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XLIII.—THE KHUTBAH, OR THE
FRIDAY'S SERMON.
The Khutbah is the oration or sermon delivered in the mosque every Friday, and on the chief festivals,[1] after the meridian prayer. After the usual ablutions, the four Sunnat prayers are recited. The Khatíb, or preacher, then seats himself on the Mimbar (pulpit), whilst the Muazzin proclaims the Azán; after which he stands up on the second step,[2] and delivers
- ↑ The ʾId-i-Fitr and the ʾId-ul-Azhá.
- ↑ The Mimbar is the pulpit of a mosque. It consists of three steps, and is sometimes a moveable wooden structure, and sometimes a fixture of brick or stone built against the wall. Muhammad, in addressing the congregation, stood on the uppermost step, Abu Bakr on the second, and Omar on the third or the lowest. Osmán, being the most modest of the Khalifs, would have gladly descended lower if he could have done so; but this being impossible, he fixed upon the second step, from which it is still the custom to preach.
