mih·rab 
(mîrəb)
(mîrəb)n.
Islam
Islam
1. A niche in the wall of a mosque or a room in the mosque that indicates the direction of Mecca.
2. A niche design in the middle of a Muslim prayer rug, pointed toward Mecca during worship.
[Arabic miḥrāb, probably from Old South Arabian mḥrb, part of a temple, from ḥrb, to fight, perform a certain ritual in a temple; see x̣rb in the Appendix of Semitic roots.]
mihrabtop: Sultan Hassan Mosque
Cairo, Egypt
bottom: Persian prayer rug
mihrab