Qibla

The qibla is the direction towards the Kaaba in the Sacred Mosque in Mecca. It is used by Muslims in various religious contexts, particularly the direction of prayer for the salah. The spaceflight of a devout Muslim, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, to the International Space Station in 2007 generated a discussion with regard to theqibla direction from low Earth orbit.

About Qibla in brief

The qibla is the direction towards the Kaaba in the Sacred Mosque in Mecca. It is used by Muslims in various religious contexts, particularly the direction of prayer for the salah. The most common technical definition used by Muslim astronomers for a location is direction of the great circle passing through the location and Kaaba. In the late 9th and 10th centuries, Muslim astronomers developed methods to find the exact direction. The spaceflight of a devout Muslim, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, to the International Space Station in 2007 generated a discussion with regard to theqibla direction from low Earth orbit. The Islamic authority of his home country, Malaysia, has now recommended determining the qiblas based on what is possible for the astronaut to do. The Kaaba is the holiest site for Muslims, also known as the House of God and where the tawaf is performed during the Hajj and umrah pilgrimages. According to Islamic traditions, these verses were revealed to Muhammad in the second Hijri year of his life. The status of the Kaabas is based on the verses 144, 149, and 150 of the Quran, each of which contains a command to turn your face toward the Sacred mosque. The qiblo is also the direction for entering the ihram ; the direction to which animals are turned during dhabihah ; the recommended direction to make dua ; thedirection to avoid when relieving oneself or spitting; and the direction the deceased are aligned when buried.

It can also be determined at a location by observing the shadow of a vertical rod on the twice-yearly occasions when the sun is directly overhead in Mecca—on 27 and 28 May at 12: 18 Saudi Arabia Standard Time and on 15 and 16 July at 12 : 27 SAST. According to Abraham and Ishmael, it was built by the prophets both of whom are prophets in Islam. Prior to Muhammad, theKaaba had been used as a shrine of the pre-Islamic Arabic religion, but in the 15 or 16 months after Muhammad’s migration to Medina, Muslims had prayed as far away from Jerusalem as possible. Most mosques contain a mihrab that indicates the direction that is used to determine the qiblas of a mosque. Early Islamic astronomy was built on its Indian and Greek counterparts, especially the works of Ptolemy, and soon Muslim astronomersdeveloped methods to calculate the approximate directions of the qIBla. The modern formula is applied to develop mobile applications and websites for Muslims and to compileQibla tables used in instruments such as the Qibla compass. Historical mosques with differing qibas still stand today throughout the Islamic world, resulting in much diversity in medieval Muslim cities. Other than its role as qibLA, it is also the holiest place for Muslims to pray, as it is the home of the Prophet Muhammad and the Prophet’s son, Al-Husain.