Nur al-Din commissioned the celebrated wooden minbar made in Aleppo between 1169 and 1174. Saladin arranged its transfer to Al-Quds in 1187. Much of the original was destroyed in the 1969 fire; surviving pieces are cataloged by the Islamic Museum and retain evidence of its craftsmanship and inscriptions.[1]
In this guide
What a minbar is
A minbar is a pulpit associated with delivering the sermon. It is distinct from a mihrab, the prayer niche. The museum account describes an entrance, staircase and raised platform as parts of the original. The surviving panels belonged to this working pulpit, with decoration fitted to its entrance, staircase and platform.[2]
Separate the patron, makers and installer
The object’s history involves Nur al-Din as commissioner, named craftspeople associated with its manufacture, and Saladin as the ruler who brought it to Al-Quds. The museum record also credits Nur al-Din’s son with completing his father’s commission. A familiar name such as “Saladin’s minbar” can be useful, but it should not replace this more precise account of different contributions.[3]
Construction and decoration work together
The surviving pieces reveal interlocking wood, inlay, geometric arrangements and vegetal decoration. The construction method is part of the visual achievement: small elements combine into larger patterned units. This makes the fragments valuable evidence even though the original pulpit no longer survives intact. They preserve information about making, rather than functioning merely as illustrations of a lost object.[4]
The inscriptions carry historical evidence
The museum’s dating rests on inscriptions and historical sources. Those inscriptions include the names of patrons and craftspeople alongside religious text. The evidence is especially useful because manufacture, transfer and later damage did not occur at the same time. A date for one of these events should not be used as though it dates all the others.[5]
Reading the record after the fire
The surviving panels entered the Islamic Museum after the 1969 fire. They should be identified as pieces of the original, with their collection history retained. Describing a replacement or reconstruction elsewhere would require its own documentation and date; it would not make the original fragments redundant. This guide follows the documented original and links it to the wider account of conservation at Al-Aqsa.[6][7]
Sources & references
References are attached to the passages they support. Dates below record source consultation.
- Pieces from the Nur al-Din Zangi minbar · Nazmi Al-Juʿbeh
Museum With No Frontiers · Discover Islamic Art · Consulted 2026-09-14
- Pieces from the Nur al-Din Zangi minbar · Nazmi Al-Juʿbeh
Description
Museum With No Frontiers · Discover Islamic Art · Consulted 2026-09-14
- Pieces from the Nur al-Din Zangi minbar · Nazmi Al-Juʿbeh
Original owner, makers and description
Museum With No Frontiers · Discover Islamic Art · Consulted 2026-09-14
- Pieces from the Nur al-Din Zangi minbar · Nazmi Al-Juʿbeh
Materials and description
Museum With No Frontiers · Discover Islamic Art · Consulted 2026-09-14
- Pieces from the Nur al-Din Zangi minbar · Nazmi Al-Juʿbeh
How date and origin were established
Museum With No Frontiers · Discover Islamic Art · Consulted 2026-09-14
- Pieces from the Nur al-Din Zangi minbar · Nazmi Al-Juʿbeh
Acquisition
Museum With No Frontiers · Discover Islamic Art · Consulted 2026-09-14
- Restoration of Al-Aqsa Mosque
Aga Khan Trust for Culture · Consulted 2026-09-14