Is it said that the mihrabs and minarets are religious innovations by analogy to what you said about the lines on the carpets in mosques being religious innovations?

The questioner : You said: that the lines on the carpets in mosques contain a type of religious innovation or are a religious innovation. Is it analogous to that that the mihrabs are a religious innovation, and the minarets are a religious innovation?

The Shaykh : I have no doubt about that, especially regarding the mihrabs. The Imam al-Suyuti, or rather the Hafiz al-Suyuti (may Allah have mercy on him), authored a simple treatise titled *Tanbih al-Arrib fi Bid'at al-Maharib* (Alerting the Wise to the Innovation of Mihrabs). He mentioned there narrations indicating that this is a *hadath* (newly invented matter), meaning: the adoption of the mihrab occurred in the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) mosque. As I recall, this was when the Prophet’s chamber was incorporated into the mosque and the grave was in the Prophet’s Mosque at that time; the mihrab was then adopted. It is well known that mihrabs are still seen today in the churches of the Christians. So it appears, and Allah knows best, that this innovation, the innovation of the mihrab, infiltrated the Muslims from the Christians, just as other things infiltrated them, such as the *subha* (prayer beads). The Christians’ prayer beads are still seen today hanging from their necks, and on them, naturally, are their crosses. Therefore, we do not find any mention of the mihrab in any authentic hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Of course, there is a long hadith narrated by some—perhaps al-Bazzar or al-Tabarani, I no longer remember now—from the route of Wail ibn Hujr, in which it is mentioned that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stood in the mihrab, said *takbir*, and raised his hands, describing the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) prayer with some detail. But in the chain of this hadith is al-Husayb—and I truly cannot keep track—ibn Jahdar, who is a liar, as al-Hafiz al-Heithami says in his book *Majma' al-Zawa'id wa Manba' al-Fawa'id*. Apart from this abandoned hadith, no mention of the mihrab has come at all in any other hadith. And the hadith of al-Bukhari from the route of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), in which he said: In a hadith like this and its like, we do not find any mention of the mihrab at all. In addition to that, historical books mention that the mihrab was introduced into the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) mosque during the caliphate of al-Walid ibn 'Abd al-Malik, who is the one who ordered the addition of the Noble Chamber to the Prophet’s Mosque. This is what concerns the mihrab.