Direction Of Mecca From Toronto? Top 36 Best Answers

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What direction is Mecca?

The answer is the direction from the prayer site toward Mecca expressed as an azimuth. In the case of Queens, New York, we calcu- lated it to be about 58″, an approximate northeasterly direction. On a globe the direction from any point to the North Pole can be readily determined.

What is Qibla angle Toronto?

Qibla Direction for Toronto. In Toronto, you can find your Qibla direction in two ways. By benefiting the online maps, you can find out your Qibla direction line. Besides, for those who want to find the Qibla direction with the compass, the Qibla angle is given. Qibla Angle: 54.58°

Where is Mecca from Canada?

The total straight line flight distance from Toronto, Canada to Mecca, Saudi Arabia is 6,533 miles.

Why do we pray north east?

Most of North America’s 4.5 million Muslims pray to the northeast five times a day because it’s the shortest distance to Mecca, the sacred center of Islam in Saudi Arabia.

Where is Mecca located today?

Mecca, Arabic Makkah, ancient Bakkah, city, western Saudi Arabia, located in the Ṣirāt Mountains, inland from the Red Sea coast. It is the holiest of Muslim cities.

Pa. Muslims at odds on prayer direction

landscape

The city site of Mecca lies at an altitude of 277 meters above sea level in the dry beds of Wadi Ibrāhīm and several of its short tributaries. It is surrounded by the Ṣirāt Mountains, whose peaks include Mount (Jabal) Ajyad, which rises to 1,332 feet, and Mount Abū Qubays, which reaches 1,220 feet, to the east, and Mount Quʿayqʿān, which reaches 1,401 feet, in the West . Mount Hirāʾ rises to 2,080 feet to the northeast and contains a cave where Muhammad sought isolation and visions before becoming a prophet. In this cave he also received the first verse (āyah) of the Holy Quran. South of the city, on Mount Thawr (750 m), is the cave where the Prophet hid from his Meccan enemies during the Hijra after Medina, the event that marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar. Mecca, Saudi Arabia Aerial view of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Al Jazeera English (CC-BY-2.0) (A Britannica Publishing Partner) Access to the city is via four gaps in the surrounding mountains. The passes lead from the northeast to Minā, ʿArafāt and Al-Ṭāʾif; from north-west to Medina; from west to Jeddah; and from the south to Yemen. The gaps have also determined the direction of the city’s contemporary expansion. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and get access to exclusive content. subscribe now

Climate Because of its relatively low elevation, Mecca is threatened by seasonal flash floods, despite the low annual rainfall. There is less than 5 inches (130 mm) of rainfall during the year, mostly in the winter months. Temperatures are high all year round and can reach 49°C in summer.

Plant and Animal Life Plants and animals are scarce and consist of species that can withstand the high levels of drought and heat. The natural vegetation includes tamarisk and various species of acacia. Wildlife includes wild cats, wolves, hyenas, foxes, mongooses and kangaroo rats (jerboas).

City Map The city centers on the Haram Mosque, also known as the Great Mosque, which houses the Kaaba and the holy Zamzam well. The compact development around the mosque includes the old town, which stretches to the north and south-west but is bounded by the nearby mountains to the east and west. The main streets are al-Muddaʿah and Sūq al-Layl to the north of the mosque and al-Sūq al-Ṣaghīr to the south. Since World War II, Mecca has expanded north, northwest, and west along the roads through the mountain ranges. Modern residential areas include Al-ʿAzīziyyah and Al-Fayṣaliyyah along the road to Minā and Al-Ẓāhir, Al-Zahraʿā and Shāriʿ al-Manṣūr along the roads to Jeddah and Medina. The expansion was accompanied by the construction of new streets in the old town. In the 21st century, a number of skyscraper hotels were built in the area around the mosque. Magnificent in its size and architecture, the Haram Mosque has been embellished and enlarged on numerous occasions over the centuries, most recently in a series of massive expansions by the government of Saudi Arabia in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The state-of-the-art complex, now multi-storey, includes an advanced communication network, air conditioning, escalators and a complex network of pedestrian walkways and tunnels, in addition to numerous accompanying aesthetic and artistic elements. The mosque can accommodate one million worshipers at a time. Houses near the mosque have been demolished, and it is now surrounded by open spaces and wide streets that can be traversed by underground walkways built to facilitate traffic. South of Haram Mosque, the Saudi government built the Abrāj al-Bayt skyscraper complex, one of the largest and tallest buildings in the world, to house hotels, shopping malls and prayer areas near the holy sites. Mecca, Saudi Arabia: Abrāj al-Bayt Abrāj al-Bayt, a skyscraper complex in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. King Eliot (CC-BY-4.0) (A Britannica Publishing Partner)

What direction do you pray in Canada?

If you are in Canada, turn so you stand between North and East and then turn slightly more to the east. If you are in America, it is the same except slightly less to the East.

Pa. Muslims at odds on prayer direction

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Article overview

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To find the qibla, make sure you know where in the world you are in relation to Mecca. Then orient yourself by where the sun rises, i.e. in the east. Next, turn in the right direction, e.g. B. East if you are in the US or North in South Africa. Alternatively, download an app for your phone that uses GPS technology. You can also find direction by holding a compass flat in front of you and waiting for the needle to point north. Then use this to figure out which direction to face. To find out how to use a watch to locate the Qibla, read on!

How many degrees is the Kaaba?

Latitude and longitude coordinates are: 21.422487, 39.826206.

Pa. Muslims at odds on prayer direction

The Kaaba, Mecca, Saudi Arabia

Latitude and longitude coordinates are: 21.422487, 39.826206.

The Kaaba, or Ka’aba, is the holiest site for Muslims, and it is a cuboid construction at the center of Al-Masjid-al-Haram, a vast mosque in the city of Mecca, which can be found in the western region of Saudi Arabia . The Kaaba is considered the “House of God” and plays an extremely important role for all Muslims in the world. When performing the salat (a special Muslim prayer), all Muslims around the world must face towards the Kaaba (this direction is called the Qibla). Also, as stated in the Qur’an, every Muslim in the world should at least once in his life make a pilgrimage (a Hajj) and arrive at the Kabe (preferably on foot) to perform the ritual of Tawaf.

The Kaaba is the holiest site for all Muslims and is estimated to be visited by over 3 million people annually during the Hajj. The building itself is a cube-shaped building nearly 45 feet tall. There is a room in the Kaaba whose interior is made of limestone and marble. There is also a way to go to the roof of the Kaaba, but certainly not only ordinary pilgrims can do it. Twice a year the Kaaba building is opened for the standard procedure called cleaning. As one of the most visited places in the world, the Kaaba needs maintenance and renovations from time to time. The last one was in 2013 when the site was renovated and slightly expanded. Undoubtedly, the Kaaba is one of the key symbols of the Muslim religion.

Where is the Kaaba, Mecca, Saudi Arabia on the map?

Street map of Kaaba, Mecca, Saudi Arabia showing where the location is.

Satellite map of the Kaaba, Mecca, Saudi Arabia

Information about the lat long coordinates of Kaaba, Mecca, Saudi Arabia

The latitude of Kaaba, Mecca, Saudi Arabia is 21.422487 and the longitude is 39.826206. The Kaaba, Mecca, Saudi Arabia is located in the country Saudi Arabia in the place category Religious centers with the GPS coordinates 21° 25′ 20.9532” N and 39° 49′ 34.3416” E.

Is Mecca north or east?

It can result in a dramatic difference in some places; for example, in some parts of North America the flat map shows Mecca in the southeast while the great circle calculation shows it to the northeast.

Pa. Muslims at odds on prayer direction

Direction to face when a Muslim prays during salah

The Qibla (Arabic: قِبْلَة‎, romanized: Qiblah, literally “direction”) is the direction towards the Kaaba in the Holy Mosque in Mecca, used by Muslims in various religious contexts, particularly as a direction of prayer for salah. In Islam, the Kaaba is believed to be a sacred site built by the prophets Abraham and Ishmael and its use as a Qibla was ordained by God in several verses of the Qur’an revealed to Muhammad in the second Hijri year. Prior to this revelation, Muhammad and his followers faced Jerusalem in prayer in Medina. Most mosques contain a mihrab (a wall niche) that indicates the direction of the qibla.

The Qibla is also the direction for entering Ihram (sacred state for Hajj pilgrimage); the direction in which animals are turned during dhabihah (Islamic slaughter); the recommended direction for making dua (ask); the direction to avoid when relieving or spitting; and the direction in which the deceased faces when buried. The Qibla can be observed pointed in the direction of the Kaaba (ayn al-ka’bah) or in the general direction (jihat al-ka’bah). Most Islamic scholars hold that Jihat al-ka’bah is acceptable when the more precise ain al-ka’bah cannot be ascertained.

The most common technical definition used by Muslim astronomers for a place is the direction of the great circle – in the globe – that runs through the place and the Kaaba. This is the direction of the shortest possible path from a location to the Kaaba and allows for the exact calculation (Hisab) of the Qibla using a spherical trigonometric formula that takes the coordinates of a location and the Kaaba as inputs (see formula below). . The method is used to develop mobile applications and websites for Muslims and to create Qibla tables used in instruments such as the Qibla Compass. The qibla can also be determined at a location by observing the shadow of a vertical staff twice a year when the sun is directly overhead in Mecca – on the 27th and 28th and on July 15th and 16th at 12:00 p.m.: 27 SAST (09:27 UTC).

Before the development of astronomy in the Islamic world, Muslims used traditional methods to determine the qibla. These methods included looking in the direction taken by Muhammad’s companions in the same place; use of the setting and rising points of celestial bodies; with the wind direction; or due south, which was Muhammad’s Qibla in Medina. Early Islamic astronomy built on its Indian and Greek counterparts, particularly the works of Ptolemy, and soon Muslim astronomers from the mid-ninth century developed methods of calculating the approximate directions of the qibla. In the late 9th and 10th centuries, Muslim astronomers developed methods to find the precise direction of the qibla that conform to the modern formula. Initially, this “qibla of the astronomers” was used alongside various traditionally established qiblas, leading to a wide variety in medieval Muslim cities. In addition, the precise geographic data required for the astronomical methods to produce an accurate result were not available before the 18th and 19th centuries, leading to further diversity in qibla. Historic mosques with different qiblas still stand throughout the Islamic world. The space flight of a devout Muslim, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2007 sparked a discussion about the direction of the qibla from low Earth orbit, prompting the Islamic authority of his native Malaysia to recommend determining the qibla “based on qibla”. on what is possible” for the astronaut.

Location [edit]

Mecca Medina Jerusalem class=notpageimage| Muhammad and the early Muslims in Medina first prayed toward Jerusalem and changed the qibla in AD 624 to face the Kaaba in Mecca.

The Qibla is the direction of the Kaaba, a cube-shaped building at the center of the Holy Mosque (al-Masjid al-Haram) in Mecca, in the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia. Aside from its role as a qibla, it is also the holiest place for Muslims, also known as the House of God (Bait Allah) and where the tawaf (the circumambulation ritual) is performed during Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages. The Kaaba is roughly rectangular in plan, with its four corners pointing towards the four cardinal points. According to the Qur’an, it was built by Abraham and Ishmael, both of whom are prophets in Islam. There are few historical records of the history of the Kaaba before the rise of Islam, but in the generations before Muhammad, the Kaaba was used as a shrine to the pre-Islamic Arabic religion.

The Qibla status of the Kaaba (or the Holy Mosque in which it is located) is based on verses 144, 149 and 150 of the al-Baqarah chapter of the Qur’an, each of which contains a command to “turn your face to the Holy Mosque.” ” (fawalli wajhaka shatr al-Masjid il-Haram). According to Islamic traditions, these verses were revealed in the month of Rajab or Shaban in the second Hijri year (AD 624), or about 15 or 16 months after Muhammad’s migration to Medina. Prior to these revelations, Muhammad and the Muslims of Medina had prayed toward Jerusalem as a qibla, the same direction as the direction of prayer – the mizra – used by the Jews of Medina.Islamic tradition holds that these verses were revealed during a prayer meeting; Muhammad and his followers immediately changed direction from Jerusalem to Mecca in the midst of the prayer ritual, and the location of this event became the Masjid al-Qiblatayn (“The Mosque of the Two Qiblas”).

There are various accounts of the Qibla direction when Muhammad was in Mecca (before his emigration to Medina). According to an account quoted by historian al-Tabari and exegete al-Baydawi, Muhammad prayed to the Kaaba. Another account, cited by al-Baladhuri and also by al-Tabari, states that Muhammad prayed in Mecca towards Jerusalem. Another account mentioned in Ibn Hisham’s biography of Muhammad says that Muhammad prayed facing the Kaaba and Jerusalem at the same time. Today, Muslims of all denominations, including Sunni and Shia, all pray to the Kaaba. Historically, a major exception were the Qarmatians, a now-defunct syncretic Shi’a sect that rejected the Kaaba as a qibla; In 930 they sacked Mecca and temporarily took the Black Stone of the Kaaba to their center of power in Al-Ahsa with the intention of ushering in a new era in Islam.

Religious significance[ edit ]

The mihrab in one of the walls of a mosque indicates the direction of the qibla to be used for prayers. Image from Shah-i-Zinda Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Etymologically, the Arabic word qibla (قبلة) means “direction”. In Islamic ritual and law, it refers to a particular direction faced by Muslims during prayer and other religious contexts. Islamic religious scholars agree that the face of the qibla is a necessary condition for the validity of salah – Islamic ritual prayer – under normal conditions; Exceptions are prayers during a state of fear or war and non-obligatory prayers during the trip. The Hadith (Muhammad’s tradition) also dictates that upon entering Ihram (holy state for Hajj) Muslims face the Qibla after the middle Jamrah (rite of throwing stones) during the pilgrimage. Islamic etiquette (adab) requires Muslims to turn the head of an animal when it is slaughtered and the faces of the dead when they are buried towards the Qibla. The Qibla is the preferred direction of supplication and should be avoided during defecation, urination and spitting.

In a mosque, the qibla is usually indicated by a mihrab, a niche in the wall facing the qibla. In a congregational prayer, the imam stands in or near it, in front of the rest of the congregation. The mihrab became a part of the mosque during the Umayyad period and its form was standardized during the Abbasid period; Before that, a mosque’s qibla was known by the orientation of one of its walls, called the qibla wall. The term mihrab itself is attested only once in the Qur’an, but it refers to a place of worship for the Israelites rather than part of a mosque.[a] The Mosque of Amr ibn al-As in Fustat, Egypt, is among the oldest mosques that was discovered known to have originally been built without a mihrab, although one has since been added.

Ayn al-ka’bah and Jihat al-ka’bah [ edit ]

Ayn al-ka’bah (“standing so as to face the Kaaba”) is a position facing the Qibla such that an imaginary line extending from the person’s line of sight passes through the Kaaba. This type of Qibla observation is easily possible in the Grand Mosque of Mecca and its environs, but since the Kaaba is less than 20 meters wide, this is virtually impossible from remote locations. For example, from Medina, at a distance of 338 kilometers (210 miles) in a straight line from the Kaaba, a deviation of one degree from the exact imaginary line – an error that is scarcely noticeable when one sets up one’s prayer rug or takes one’s posture – will result in a 5.9 kilometer shift from the location of the Kaaba. This effect is amplified when one is further than Mecca: from Jakarta, Indonesia – about 7,900 km (4,900 miles) away, a deviation of one degree causes a shift of more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) and even a deviation of one arc second – (1 ⁄ 3600 degrees) – causes a displacement of more than 100 meters (330 feet) from the location of the Kaaba. In comparison, the construction process of a mosque can easily introduce an error of up to five degrees from the calculated qibla, and the installation of prayer rugs inside the mosque as indicators for worshipers can add another five degrees of deviation from the mosque’s orientation.

A minority of Islamic religious scholars – for example, Ibn Arabi (d. 1240) – consider ain al-ka’bah obligatory during ritual prayer, while others consider it obligatory only when one is able. For places further than Mecca, scholars such as Abu Hanifa (d. 699) and Al-Qurtubi (d. 1214) argue that it is permissible to assume Jihat al-ka’bah and only in the general direction toward the Kaaba look. Others argue that the ritual condition of facing the Qibla is already fulfilled when the imaginary line to the Kaaba is in view. For example, there are legal opinions that accept the entire south-eastern quadrant in Al-Andalus (Islamic Iberian Peninsula) and the south-western quadrant in Central Asia as valid qibla. Arguments for the validity of Jihat al-ka’bah include the wording of the Qur’an, which commands Muslims only to “set [his] face toward the Grand Mosque” and to avoid making requirements that would be impossible to meet if ayn al-Ka’bah should be obligatory everywhere. The Shafi’i school of Islamic law, as codified in Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi’s 11th-century Kitab al-Tanbih fi’l-Fiqh, argues that one must follow the qibla specified by the local mosque when you are not near Mecca or If you are not near a mosque, ask someone you trust. If this is not possible, one must make one’s own decision with the means at one’s disposal – to practice ijtihad.

Determination [ edit ]

Theoretical basis: the great circle

bold) in between. The great circle passing through two points (A and B) indicates the shortest path () between them.

A great circle, also called an orthodrome, is any circle on a sphere whose center is the same as the center of the sphere. For example, all lines of longitude are great circles of the earth, while the equator is the only line of latitude that is also a great circle (other lines of latitude are centered north or south of the center of the earth). The great circle is the theoretical basis in most models that attempt to mathematically determine the direction of the qibla from a location. In such models, the Qibla is defined as the direction of the great circle passing through the site and the Kaaba. One of the properties of a great circle is that it indicates the shortest path connecting any pair of points along the circle – this is the basis for its use in determining the qibla. The great circle is similarly used to find the shortest trajectory connecting the two locations – hence the qibla calculated by the great circle method is generally close to the direction of the location towards Mecca. Because the ellipsoid is a more accurate figure of the earth than a perfect sphere, modern researchers have explored the use of ellipsoid models to calculate the qibla, replacing the great circle with the geodesics on an ellipsoid. This leads to more complicated calculations, while the improvement in accuracy falls well within the typical accuracy of staking out a mosque or placing a mat. For example, calculations using the GRS 80 ellipsoid model give the qibla of 18°47’06″ for a location in San Francisco, while the great circle method gives 18°51’05″.

Calculations with spherical trigonometry

Calculation of Qibla from Yogyakarta, Indonesia (see text for calculation details)

The great circle model is applied to calculate the qibla using spherical trigonometry – a branch of geometry that deals with the mathematical relationships between the sides and angles of triangles formed by three great circles of a sphere (as opposed to traditional trigonometry, dealing with it). of a two-dimensional triangle). In the accompanying figure (titled “Calculating the Qibla”), a location O {\displaystyle O} , the Kaaba Q {\displaystyle Q} , and the North Pole N {\displaystyle N} form a triangle on the globe . The Qibla is indicated by O Q {\displaystyle OQ} which is the direction of the great circle that passes through both O {\displaystyle O} and Q {\displaystyle Q}. The qibla can also be expressed as an angle of the qibla with respect to the north, which is also called inhiraf al-qibla. This angle can be calculated as a mathematical function of the local latitude Φ {\displaystyle \Phi } , the width of the Kaaba Φ Q {\displaystyle \Phi _{Q}} and the difference in longitude between the locality and the Kaaba Δ L {\displaystyle \ delta L} . This function is derived from the cotangent rule, which applies to any spherical triangle with angles A {\displaystyle A} , B {\displaystyle B} , C {\displaystyle C} and sides a {\displaystyle a} , b {\displaystyle b holds } , c {\displaystyle c} :

cos ⁡ a cos ⁡ C = cot ⁡ b sin ⁡ a − cot ⁡ B sin ⁡ C {\displaystyle \cos a\,\cos C=\cot b\,\sin a-\cot B\,\sin C} [29]

Applying this formula in spherical triangle △ N O Q {\displaystyle \triangle NOQ} (replacing B = ∠ q = ∠ N O Q {\displaystyle B=\angle q =\angle NOQ} ) and applying trigonometric identities get:

tan ⁡ q = sin ⁡ Δ L sin ⁡ ϕ cos ⁡ Δ L − cos ⁡ ϕ tan ⁡ ϕ Q {\displaystyle \tan q={\frac {\sin \Delta L}{\sin \phi \cos \Delta L -\cos \phi \tan \phi _{Q}}}} , or

q = arctan ⁡ ( sin ⁡ Δ L sin ⁡ ϕ cos ⁡ Δ L − cos ⁡ ϕ tan ⁡ ϕ Q ) {\displaystyle q=\arctan \left({\frac {\sin \Delta L}{\sin \phi \cos \Delta L-\cos \phi \tan \phi _{Q}}}\right)}

For example, the qibla from the city of Yogyakarta, Indonesia can be calculated as follows. The coordinates of the city, Φ {\displaystyle \Phi } , are 7.801389°S, 110.364444°E, while the coordinates of the Kaaba, Φ Q {\displaystyle \Phi _{Q}} , 21.422478°N , 39.825183°E. The difference in length is (110.364444 minus 39.825183) 70.539261 Δ L {\displaystyle \Delta L}. Inserting the values ​​into the formula gives: q = arctan ⁡ ( sin ⁡ ( 70.539261 ∘ ) sin ⁡ ( − 7.801389 ∘ ) ⋅ cos ⁡ ( 70.539261 ∘ ) − cos ⁡ ( − 7.801389 ∘ ) { \displaystyle q=\arctan \left({\frac {\sin(70.539261^{\circ })}{\sin(-7.801389^{\circ })\cdot \cos(70.539261^{\circ })-\ cos(-7.801389^{\circ })\cdot \tan(21.422478^{\circ })}}\right)} resulting in:

q ≈ 295 ∘ {\displaystyle q\approx 295^{\circ }} .

The calculated qibla for the city of Yogyakarta is therefore 295° or 25° north of west.

This formula was derived by modern scholars, but equivalent methods have been known to Muslim astronomers since the 9th century (3rd century AD), developed by various scholars including Habash al-Hasib (active in Damascus and Baghdad around 850 ), Al-Nayrizi (Baghdad, c. 900), Ibn Yunus (10th–11th centuries), Ibn al-Haytham (11th centuries) and Al-Biruni (11th centuries). Spherical trigonometry also underlies almost every application or website that calculates the Qibla today.

If the qibla angle is known with respect to north, true north must be known in order to find the qibla in practice. Common practical methods of finding it include observing the shadow at the sun’s zenith – when the sun exactly crosses the local meridian. At this point, any vertical object would cast a shadow oriented north-south. The result of this observation is very accurate, but requires an accurate determination of the local culmination time as well as making the correct observation at that precise moment. Another common method is to use the compass, which is more practical because you can do it at any time; The downside is that north indicated by a magnetic compass differs from true north. This magnetic declination can be as much as 20°, which can vary in different places on Earth and changes over time.

Shadow Watching[ edit ]

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, allowing its direction to be observed from the shadow of a vertical object.

As observed from Earth, the Sun appears to “shift” seasonally between the northern and southern tropics. it also appears to be moving from east to west daily as a result of the Earth’s rotation. The combination of these two apparent motions causes the Sun to cross the meridian once each day, usually not exactly overhead but north or south of the observer. At locations between the two tropics – latitudes below 23.5° north or south – the sun passes almost directly over them at certain times of the year (usually twice a year). This occurs when the sun crosses the meridian while at the same time being at the local latitude.

The city of Mecca is one of the places where this happens because of its location at 21°25′N. It occurs twice a year, first on April 27th and 28th. May around 12:18 Saudi Arabia Standard Time (SAST) or 09:00:18 UTC and secondly on 15/16 July at 12:27 SAST (09:27 UTC).[b] When the sun reaches the zenith of the Kaaba, any vertical object on Earth that receives sunlight casts a shadow indicating the Qibla (see image). This method of finding the qibla is called rasd al-qiblat (“observation of the qibla”). As night falls in the hemisphere opposite the Kaaba, half the places on earth (including Australia and most of the Americas and the Pacific Ocean) cannot see it directly. Instead, such locations observe the opposite phenomenon when the sun passes over the antipodal point of the Kaaba (in other words, the sun passes directly below the Kaaba), causing shadows in the opposite direction to those observed during Rasd al-Qiblat . This occurs twice a year, on January 14 00:30 SAST (21:30 UTC the day before) and November 29 00:09 SAST (21:09 UTC the day before). Observations made within five minutes of the Rasd al-Qiblat moments or its antipodal counterparts, or at the same time of day two days before or after each event, still show accurate directions with negligible difference.

On the world map[edit]

A map created using the Craig retroazimuthal projection centered on Mecca. Unlike most map projections, it maintains the direction from any other point on the map to the center.

Spherical trigonometry provides the shortest route to the Kaaba from any point on earth, although the direction shown may seem counterintuitive on a flat map of the world. For example, the Alaskan qibla obtained by spherical trigonometry is almost due north. This apparent counterintuitiveness is caused by projections used by world maps, which inevitably distort the surface of the earth. A straight line shown by the world map when using the Mercator projection is called a loxodrome or loxodrome, used by a minority of Muslims to indicate the Qibla.[c] It can make a dramatic difference in some places to lead; For example, in some parts of North America, the flat map shows Mecca to the southeast, while the great circle calculation shows it to the northeast. In Japan, the map shows it in the southwest while the large circle shows it in the northwest. However, the majority of Muslims follow the great circle method.

A retroazimuthal projection is any map projection that preserves the angular direction (azimuth) of the great circle path from any point on the map to a point selected as the center of the map. The original purpose of its development was to help locate the Qibla by taking the Kaaba as the center. The earliest surviving works with this projection were two astrolabe-shaped brass instruments made in 18th-century Iran. They contain grids covering locations between Spain and China, label the locations of large cities with their names, but do not show a coastline. The first of the two was discovered in 1989; its diameter is 22.5 centimeters (8.9 in) and it has a ruler with which one can read the direction from Mecca from the markings on the instrument’s circumference and the distance to Mecca from the markings on the ruler. [d] Only the second is signed by its creator, Muhammad Husayn. The first formal design of a retroazimuthal projection in Western literature is the Craig projection, or Mecca projection, created in 1910 by Scottish mathematician James Ireland Craig, who worked in the Survey Department of Egypt. Its map is centered on Mecca and its range is limited to showing the predominantly Muslim countries. Extending the map more than 90° in longitude from the center will result in overcrowding and overlapping.

Traditional methods[edit]

Historical records and surviving ancient mosques show that throughout history the qibla has often been determined by simple methods based on tradition or “folk science” rather than mathematical astronomy. Some early Muslims used due south as their qibla everywhere, literally following Muhammad’s instruction to face south while he was in Medina (Mecca is due south of Medina). Some mosques as far away as al-Andalus to the west and Central Asia to the east face south, although Mecca is nowhere near that direction. In various places there are also the “Qiblas of the Companions” (qiblat al-sahaba), which were used there by the Companions of the Prophet – the first generation of Muslims who are regarded as role models in Islam. Such directions were used alongside other directions by some Muslims in the following centuries, even after Muslim astronomers used calculations to find more accurate directions to Mecca. Among the directions described as the Qiblas of the Companions are due south in Syria and Palestine, the direction of winter sunrise in Egypt, and the direction of winter sunset in Iraq. The direction of winter sunrise and sunset is also traditionally preferred because they are parallel to the walls of the Kaaba.

Method development[edit]

The determination of the qibla has been an important issue for Muslim communities throughout history. Muslims need to know the qibla to perform their daily prayers and it is also needed to determine the orientation of mosques. When Muhammad lived among the Muslims in Medina (which, like Mecca, is also in the Hejaz region), he prayed due south, corresponding to the known direction of Mecca. Within the few generations after Muhammad’s death in 632, Muslims had reached places far from Mecca, posing the problem of determining the qibla in new places. Mathematical methods based on astronomy did not develop until the late eighth or early ninth century, and even then they were not initially popular. Hence, early Muslims relied on non-astronomical methods.

In the early Islamic period, there was a wide range of traditional methods for determining the qibla, leading to different directions even from the same place. Besides the true south and the Qiblas of the Companions, the Arabs also knew a form of “folk” astronomy – so called by the historian of astronomy David A. King to distinguish it from conventional astronomy, which is an exact science – which their Origin has pre-Islamic traditions. It used natural phenomena, including observation of the sun, moon, stars, and wind, without any mathematical basis whatsoever. These methods provide specific directions at discrete locations, often using the fixed points of setting and rising of a particular star, sunrise or sunset at the equinoxes, or at the summer or winter solstices. Historical sources report several such qiblas, for example: sunrise on the equinoxes (due east) in the Maghreb, sunset on the equinoxes (due west) in India, the origin of the north wind, or the fixed location of the North Star in Yemen, the point of ascent of the star Suhayl (Canopus) in Syria and the midwinter sunset in Iraq. Such instructions appear in texts of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and texts of folk astronomy. Astronomers (apart from popular astronomers) do not usually comment on these methods, but they have not been rejected by Islamic legal scholars. The traditional directions were still in use when methods were developed to more accurately calculate the qibla, and they still appear in some surviving medieval mosques today.

With astronomy[ edit ]

The study of astronomy – known as ilm al-falak (literally “science of the celestial bodies”) in the Islamic intellectual tradition – began to appear in the Islamic world in the second half of the 8th century, centered in Baghdad, the capital city of the Abbasid Caliphate. Originally the science was introduced through the works of Indian authors, but after the 9th century the works of Greek astronomers such as Ptolemy were translated into Arabic and became the major references in the field. Muslim astronomers preferred Greek astronomy because they believed it could be better supported by theoretical explanations and therefore developed as an exact science; However, the influence of Indian astronomy survives, particularly in the creation of astronomical tables. This new science was applied to develop new methods of determining the qibla, using the concept of latitude and longitude from Ptolemy’s geography, as well as trigonometric formulas developed by Muslim scholars. Most astronomy textbooks written in the medieval Islamic world contain a chapter on the determination of the qibla, which is considered one of the many things that connect astronomy with Islamic law (Shariah). According to David A. King, various medieval solutions for determining the qibla “evidence of the development of mathematical methods by the 3rd/9th scholars”.

The first mathematical methods, developed in the early 9th century, were approximate solutions to the mathematical problem, usually using a flat map or two-dimensional geometry. Since the earth is actually spherical, the directions found were inaccurate, but they were sufficient for locations relatively close to Mecca (including as far away as Egypt and Iran) as the errors were less than 2°.

Exact solutions based on three-dimensional geometry and spherical trigonometry appeared in the mid-ninth century. Habash al-Hasib schrieb ein frühes Beispiel unter Verwendung einer orthografischen Projektion. [e] Eine andere Gruppe von Lösungen verwendet trigonometrische Formeln, zum Beispiel Al-Nayrizis vierstufige Anwendung des Satzes von Menelaos. [f] Nachfolgende Gelehrte, darunter Ibn Yunus, Abu al -Wafa, Ibn al-Haitham und Al-Biruni schlugen andere Methoden vor, die vom Standpunkt der modernen Astronomie als genau bestätigt wurden.

Muslimische Astronomen verwendeten diese Methoden anschließend, um Tabellen zu erstellen, die die Qibla aus einer Liste von Orten zeigen, gruppiert nach ihren Breiten- und Längenunterschieden zu Mekka. Das älteste bekannte Beispiel, von c. Bagdad aus dem 9. Jahrhundert, enthielt Einträge für jeden Grad und jede Bogenminute bis zu 20 °. Im 14. Jahrhundert erstellte Shams al-Din al-Khalili, ein Astronom, der als Muwaqqit (Zeitnehmer) in der Umayyaden-Moschee von Damaskus diente, eine Qibla-Tabelle für 2.880 Koordinaten mit Längenunterschieden von bis zu 60° von Mekka und mit Breitengrade von 10° bis 50°. King meint, dass al-Khalilis Werk unter den mittelalterlichen Qibla-Tischen “das beeindruckendste in Bezug auf seinen Umfang und seine Genauigkeit” ist.

Die Genauigkeit der Anwendung dieser Methoden auf tatsächliche Standorte hängt von der Genauigkeit ihrer Eingabeparameter ab – dem lokalen Breitengrad und dem Breitengrad von Mekka sowie der Längengraddifferenz. Zum Zeitpunkt der Entwicklung dieser Methoden konnte der Breitengrad eines Ortes auf mehrere Bogenminuten genau bestimmt werden, aber es gab kein genaues Verfahren, um den Längengrad eines Ortes zu bestimmen. Übliche Methoden zur Schätzung des Längengradunterschieds waren der Vergleich des lokalen Zeitpunkts einer Mondfinsternis mit dem Zeitpunkt in Mekka oder das Messen der Entfernung von Karawanenrouten; Der zentralasiatische Gelehrte Al-Biruni machte seine Schätzung, indem er verschiedene ungefähre Methoden mittelte. Aufgrund von Längsungenauigkeiten weichen mittelalterliche Qibla-Berechnungen (einschließlich solcher, die mathematisch genaue Methoden verwenden) von den modernen Werten ab. Während beispielsweise die Al-Azhar-Moschee in Kairo unter Verwendung der “Qibla der Astronomen” gebaut wurde, weicht die Qibla (127°) der Moschee jedoch etwas von den Ergebnissen moderner Berechnungen (135°) ab, da der verwendete Längenunterschied um war drei Grad.

Genaue Längenwerte in der islamischen Welt waren erst nach der Anwendung kartografischer Vermessungen im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert verfügbar. Moderne Koordinaten sowie neue Technologien wie GPS-Satelliten und elektronische Instrumente führten zur Entwicklung praktischer Instrumente zur Berechnung der Qibla. Die mit modernen Instrumenten gefundene Qibla kann sich von der Richtung von Moscheen unterscheiden, da eine Moschee möglicherweise vor dem Aufkommen moderner Daten gebaut wurde und Orientierungsungenauigkeiten während des Bauprozesses moderner Moscheen eingeführt wurden. Wenn dies bekannt ist, wird manchmal noch die Richtung des Mihrab der Moschee beobachtet, und manchmal wird eine Markierung hinzugefügt (z. B. in der Moschee gezeichnete Linien), der anstelle des Mihrab gefolgt werden kann.

Instrumente [Bearbeiten]

Muslims use various instruments to find the qibla direction when not near a mosque. The qibla compass is a magnetic compass which includes a table or a list of qibla angles from major settlements. Some electronic versions use satellite coordinates to calculate and indicate the qibla automatically. Qibla compasses have existed since around 1300, supplemented by the list of qibla angles often written on the instruments themselves. Hotel rooms with Muslim guests may use a sticker showing the qibla on the ceiling or a drawer. With the advent of computing, various mobile apps and websites use formulae to calculate the qibla for their users.

Variety [edit]

Early Islamic world [ edit ]

A map of an area in modern Cairo. Note that the mosques have slightly different orientations.

Because varying methods have been used to determine the qibla, mosques were built throughout history in different directions, including some that still stand today. Methods based on astronomy and mathematics were not always used, and the same determination method could yield different qiblas due to differences in the accuracy of data and calculations. Egyptian historian Al-Maqrizi (d. 1442) recorded various qibla angles used in Cairo at the time: 90° (due east), 117° (winter sunrise, the “qibla of the sahaba”), 127° (calculated by astronomers, such as Ibn Yunus), 141° (Mosque of Ibn Tulun), 156° (the rising point of Suhayl/Canopus), 180° (due south, emulating the qibla of Muhammad in Medina), and 204° (the setting point of Canopus). The modern qibla for Cairo is 135°, which was not known at the time. This diversity also results in the non-uniform layout in Cairo’s districts, because the streets are often oriented according to the varying orientation of the mosques. Historical records also indicate the diversity of qiblas in other major cities, including Cordoba (113°, 120°, 135°, 150°, and 180° were recorded in the 12th century) and Samarkand (180°, 225°, 230°, 240°, and 270° were recorded in the 11th century). According to the doctrine of jihat al-ka’bah, the diverse directions of qiblas are still valid as long as they are still in the same broad direction. In Mecca itself, many early mosques were constructed that were not directly facing the Kaaba.[79]

In 1990, the scholar of geography Michael E. Bonine conducted a survey of the main mosques of all major cities in present-day Morocco—constructed from the Idrisid period (8th–10th centuries) up to the Alaouite period (17th century to present). While modern calculations yield the qiblas of between 91° (almost due east) in Marrakesh and 97° in Tangier, only mosques constructed in the Alaouite period are constructed with qiblas relatively close to this range. The qibla of older mosques vary considerably, with concentrations occurring between 155°–160° (slightly east of south) as well as 120°–130° (almost southeast). In 2008, Bonine also published a survey of the main city mosques of Tunisia, in which he found that most were aligned close to 147°. This is the direction of the Great Mosque of Kairouan, originally built in 670 and last rebuilt by the Aghlabids in 862, which is often credited as the model used by the other mosques. Among the mosques surveyed, the Great Mosque of Sousse was the only one with a significant difference, facing further south at 163°. The actual direction to Mecca as calculated using the great circle method ranges from 110° to 113° throughout the country.

Indonesia[ edit ]

Variations of the qibla also occur in Indonesia, the country with the world’s largest Muslim population. The astronomically calculated qibla ranges from 291°—295° (21°—25° north of west) depending on the exact location in the archipelago. However, the qibla is often known traditionally simply as “the west”, resulting in mosques built oriented due west or to the direction of sunset—which varies slightly throughout the year. Different opinions exist among Indonesian Islamic astronomers: Tono Saksono et al. argues in 2018 that facing the qibla during prayers is more of a “spiritual prerequisite” than a precise physical one, and that an exact direction to the Kaaba itself from thousands of kilometres away requires an extreme precision impossible to achieve when building a mosque or when standing for prayers. On the other hand, Muhammad Hadi Bashori in 2014 opines that “correcting the qibla is indeed a very urgent thing”, and can be guided by simple methods such as observing the shadow.

In the history of the region, disputes about the qibla had also occurred in the then-Dutch East Indies in the 1890s. When the Indonesian scholar and future founder of Muhammadiyah, Ahmad Dahlan, returned from his Islamic and astronomy studies in Mecca, he found that mosques in the royal capital of Yogyakarta had inaccurate qiblas, including the Kauman Great Mosque, which faced due west. His efforts in adjusting the qibla were opposed by the traditional ulama of the Yogyakarta Sultanate, and a new mosque built by Dahlan using his calculations was demolished by a mob. Dahlan rebuilt his mosque in the 1900s, and later the Kauman Great Mosque would also be reoriented using the astronomically calculated qibla.

North America[edit]

The Islamic Center of Washington (founded 1953), one of the early mosques in the United States. Its qibla faces the northeast in line with astronomical calculations.

Places long settled by Muslim populations tend to have resolved the question of the direction of the qibla over time. Other countries, like the United States and Canada, have had large Muslim communities only in the past several decades, and the determination of the qibla can be a matter of debate. The Islamic Center of Washington, D.C. was built in 1953 facing slightly north of east and initially puzzled some observers, including Muslims, because Washington, D.C.’s latitude is 17°30′, more northerly than that of Mecca. Even though a line drawn on world maps—such as those using the Mercator projection—would suggest a southeastern direction to Mecca, the astronomical calculation using the great circle method does yield a north-of-east direction (56°33′). Nevertheless, most early mosques in the United States face east or southeast, following the apparent direction on world maps. As the Muslim community grew and the number of mosques increased, in 1978, an American Muslim scientist, S. Kamal Abdali, wrote a book arguing that the correct qibla from North America was north or northeast as calculated by the great circle method which identifies the shortest path to Mecca.[g] Abdali’s conclusion was widely circulated and then accepted by the Muslim community, and mosques were subsequently reoriented as a result. In 1993, two religious scholars, Riad Nachef and Samir Kadi, published a book arguing for a southeastern qibla, writing that the north/northeast qibla was invalid and resulted from a lack of religious knowledge.[h] In reaction, Abdali published a response to their arguments and criticism in an article entitled “The Correct Qibla” online in 1997.[i] The two opinions resulted in a period of debate about the correct qibla. Eventually most North American Muslims accepted the north/northeast qibla with a minority following the east/southeast qibla.

Outer space [ edit ]

The International Space Station (ISS) orbits the earth at high speed—the direction from it to Mecca changes significantly within a few seconds. Before his flight to the ISS, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor requested, and the Malaysian National Fatwa Council provided, guidelines which have been translated into multiple languages. The council wrote that the qibla determination should be “based on what is possible” and recommended four options, saying that one should pray toward the first option if possible and, if not, fall back successively on the later ones:

the Kaaba itself the position directly above the Kaaba at the altitude of the astronaut’s orbit the Earth in general “wherever”

In line with the fatwa council, other Muslim scholars argue for the importance of flexibility and adapting the qibla requirement to what an astronaut is capable of fulfilling. Khaleel Muhammad of San Diego State University opined “God does not take a person to task for that which is beyond his/her ability to work with.” Kamal Abdali argued that concentration during a prayer is more important than the exact orientation, and he suggested keeping the qibla direction at the start of a prayer instead of “worrying about possible changes in position”. Before Sheikh Muszaphar’s mission, at least eight Muslims had flown to space, but none of them publicly discussed issues relating to worship in space.

See also[edit]

Notes [edit]

References[edit]

quotes[edit]

What direction was Jesus facing on the cross?

Also in the celebrated temple of Solomon, the Gate of the Lord was placed eastward. Moreover Christ, when He hung on the Cross, had His face turned towards the West, and so we worship, striving after Him.

Pa. Muslims at odds on prayer direction

East orientation of some Christian services

ad orientem, looking in the same direction as people. A 15th-century bishop celebrates Mass and looks in the same direction as the people.

Ad orientem, meaning “to the east” in Ecclesiastical Latin, is an expression used to describe the Eastern orientation of Christian prayer and worship,[1][2] consisting of the preposition ad (towards) and oriens (rise, sunrise, east). ), participle of orior (to rise).[3][4]

Ad orientem was used to describe the eastward direction of prayer faced by the early Christians when praying, a practice continued in the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Syriac Mar Thoma Church and the Assyrian Church of the East, as well as the Eastern Catholic and Eastern Lutheran Churches.[6][7] It was normative in the Roman Catholic Church until the 1960s, with the exception of the Tridentine Mass; Many Lutheran and Anglican churches continue to offer worship ad orientem.[8] At the celebration of Mass, it indicates that the priestly celebrant has his back to the faithful facing the altar so that all are facing the same direction, as opposed to versus populum, facing the people.[9]

From the time of the early Church, the eastward direction of Christian prayer has had a strong importance, attested to by the writings of the Church Fathers.[1] In the 2nd century Syrian Christians hung a Christian cross on the east wall of their home as a symbol of “their souls being turned to God, conversing with Him, and sharing their spirituality with the Lord”.[10] Two centuries later, Saint Basil the Great declared that “the prayer to the East is among the oldest unwritten laws of the Church.”[11] Almost all Christian apologetic tracts published in Syriac and Arabic in the 7th century explained the reason Christians prayed facing east because “the Garden of Eden was planted in the east (Genesis 2:8) and the Am End of time, at the second coming, Messiah would approach Jerusalem from the east.”[12]

Parishes of the Coptic Church, a denomination of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, face east, and efforts are being made to remodel churches borrowed from other Christian denominations that were not built in this way.[10]

Christian Prayer East[ edit ]

In the times of the early Church, the eastward direction of Christian prayer was the standard and had a strong significance, which is attested by the writings of the Church Fathers.[1][15][16]

Origins of the practice[edit]

The eastward direction of prayer among the early Christians is a custom inherited from the Jews.[17][18] At the time of the emergence of Christianity, Jews commonly prayed not only to the Temple of Solomon, where the “presence of the transcendent God (Shekinah) [dwelt] in the Holy of Holies of the Temple,” but also to the East, although the extent to which this practice was widespread is a matter of debate. [19][20] After the Temple was destroyed, the synagogic liturgy continued the practice of praying in this direction, “inseparable from the messianic expectation of Israel.”[21] It was the practice, says Paul F. Bradshaw, of the Essene and Jewish sects the Therapeutae, for whom “eastern prayer had acquired an eschatological dimension, the ‘fair bright day’ for which the Therapeutae prayed apparently being the messianic age, and the Essenes’ prayer to the sun ‘as if supplicated, to arise’, a request was for the coming of the priestly Messiah.”[22] Finally, a “process of mutual arousal and alienation” between Jews and early Christians seems to have brought about the end of Jewish prayer to the East and Christian prayer to Jerusalem.[ 23 ] The Islamic practice of first praying towards Jerusalem, as well as the concept of praying in a specific direction, derives from the Jewish practice found in the ubiquitous in the Jewish communities of Syria, Palestine, Yathrib, and Yemen.[24]

Furthermore, the Christian custom of praying to the east may have roots in the practice of the earliest Christians in Jerusalem to pray towards the Mount of Olives to the east of the city, which they saw as the site of important eschatological events and in particular of the expected second coming of Christ . Although the location of the Second Coming on the Mount of Olives was abandoned after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, the eastward direction of Christian prayer was maintained and became common throughout Christendom.[25]

Early Christianity[edit]

Early Christians, who were widely persecuted, commonly worshiped in house churches,[1] and the Eucharist was never revealed to non-Christians. The church hall, according to the evidence found in Dura-Europos, was oblong with people looking towards the east wall where there was a platform on which the table altar of the Eucharist was offered by the presbyter/priest who also appears to be facing east. Images of biblical scenes and figures, including that of Christ, adorned the walls, including the east wall. In the 2nd century Syrian Christians indicated the direction in which to pray by placing a cross on the east wall of their home or church, a direction that symbolized “that their souls should be turned to God, converse with him, and share their spirituality with the Lord. “[10] Believers turned to praying at fixed times of prayer, such as morning, evening, and other times of the day;[14] this practice continues among some Christians today, along with the related custom of Christian families praying to erect a house altar or icon corner on the east wall of their dwellings.[13][26][27][28][29][30][14]

Among the early Church Fathers, Tertullian used the equivalent expression ad orientis regionem (to the region of the East) in his Apologeticus (AD 197).[31][32] Clement of Alexandria (c. 150 – c. 215) says: “Since the dawn is a picture of the day of birth, and from that point the light that first came out of the darkness increases, it dawned on that too Day of knowing the truth tangled in darkness. According to the nature of the sunrise, prayers are offered looking at the sunrise in the east.”[33] Origen (ca. 185–253) says: “The fact that […] quarters of the sky, the east is the only direction in we turn to when we pray, the reasons for which I think are not easy for anyone to find.” Origen “emphatically rejects the argument that if a house has a nice view in another direction, you are more likely to look that way direction than should face east.”[34][35]

In the fourth century, Saint Basil the Great explained that one of the many beliefs and practices that Christians derived not from written teachings but from the tradition of the apostles was to face east in prayer.[36][11] Augustine of Hippo used the expression “ad orientem” to refer to the practice at the end of the fourth century.[2]

7th-century Syrian and Arab Christian apologists explained that Christians prayed eastward because “the Garden of Eden was planted in the east (Genesis 2:8) and that at the end of time, at the second coming, the Messiah would approach Jerusalem from the east.”[12] St. John of Damascus taught that believers pray eastward because it “reminds Christians to yearn and strive for the paradise that God has ordained for them” and because “Christians affirm their faith in Christ the light of the world” by praying toward the sunrise.[1][37]

Later clergy

In the ninth century, Saint John of Damascus, a Doctor of the Church, wrote:[37]

It is not without reason or coincidence that we worship the East. But since we are of a visible and an invisible nature, that is, of a nature part spiritual and part sensuous, we also offer a twofold worship to the Creator; just as we sing with both our spirit and our bodily lips, and are baptized both with water and with the Spirit, and are doubly united to the Lord, partaking in the mysteries and in the grace of the Spirit. So since God is spiritual light and Christ is called the Sun of Righteousness and Daybreak in Scripture, the direction to be assigned to His worship is the East. For all good must be imparted to Him from whom all good proceeds. Verily, the divine David also says: Sing to God, ye kingdoms of the earth: O sing praises to the Lord, Him who rides on the heavens of heavens eastward. Moreover, Scripture also says: And God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he set the man whom he had formed, and when he had transgressed his command he drove him out and made him dwell before the joys of Paradise, which is distinctly the West. So we worship God by seeking and striving for our old fatherland. In addition, the tent of Moses had its veil and mercy seat to the east. The tribe of Judah, being the most precious, also set up camp in the east. Also in the famous temple of Solomon the gate of the Lord was placed to the east. Moreover, when Christ hung on the cross, his face was toward the west, and so we worship and seek him. And when he was taken up again into heaven, he was carried eastward, and so his apostles worship him, and so shall he come again, even as they saw him going into heaven; As the Lord Himself said: As the lightning comes from the east and shines to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of man. So we worship in anticipation of his coming eastward. But this tradition of the apostles is unwritten. For much of what has come down to us through tradition is unwritten.[37]

Timothy I, an eighth-century patriarch of the Church of the East, declared:[38]

He [Christ] has taught us all the economics of the Christian religion: baptism, laws, ordinances, prayers, worship to the East, and the sacrifice we offer. All of these things he practiced in person and taught us to practice ourselves.[38]

Moses Bar-Kepha, a 9th-century bishop of the Syrian Orthodox Church, called praying to the east one of the mysteries of the church.[38]

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, described the eastward orientation in the context of the “cosmic sign of the rising sun, symbolizing the universality of God.” ) the:

Despite all the differences in practice well into the second millennium, one thing has remained clear for all of Christianity: eastward prayer is a tradition that goes back to the very beginning. In addition, it is a fundamental expression of the Christian synthesis of cosmos and history, of rooting in the unique.

Current practice[edit]

Members of Oriental Orthodox churches, such as the Syriac Orthodox Church, Ethiopian Orthodox Church and Coptic Orthodox Church, as well as Oriental Protestant churches such as the Mar Thoma Syrian Church, privately pray seven feasts in the east direction of prayer in their homes prayer times; When a priest visits a home, he asks the family where the east is before leading them to prayer.[6][7][10][41][42] Indian Christians and Coptic Christians in these traditions, for example, daily privately pray the canonical hours contained in the Shehimo and Agpeya respectively (a practice performed at fixed times of prayer seven times a day), facing east ][43][ 44]

Eastern Orthodox Christians and members of the Church of the East also face east when praying.[45][46]

Members of the Pentecostal Apostolic Faith Mission continue to pray eastward, believing that this is “the direction from which Jesus Christ will come when he returns.”[47]

liturgical orientation

Catholic priest at an altar fixed to a wall

The ecclesiastical Latin expression “ad orientem” is often used today to describe a certain attitude of a priest in the Christian liturgy: facing away from the people towards the apse or the reredos or the wall behind the altar, with priest and people in the same direction look to the versus populum orientation in which the priest confronts the congregation. In this usage, the phrase does not necessarily refer to the geographic direction in which the priest is facing, and is used even when not facing east or even when standing with their back to the east.

However, in the Tridentine Roman Missal, published in 1570, ad orientem and versus populum are not mutually exclusive. The altar may be versus populum (facing the people), but even then it is assumed to be ad orientem (facing east): “Si altare sit ad orientem, versus populum, celebrans versa facie ad populum, non vertit humeros ad altare, cum dicturus est Dóminus vobiscum, Oráte, fratres, Ite, missa est, vel daturus benedictionem …” (When the altar is ad orientem, facing the people, the celebrant does not turn his back to the people towards the altar, when he is about to say Dominus vobiscum [“The Lord be with you”], Orate, fratres [the introduction to the prayer over the offerings of bread and wine] and Ite, missa est [the dismissal at the end of the Mass]] , or about to give the blessing…).[48] The wording remained unchanged in all subsequent editions of the Tridentine Missal, even the last one[49] which is still in active use today, even outside the circumstances in which its use is authorized by the 2021 motu proprio Traditionis custodes.

History and practice[edit]

The altar of the Cathedral of Rome, where the popes have always celebrated mass with a view to the east and also to the people

The earliest churches in Rome had a facade on the east and an apse with the altar on the west; the priest who celebrated the mass stood behind the altar and faced east and thus towards the people.[50][51] According to Louis Bouyer, not only did the priest but also the congregation face east when praying. Michel Remery criticizes Bouyer’s view, arguing that it is unlikely that Christians in churches where the altar is on the west would turn their backs on the altar (and the priest) when celebrating the Eucharist. According to Remery, the prevailing view is that the east-facing priest would celebrate ad populum in some churches and not in others, according to church architecture.[52] The Official Gazette of the Congregation for Worship and Discipline of the Sacramente Notitiae, in its May 1993 issue, also commented on the improbability that people would turn their backs on the altar to face east; and it recalled the accusations made by Pope Leo I against those who, on entering St. Peter’s Basilica, would turn to face the rising sun and bow their heads.[53][54]

Outside Rome it was an ancient custom that most churches were built with the entrance at the west end, and priests and people faced east to the place of the rising sun.[55] Exceptions included the original Constantine Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in Jerusalem, which had the altar at the west end.[56][57]

After the Edict of Milan legitimized the building of Christian churches, the practice of praying east did not result in a uniform orientation.

In the 8th or 9th century, the position in which the priest faced the apse and not the people when celebrating Mass was introduced in Roman basilicas.[58] This usage was introduced from the Frankish Empire and later became almost universal in the West.[59] However, the Tridentine Roman Missal continued to recognize the possibility of celebrating the Mass “versus populum” (facing the people),[60] and in several churches in Rome it was physically impossible, even before the liturgical reforms of the 20th century for the priests who celebrate Mass facing away from the people, since immediately in front of the altar there is the “confession” (Latin: confessio), an area lowered below ground level that allows people to approach the tomb of the saint below buried at the altar.

Anglican Bishop Colin Buchanan writes that “there is reason to believe that in the first millennium of the Church in Western Europe the President of the Eucharist regularly looked across the Eucharistic table toward the ecclesiastical West. Sometime between the 10th and 12th centuries a change occurred in which the table itself was moved to be attached to the east wall and the President stood in front of it, facing east, with his back to the people.”[61] This Change, Buchanan says, “may have been hastened by the issuing of reservation tabernacles, which ideally should both occupy a central position and be affixed to the east wall without the President’s back being turned.”[61]

In seventh-century England, it is said, Catholic churches were built so that on the very day of the saint in whose honor they were named, mass could be offered on an altar while facing directly the rising sun.[62 ] However, various surveys of old English churches found no evidence of such a common practice.[63][64][65]

ad orientem (not necessarily in a geographical sense) in 2009 Palm Sunday Mass celebrated (not necessarily in a geographical sense) in 2009

The current Roman Missal of the Catholic Church (revised in 1969 after Vatican II) does not prohibit the ad orientem position of the priest in measuring: its general instruction requires only that in new or renovated churches the orientation towards the people is made possible: ” The altar is to be erected separate from the wall so that it can be walked around without any problems and Mass can be celebrated there facing the people, which is desirable if possible.”[66] As In some ancient churches the position was ad orientem physically impossible, so today there are churches and chapels where it is physically impossible for the priest to look at the people throughout Mass.

In a letter from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in the Roman Catholic Church dated September 25, 2000, the phrase “whatever possible is desirable” refers to the requirement that altars be built separate from the wall, not that to celebrate the Mass facing the people, while “it affirms that the position vis-à-vis the assembly seems more convenient inasmuch as it facilitates communication… without, however, excluding the other possibility.”[67] So it is also stated in the original text (in Latin) of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (2002), which reads: “Altare maius exstruatur a pariete seiunctum, ut facile circumiri et in eo celebratio versus populum peragi possit, quod expedit ubicumque possibile sit.”[68 ] Da quod is a neuter pronoun it cannot fall back on the feminine celebratio [versus populum] and mean that celebration towards the people expedit ubicumque possible sit (“is desirable wherever possible”), but m Just refer to the entire preceding sentence about constructing the altar separate from the wall to make it easier to walk around it and celebrate Mass at it while you are facing the people.

On January 13, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated by the Catholic Church publicly the Mass in the Sistine Chapel at its altar, which is attached to the western wall.[69] He later celebrated Mass at the same altar in the Sistine Chapel annually on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. His celebration of Mass in the Pauline Chapel in the Apostolic Palace on December 1, 2009 is said to have been the first time that he publicly celebrated a Mass ad orientem on a free-standing altar.[70] In fact, the chapel had been remodeled earlier that year, with “the previous altar back in place, though still not far from the tabernacle, to restore the celebration of all ‘looking unto the Lord’.”[71] On 15 April 2010 he again celebrated Mass in the same way in the same chapel and with the same group.[72] The practice of saying Mass on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord at the altar attached to the west wall of the Sistine Chapel was continued by Pope Francis when he celebrated the feast for the first time as Pope on January 12, 2014. Although neither before nor after the 20th-century revision of the Roman Rite did liturgical norms impose either orientation, the distinction became so closely associated with traditionalist discussion that it was considered journalistically remarkable that Pope Francis used the Mass ad orientem [ 73] celebrated at an altar in which only this orientation was possible.[74]

In a conference in London on July 5, 2016, Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in the Catholic Church, encouraged priests to bring the ad orientem position to an end from the first Sunday of Advent this year. However, the Vatican soon clarified that this was the cardinal’s personal view and that no official directives would be issued to change the prevailing practice of celebration versus populum.[75]

The post-1992 United Methodist rubrics state:[76]

In our churches, the communion table must be set up so that the presiding officer can stand behind it, facing the people, and people can gather visually, if not physically, around him. The table should be high enough so that the presiding officer does not have to bend down to touch the bread and cup. Adjustments may be necessary to allow for gracious leadership. While architectural integrity should be respected, it is important for churches to carefully adapt or more extensively refurbish their prayer rooms to invite people to participate in the Holy Communion. When altars are immovable for all practical purposes, the congregations should make provision to provide a table appropriate to the space so that the presiding officer can face and be nearer to the people.[76]

Oriental Orthodox Christianity

In Eastern Orthodox Christianity, the liturgy of the Coptic and Ethiopian Rites admonishes the faithful with the words “Look to the East!”[1] All of the churches of the Coptic Orthodox Church are east-facing, and attempts are being made to remodel churches adopted from other Christian ones Denominations that are not structured in this way.[10]

Eastern Orthodox Christianity[ edit ]

The Eastern Orthodox Church normally celebrates the Divine Liturgy facing east. Only in exceptional cases does it do this to the people.[77]

Lutheran Christianity[ edit ]

ad orientem high altar in the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer with a high altar in Atlanta

Traditionally, worship in Lutheran churches is “oriented to the east, from which the sun of righteousness will return.”[78] Although some parishes now celebrate Mass versus populum, the traditional liturgical attitude of ad orientem is maintained by many Lutheran churches.[8]

Among the Eastern Lutheran churches that celebrate the Byzantine Rite, the Eastern position is commonly practiced.[79]

Anglican Christianity[ edit ]

ad orientem altar in an altar in an Anglican cathedral

The English phrase “Eastward Position”, reflecting the continuation in England of the traditional orientation otherwise abandoned in the West, usually means not only “facing east” but also clearly “the position of the celebrant of the Eucharist, standing on the same side of the altar as the people, with their backs to them”.[80] The opposite arrangement is also clearly referred to as the “West Position”. Anyone who speaks of “ad orientem” does not use the correspondingly ambiguous formulation “ad occidentem” and instead speaks of “versus populum”.

With the English Reformation, the Church of England directed that the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist should be celebrated at a communion table placed lengthwise in the chancel or body of the church, with the priest standing on the north side of the sacred table and facing south . The Eastward turn continued to be observed in certain parts of the Anglican liturgy, including the saying of Gloria Patri, Gloria in excelsis Deo, and ecumenical creeds in that direction.[81] Archbishop Laud, at the direction of Charles I of England, encouraged a return to the use of the altar at the east end, but in accordance with the rubric in the Book of Common Prayer, the priest stood at the north end of the altar. In the mid-19th century, the Oxford Movement led to a return to the eastward position, and the use of the versus populum position emerged in the second half of the 20th century.

During the period when Archibald Campbell Tait was Archbishop of Canterbury (1868-1882), the Eastern position introduced by the Oxford Movement was the subject of much controversy, leading to it being banned by the UK Parliament in the Public Worship Ordinance Act 1874. In their pastoral letter of 1 March 1875, the Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of England lamented ‘the growing tendency to attach doctrinal importance to rites and ceremonies which do not necessarily involve the donor in the prayer of dedication at Holy Communion’ [. ..] We, the clergy, are under every obligation to obey the law so clearly laid out […]”.[83]

Despite legal prohibition, adoption of the Eastern position became commonplace in most provinces of the Anglican Church, with the exception of the Church of Ireland, in the following decades. Then, from the 1960s onwards, the West position largely replaced both the East position and the North side and, in Colin Buchanan’s view, “has proved to be a conciliatory force within Anglican usage”.

“Over the past forty years many of these altars have either been removed and pulled away from the wall, or replaced by free-standing, table-like altars,” in “Responding to the popular belief that the priest should not turn his back on the people during the service; This is perceived as an insult to the lay faithful and their central position in the service. This led to the widespread practice today, in which the clergy stand behind the altar and face the people.”[ 85]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Why do Muslims pray in the west direction?

Muslims are supposed to face the Kaaba, the religion’s most sacred site in the city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. At the time, the council said that the direction of Kaaba from Indonesia laid to the west.

Pa. Muslims at odds on prayer direction

Jakarta, Indonesia (CNN) – Indonesian Muslims have been praying the wrong way, the country’s top Islamic authority said.

Indonesia’s Ulema Council in March urged the country’s Muslim population to face west when performing their daily prayers. Muslims are to face the Kaaba, the religion’s holiest site in the city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

At the time, the council said that the direction of the Kaaba was west of Indonesia.

Turns out that wasn’t the case. Africa did.

So on Friday the Council issued a new edict: Face Northwest.

“Following the first fatwa (decree) a few months ago that said the direction of prayer is west, we announced that the correct direction of prayer is indeed north-west, and we issued a new fatwa (decree) to correct this he told Ma’ruf Amin, head of the fatwa department in Indonesia’s Ulema Council.

“This is important because the west orientation means people are facing Africa when they pray,” he said.

Amin said the new edict does not mean that mosques in the country will have to be demolished. “They (those who pray indoors) just need to adjust their prayer direction slightly,” he said.

Some residents of the world’s most populous Muslim country made the move with ease.

“I don’t worry about the direction of prayer,” said Riza Irwansyah, an office worker in Jakarta. “The most important thing is that I prayed to Allah and I believe that He will listen no matter which way I look.”

How can I go to Mecca from Canada?

There is no direct connection from Toronto to Mecca. However, you can take the train to UP Express Pearson Airport, take the walk to Toronto airport, fly to Jeddah, take the walk to King Abdulaziz Airport, take the bus to Jeddah, then take the Bus to Mecca.

Pa. Muslims at odds on prayer direction

Select an option below to see step-by-step directions and compare ticket prices and travel times in Rome2rio’s trip planner.

Take the bus from Jeddah to Mecca

Take the bus from Jeddah to Mecca

Take the train from Medina to Mecca

Take the bus from Jeddah to Mecca

Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Saudi Arabia

There is widespread community transmission worldwide.

Some travel restrictions are lifted in Saudi Arabia. Check the official Saudi Arabia website for the latest travel status.

For travel planning advice, visit our Rome2rio Coronavirus information page.

For the latest travel status we recommend checking the official Saudi Arabia site.

What does Mecca mean in English?

Definition of mecca

: a place regarded as a center for a specified group, activity, or interest a mecca for shoppers.

Pa. Muslims at odds on prayer direction

The valley is a Mecca for wine lovers. The city has become a mecca for tourists.

Current examples on the web

When international track and field officials wanted to host their world championships in the United States for the first time, the running mecca that Nike embedded in American culture was an easy choice. – San Francisco Chronicle, July 25, 2022

While the six-year delay was frustrating, Vara said Barrio Logan’s evolution from an area struggling with homelessness to a hipster mecca known for trendy restaurants and eclectic nightlife had been a silver lining. – David Garrick, San Diego Union-Tribune, July 7, 2022

Yip starts Thursday in the first round of the U.S. Junior Championship at the same location in St. Louis, the mecca of chess and her favorite city. — Toyloy Brown III, USA TODAY, July 7, 2022

New York City proved to be Wolff’s mecca for the study of professional musicians with upper extremity pain—particularly violinists, violists, pianists, keyboardists, and guitarists. — Susan Wagner, NBC News, July 5, 2022

Roebuck had moved from one musical Mecca to another. – David Remnick, The New Yorker, June 27, 2022

Bally’s, the casino operator selected to build a gaming mecca in Chicago’s River West neighborhood, has made its first $40 million payment to the city — money destined to make massive to fill pension gaps in future budgets. — Gregory Pratt, Chicago Tribune, June 17, 2022

12 miles offshore, dogs and their owners will find Block Island’s beach mecca. — Stacey Leasca, Travel + Leisure, June 17, 2022

Malibu, a beach town about 30 miles from downtown Los Angeles, has changed drastically over the past few decades, morphing from a largely undeveloped surfing mecca into an expensive playground for celebrities and the super-rich. — Katherine Clarke, WSJ, June 16, 2022

See more

Does anyone live in Mecca?

Its last recorded population was 1,578,722 in 2015. Its estimated metro population in 2020 is 2.042 million, making it the third-most populated city in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh and Jeddah. Pilgrims more than triple this number every year during the Ḥajj pilgrimage, observed in the twelfth Hijri month of Dhūl-Ḥijjah.

Pa. Muslims at odds on prayer direction

Islam’s holiest city and capital of Mecca Province in Saudi Arabia

City in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia

Mecca, officially Mecca al-Mukarramah (Arabic: مكة المكرمة, romanized: Makkat al-Mukarramah, lit. ‘Makkah the Noble’, Hejazi pronunciation: [makːa almʊkarːama]) and commonly abbreviated to Mecca (Arabic: مكة, romanized: Mecca , Hejazi pronunciation: [makːa]),[a] is a city and administrative center of the province of Mecca in Saudi Arabia and the holiest city in Islam.[2] It is 70 km (43 miles) inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley 277 m (909 ft) above sea level. The last recorded population was 1,578,722 in 2015.[3] The estimated Metro population in 2020 is 2.042 million, making it the third largest city in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh and Jeddah. Pilgrims more than triple this number every year during the Ḥajj pilgrimage, which is observed in the twelfth Hijri month of Dhūl-Ḥijjah.

Mecca is generally regarded as the “source and cradle of Islam.”[4][5] Mecca is revered in Islam as the birthplace of the Islamic prophet Mohammed. The Hira Cave on Jabal al-Nur (“Mountain of Light”) is just outside the city and is where Muslims believe the Qur’an was first revealed to Muhammad.[6] Visiting Mecca for Hajj is an obligation for all able-bodied Muslims. The Great Mosque of Mecca, known as the Masjid al-Haram, houses the Kaaba, which Muslims believe was built by Abraham and Ishmael. It is one of the holiest sites in Islam and the direction of prayer (qibla) for all Muslims.[7]

Muslim rulers from the region and surrounding areas have long sought to take over and keep the city under their control, and like most of the Hijaz region, the city has seen several regime changes. The city was last captured during the Saudi conquest of the Hejaz by Ibn Saud and his allies in 1925. Since then, Mecca has seen tremendous expansion in both size and infrastructure, with newer, modern buildings such as the Abraj Al Bait, the world’s fourth-tallest building and third-tallest by floor area, topping the Grand Mosque. The Saudi government has also carried out the demolition of several historical monuments and archaeological sites,[8] such as the Ajyad Fortress.[9][10][11] Non-Muslims are strictly forbidden to enter the city.[12][13]

Under the Saudi government, Mecca is governed by the Mecca Regional Municipality, a municipal council of 14 locally elected members headed by the Saudi government-appointed mayor (called Amin in Arabic). As of May 2015, the mayor of the city is Osama bin Fadhel Al-Barr.[14][15] The city of Mecca Amanah, which makes up Mecca and the surrounding region, is the capital of the province of Mecca, which includes the neighboring cities of Jeddah and Ta’if, although Jeddah has considerably more residents compared to Mecca. The provincial governor of the province has been Prince Khalid bin Faisal Al Saud since May 16, 2007.[16]

Etymology[ edit ]

Mecca has been referred to by many names. As with many Arabic words, its etymology is unclear.[17] Widely regarded as synonymous with Mecca, it is more specifically said to be the early name for the valley within it, while Muslim scholars generally use it to refer to the city’s sacred area that immediately surrounds and encloses the Ka’bah. [18][19]

Bakka

The Qur’an refers to the city as Bakkah in Surah Al Imran (3), verse 96,

“Verily the first house [of worship] erected for mankind was that in Bakkah…” – Qur’an 3:96

It is believed that this was the name of the city in the time of Abraham (Ibrahim in Islamic tradition) and is also transcribed as Baca, Baka, Bakah, Bakka, Becca, Bekka, among others. 22]

Mecca, Mecca al-Mukarramah and Mecca

“Makkah” is the official transliteration of the Saudi government and is closer to the Arabic pronunciation.[23][24] The government adopted Mecca as the official spelling in the 1980s, but it is not widely known or used worldwide.[23] The full official name is Makkah al-Mukarramah (Arabic: مكة المكرمة‎, romanized: Makkat al-Mukarramah, literally “Makkah the Honored”).[23] “Makkah” is used to refer to the city in the Qur’an in Surah Al-Fath (48), verse 24.[17][25]

The word “Mecca” in English is used to refer to any place that attracts a large number of people, and for this reason some English-speaking Muslims consider the use of this spelling for the city offensive.[23] Mecca is nonetheless the well-known form of English transliteration for the Arabic name of the city.

The historical consensus in academic scholarship has long been that “Macoraba”, the place mentioned by Claudius Ptolemy in Arabia Felix, is Mecca.[26] Recent studies have questioned this association.[27] Many etymologies have been proposed: the traditional one is that it derives from the Old South Arabic root M-K-R-B, meaning “temple”.[27]

other names

Another name used for Mecca in the Qur’an is at 6:92, where it is called Umm al-Qurā[28] (أُمّ ٱلْقُرَى, meaning “mother of all settlements”).[25] The city has been referred to by several other names in both the Qur’an and Hadith. Another historically used name for Mecca is Tihāmah.[29] According to Arabic and Islamic tradition, another name for Mecca, Fārān, is synonymous with the desert of Paran mentioned in the Old Testament at Genesis 21:21.[30] Arabic and Islamic tradition holds that the wilderness of Paran is broadly the Tihamah coastal plain and the place where Ishmael settled was Mecca.[30] Yaqut al-Hamawi, the 12th-century Syriac geographer, wrote that Fārān is “an Arabicized Hebrew word, one of the names of Mecca mentioned in the Torah.”[31]

history [edit]

History[ edit ]

In 2010, Mecca and the surrounding area became an important site for paleontology related to primate evolution with the discovery of a Saadanius fossil. Saadanius is considered a primate closely related to the common ancestor of Old World monkeys and great apes. The fossil habitat near what is now the Red Sea in western Saudi Arabia was a wet forest area 28 to 29 million years ago.[32] Paleontologists involved in the research hope to find more fossils in the area.[33]

Early history (up to 6th century AD) [ edit ]

The early history of Mecca is still largely disputed, as there is no clear reference to it in ancient literature prior to the rise of Islam.[34] The first clear reference to Mecca in the external literature occurs in AD 741 in the Byzantine-Arab Chronicle, although here the author places the region in Mesopotamia rather than in the Hijaz.[35]

The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus writes about Arabia in the 1st century BC in his work Bibliotheca Historica. Claims have been made that this could be a reference to the Kaaba in Mecca. However, the geographic location that Diodorus describes is in north-western Arabia, around the area of ​​Leuke Kome, within the former kingdom of the Nabataeans and the Roman province of Arabia Petraea.

Ptolemy lists the names of 50 cities in Arabia, one of which bears the name of Macoraba. It has been speculated since 1646 that this could be a reference to Mecca. Historically, there has been a general consensus in scholarship that Macoraba, mentioned by Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD, is in fact Mecca, but more recently this has been questioned.[39][40] Bowersock favors the identity of the former, with his theory that “macoraba” is the word “makkah” followed by the glorifying Aramaic adjective rabb (great). The Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus also listed many cities of western Arabia, most of which can be identified. According to Bowersock, he mentioned Mecca as “Geapolis” or “Hierapolis”, the latter meaning “holy city” and possibly referring to the sanctuary of the Kaaba.[41] Patricia Crone of the Revisionist School of Islamic Studies, on the other hand, writes that “the simple truth is that the name Macoraba has nothing to do with that of Mecca […] when Ptolemy mentions Mecca at all, he calls it Moka, a city in Arabia Petraea.” [42]

Procopius’ 6th-century statement that the Ma’ad tribe held the coast of western Arabia between the Ghassanids and the Himyarites of the south supports the tradition of the Arabic sources which place the Quraysh as a branch of the Ma’add and Muhammad as direct descendants of Ma relates ‘ad ibn Adnan.[43][44]

Historian Patricia Crone has expressed doubts about the claim that Mecca was an important historical outpost.[45][46] However, other scholars such as Glen W. Bowersock disagree, claiming that Mecca was an important trading outpost.[47][48][49] Crone later disregarded some of their theories.[50] She argues that trade in Mecca relied on hides, pelts, processed leather goods, clarified butter, Hijazi wool, and camels. She suggests that most of these goods were intended for the Roman army, which was known to require colossal amounts of leather and hides for their gear.

Mecca is mentioned in the following early Quranic manuscripts:

code is. 1615 I, folio 47v, radiocarbon dated 591–643 AD

Codex Ṣanʿāʾ DAM 01–29.1, folio 29a, radiocarbon dated between AD 633 and 665

Codex Arabe 331, folio 40v, radiocarbon dated between AD 652 and 765

The earliest Muslim inscriptions come from the Mecca-Ta’if area.[51]

Islamic narrative

According to Islamic belief, the beginnings of Mecca are attributed to the biblical figures Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael. It is believed that the civilization of Mecca began after Ibrāhīm (Abraham) left his son Ismāʿīl (Ismael) and his wife Hājar (Hagar) in the valley by Allah’s command. [citation needed] Some people from Yemen’s Jurhum tribe settled with them, and Isma’il reportedly married two wives on Ibrahim’s advice, one after divorcing the first. At least one Jurhum man helped Ismāʿīl and his father construct or reconstruct the Ka’bah (“cube”) based on Islamic narratives,[52][53][54] which had social, religious, political, and historical implications for the site and the region.[55][56]

Muslims see the mention of a pilgrimage in the Valley of Baca in the OT chapter Psalm 84:3-6 as a reference to Mecca, similar to the Qur’an in Sura 3:96 in the Sharḥ al-Asāṭīr, a commentary on the Samaritan Midrash Chronology of the Patriarchs, of unknown date, but probably written in the 10th century AD, it is claimed that Mecca was built by the sons of Nebaioth, the eldest son of Ismāʿīl or Ishmael.[57][58][59]

Thamudic inscriptions

Some Thamudic inscriptions discovered in southern Jordan included names of some individuals such as ʿAbd Meccat (عَبْد مَكَّة, “servant of Mecca”).[60]

There were also some other inscriptions containing personal names such as Makki (مَكِّي, “Makkah”), but Jawwad Ali of Baghdad University suggested that there may also be a tribe called “Makkah”.[61]

Among the Quraish[edit]

Sometime in the 5th century, the Kaaba was a place of worship for the deities of the pagan tribes of Arabia. Mecca’s main pagan deity was Hubal, placed there by the ruling Quraish tribe.[62][63] and remained until the conquest of Mecca by Muhammad. [citation needed] In the 5th century, the Quraish took control of Mecca and became skilled merchants and traders. In the 6th century, they joined the lucrative spice trade as fighting elsewhere diverted trade routes from dangerous sea routes to safer overland routes. The Byzantine Empire had previously controlled the Red Sea, but piracy had increased. [citation needed] Another earlier route, running through the Persian Gulf via the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, was also threatened with exploitation by the Sasanian Empire and interrupted by the Lakhmid, the Ghassanid, and the Roman-Persian Wars. Mecca’s importance as a trading center also surpassed the cities of Petra and Palmyra.[64][65] The Sassanids did not always pose a threat to Mecca, however, as they protected it from a Yemeni invasion in AD 575 led by their Christian leader, Abraha. The tribes of southern Arabia asked for help from the Persian king Khosrau I, who came south into Arabia with foot soldiers and a fleet of ships near Mecca.[66]

By the mid-6th century there were three major settlements in northern Arabia along the south-west coast bordering the Red Sea, in a habitable region between the sea and the Hejaz Mountains to the east. Although the area around Mecca was completely barren, it was the most prosperous of the three settlements, with plentiful water from the famous Zamzam well and a position at the crossroads of important caravan routes.[67]

The harsh conditions and terrain of the Arabian Peninsula meant an almost constant state of conflict between the local tribes, but once a year they declared a truce and came together for an annual pilgrimage to Mecca. Until the 7th century, this journey was intended by the pagan Arabs for religious reasons, to pay homage to their shrine and drink zamzam. However, it was also the time each year for settlement of disputes, settlement of debts, and trade at Meccan fairs. These annual events gave the tribes a sense of common identity and made Mecca an important focal point for the peninsula.[68]

The Year of the Elephant (570 AD)

The “Year of the Elephant” is the name in Islamic history for the year corresponding roughly to AD 570–572 when, according to Islamic sources such as Ibn Ishaq, Abraha rode to Mecca on an elephant with a large army after building one Cathedral in San’aa, named al-Qullays in honor of the Negus of Axum. It gained widespread notoriety and even caught the attention of the Byzantine Empire.[69] Abraha sought to redirect the Arabs’ pilgrimage from the Kaaba to al-Qullays, effectively converting them to Christianity. According to Islamic tradition, this was the year of Muhammad’s birth.[69] Abraha allegedly sent a messenger named Muhammad ibn Khuza’i to Mecca and Tihamah with the news that al-Qullays was both much better than other places of worship and purer, since it had not been defiled by the dwellings of idols.[69] When Muhammad ibn Khuza’i reached the land of Kinana, the people of the lowlands, knowing why he had come, sent a Hudhayl ​​man named ʿUrwa bin Hayyad al-Milasi who shot and killed him with an arrow. His brother Qays who was with him fled to Abraha and told him the news which increased his anger and anger and he vowed to raid the Kinana tribe and destroy the Ka’bah. Ibn Ishaq further explains that one of the men of the Quraysh tribe was angry about this and went to Sana’a, entered the church at night and defiled it; widely believed to have done so through defecation.[70][71]

Abraha marched on the Kaaba with a large army, which included one or more war elephants, to destroy it. When news of his army’s advance came, the Arab tribes of the Quraysh, Kinanah, Khuza’a and Hudhayl ​​united in defense of the Ka’bah and the city. A man from the Himyarite kingdom was sent by Abraha to tell them that Abraha only wanted to destroy the Ka’bah and that if they resisted they would be crushed. Abdul Muttalib told the Meccans to take refuge in the hills while he and some members of the Quraysh stayed in the precincts of the Kaaba. Abraha sent a dispatch inviting Abdul-Muttalib to meet with Abraha and discuss matters. As Abdul-Muttalib left the meeting, he was heard saying:[72][73]

“The proprietor of this house is its defender, and I am sure he will save it from attack by the adversaries and will not dishonor the servants of his house.”

Abraha finally attacked Mecca. However, the leading elephant, known as Mahmud,[74] is said to have stopped at the border around Mecca and refused to enter. It has been theorized that an epidemic such as smallpox might have caused such a failed invasion of Mecca.[75] The reference to the story in the Qur’an is quite brief. According to the 105th sura of the Qur’an, Al-Fil, a dark cloud of small birds sent by Allah appeared the next day. Carrying small stones in their beaks, the birds bombarded and smashed the Ethiopian forces into a state like that of eaten straw.[76]

Business

Camel caravans, said to have been first used by Muhammad’s great-grandfather, were an important part of Mecca’s bustling economy. Alliances were formed between the merchants in Mecca and the local nomadic tribes, who brought goods – leather, livestock, and metals mined in the local mountains – to Mecca to be loaded onto caravans and transported to the cities of Shaam and Iraq .[77] ] Historical reports also indicate that goods from other continents may have flowed through Mecca. Goods from Africa and the Far East were passed en route to Syria, including spices, leather, medicines, cloth and slaves; in return, Mecca received money, arms, grain, and wine, which in turn were distributed throughout Arabia. [citation needed] The Meccans signed treaties with both the Byzantines and the Bedouins, and negotiated safe passages for caravans, granting them water and grazing rights. Mecca became the center of a loose confederation of client tribes that included the Banu Tamim. Other regional powers such as the Abyssinians, Ghassanids, and Lakhmids were in decline, leaving Meccan trade as the primary binding force in Arabia by the late sixth century.[68]

Mohammed and the Conquest of Mecca[edit]

The library of Makkah Al Mukarramah ( ) is believed to stand on the spot where Muhammad was born, hence it is also known as Bayt al-Mawlid ) is said to stand on the spot where Muhammad was born, hence also known as

Mohammed was born in Mecca in 570 and has been inextricably linked to Islam ever since. He was born into the Banu Hashim faction in the ruling tribe of Quraysh. In the nearby mountain cave of Hira on Jabal al-Nour, according to Islamic tradition, Muhammad began receiving divine revelations from God through the Archangel Jibreel in AD 610. A champion of his form of Abrahamic monotheism against Meccan paganism, and after 13 years of persecution by the pagan tribes, Muhammad migrated to Medina (Hijrah) at Yathrib (later renamed Medina) in 622 with his companions, the Muhajirun. It is accepted that the conflict between the Quraish and the Muslims started at this point. Overall, Meccan efforts to crush Islam failed and proved costly and fruitless.

In 628, Mohammed and his followers wanted to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, but were prevented from doing so by the Quraish. Subsequently, Muslims and Meccans concluded the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, in which the Quraysh and their allies promised to stop fighting Muslims and their allies and promised that Muslims would be allowed to enter the city to perform the pilgrimage the following year. It was to be a 10-year truce; However, just two years later, the Banu Bakr, allies of the Quraish, violated the truce by massacring a group of Banu Khuza’ah, allies of the Muslims. Muhammad and his companions, now 10,000 strong, marched into Mecca and captured the city. The pagan images were destroyed by Muhammad’s followers and the site was Islamized and dedicated solely to the worship of Allah. Mecca has been declared the holiest site in Islam and the center of Muslim pilgrimage (Hajj), one of the five pillars of the faith.

Muhammad then returned to Medina after appointing ‘Akib ibn Usaid as the city’s governor. His other activities in Arabia led to the unification of the peninsula under the banner of Islam.[64][78] Muhammad died in 632. Over the next few centuries, the area under the banner of Islam stretched from North Africa to Asia and parts of Europe. As the Islamic empire grew, Mecca continued to attract pilgrims from across the Muslim world and beyond as Muslims came to perform the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Mecca also attracted a year-round population of scholars, devout Muslims who wanted to live near the Kaaba, and locals who served the pilgrims. Due to the difficulties and expense of the Hajj, pilgrims arrived in Jeddah by boat and came overland or joined the annual caravans from Syria or Iraq.

Middle Ages and premodern[edit]

Mecca has never been the capital of any Islamic country. Muslim rulers contributed to its maintenance, for example during the reigns of ‘Umar (r. 634–644 AD) and ‘Uthman ibn Affan (r. 644–656 AD), when concerns about flooding brought the caliphs to it caused Christian engineers to be called in to build barriers in the lower-lying neighborhoods and construct dikes and dams to protect the area around the Kaaba.[64]

Muhammad’s return to Medina shifted the focus away from Mecca and later even further away when ‘Ali, the fourth caliph, took power and chose Kufa as his capital. The Umayyad Caliphate moved the capital to Damascus in Syria and the Abbasid Caliphate to Baghdad in modern-day Iraq, which remained the center of the Islamic Empire for nearly 500 years. Mecca re-entered Islamic political history during the second fitnah when it was held by Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr and the Zubayrids. [citation needed] The city was besieged twice by the Umayyads, in 683 and 692 and for some time thereafter the city played little in politics, remaining a city of devotion and learning ruled by various other factions. In 930, Mecca was attacked and sacked by the Qarmatians, a millennial Shi’a Isma’ili Muslim sect led by Abu-Tāhir al-Jannabī and concentrated in eastern Arabia.[79] The Black Death pandemic hit Mecca in 1349.[80]

Mecca, c. 1718 AD

Mecca, c. 1778 AD

Mecca, in the 1880s

Mecca in 1910

Pilgrims surround the Kaaba in 1910

Ibn Battuta’s description of Mecca[edit]

One of the most famous travelers to Mecca in the 14th century was a Moroccan scholar and traveler, Ibn Battuta. In his rihla (account) he offers a comprehensive description of the city. Around the year 1327 AD or 729 AD, Ibn Battuta arrived in the holy city. Immediately, he says, it felt like sanctuary, and such. He began the rites of pilgrimage. He stayed in Mecca for three years, leaving in AD 1330. During his second year in the holy city, he says, his caravan arrived “with a large quantity of alms in support of those who were in Mecca and Medina.” In Mecca, prayers were said for (not for) the King of Iraq and also for Salaheddin al-Ayyubi, Sultan of Egypt and Syria, in the Ka’bah. Battuta says the Kaaba was large but was destroyed and rebuilt smaller than the original and contained images of angels and prophets including Jesus, his mother Mary and many others. Battuta describes the Kaaba as an important part of Mecca as many people make pilgrimages there. Battuta describes the town’s people as humble and kind, and also willing to give a portion of everything they had to someone who had nothing. The people of Mecca and the village itself were very clean, he says. The village also had a sense of elegance.[81]

Under the Ottomans

In 1517 the then Sharif of Mecca, Barakat bin Muhammad, recognized the suzerainty of the Ottoman caliph but retained a high degree of local autonomy.[82] In 1803 the city was conquered by the First Saudi State[83] who occupied Mecca until 1813 and destroyed some of the historic tombs and domes in and around the city. The Ottomans assigned the task of bringing Mecca back under Ottoman control to their powerful khedive (viceroy) and wali of Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha. Muhammad Ali Pasha successfully restored Mecca to Ottoman control in 1813. In 1818, the Saudis were defeated again, but survived and formed the Second Saudi State, which lasted until 1891 and resulted in what is now the country of Saudi Arabia. In 1853, Sir Richard Francis Burton, disguised as a Muslim, undertook the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. Although Burton was certainly not the first non-Muslim European to perform Hajj (Ludovico di Varthema did so in 1503),[84] his pilgrimage remains one of the most famous and documented in modern times. Mecca has been regularly hit by cholera outbreaks. Between 1830 and 1930, cholera broke out 27 times among pilgrims in Mecca.[85]

Recent history[edit]

The surroundings of the Haram Shareef.

Hashemite revolt and subsequent control by the Sharifate of Mecca

During World War I, the Ottoman Empire was at war with the Allies. It had successfully repelled an attack on Istanbul in the Gallipoli campaign and on Baghdad in the siege of Kut. British intelligence agent T.E. Lawrence conspired with Ottoman governor Hussain bin Ali, the Sharif of Mecca to revolt against the Ottoman Empire and it was the first city captured by his forces in the 1916 Battle of Mecca. Sharif’s uprising proved to be a turning point in the war on the Eastern Front. Hussein declared a new state, the kingdom of Hejaz, and declared himself the Sharif of the state and Mecca its capital. News reports in November 1916 of contacts in Cairo with returning Hajj pilgrims stated that the 1916 Hajj was free from the earlier massive extortion and monetary demands of the Turks, who were agents of the Ottoman government, after the Ottoman Turkish authorities had fallen away. 86]

Saudi Arabian Conquest and Modern History

After the Battle of Mecca in 1924, the Sharif of Mecca was overthrown by the Saud family and Mecca was annexed to Saudi Arabia.[87] Under Saudi rule, much of the historic city was demolished as the Saudi government feared that these sites would become places of worship alongside Allah (shirk). The city was expanded to include several cities previously considered separate from the holy city and is now just a few kilometers outside of the main sites of Hajj, Mina, Muzdalifah and Arafat. Mecca is not served by any airport for security reasons. It is instead served internationally from King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah (approx. 70 km away) and for domestic flights from Ta’if Regional Airport (approx. 120 km away).

The city today sits at the junction of the two most important highways in the entire Saudi Arabian highway system, Highway 40 connecting the city with Jeddah to the west and the capital, Riyadh and Dammam to the east, and Highway 15 connecting the city to it to Medina, Tabuk and further to Jordan in the north and Abha and Jizan in the south. The Ottomans had planned to extend their railway network to the holy city, but had to abandon this plan due to their entry into WWI. This plan was later carried out by the Saudi government, which linked the two holy cities of Medina and Mecca with the modern Haramain high-speed rail system, running at 300 km/h (190 mph), connecting the two cities via Jeddah, King Abdulaziz International Airport and King Abdullah Economic City near Rabigh within two hours.

The haram area of ​​Mecca, where entry is forbidden to non-Muslims, is much larger than that of Medina.

1979 Confiscation of the Grand Mosque

On November 20, 1979, two hundred armed dissidents led by Juhayman al-Otaibi seized the Grand Mosque, claiming that the Saudi royal family no longer represented pure Islam and that the Masjid al-Haram and the Ka’bah must be kept by those of more truthful Believe. The rebels took tens of thousands of pilgrims hostage and barricaded themselves inside the mosque. The siege lasted two weeks, resulting in several hundred deaths and extensive damage to the shrine, particularly the Safa Marwah gallery. A multinational force finally managed to recapture the mosque from the dissidents.[88] Since then, the Grand Mosque has been expanded several times, with many more expansions still being made to this day.

Destruction of Islamic heritage sites

Under Saudi rule, it is estimated that since 1985 about 95% of Mecca’s historic buildings, most of them over a thousand years old, have been demolished.[9][89] Es wurde berichtet, dass es heute weniger als 20 Gebäude in Mekka gibt, die aus der Zeit Mohammeds stammen. Einige wichtige Gebäude, die zerstört wurden, sind das Haus von Khadijah, der Frau von Mohammed, das Haus von Abu Bakr, Mohammeds Geburtsort und die Ajyad-Festung aus osmanischer Zeit.[90] Der Grund für einen Großteil der Zerstörung historischer Gebäude war der Bau von Hotels, Apartments, Parkplätzen und anderen Infrastruktureinrichtungen für Hadsch-Pilger.[89][91]

Zwischenfälle während der Pilgerreise

Mekka war aufgrund der großen Anzahl von Menschen, die zur Hajj kommen, Schauplatz mehrerer Vorfälle und Misserfolge bei der Kontrolle der Menschenmenge.[92][93][94] So endete beispielsweise am 2. Juli 1990 eine Pilgerfahrt nach Mekka in einer Tragödie, als in einem überfüllten Fußgängertunnel das Lüftungssystem ausfiel und 1.426 Menschen bei einem Ansturm entweder erstickten oder zu Tode getrampelt wurden.[95] Am 24. September 2015 wurden bei einem Ansturm auf Mina während des Steinigungsrituals in Jamarat 700 Pilger getötet.[96]

Bedeutung im Islam [Bearbeiten]

Der Hajj beinhaltet Pilger, die die Al-Haram-Moschee besuchen, aber hauptsächlich campen und Zeit in den Ebenen von Mina und Arafah verbringen

Mekka nimmt einen wichtigen Platz im Islam ein und ist die heiligste Stadt in allen Zweigen der Religion. Die Stadt leitet ihre Bedeutung von der Rolle ab, die sie bei Hajj und ‘Umrah spielt.

Masjid al-Haram [Bearbeiten]

Die Masjid al-Haram ist der Ort von zwei der wichtigsten Riten sowohl des Hajj als auch der Umrah, der Umrundung der Ka’bah (tawaf) und des Gehens zwischen den beiden Bergen von Safa und Marwa (sa’ee). . Die Masjid ist auch der Standort des Zamzam-Brunnens. Nach islamischer Tradition entspricht ein Gebet in der Masjid 100.000 Gebeten in jeder anderen Masjid auf der ganzen Welt.[97]

Kaaba [ bearbeiten ]

Es gibt Meinungsverschiedenheiten zwischen islamischen Gelehrten darüber, wer zuerst die Ka’bah gebaut hat, einige glauben, dass sie von den Engeln gebaut wurde, während andere glauben, dass sie von Adam gebaut wurde. Unabhängig davon wurde es mehrmals gebaut, bevor es seinen heutigen Zustand erreichte. Die Kaaba ist auch die gemeinsame Gebetsrichtung (Qibla) für alle Muslime. Die Oberfläche, die die Kaaba umgibt, auf der Muslime sie umrunden, ist als Mataf bekannt.

Hijr al-Aswad (Der schwarze Stein) [ bearbeiten ]

Der Schwarze Stein ist ein Stein, der von Wissenschaftlern als Meteorit oder ähnlichen Ursprungs angesehen wird und von Muslimen als göttlichen Ursprungs angesehen wird. Es befindet sich in der östlichen Ecke der Kaaba und es ist Sunna, den Stein zu berühren und zu küssen. Das Gebiet um den Stein herum ist im Allgemeinen immer überfüllt und wird von Polizisten bewacht, um die Sicherheit der Pilger zu gewährleisten.

Maqam Ibrahim [Bearbeiten]

Dies ist der Stein, auf dem Ibraham (Abraham) stand, um die höheren Teile der Kaaba zu bauen. It contains two footprints that are comparatively larger than average modern-day human feet. The stone is raised and housed in a golden hexagonal chamber beside the Ka’bah on the Mataf plate.

Safa and Marwa [ edit ]

Muslims believe that in the divine revelation to Muhammad, the Quran, Allah describes the mountains of Safa and Marwah as symbols of his divinity. Walking between the two mountains seven times, 4 times from Safa to Marwah and 3 times from Marwah interchangeably, is considered a mandatory pillar (rukn) of ‘Umrah.

Panorama of the al-Masjid al-Haram , also known as the Grand Mosque of Mecca, during the Hajj pilgrimage

Hajj and ‘Umrah [ edit ]

The Hajj pilgrimage also called the greater pilgrimage, attracts millions of Muslims from all over the world and almost triples Mecca’s population for one week in the twelfth and final Islamic month of Dhu al-Hijjah. In 2019, the Hajj attracted 2,489,406 pilgrims to the holy city.[98] The ‘Umrah, or the lesser pilgrimage, can be done at anytime during the year. Every adult, healthy Muslim who has the financial and physical capacity to travel to Mecca must perform the Hajj at least once in a lifetime. Umrah, the lesser pilgrimage, is not obligatory, but is recommended in the Quran.[99] In addition to the Masjid al-Haram, pilgrims also must visit the nearby towns of Mina/Muna, Muzdalifah and Mount Arafat for various rituals that are part of the Hajj.

Jabal al-Nour , the mountain atop which is the Hira cave, where it is believed Muhammad received his first revelation.

Jabal an-Nur [ edit ]

This is a mountain believed by Muslims to have been the place where Muhammad spent his time away from the bustling city of Mecca in seclusion.[100][101] The mountain is located on the eastern entrance of the city and is the highest point in the city at 642 meters (2,106 feet).

Hira’a Cave [ edit ]

Situated atop Jabal an-Nur, this is the place where Muslims believe Muhammad received the first revelation from Allah through the archangel Gabriel (Jibril in Islamic tradition) at the age of 40.[100][101]

The Quran Gate

Geography[ edit ]

Mecca is located in the Hejaz region, a 200 km (124 mi) wide strip of mountains separating the Nafud desert from the Red Sea. The city is situated in a valley with the same name around 70 km (44 mi) west of the port city of Jeddah. Mecca is one of the lowest cities in elevation in the Hejaz region, located at an elevation of 277 m (909 ft) above sea level at 21º23′ north latitude and 39º51’ east longitude. Mecca is divided into 34 districts.

The city centers on the al-Haram area, which contains the Masjid al-Haram. The area around the mosque is the old city and contains the most famous district of Mecca, Ajyad. The main street that runs to al-Haram is the Ibrahim al-Khalil Street, named after Ibrahim. Traditional, historical homes built of local rock, two to three stories long are still present within the city’s central area, within view of modern hotels and shopping complexes. The total area of modern Mecca is over 1,200 km2 (460 sq mi).[102]

Elevation [ edit ]

Mecca is at an elevation of 277 m (909 ft) above sea level, and approximately 70 km (44 mi) inland from the Red Sea.[67] It is one of the lowest in the Hejaz region.

Topography [ edit ]

The city center lies in a corridor between mountains, which is often called the “Hollow of Mecca”. The area contains the valley of al-Taneem, the valley of Bakkah and the valley of Abqar.[64][103] This mountainous location has defined the contemporary expansion of the city.

Sources of water [ edit ]

In pre-modern Mecca, the city used a few chief sources of water. The first were local wells, such as the Zamzam Well, that produced generally brackish water. The second source was the spring of ‘Ayn Zubaydah (Spring of Zubaydah). The sources of this spring are the mountains of Jabal Sa’d and Jabal Kabkāb, which are a few kilometers east of ‘Arafah/’Arafat or about 20 km (12 mi) southeast of Mecca. Water was transported from it using underground channels. A very sporadic third source was rainfall which was stored by the people in small reservoirs or cisterns. The rainfall, scant as it is, also presents the threat of flooding and has been a danger since earliest times. According to al-Kurdī, there had been 89 floods by 1965. In the last century, the most severe flood was that of 1942. Since then, dams have been built to ameliorate this problem.[103]

Climate [ edit ]

Mecca features a hot desert climate (Köppen: BWh), in three different plant hardiness zones: 10, 11 and 12.[104] Like most Saudi Arabian cities, Mecca retains warm to hot temperatures even in winter, which can range from 19 °C (66 °F) at night to 30 °C (86 °F) in the afternoon, but also, very rarely, fall to zero and subzero temperatures. Summer temperatures are extremely hot and consistently break the 40 °C (104 °F) mark in the afternoon, dropping to 30 °C (86 °F) in the evening, but humidity remains relatively low, at 30–40%. Rain usually falls in Mecca in small amounts scattered between November and January, with heavy thunderstorms also common during the winter.

Climate data for Mecca Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Record high °C (°F) 37.4

(99.3) 38.3

(100.9) 42.4

(108.3) 44.7

(112.5) 49.4

(120.9) 49.6

(121.3) 49.8

(121.6) 49.7

(121.5) 49.4

(120.9) 47.0

(116.6) 41.2

(106.2) 38.4

(101.1) 49.8

(121.6) Average high °C (°F) 30.5

(86.9) 31.7

(89.1) 34.9

(94.8) 38.7

(101.7) 42.0

(107.6) 43.8

(110.8) 43.0

(109.4) 42.8

(109.0) 42.8

(109.0) 40.1

(104.2) 35.2

(95.4) 32.0

(89.6) 38.1

(100.6) Daily mean °C (°F) 24.6

(76.3) 25.4

(77.7) 28.0

(82.4) 31.6

(88.9) 34.3

(93.7) 35.8

(96.4) 35.9

(96.6) 35.7

(96.3) 35.0

(95.0) 33.0

(91.4) 29.1

(84.4) 25.6

(78.1) 30.8

(87.4) Average low °C (°F) 18.8

(65.8) 19.1

(66.4) 21.1

(70.0) 24.5

(76.1) 27.6

(81.7) 28.6

(83.5) 29.1

(84.4) 29.5

(85.1) 28.9

(84.0) 25.9

(78.6) 23.0

(73.4) 20.3

(68.5) 24.7

(76.5) Record low °C (°F) 11.0

(51.8) 10.0

(50.0) 13.0

(55.4) 15.6

(60.1) 20.3

(68.5) 22.0

(71.6) 23.4

(74.1) 23.4

(74.1) 22.0

(71.6) 18.0

(64.4) 16.4

(61.5) 12.4

(54.3) 10.0

(50.0) Average precipitation mm (inches) 20.8

(0.82) 3.0

(0.12) 5.5

(0.22) 10.3

(0.41) 1.2

(0.05) 0.0

(0.0) 1.4

(0.06) 5.0

(0.20) 5.4

(0.21) 14.5

(0.57) 22.6

(0.89) 22.1

(0.87) 111.8

(4.40) Average precipitation days 4.0 0.9 1.8 1.8 0.7 0.0 0.3 1.5 2.0 1.9 3.9 3.6 22.4 Average relative humidity (%) (daily average) 58 54 48 43 36 33 34 39 45 50 58 59 46 Mean monthly sunshine hours 260.4 245.8 282.1 282.0 303.8 321.0 313.1 297.6 282.0 300.7 264.0 248.0 3,400.5 Mean daily sunshine hours 8.4 8.7 9.1 9.4 9.8 10.7 10.1 9.6 9.4 9.7 8.8 8.0 9.3 Source 1: Jeddah Regional Climate Center[105] Source 2: Deutscher Wetterdienst (sunshine hours, 1986–2000)[106]

economy [edit]

The Meccan economy has been heavily dependent on the annual pilgrimage. Income generated from the Hajj, in fact, not only powers the Meccan economy but has historically had far-reaching effects on the economy of the entire Arabian Peninsula. The income was generated in a number of ways. One method was taxing the pilgrims. Taxes were especially increased during the Great Depression, and many of these taxes existed to as late as 1972. Another way the Hajj generates income is through services to pilgrims. For example, the Saudi flag carrier, Saudia, generates 12% of its income from the pilgrimage. Fares paid by pilgrims to reach Mecca by land also generate income; as do the hotels and lodging companies that house them.[103] The city takes in more than $100 million, while the Saudi government spends about $50 million on services for the Hajj. There are some industries and factories in the city, but Mecca no longer plays a major role in Saudi Arabia’s economy, which is mainly based on oil exports.[107] The few industries operating in Mecca include textiles, furniture, and utensils. The majority of the economy is service-oriented.

al-‘Aziziyah district of Mecca Thedistrict of Mecca

Nevertheless, many industries have been set up in Mecca. Various types of enterprises that have existed since 1970 in the city include corrugated iron manufacturing, copper extraction, carpentry, upholstery, bakeries, farming and banking.[103] The city has grown substantially in the 20th and 21st centuries, as the convenience and affordability of jet travel has increased the number of pilgrims participating in the Hajj. Thousands of Saudis are employed year-round to oversee the Hajj and staff the hotels and shops that cater to pilgrims; these workers in turn have increased the demand for housing and services. The city is now ringed by freeways, and contains shopping malls and skyscrapers.[108]

Human resources [ edit ]

Education [edit]

Formal education started to be developed in the late Ottoman period continuing slowly into Hashemite times. The first major attempt to improve the situation was made by a Jeddah merchant, Muhammad ʿAlī Zaynal Riḍā, who founded the Madrasat al-Falāḥ in Mecca in 1911–12 that cost £400,000.[103] The school system in Mecca has many public and private schools for both males and females. As of 2005, there were 532 public and private schools for males and another 681 public and private schools for female students.[109] The medium of instruction in both public and private schools is Arabic with emphasis on English as a second language, but some private schools founded by foreign entities such as International schools use the English language as the medium of instruction. Some of these are coeducational while other schools are not. For higher education, the city has only one university, Umm Al-Qura University, which was established in 1949 as a college and became a public university in 1981.

Healthcare [ edit ]

Healthcare is provided by the Saudi government free of charge to all pilgrims. There are ten main hospitals in Mecca:[110]

Ajyad Hospital ( مُسْتَشْفَى أَجْيَاد )

) King Faisal Hospital ( مُسْتَشْفَى ٱلْمَلِك فَيْصَل بِحَي ٱلشّشه )

) King Abdulaziz Hospital (Arabic: مُسْتَشْفَى ٱلْمَلِك عَبْد ٱلْعَزِيْز بِحَي ٱلـزَّاهِر )

) Al Noor Specialist Hospital ( مُسْتَشْفَى ٱلنُّوْر ٱلتَّخَصُّصِي )

) Hira’a Hospital ( مُسْتَشْفَى حِرَاء )

) Maternity and Children’s Hospital ( مُسْتَشْفَى ٱلْوِلَادَة وَٱلْأَطْفَال )

) King Abdullah Medical City ( مَدِيْنَة ٱلْمَلِك عَبْد ٱلله ٱلطِّبِيَّة )

) Khulais General Hospital ( مُسْتَشْفَى خُلَيْص ٱلْعَام )

) Al Kamel General Hospital ( مُسْتَشْفَى ٱلْكَامِل ٱلْعَام )

) Ibn Sina Hospital ( مُسْتَشْفَى ابْن سِيْنَا بِحَدَاء / بَحْرَه )

There are also many walk-in clinics available for both residents and pilgrims. Several temporary clinics are set up during the Hajj to tend to wounded pilgrims.

Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic [ edit ]

Kaaba in July 2021, during COVID-19 restrictions.

In February 2020, Saudi Arabia temporarily banned foreigners from entering Mecca and Medina to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic in the Kingdom.[111]

culture [edit]

Kaaba during expansion in 2013

Mecca’s culture has been affected by the large number of pilgrims that arrive annually, and thus boasts a rich cultural heritage. As a result of the vast numbers of pilgrims coming to the city each year, Mecca has become by far the most diverse city in the Muslim world.

Al Baik, a local fast-food chain, is very popular among pilgrims and locals alike. Until 2018, it was available only in Mecca, Medina and Jeddah, and traveling to Jeddah just to get a taste of the fried chicken was common.

Sports [ edit ]

In pre-modern Mecca, the most common sports were impromptu wrestling and foot races.[103] Football is now the most popular sport in Mecca and the kingdom, and the city hosts some of the oldest sport clubs in Saudi Arabia such as Al Wahda FC (established in 1945). King Abdulaziz Stadium is the largest stadium in Mecca with a capacity of 38,000.[112]

Demographics[ edit ]

Mecca is very densely populated. Most long-term residents live in the Old City, the area around the Great Mosque and many work to support pilgrims, known locally as the Hajj industry. ‘Iyad Madani, the Saudi Arabian Minister for Hajj, was quoted saying, “We never stop preparing for the Hajj.”[113]

Year-round, pilgrims stream into the city to perform the rites of ‘Umrah, and during the last weeks of eleventh Islamic month, Dhu al-Qi’dah, on average 2–4 million Muslims arrive in the city to take part in the rites known as Hajj.[114] Pilgrims are from varying ethnicities and backgrounds, mainly South and Southeast Asia, Europe and Africa. Many of these pilgrims have remained and become residents of the city. The Burmese are an older, more established community who number roughly 250,000.[115] Adding to this, the discovery of oil in the past 50 years has brought hundreds of thousands of working immigrants.

Non-Muslims are not permitted to enter Mecca under Saudi law,[12] and using fraudulent documents to do so may result in arrest and prosecution.[116] The prohibition extends to Ahmadis, as they are considered non-Muslims.[117] Nevertheless, many non-Muslims and Ahmadis have visited the city as these restrictions are loosely enforced. The first such recorded example of a non-Muslim entering the city is that of Ludovico di Varthema of Bologna in 1503.[118] Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, is said to have visited Mecca[119] in December 1518.[120] One of the most famous was Richard Francis Burton,[121] who traveled as a Qadiriyya Sufi from Afghanistan in 1853.

Mecca Province is the only province where expatriates outnumber Saudis.[122]

Architectural landmarks [ edit ]

Adorning the southern facade of the Masjid al-Haram, the Abraj al-Bait Complex, which towers over the Great Mosque, is a seven-building complex with the central clock tower having a length of 601 m (1,972 feet), making it the world’s fourth-tallest building. All seven buildings in the complex also form the third-largest building by floor area.

The Mecca Gate, known popularly as the Quran Gate, on the western entrance of the city, or from Jeddah. Located on Highway 40, it marks the boundary of the Haram area where non-Muslims are prohibited from entering. The gate was designed in 1979 by an Egyptian architect, Samir Elabd, for the architectural firm IDEA Center. The structure is that of a book, representing the Quran, sitting on a rehal, or bookrest.[123]

Communications [ edit ]

Press and newspapers [ edit ]

The first press was brought to Mecca in 1885 by Osman Nuri Pasha, an Ottoman Wāli. During the Hashemite period, it was used to print the city’s official gazette, Al Qibla. The Saudi regime expanded this press into a larger operation, introducing the new Saudi official gazette of Mecca, Umm al-Qurā.[103] Mecca also has its own paper owned by the city, Al Nadwa. However, other Saudi newspapers are also provided in Mecca such as the Saudi Gazette, Al Madinah, Okaz and Al Bilad, in addition to other international newspapers.

television [edit]

Telecommunications in the city were emphasized early under the Saudi reign. King Abdulaziz pressed them forward as he saw them as a means of convenience and better governance. While under Hussein bin Ali, there were about 20 public telephones in the entire city; in 1936, the number jumped to 450, totaling about half the telephones in the country. During that time, telephone lines were extended to Jeddah and Ta’if, but not to the capital, Riyadh. By 1985, Mecca, like other Saudi cities, possessed modern telephone, telex, radio and television communications.[103] Many television stations serving the city area include Saudi TV1, Saudi TV2, Saudi TV Sports, Al-Ekhbariya, Arab Radio and Television Network and various cable, satellite and other specialty television providers.

Radio [ edit ]

Limited radio communication was established within the Kingdom under the Hashemites. In 1929, wireless stations were set up in various towns in the region, creating a network that would become fully functional by 1932. Soon after World War II, the existing network was greatly expanded and improved. Since then, radio communication has been used extensively in directing the pilgrimage and addressing the pilgrims. This practice started in 1950, with the initiation of broadcasts on the Day of ‘Arafah (9 Dhu al-Hijjah), and increased until 1957, at which time Radio Makkah became the most powerful station in the Middle East at 50 kW. Later, power was increased 9-fold to 450 kW. Music was not immediately broadcast, but gradually folk music was introduced.[103]

transportation [edit]

Air [ edit ]

Hajj terminal

The only airport near the city is the Mecca East airport, which is not active. Mecca is primarily served by King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah for international and regional connections and Ta’if Regional Airport for regional connections. To cater the large number of Hajj pilgrims, Jeddah Airport has Hajj Terminal, specifically for use in the Hajj season, which can accommodate 47 planes simultaneously and can receive 3,800 pilgrims per hour during the Hajj season.[124]

Roads [ edit ]

Entry Gate of Mecca on Highway 40

Mecca, similar to Medina, lies at the junction of two of the most important highways in Saudi Arabia, Highway 40, connecting it to the important port city of Jeddah in the west and the capital of Riyadh and the other major port city, Dammam, in the east. The other, Highway 15, connects Mecca to the other holy Islamic city of Medina approximately 400 km (250 mi) in the north and onward to Tabuk and Jordan. While in the south, it connects Mecca to Abha and Jizan.[125][126] Mecca is served by four ring roads, and these are very crowded compared to the three ring roads of Medina.

Rapid transit [ edit ]

Al Masha’er Al Muqaddassah Metro

The Al Masha’er Al Muqaddassah Metro is a metro line in Mecca opened on 13 November 2010.[127] The 18.1-kilometer (11.2-mile) elevated metro transports pilgrims to the holy sites of ‘Arafat, Muzdalifah and Mina in the city to reduce congestion on the road and is only operational during the Hajj season.[128] It consists of nine stations, three in each of the aforementioned towns.

Mecca Metro

Mecca Metro Route Map

The Mecca Metro, officially known as Makkah Mass Rail Transit, is a planned four-line metro system for the city.[129] This will be in addition to[129] the Al Masha’er Al Muqaddassah Metro which carries pilgrims.

Rail [ edit ]

Intercity [ edit ]

In 2018, a high speed intercity rail line, part of the Haramain High Speed Rail Project, named the Haramain high-speed railway line entered operation, connecting the holy cities of Mecca and Medina together via Jeddah, King Abdulaziz International Airport and King Abdullah Economic City in Rabigh.[130][131] The railway consists of 35 electric trains and is capable of transporting 60 million passengers annually. Each train can achieve speeds of up to 300 kmh (190 mph), traveling a total distance of 450 km (280 mi), reducing the travel time between the two cities to less than two hours.[132][131]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

What life was like in the lands of the prophet: Islamic world, AD 570–1405 . Time-Life Books. 1999. ISBN 978-0-7835-5465-5 .

Lapidus, Ira M. (1988). A History of Islamic Societies. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-22552-6 .

Further Reading[edit]

Online [ edit ]

The Mecca Mystery: Are Muslims Praying In The Wrong Direction? | Sacred City | Timeline

The Mecca Mystery: Are Muslims Praying In The Wrong Direction? | Sacred City | Timeline
The Mecca Mystery: Are Muslims Praying In The Wrong Direction? | Sacred City | Timeline


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Toronto Qibla Direction | Qibla Finder

Qibla Angle for Toronto (Canada) is 54.58° degree (according to the true north) Find the 65.14° degree following a clockwise route beginning from the north.

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Source: www.kiblebulma.com

Date Published: 3/30/2021

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Qibal direction from Toronto to holy Mecca

Qibla direction from Toronto ; Qiblal Direction : 234.58° ; Distance between Toronto and Mecca: 10495.5721 km.

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Source: timesprayer.com

Date Published: 6/5/2021

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Toronto Qibla Direction – Online Qibla Finder

Toronto (Canada), your qibla angle with respect to true north is 54.58°. The qibla angle for magnetic compass is 65.14°. If you want to learn the qibla …

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Source: www.kible.org

Date Published: 11/13/2021

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Toronto Qibla Direction | Find Qibla from Online Map

Find the Qibla angle by advancing clockwise while the compass needle shows north (N). Now you can perform your prayer in the direction the Qibla angle shows. In …

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Source: www.qiblafinder.org

Date Published: 9/22/2021

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Qibla Direction for Toronto | Qibla Locator, Qiblah Finder …

Toronto QIBLA DIRECTION There are many methods to find the Qiblah direction. One of the easiest ways is using compass. Qibla direction changes from city to …

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Source: www.qibladirection.org

Date Published: 5/6/2021

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Qibla Direction Finder for Toronto

Easily find your Qibla direction in Toronto (Ontario). Quickly learn your Kaaba direction line and Qibla angle for compass with online maps.

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Source: www.qiblafind.com

Date Published: 3/20/2022

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Is the Qiblah North East or South East in Toronto? – Darussaafi

so turn your face in the direction of Al-Masj- al-Haram (at Makkah). And wheresoever you people are, turn your faces (in prayer) in that direction.

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Source: darussaafi.com

Date Published: 6/20/2021

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Qibla Direction For Praying in Toronto | Canada – Gotopray.Com

Know the qibla direction in Toronto Canada for praying with an accuracy rate of over 95%, With determining the directions of north,south,east and west.

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Source: gotopray.com

Date Published: 10/29/2022

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Qibla Direction Finder for Toronto

Enable location service on your mobile device for convenient Qibla direction detection. Click the FIND MY LOCATION button on this page. Accept your mobile device’s approval request. Wait for your location to be found on the online map. Once your location is found, your Qibla direction line will be created between the Kaaba and your location. You will also learn the qibla angle for the compass. Perform your prayer based on your qibla direction line. For those who want to find the direction of the qibla using the compass, we also provide the qibla angle. First find your location by browsing the online map. Depending on your location, we will use the “Qibla Angle for Compass” degree offered to you. Turn the compass so the compass needle points to north (N). With the compass needle pointing north (N), locate the qibla angle clockwise. Just make sure you use the qibla angle for the compass. The direction indicated by the qibla angle is your qibla direction. You can switch between the online map views above. You can view your location using one of the MAP-OSM-SAT options in the top right corner of the map. You can adjust the proximity to your location using the + and – buttons in the top left corner of the map. You can more easily identify your qibla direction line by moving through the buildings or lands around your current location.

Distance from Toronto, Canada to Mecca, Saudi Arabia

The distance from Toronto, Ontario to Mecca, Saudi Arabia is: 6,533 miles / 10,513 km Flight From: City: Roundtrip, one way Check In: ​​Check Out: Reference: Vacation Flight Hotel Rental Car SEARCH Powered by MediaAlpha Get : Distance of route Stops halfway From: To:

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Map of distances from Toronto, Canada to Mecca, Saudi Arabia

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For a quick answer, use MileageCalc.com to find out the distance from Toronto to Mecca.

More travel calculations

Distance from Toronto, Canada to Mecca, Saudi Arabia

The total direct flight distance from Toronto, Canada to Mecca, Saudi Arabia is 6,533 miles.

This corresponds to 10,513 kilometers or 5,677 nautical miles.

Your journey begins in Toronto, Canada. It ends in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

Your flight direction from Toronto, Canada to Mecca, Saudi Arabia is northeast (54 degrees from north).

The distance calculator helps you find out how far it is to travel from Toronto, Canada to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. This is done by calculating the flight distance in a straight line (“linear distance”) and the driving distance if the route is passable. It uses all this data to calculate the total mileage.

City of Toronto, Ontario: Toronto

Province: Ontario

Country: Canada

Category: Cities

cities

Mecca, Saudi Arabia City: Mecca

Region: Mecca

Country: Saudi Arabia

Category: Cities

Mecca cities

distance calculator

Travelmath helps you find distances based on actual directions or as the crow flies. You can get the distance between cities, airports, states, countries or zip codes to find the best route to your destination. Compare the results as the crow flies to determine if it’s better to drive or fly. The database uses the latitude and longitude of each location to calculate the distance using the great circle distance formula. The calculation is done using the Vincenty algorithm and the WGS84 ellipsoid model of the earth, which is also used by most GPS receivers. This gives you the “linear distance” flight distance. Quickly find your flight distances to estimate the number of frequent flyer miles you will earn. Or ask how far it is between cities to do your homework. You can search for US cities or broaden your search to get world distance for international travel. You can also print out pages containing a travel map.

Pa. Muslims at odds on prayer direction

PHILADELPHIA, May 26 – What way of praying say Muslims from Philadelphia to Mecca?

This debate about how to turn to prayer is a hot topic among Muslims in Philadelphia.

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Most of North America’s 4.5 million Muslims pray five times a day to the Northeast because it’s the shortest distance to Mecca, Islam’s sacred center in Saudi Arabia.

But the head of a mosque in Philadelphia said Thursday the right way to face is the Southeast.

“From North America, Mecca clearly falls to the southeast,” said Ryad Nachef, president of the Association of Islamic Charitable Projects.

Nachef has published a pamphlet calling the Northeast Prayer a “deviant endeavor” and plans to distribute 150,000 copies in major cities across the US and Canada.

“It is a requirement that a Muslim should turn to Mecca,” Nachef said. “If he doesn’t, his prayer is invalid.”

Nachef said Islamic scholars from around the world have confirmed the southeast direction.

“Reputed scholars have all stated that Mecca is southeast of North America,” he said. “The shortest route would take a person to the North Pole.”

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Nachef claims 18 mosques in the US and Canada in the Southeast are praying.

But believers in hundreds of other mosques still look northeast, arguing that the polar route is the shortest route to Mecca.

Among them are the 1,000 members of the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship in Philadelphia.

Muhammed Abdur-Razzaz, the mosque’s religious leader, said it was a simple case of “spherical geometry”.

“If you fly to Mecca, fly north and then southeast,” he said.

Another Fellowship member, who asked that her name not be used, said she prayed to the northeast because the mosque’s founder prayed in that direction. But she said she doesn’t understand all the fuss, adding, “I think it’s stupid to argue about something stupid like that.” NEWLN: (Written by David Enscoe, Philadelphia, edited by Harold Martin, New York)

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