Prayer rug

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 followers of the Baháʼí Faith 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. Its purpose is to maintain a cleanly space to pray to God and shoes must be removed when using the prayer rug. 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.
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. 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.
In the Baháʼí Faith, prayer rugs or prayer mats are not required, though may sometimes be used as a way to fulfill the instruction written in the Baháʼí mother-book The Most Holy Book mentioning to "prostrate yourselves on any surface that is clean".
Prayer rugs are used in some traditions of Oriental Orthodox Christianity and Western Orthodox Christianity, to provide a clean space for believers to offer Christian prayers to God.
During the seven fixed prayer times of Oriental Orthodox Christians, believers incorporate prostrations in the praying of the canonical hours that are performed facing east, with Copts "prostrating three times in the name of the Trinity; at the end of each Psalm [...] while saying the 'Alleluia'; and multiple times during the more than forty Kyrie eleisons" (cf. Agpeya). Indian Orthodox Christians prostrate thrice during the Qauma prayer, at the words "Crucified for us, Have mercy on us!", 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 third day rose again...", as well as thrice during the Prayer of the Cherubim while praying the words "Blessed is the glory of the Lord, from His place forever!" (cf. Shehimo). These prayer rugs are often blessed by Christian clergy in the church before ever being used; in this way, when a Christian prays at home, it is as if they are praying in their local church. Additionally, carpets cover the floors of parishes in denominations such as the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church on which Christians prostrate in prayer. Among Russian Orthodox 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. In the Middle East and South Asia, where Christian missionaries are engaged in evangelism, some converts to Christianity use prayer rugs for prayer and worship in order to preserve their Eastern cultural context. In modern times, among most adherents of Western Christianity, kneelers placed in pews (for corporate worship) or in prie-dieus (for private worship) are customary; historically however, 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.
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 found in places as far as Shirvan. One of the oldest is the Saint Hrip'sime Rug, which was woven in 1202 A.D. and originates in the village of Banants, located in what is now Gandja.
While not explicitly mandated in the Quran or Ḥadīt̲h, prayer rugs, known in one source as sad̲j̲d̲j̲āda, are nonetheless deeply embedded in Islamic practice and material culture. They represent a physical and symbolic delineation of sacred space, allowing the worshiper to create a ritually pure area for prayer. The presence of the miḥrāb—a stylized representation of the prayer niche found in mosques—visually orients the individual towards the Kaaba in Mecca, the direction Muslims face during prayer. Prayer rugs, particularly those from the Safavid and Qajar periods, offer a window into broader cultural and intellectual trends in the Islamic world. During the Safavid era, prayer rug designs emphasized explicitly Islamic themes and specifically Shi'a Islam, with inscriptions reinforcing religious identity. Conversely, Qajar prayer rugs reflect a growing focus on the individual, with patron's names, images of kings and heroes, and motifs inspired by contact with the West, signaling a shift in the understanding of the rug's purpose and meaning. Ultimately, the prayer rug, while a simple object in form, embodies the connection between the material and the spiritual, the individual and the communal, and historical trends and artistic expression in the Islamic world.
In Islamic world there are two basic types of prayer rug, one designed with a single mihrab and meant for individual worship, the other with multiple niches and intended for a place of public prayer such as a mosque. This second type is known as saf.
A prayer rug is characterized by a niche at one end, representing the mihrab in every mosque. The mihrab represents not just the direction of prayer but also a gateway to the divine or a symbolic connection to the mosque architecture. Many rugs also show one or more mosque lamps, a reference to the Verse of Light in the Qur'an. Additionally, the use of floral and tree motifs, particularly the tree of life, can be linked to concepts of paradise, eternity, and immortality. Occasionally, prayer rugs depict specific mosques, such as those in Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem, further emphasizing the symbolic connection between the prayer rug and the physical space of the mosque as a place of communal worship. After the advent of Islam, Muslims often depicted the Kaaba in order to distinguish themselves from Christian carpets. Decorations not only play a role in imagery but serve the worshipper as aids to memory. Some of the examples include a comb and pitcher, which is a reminder for Muslims to wash their hands and for men to comb their hair before performing prayer.
Prayer rugs are typically produced in the towns or villages where they are used, reflecting local weaving traditions and cultural aesthetics. The exact pattern will vary greatly by original weavers and the different materials used. Some may have patterns, dyes and materials that are traditional to the region in which they were made. The varied patterns, dyes, and materials used in prayer rugs reflect not only regional aesthetics but also the desire to create a sensory experience that enhances the act of prayer. During prayer, the individual kneels at the base of the rug and performs sud̲j̲ūd, prostrating with their forehead, nose, hands, knees, and toes touching the ground, towards the niche representing the direction of Mecca.
Using some type of floor covering for prayer was known early in Islamic history. Though there is evidence that carpets may have been produced in Anatolia before Turkish invasions in the 11th century, no examples survive. The oldest surviving prayer rugs, discovered in mosques in Konya and Beyşehir, are believed to be from the 14th century, and were woven entirely of wool with geometric designs. From the 14th century onward, European paintings increasingly depict Anatolian prayer rugs that were exported to Europe, leading to the use of European painter's names to classify prayer rug types.
The design of prayer rug varies in different regions. Turkish prayer rugs are known for their balanced geometric patterns and floral elements. Persian rugs, in contrast, often display a more graceful aesthetic with elegant miḥrābs and realistic floral decorations. The “Tree of Life” is another common motif in Persian rugs, sometimes incorporated within the miḥrāb.
Indian prayer rug traditions highlight the intersection of religious and cultural influences. While pile-woven carpets and prayer rugs gained popularity during the Mughal period, the region also has a long tradition of using darī, flat-woven cotton rugs. The 18th-century cotton prayer rugs from Bīd̲j̲āpūr, with their floral patterns and uniquely Indian domed minarets rising from the miḥrāb, show this cultural fusion.
Interactive prayer mats, also known as smart prayer mats or digital prayer rugs, are a recent development in the field of prayer rugs. These mats are designed to enhance the spiritual experience of Muslims during prayer by incorporating technology into the traditional practice of prayer, and for educational purposes.
The Saxon Lutheran Churches, parish storerooms and museums of Transylvania safeguard about four hundred Anatolian rugs, dating from the late-15th to early 18th century. They form the richest and best-preserved corpus of prayer-format rugs of Ottoman period outside Turkey.
Transylvania, like the other Romanian principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, never came under direct Turkish occupation. Until 1699 it had the status of an autonomous Principality, maintaining the Christian religion and own administration but paying tribute to the Ottoman Porte. By contrast, following the Battle of Mohacs in 1526, part 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. 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 as a large, cold and empty space, which required at least some decoration. Traces of the mural decoration were found during modern restorations in some Protestant Churches as for instance at Malâncrav.
In this situation the Oriental rugs, created in a world that was spiritually different from Christianity, found their place in the Reformed churches which were to become their main custodians. The removal from the commercial circuit 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.
After the Siege of Vienna of 1682 the Ottomans suffered several defeats by hand of the Habsburg army. In 1687 the rulers of Transylvania recognized the suzerainty of the Habsburg emperor Leopold I. Generally the end of the Turkish rule in Transylvania is associated with the Peace Treaty of 1699, but in fact this happened more than a decade earlier. The last decades of the 17th century marked a decline of the rug trade between Transylvania and Turkey which affected the carpet production in Anatolia. Shortly after the turn of the century the commercial rugs based on Lotto, Bird or Transylvanian patterns ceased to be woven.