In Turkish a prayer rug is called a “ seccade ,“ pronounced “ se-ja-day “. In Persian they are called “ jah-namaz” and in Central Asia “ namazlik”. The term used in Turkey originally came from the Arabic word “ sajjada “ denoting a prayer carpet, derived from the Arabic verb “ sajada “ which means to bow down, or to prostrate one’s self, in this case an action intimately associated with the Muslim act of prayer, which plays such a central role within Islamic culture. The second meaning of the Arabic verb also has had great significance within Islamic culture both in spiritual and ritual terms because of the link between the rituals of prayer, the act of prostration ( known in Arabic as “ sajd ”) and the meaning of the word “ Islam “, which can be translated from Arabic at its simplest as “ submission or reconciliation “ to the will of God.

In addition, at the level of practical religious activity, prayer rugs came to be closely associated in the context of Turkish and Persian Islamic cultures with the Sufi brotherhoods and in particular their spiritual leaders who in some cases were referred to as the “ sejadeh “.

Prayer rugs or carpets ( I use the terms interchangeably) tend to be smaller than room size and have a characteristic layout: most prominent is the symbolic representation of the prayer niche at their center. This “ mihrab ” is presumed to be imitating the central niche found in all Islamic mosques which traditionally indicates the direction to Mecca, thus gives centrality to the ritual significance of the carpet.

The connections in classical Islamic culture between the prayer rug, the individual and the mystic Sufi brotherhoods is well illustrated by a passage from the early 14th century traveler Ibn Battuta who tells us the following:

“ a custom of the members of the “ zawiya “ ( the Sufi Brotherhood Lodge) is that each of them sits on his own sajjada when offering the morning prayer...” Ibn Battuta goes on to say that when an individual wished to join the lodge of a particular spiritual master he would ” arrive at the door of the zawiya standing and waiting, his waist bound by a girdle, and carrying his sajjada on his shoulder...the servant of the zawiya goes to greet him and to ask where he is from, in which other zawiyas he has stayed and who has been his spiritual teachers ( shaykh ), the servant then invites him into the zawiya and spreads out his sajjada at an appropriate spot...after the stranger makes his ablutions he goes to the place where his sajjada has been spread and says a prayer as he then greets the shaykh of the Order. “

Richard Ettinghausen, in his 1974 catalogue Prayer Rugs, comments that “ it is evident that the sajjada was more than a mere implement used for the five daily prayers. It appears to have been a very personal object treated with a certain reverence which was also used to sit on for sacred faunctions.” He also points out that the itinerant Sufis carried with them a ewer for use during the ritual washing. This linkage between carpet and ewer, Ettinghausen points out, may account for the presence of the image of a ewer in many carpets, just as the use of a lamp is a reference to both the interior of the mosque and a passage in the Koran which says that “ a likeness of ( Allah’s) light is as a niche in which there is a lamp” ( Sura 24)

In this same publication Ettinghausen also lays out a useful summary of the types of classical Anatolian seccade, dividing them between those that were Ottoman court products and those from the main carpet weaving centers of western Anatolia, namely: Bergama, Ushak, Ghiordes, Kula, Melas, as well as the central Anatolian centers of Konya, Ladik and Mucur. In addition I would have to add the more village style prayer carpets from the 19th and 20th centuries from places like Avunya, Keles, Monastir, and, of course Mekri/Fethiye.

For our Show and Tell each presenter has selected 4-5 seccade on a purely personal basis and will then talk about it from their own private perspective; why they like it, what made them buy it, what special significance or meaning they may derive from it and any other relevant personal judgments that they feel give meaning to the carpet. Comments, reactions and questions from the Members will be welcomed and there will be time at the end of the evening for Members to show off some of their own favorite seccade to solicit the reaction of the “ experts” and for the viewing pleasure of the audience.

Peter Poullada