the recitation of the Nicene Creed at the words "And was incarnate of the Holy Spirit...", "And was crucified for us...", and "And on the tertiary 24-hour interval rose over again...", equally well equally thrice during the Prayer of the Cherubim while praying the words "Blessed is the glory of the Lord, from His place forever!" (cf. Shehimo).^{[5] [6]} These prayer rugs are often blessed by Christian clergy in the church before ever beingness used;^[1] in this way, when a Christian prays at habitation, it is as if he is praying in his local church.^[two] Additionally, carpets comprehend the floors of parishes in denominations such every bit the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church on which Christians prostrate in prayer.^[7] Among Russian Orthodox Sometime Ritualists, a special prayer rug known equally the Podruchnik is used to go on one's face up and easily clean during prostrations, as these parts of the body are used to make the sign of the cross.^[3] In the Center East and South asia, where Christian missionaries are engaged in evangelism, some converts to Christianity use prayer rugs for prayer and worship in guild to preserve their Eastern cultural context.^[8] In modernistic times, amongst about adherents of Western Christianity, kneelers placed in pews (for corporate worship) or in prie-dieus (for private worship) are customary; historically notwithstanding, prayer rugs were used by some Christian monks to pray the canonical hours in places such as Syria, Northumbria, and Ireland well before the arrival of Islam.^{[9] [ten]}

The Armenian Apostolic Church, an Oriental Orthodox Christian denomination, has a long tradition of prayer rugs with Christian symbols woven in them; these have been constitute in places as far equally Shirvan.^{[eleven] [12] [13]} 1 of the oldest is the Saint Hrip'sime Carpet, which was woven in 1202 A.D. and originates in the village of Banants, located in what is at present Gandja.^{[13] [14]}

In Islam [edit]

After the appearance of Islam, Muslims oftentimes depicted the Kaaba in order to distinguish themselves from Christian carpets.^[4]

In Islam, the prayer carpet has a very strong symbolic meaning and traditionally taken intendance of in a holy manner^{[ citation needed ]}. Information technology is disrespectful for 1 to place a prayer mat in a dirty location (as Muslims have to be clean to show their respect to God) or throw it effectually in a disrespectful manner. The prayer mat is traditionally woven with a rectangular design, typically fabricated asymmetrical by the niche at the head end. Within the rectangle 1 ordinarily finds images of Islamic symbols and architecture. In some cultures decorations non only are important but likewise accept a deep sense of value in the blueprint of the prayer rug.

A prayer carpet is characterized by a niche at 1 end, representing the mihrab in every mosque, a directional point to direct the worshipper towards Mecca.^[15] Many rugs also show one or more than mosque lamps,^[xv] a reference to the Verse of Light in the Qur'an. Specific mosques are sometimes shown; some of the about popular examples include the mosques in Mecca, Medina, and especially Jerusalem. Decorations not but play a role in imagery but serve the worshipper every bit aids to memory. Some of the examples include a rummage and pitcher, which is a reminder for Muslims to wash their hands and for men to comb their hair before performing prayer. Another important use for decorations is to aid newly converted Muslims by stitching decorative easily on the prayer mat where the hands should be placed when performing prayer.

Prayer rugs are commonly made in the towns or villages of the communities who use them and are often named afterward the origins of those who deal and collect them. The exact pattern volition vary greatly by original weavers and the different materials used. Some may have patterns, dyes and materials that are traditional/native to the region in which they were made. Prayer rugs' patterns by and large accept a niche at the top, which is turned to face Mecca. During prayer the supplicant kneels at the base of operations of the rug and places his or her hands at either side of the niche at the top of the carpeting, his or her forehead touching the niche. Typical prayer rug sizes are approximately ii.5 ft × iv ft (0.76 m × 1.22 chiliad) - 4 ft × 6 ft (ane.2 grand × 1.8 chiliad), enough to kneel higher up the fringe on one end and bend down and place the head on the other.

Some countries produce textiles with prayer carpet patterns for consign. Many modernistic prayer rugs are strictly commercial pieces made in large numbers to sell on an international market or tourist merchandise.

There are many prayer rugs in existence today that have been taken care of for more than 100 years. In most cases, they take been immediately and carefully rolled subsequently each prayer.

The Transylvanian miracle: Islamic rugs in Lutheran Churches [edit]

The Saxon Lutheran Churches, parish storerooms and museums of Transylvania safeguard about iv hundred Anatolian rugs, dating from the tardily-15th to early 18th century. They course the richest and best-preserved corpus of prayer-format rugs of Ottoman period outside Turkey.

Without attempting a résumé of the region's complex history, Transylvania (like the other Romanian principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia) never came under straight Turkish occupation. Until 1699 it had the status of an autonomous Principality, maintaining the Christian faith and own administration but paying tribute to the Ottoman Porte. By dissimilarity, following the Boxing of Mohacs in 1526, function of Hungary was designated a Pashalik and was under Turkish occupation for over a century and a half.

Rugs came into the ownership of the Reformed Churches, mainly as pious donations from parishioners, benefactors or guilds. In the 16th century, with the coming of the Reformation, the number of figurative images inside the churches was drastically reduced every bit people followed the ten commandments earnestly: "Y'all shall not make for yourself a carved epitome..., you shall not bow downwardly to them or serve them." Frescoes were white-washed or destroyed, and the many sumptuous winged altar-pieces were removed maintaining exclusively the main altar piece. The recently converted parishioners thus perceived the church building as a large, common cold and empty space that needed warming up and a welcoming touch on. Traces of the mural ornamentation were constitute during modern restorations in some Protestant Churches as for example at Malâncrav.

In this situation the Oriental rugs, created in a world that was spiritually unlike from Christianity, establish their place in the Reformed churches which were to become their main custodians. The removal from the commercial excursion and the fact that they were used to decorate the walls, the pews and the balconies but not on the floor was crucial for their conservation over the years. This is unique and quite extraordinary if we consider that the Ottoman Empire heavily dominated the region at that time. This fact confirms not simply the traditional religious tolerance of Transylvanians merely also the capacity of Oriental rugs to bridge dissimilar cultures.

After the Siege of Vienna of 1682 the Ottomans suffered several defeats past paw of the Habsburg regular army. In 1687 the rulers of Transylvania recognized the suzerainty of the Habsburg emperor Leopold I. More often than not the end of the Turkish dominion in Transylvania is associated with the Peace Treaty of 1699, but in fact this happened more a decade earlier. The terminal decades of the 17th century marked a decline of the carpeting trade between Transylvania and Turkey which affected the carpet production in Anatolia. Presently afterwards the turn oh the century the commercial rugs based on Lotto, Bird or Transylvanian patterns ceased to be woven.

^{[16] [ author missing ]}

Legal problems [edit]

In cases involving prisoners, legal rules have immune Orthodox Christians and Muslims access to prayer rugs.^[17]

Gallery [edit]

• 

  Typical manufactured prayer mat showing the Kaaba

• 

  Early 20th-century Siirt Battaniyesi. Kid's mohair prayer rug/blanket

• 

  Ottoman Era Kayseri silk prayer carpeting. Circa 1880s

• 

  Vintage Konya prayer seccade

• 

  Antique Gaziantep double prayer carpeting

• 

  Ancient Kirşehir prayer rug in the Tilavet room; Mevlâna Mausoleum, Konya

• 

  Turkish prayer rug

• 

  Fachralo Kazak prayer rug, late 19th century

• 

  The James F. Ballard late 16th century Bursa prayer rug

• 

  Caucasian prayer rug, Shirvan

• 

  Umayyad Mosque prayer carpet saph, Damascus

• 

  Muslim prostrating on prayer rug. Artist Charles Bargue

• 

  The Sultan Ahmet Camii prayer rug saph, "The Bluish Mosque", Istanbul

• 

  Vintage Balouch prayer rug

• 

  Prayer rug Transitional islamic state of afghanistan

• 

  Antique Anatolian prayer carpeting

• 

  "Re-entrant" or "keyhole" prayer mat, also called a Bellini carpeting, Anatolia, late 15th to early on 16th century. The mat symbolically describes the environment of a mosque, with the entrance (the "keyhole"), and the mihrab (the frontwards corner) with its hanging mosque lamps.

• 

• 

  Kayseri prayer rug, Anatolia Turkey

Proper name variations [edit]

Region/country	Linguistic communication	Principal
Arab World	Standard arabic	سجادة الصلاة (Sajjādat aṣ-ṣalāt), pl. سجاجيد الصلاة (Sajājīd aṣ-ṣalāt)
Greater Islamic republic of iran	Farsi	جانماز (Jānamāz)[18]
North India, Pakistan, Deccan	Hindi, Urdu	जानमाज़ / جا نماز (Jaa-namaaz) सजदागाह / سجدہ گاہ (Sajda-gaah)
Pashtunistan	Pashto	د لمانځه پوزی
Bangladesh, West Bengal	Bengali	জায়নামাজ/জায়নামায (Jāynamāz)
Bosnia	Bosnian	sedžada, serdžada, postećija
Indonesia	Indonesian, Basa Jawa, Basa Sunda	Sajadah
Malaysia	Malay	Sejadah
Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania	Wolof	Sajadah
Nigeria, Niger, Ghana, Republic of cameroon	Hausa	Buzu na salla, dadduma, darduma
South Kalimantan	Banjar	Pasahapan
Iraqi Kurdistan	Sorani	بەرماڵ
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan	Kazakh, Kyrgyz	Жайнамаз (Jainamaz)
Uzbekistan	Uzbek	Joynamoz
Greater Somalia	Somali	sijayad, salli, Sajadat
Turkey, Azerbaijan	Turkish, Azerbaijani	Seccade, canamaz
Turkmenistan	Turkmen	Namazlyk
Kerala	Malayalam	നിസ്കാരപ്പടം, Niskarappadam

Run into also [edit]

• Eagle rug
• Islamic art
• Oriental carpets in Renaissance painting
• Persian embroidery
• Podruchnik, a cushion for worshipper'southward easily among Russian Old Laic Christians
• Tradition of removing shoes in the abode and houses of worship

References [edit]

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Kosloski, Philip (16 October 2017). "Did you lot know Muslims pray in a similar way to some Christians?". Aleteia. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Bishop Brian J Kennedy, OSB. "Importance of the Prayer Rug". St. Finian Orthodox Abbey. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
3. ^ ^{a b} Basenkov, Vladimir (10 June 2017). "Vladimir Basenkov. Getting To Know the Onetime Believers: How We Pray". Orthodox Christianity. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
4. ^ ^{a b} Gantzhorn, Volkmar (1998). Oriental Carpets: Their Iconology and Iconography, from Earliest Times to the 18th Century. Taschen. p. 32. ISBN978-3-8228-0545-9. This Moslem prayer carpet, too, shows the Kaaba in lodge to distinguish itself conspicuously from Christian carpets, whose Armenian border it kept.
5. ^ Shehimo: Book of Common Prayer. Diocese of South-West America of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. 2016. pp. 5, 7, 12.
6. ^ "Prostration/ Kneeling (Kumbideel)". Malankara World. 2009. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
7. ^ Duffner, Jordan Denari (13 February 2014). "Wait, I thought that was a Muslim affair?!". Commonweal. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
8. ^ Neff, David (19 May 1997). "Going to the Prayer Mat for Jesus". Christianity Today. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
9. ^ Diarmaid MacCulloch (2009). A History of Christianity. Penguin Group. p. 258.
10. ^ "Shwebo and his Monastery". Columban Interreligious Dialogue. 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
11. ^ Karanian, Matthew; Kurkjian, Robert (2001). Edge of Time: Traveling in Armenia and Karabagh. Stone Garden Productions. ISBN978-0-9672120-one-2. Surprisingly, Arab sources admit the supremacy of Christian Armenian prayer rugs, fifty-fifty though these rugs are often thought of as the quintessential Islamic art form.
12. ^ Raphaelian, Harry Thou. (1953). The Hidden Language of Symbols in Oriental Rugs. A. Sivas. p. 58. Caucasian prayer rugs of Shirvan and Kabistan, ordinarily Armenian products, show evidence of Christian symbolism in woven niches that take no affinity with mosque architecture.
13. ^ ^{a b} Keshishian, James Marking; Manuelian, Lucy Der (1994). Inscribed Armenian Rugs of Yesteryear. Nigh Eastern Art Research Eye. p. 41. Authors fail to mention Armenian prayer rugs which were probably an established tradition in Armenia before the emergence of Islam in the seventh century. The oldest known prayer rug is the famous Hrip'sime Rug, published by Alois Riegel in 1895. The inscription on this important rug states that it was woven in 1202 and indicates that information technology was associated with individuals in the Armenian village of Banants in the Gandzak region, the celebrated Armenian district of Artsakh-Gharabagh, which is present-day Kirovabad.
14. ^ Manuelian, Lucy Der; Eiland, Murray L. (1984). Weavers, Merchants, and Kings: The Inscribed Rugs of Armenia. Kimbell Art Museum. p. 24. ISBN978-0-912804-18-vii.
15. ^ ^{a b} Ettinghausen, Richard; Dimand, Maurice Due south.; Mackie, Louise W.; Ellis, Charles Grant (1974). Prayer Rugs. Washington, DC: Fabric Museum. pp. xi, nineteen.
16. ^ Antique Ottoman Rugs in Transylvania, 2007
17. ^ Dinan, Elizabeth. "Inmate sues for return of prayer rug". U.s.a. Today Network. pp. 26 January 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
18. ^ "A quote from the Kite Runner".

Further reading [edit]

• "prayer rug." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 23 Oct. 2008 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/474169/prayer-rug.
• Faid, Abbo Muhammed Samir. "Islam" All Experts. 16 Mar 2005. <https://web.archive.org/web/20100224195249/http://www.liu.edu/CWIS/CWP/library/workshop/citmla.htm>

External links [edit]

• Media related to Prayer rugs at Wikimedia Commons
• Importance of the Prayer Carpet by Bishop Brian J Kennedy, OSB - Holy Trinity Celtic Orthodox Church

gallaghercomenis.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_rug#:~:text=This%20is%20because%20the%20drawing,Islamic%20center%20for%20prayer%2C%20Mecca.

Share this post