His Majesty King Abdullah II today joined worshippers for Friday prayers at the King Hussein Bin Talal Mosque, which received a new minbar as a gift from the King.

Sheikh Mohammad Said Al Bouti who delivered the Friday sermon commended King Abdullah's efforts to reinstate the Salaheddine Minbar at Al Aqsa Mosque and to build the King Hussein Bin Talal Minbar. Sheikh Al Bouti highlighted Islam's message of tolerance and respect for humanity, saying that Ramadan is a month of compassion and mercy that encourages the faithful to feel with those less fortunate.

The minbar was made to resemble the Salheddine Minbar that was reconstructed by the Institute of Traditional Islamic Arts in Jordan's Balqa Applied University. It will complement the mosque's mihrab, according to Farid Turki, the manager of the institute's workshops, who also noted that the minbar took five months to build and was built on a base that is 2.75 meters long, 1 meter wide and 4.5 meters high. It also includes a seven-step staircase and a podium.

The minbar is made out of 2,500 pieces of walnut wood, inlaid with white wood and teak, which are held together using a traditional method of woodworking that allows for the pieces to expand and contract in hot and cold weather.

The minbar's structure and design incorporates Islamic architecture, calligraphy and geometrical patterns.

King Abdullah had ordered the reconstruction of the Salaheddine Minbar in Jordan in 2006, and it was installed in Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque early last year.

Jerusalem and its holy sites have long enjoyed the support of the Hashemite family, which has financed the reconstruction of the Dome of the Rock and maintenance work on the city's mosques and churches and allocates an annual budget for the city's employees and holy sites.