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Mosque Carpets

Anyone who has ever visited a mosque knows that the carpets of the main prayer chamber tend to be patterned mark out a prayer area for each attendee - they are designed to simulate hundreds of prayer rugs laid out one next to another.

What I want to know is, is there a special name for these spaces? e.g. is there an Arabic/Islamic word to fit in the following passage?

"Abdul stepped inside the mosque. For some reason, it was slightly more crowded than usual. Nonetheless, he easily found a free (*word meaning prayer space*) and kneeled, preparing for the prayer ceremony to begin."
 
Thanks, @skip.knox. It looks like "niche" or the Islamic version, "mihrab" is the best match I have at the moment. I, too, have learned something through this discussion as until now, I did not know that the designs on prayer rugs are meant to represent the mihrabs, or Mecca direction markers, seen within mosques.

I imagine that this usage of "mihrab" to describe the sections of the carpet would be open to confusion, as typically when someone talks about a mihrab in a mosque, it would be assumed they were talking about the main one, i.e. the one actually built in to the wall, not one of the many representations marked upon the floor.
 
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