Qibla
Encyclopedia : Q : QI : QIB : Qibla
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Vocabulary of Islam |
Qibla (Arabic: قبلة ) is an Arabic word referring to the direction that should be faced when a Muslim prays. At one point the direction of the Qibla was toward Baitul Muqaddas, Jerusalem (and it is therefore called the First of the Two Qiblas), however, this only lasted for seventeen months, after which the Qibla became oriented towards the Kaaba in Mecca. According to accounts from Muhammad's companions, the change happened very suddenly during the noon prayer in Medina. Muhammad was leading the prayer when he received a revelation from Allah instructing him to take the Kaaba as the Qiblah (literally, "turn your face towards the Masjid al Haram"). According to the historical accounts, Muhammad, who had been facing Jerusalem, upon receiving this revelation, immediately turned around to face Mecca, and those praying behind him also did so. Some skeptics argue that the change was political in nature and resulted from an argument with the Jews of Medina.
The Qibla, for any point of reference on the Earth, is the direction of the Kaaba. Some Muslims from North America determine this direction using a rhumb line, while most Muslims worldwide use a great circle. In Muslim religious practice, supplicants must face this direction in prayer. It should be noted that Muslims do not worship the Kaaba or its contents; the Kaaba is simply a focal point for prayer.
In ancient times, Muslims traveling abroad used an astrolabe to find the Qibla.
The Qibla has importance to more than just the salat, and plays an important part in everyday ceremonies. The head of an animal that is slaughtered using Halal methods is aligned with the Qibla. After death, Muslims are buried with their faces in the direction of the Qibla.
dispute about the direction of the Qibla
In the last 1000 years, several Muslim mathematicians and astronomers, such as al-Biruni, have discussed the correct way of determining the Qibla direction from any point on the Earth's surface. All of them agree that at the two moments in each year when the Sun is directly overhead the Kaaba, the direction of shadows in any sunlit place will point directly away from the Qibla. This happens on May 28 at 9:18 GMT and on July 16 at 9:27 GMT.
Of course, at any time, only half of the globe is sunlit. Fortunately, there are two moments in each year when the Sun is directly over the antipodes of the Kaaba. At that time, the direction of shadows in any sunlit place will point directly towards the Qibla. This happens on November 28 at 21:09 GMT and January 16 at 21:29 GMT.
Because the Earth is almost a sphere, this is almost the same as saying that the Qibla from a place is the direction in which a bird would start flying in order to get to the Kaaba by the shortest possible way.
In recent years, some Muslims from North America have argued that the traditional rule is nonsensical, because it leads to absurd results. A Muslim praying from Alaska, they say, should pray almost due North if determining the Qibla according to the traditional rule, because a plane going directly from Alaska to Makkah would take that route. Now, anybody who sees a Mercator projection map of the world can see plainly that Makkah is not North of Alaska, but rather to the southeast (or the southwest, depending on the map used). Therefore the "shortest travel distance" rule traditionally used in the old world makes no sense for North Americans.
These Muslims claim that the only correct way of determining the true Qibla from a place is drawing a line from that place to Makka in a Mercator projection map and that the fact that this line is not the shortest possible line has no relevance whatsoever to the matter.
The Muslim communities in North America are currently divided by the dispute: some of them pray to the Northeast acording to the traditional doctrine, and some to the Southeast, according to the Mercator doctrine.
This dispute is far from trivial, because the fact that all Muslims pray towards the Kaaba is traditionally considered to be symbol of the unity of all Muslims worlwide under the law of God.
Most Qibla calculating programs just use the traditional method and don't even mention the Mercator map method.
Future questions
In April of 2006, Angkasa, the Malaysian space agency, sponsored a [conference] of scientists and religious scholars to address the issue of how the Qibla should be determined when one is in orbit; this is not merely a hypothetical question, since the Russian Federal Space Agency will be taking a Malaysian astronaut into orbit in 2007, and it is highly likely that this astronaut will be Muslim.See also
- Masjid al Haram
- Black Stone
- Kaaba
- Qiblih, the Bahá'í equivalent of the Qibla
External links
- [Worldwide Qibla Locator]
- [Full information of the Holy Ka'bah]
- [Al-Quds About.com]
- [Second Year of the Hijra on al-islam.org]
- [Qiblah In North America] Argues that the Qiblah is based on a rhumb line path
- [Qiblah direction] Argues that the Qiblah is based on a great circle path
- [Determining the Sacred Direction of Islam]
- [Qibla Finder Widget for Konfabulator]
- [a website favoring the "shortest way" method].
- [a website favoring the "Mercator map" method].
- [a website favoring the traditional method]
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