Qibla direction: how to determine? Holy Kaaba in Mecca

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

Islam is one of the youngest religions on the planet, it differs significantly from ancient religious beliefs and currently has the most followers around the world. For the uninitiated or those recently converted, it is very difficult to observe all the daily rituals that are prescribed for devout Muslims. It is especially difficult for many to determine the direction of the qibla, without which it is impossible to perform namaz and a host of other ritual actions. But this is a serious deviation from the rules, which in Islam is considered a sin. In our article, we will show you how to determine the direction of the qibla in different ways, and explain why this landmark is so important for the faithful.

Qibla: the term and its meaning

The term "qibla" arose literally in parallel with the formation of Islam, in literal translation from Arabic it means "that which is opposite." Almost everyonea Muslim knows that with his help from anywhere in the world you can determine where Arabia is located. Mecca (city) and the sacred Kaaba are the direction towards which the faithful must pray. This moment is very important for any person practicing Islam. But these are far from the only actions that govern the qibla direction.

Life and daily affairs of Muslims, depending on the location of the holy Kaaba

In order for the faithful to know exactly what to do in a given situation, the Prophet Muhammad left behind hadiths as a reminder. The qibla is mentioned even in several of them. For example, this topic is covered in the hadiths of Bara ibn Azib, Jabir ibn Abdallah, Amir ibn Rabiy. Thanks to these pious people, there is practically not a single moment in the daily life of Muslims that has not been explained and described. So, let's look at rituals and daily activities that imply the need for information about which direction the qibla is:

• Burial of the dead. Hadiths define the special position of the body of a Muslim during the burial - it must be turned on its right side, facing the Kaaba.
• Slaughter of animals. If any Muslim plans to slaughter cattle, he should put the animal on its left side and turn its head towards Mecca.
• Dream. Muslims must go to bed strictly observing a ritual identical to laying down the dead. After all, each person may not wake up in the morning, therefore, according to the Koran, a dreamequates to death.
• Management of natural needs. It is strictly forbidden for the faithful to do this with their backs turned or facing Mecca.
• Prayer. This is the most important daily action, for which you need to know exactly the direction of the qibla. Since prayer is performed several times a day, and a person constantly moves during this time, he should be able to receive reliable information about which side of the world Mecca is in.

Of course, these are not all the actions indicated in the hadiths. We have given only the most common and interesting. However, there is also a certain list of peculiar exceptions to the general rules, when it is allowed not to look for the qibla direction during prayer. There are only two such cases:

• While traveling. If you are on the road, and the time comes to perform a prayer or other action from the above, then the qibla will be considered the direction in which the transport is moving.
• Danger or serious illness. In the event that you are in mortal danger, a terrible disease approaches, or another critical situation arises, it is allowed to pray without focusing on Mecca.

We think from all of the above you have already understood how important the qibla is in Islam. Almost anyone can determine its direction in the modern world without much difficulty. But where did this term come from and why is Mecca the main reference point? We will tell you about this now.

The emergence of the qibla

From the earliest days of Islamas a religion, a tradition appeared to build mosques and perform all rituals, focusing on one direction. But originally it was the city of Quds (Jerusalem). It was considered a sacred place, and all the faithful, determining the qibla, turned to face it.

However, over time, a dispute arose between the Medinan Jews and Muslims. The former constantly reproached the faithful with the fact that they and the Prophet Muhammad could not even independently determine the qibla and learned this art from the Jews. The Prophet turned to Allah with a request, and the Almighty heard his prayer, Muslims received a new qibla. Now they had to face the sacred Kaaba. Since that time, the direction has never changed, which is why it is so important, regardless of where you are located anywhere in the world, to know where Mecca is located.

Qibla: how to determine the direction

Muslims know many ways to calculate the qibla direction. Some of them have been preserved since ancient times, others have arisen thanks to the technical achievements of our time. We have compiled in the article the most detailed list of all known methods:

• mosque;
• geographic map;
• compass;
• nine scientific methods of Abdelaziz Sallam;
• computer programs ("Qibla Compass");
• mechanical watch;
• a question to an authoritative person.

Since this is a rather important and interesting question, we will analyze each method separately.

Determining the qibla by the mosque

If your city has a mosque, then you will not have problems with determining the qibla. After all, initially every religious building in the Muslim world was built in such a way that all those who pray are always facing Mecca.

If you enter the mosque and look around carefully, you will notice a small semicircular niche - mihrab. It is from it that the imam leads the collective prayer. The niche is always oriented towards Mecca. Therefore, when praying in a mosque, you can always be sure that you are facing the right direction.

When there are a lot of people in the mosque, a prayer mat helps to determine the qibla. On many of them, an arrow indicates the direction, signed by the word "qibla". This greatly facilitates the life of Muslims who observe all the instructions of Allah. Also in many hotels of the world you can see signs with arrows pointing to Mecca.

Interestingly, in ancient times, experienced astrologers were always involved in the construction of mosques, who could absolutely accurately tell in which direction the sacred Kaaba was located. In the future, these questions were addressed to architects, who, in addition to their main responsibility, did an excellent job of determining the qibla direction.

Building mosques is much easier now, because you can correctly indicate the direction using a variety of technical means that allow you to determine the location of Mecca with an accuracy of one degree in relation to a certain point on the ground.

Interestingly, among all Islamic mosques, there is one that stands outits special characteristic - it has two qibla. We couldn't help mentioning this miracle in our article.

Unusual building in Saudi Arabia

In Medina there is a mosque of Two Qiblas, or Masjit Al-Kiblatayn. This building is one of a kind, because it has two mihrabs, which means it points to two qiblas. The first niche is oriented towards Jerusalem, and the second towards Mecca. One of the most ancient Muslim legends is associated with this mosque.

During the life of the Prophet Muhammad, when Quds served as qibla, he often prayed on the site of today's mosque. It is believed that it was here that the prophet prayed to Allah to send down a new qibla in connection with the protracted dispute between Muslims and Jews. Right during the prayer, Muhammad received a revelation from the Almighty and instantly turned towards Mecca. All the worshipers immediately followed his example. Thus, before the eyes of many people, an important event took place - the change of qibla. And the mosque, which has become a symbol of this significant change that affected the life of every true believer, has two mihrabs.

The religious building itself is made in the best Muslim architectural traditions. It has strict geometric outlines, emphasized by two minarets and domes. Since the mosque is located on a slope, it is noticeable how the prayer hall passes from one level to another and consists of many arches. The false dome, symbolizing the ancient direction for prayer, is smoothly connected by a small gallery to the main domes and the hall. In thatthere is a description of the process of changing the qibla that occurred many years ago.

Outwardly, the mosque is not much different from most similar structures. At the moment, it has been reconstructed and is operational.

How to determine the qibla direction using a compass

This is one of the easiest and most affordable ways to determine where the sacred Kaaba is relative to you. After all, a compass is an item that is sold in many stores and costs very little money. In addition, many others are connected with this method in one way or another, which we will describe in the following sections of the article.

For example, you pray in Moscow. How to determine in which direction you need to turn your face? Everything is simple. For prayer, you need to know that, relative to the inhabitants of central Russia, Mecca is located in the south. Therefore, you must take a compass and determine the cardinal points, and then turn to the south. If you follow all these simple steps, you will always know the right direction.

And what about other parts of our country and nearby states? How to find out, for example, the direction of the qibla by compass in Makhachkala? This is no less a simple process: those who live in the Caucasus, in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, should look for the southwest. That is where Mecca is in relation to them.

For the northwest of Russia and Ukraine, the qibla direction extends south. St. Petersburg has minor deviations from generally accepted calculations, but this is not a particular violation. ATHadith states that for prayer and performing rituals, it is not required to observe accuracy up to degrees. It is enough just to correctly orient in space. How to determine the qibla direction without a compass? This is a fairly common question and we will answer it.

Geographic map - an assistant in determining the qibla

If you didn’t have a compass at hand, and a geographical map is in your hands, then you can easily cope with the task of determining the location of the Kaaba. Let's take the same example: you are praying in Moscow and you want to find the qibla. You just need to find two points on the map - Moscow and Mecca, and then, using the definition of cardinal points, orient yourself to the south. Many believers are confused by this particular point of recommendation, because without a compass it is quite difficult to determine the cardinal points. We will give you a hint:

• Shadow at noon. If the sun is outside the window, then you need to go outside and turn your back to our luminary. The cast shadow will become the north indicator, with the right and left sides being east and west, respectively. This rule applies when you are in the Northern Hemisphere. In the South, your shadow will point, on the contrary, to the south.
• Polar Star. This ancient wayfinder for sailors and travelers can also prove useful in finding the qibla. If the night sky is clear, then you can easily find the North Star, located in the tail of the constellation Ursa Minor. If you draw a perpendicular to the ground from it, then it will point you to the north. Behind will be the south, on the right - the east, and on the left side -West.

We hope that with the help of our tips you will always be able to easily determine the direction of the qibla.

Qibla and mechanical watches: a simple and affordable method

This method is closely related to the previous two, because you also need the sun and the knowledge of exactly where you are in order to understand which side of the world to look for.

You need to place the clock on a flat surface so that the small hand points to the sun. The resulting angle between the hand and the twelve o'clock mark is divided into two equal parts, and its bisector will point to the south. And keep in mind that until noon the south will be on the right side of the star, and after - on the left. You can use this method from six in the morning until six in the evening.

Scientific work of Abdelaziz Sallam

It is especially difficult to determine the exact qibla direction for Muslims living in America. After all, usually the direction is calculated based on the shortest distance between two points on land. Therefore, there is no unity among American Muslims about the qibla. Sometimes prayer is performed relative to opposite ends of the world.

Approximately seventeen years ago, a whole symposium was devoted to this serious issue, at which Abdel-Aziz Sallam, who devoted almost his entire life to qibla studies, spoke. He presented to the audience his scientific work, containing nine scientific methods that can be used in everyday life with certain knowledge:

• Arithmetic. Here the rules for solving spheric altriangles, as well as the formula for the sine of a half angle.
• Trigonometric tables. They are used in two methods and are based on ancient Egyptian calculations.
• Sky sphere. This method is ideal for navigators who need to correlate the meridians and latitude of the Kaaba with the angle of inclination of the celestial sphere. The method described in the fifth scientific papers is identical, but here the circle of the celestial sphere is used.
• The sixth and seventh methods are based on the adoption of the Kaaba as the starting point in navigational instruments.
• Perpendicular to the sun. Twice during the year, our luminary becomes perpendicular to the Kaaba, this can be observed from different countries of the world. Therefore, it is enough to see this phenomenon once and make approximate guidelines for yourself in order to be able to always look towards Mecca in the future.

Prayer card. It was specially compiled for the inhabitants of America and allows you to calculate the desired direction using the specified angles

It is worth noting that all such different methods are recognized as correct and can be used at any time.

Computer programs

Direction to qibla during prayer is helped by various computer programs. Now they are very popular and widespread, there are applications for smartphones and tablets that, when launched, show you where you need to turn your face during prayer.

Despite the fact that these programs are very diverse, manyMuslims summarize them under one name - "Kibla Compass". Indeed, in any case, a drawn compass appears in front of you, the arrow of which points to the Kaaba. Typically, these programs share common characteristics:

• sound notifications about the beginning of prayer;
• compass;
• audio recordings of texts from the Koran;
• list of nearby mosques;
• Muslim calendar and the like.

In principle, such programs greatly facilitate the life of the faithful, because they can be used anywhere in the world. Now it is practically the most accurate method of determining the qibla from all known.

Question to another Muslim

If you cannot figure out the direction of the qibla for one reason or another, then it is permissible to ask a trustworthy Muslim with a question. Many are worried about such a moment that the respondent can also make a mistake and incorrectly indicate the direction. Keep in mind that in this case someone else's mistake will not be considered a sin. You can safely pray facing in the indicated direction, but if you find out the correct direction, you should change it. And perform further rituals in the right direction.

Interestingly, if as a result of any actions during prayer you realize that you are making a mistake, you must immediately turn around to face the right direction and continue your prayer.

A few words in conclusion

We hope that our article was useful to you, and we have given all the answers to questions related to the qibla. Now you can alwaysperform prayers and other rituals facing the Kaaba. And this is correct, because that is what Allah commanded to do through the Prophet Muhammad. But, striving to perform all actions correctly and in accordance with the Qur'an and hadiths, do not forget the main thing. The life of a faithful Muslim should be filled with spiritual purity and the desire to live according to the precepts of the Almighty, and if for some reason you cannot determine the direction of the qibla, do not be discouraged. It is written in the hadiths that it is better to pray sincerely, not knowing where Mecca is, than to pray without a spark of faith in the heart, but in the direction of the qibla.