Mabkhara is recorded in this encyclopedia from the source named below.
Overview
A mabkhara (Arabic: مبخر or مبخرة [mabxara]; plural mabakhir), also called mujmarah (مجمرة) is a censer found across the Muslim world. The word is derived from "bakhoor," which is the incense burned inside the mabkhara itself. The concept of mabkhara originates from the Arabian Peninsula and has existed since pre-Islamic times, even if not under the same name as now. The Somali version of this concept is known as the dabqaad and the idea may have been brought to Somalia via Arab traders and Muslim immigrants to the place in its early history. A typical mabkhara has a square pedestal base with inward sloping sides which support a square cup with outward sloping sides; all with a cuboid exterior. The wooden base is often carved out to form legs, while the cup itself is lined with sheet metal. The exterior can be made with any hard object, such as clay or terracotta. The post-Ottoman and modern variations of mabkhara, on the other hand, have an exterior made from shiny metals and do not follow the traditional square shape; with most having a rounded or even spherical exterior. Both traditional and modern mabakhir can range in height from being a few centimeters to a few feet tall.
Source and reuse
The descriptive text above is drawn from the English-language encyclopedia article Mabkhara, reused under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licence and attributed in the sources block on this page. Figures in the infobox come from Wikidata and carry that project's own provenance; they should be checked against the cited source before being relied on.
Editorial note
This record is a sourced summary, not original research. Where the underlying material is silent on a point, this article is silent too. Last reviewed 2026-09-23.