Qibla Finder Google Map

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has stated that one should face the direction of the Earth. This is part of the Malaysian document which recommends that the qibla should be 'based on what is possible' for the astronaut, and can be prioritized this way: 1) the Ka'aba, 2) the projection of Ka'aba, 3) the Earth, 4) wherever.

The qibla is also the direction for entering the ihram (sacred state for the hajj pilgrimage); the direction to which animals are turned during dhabihah (Islamic slaughter); the recommended direction to make dua (supplications); the direction to avoid when relieving oneself or spitting; and the direction to which the deceased are aligned when buried. The qibla may be observed facing the Kaaba accurately (ayn al-ka'bah) or facing in the general direction (jihat al-ka'bah). Most Islamic scholars consider that jihat al-ka'bah is acceptable if the more precise ayn al-ka'bah cannot be ascertained.

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Before the development of astronomy in the Islamic world, Muslims used traditional methods to determine the qibla. These methods included facing the direction that the companions of Muhammad had used when in the same place; using the setting and rising points of celestial objects; using the direction of the wind; or using due south, which was Muhammad's qibla in Medina. Early Islamic astronomy was built on its Indian and Greek counterparts, especially the works of Ptolemy, and soon Muslim astronomers developed methods to calculate the approximate directions of the qibla, starting from the mid-9th century. In the late 9th and 10th centuries, Muslim astronomers developed methods to find the exact direction of the qibla which are equivalent to the modern formula. Initially, this "qibla of the astronomers" was used alongside various traditionally determined qiblas, resulting in much diversity in medieval Muslim cities. In addition, the accurate geographic data necessary for the astronomical methods to yield an accurate result was not available before the 18th and 19th centuries, resulting in further diversity of the qibla. Historical mosques with differing qiblas still stand today throughout the Islamic world. The spaceflight of a devout Muslim, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2007 generated a discussion with regard to the qibla direction from low Earth orbit, prompting the Islamic authority of his home country, Malaysia, to recommend determining the qibla "based on what is possible" for the astronaut.

The qibla is the direction of the Kaaba, a cube-like building at the centre of the Sacred Mosque (al-Masjid al-Haram) in Mecca, in the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia. Other than its role as qibla, it is also the holiest site for Muslims, also known as the House of God (Bait Allah) and where the tawaf (the circumambulation ritual) is performed during the Hajj and umrah pilgrimages. The Kaaba has an approximately rectangular ground plan with its four corners pointing close to the four cardinal directions.[1] According to the Quran, it was built by Abraham and Ishmael, both of whom are prophets in Islam.[2] Few historical records remain detailing the history of the Kaaba before the rise of Islam, but in the generations prior to Muhammad, the Kaaba had been used as a shrine of the pre-Islamic Arabic religion.[2]

There are different reports of the qibla direction when Muhammad was in Mecca (before his migration to Medina). According to a report cited by historian al-Tabari and exegete (textual interpreter) al-Baydawi, Muhammad prayed towards the Kaaba. Another report, cited by al-Baladhuri and also by al-Tabari, says that Muhammad prayed towards Jerusalem while in Mecca. Another report, mentioned in Ibn Hisham's biography of Muhammad, says that Muhammad prayed in such a way as to face the Kaaba and Jerusalem simultaneously.[5] Today Muslims of all branches, including the Sunni and the Shia, all pray towards the Kaaba. Historically, one major exception was the Qarmatians, a now-defunct syncretic Shia sect which rejected the Kaaba as the qibla; in 930, they sacked Mecca and for a time took the Kaaba's Black Stone to their centre of power in Al-Ahsa, with the intention of starting a new era in Islam.[6][7]

Inside a mosque, the qibla is usually indicated by a mihrab, a niche in its qibla-facing wall. In a congregational prayer, the imam stands in it or close to it, in front of the rest of the congregation.[10] The mihrab became a part of the mosque during the Umayyad period and its form was standardised during the Abbasid period; before that, the qibla of a mosque was known from the orientation of one of its walls, called the qibla wall. The term mihrab itself is attested only once in the Quran, but it refers to a place of prayer of the Israelites rather than a part of a mosque.[10][a] The Mosque of Amr ibn al-As in Fustat, Egypt, one of the oldest mosques, is known to have been built originally without a mihrab, though one has since been added.[11]

Spherical trigonometry provides the shortest path from any point on earth to the Kaaba, even though the indicated direction might seem counterintuitive when imagined on a flat world map. For example, the qibla from Alaska obtained through spherical trigonometry is almost due north.[23] This apparent counter-intuitiveness is caused by projections used by world maps, which by necessity distort the surface of the Earth. A straight line shown by the world map in using the Mercator projection is called the rhumb line or the loxodrome, which is used to indicate the qibla by a minority of Muslims.[43][c] 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.[23] In Japan the map shows it to the southwest, while the great circle shows it to the northwest.[44] The majority of Muslims, however, follow the great circle method.[23]

A retroazimuthal projection is any map projection which preserves the angular direction (the azimuth) of the great circle path from any point of the map to a point selected as the center of the map. The initial purpose of its development was to help finding the qibla, by choosing the Kaaba as the center point.[45] The earliest surviving works using this projection were two astrolabe-shaped brass instruments created in 18th-century Iran.[46] They contain grids covering locations between Spain and China, label the locations of major cities along with their names, but do not show any coastline.[46][47] The first of the two was discovered in 1989; its diameter is 22.5 centimetres (8.9 in) and it has a ruler with which one can read the direction of Mecca from the markings on the instrument's circumference, and the distance to Mecca from the markings on the ruler.[47][d] Only the second one is signed by its creator, Muhammad Husayn.[48] The first formal design of a retroazimuthal projection in the Western literature is the Craig projection or the Mecca projection, created by the Scottish mathematician James Ireland Craig, who worked at the Survey Department of Egypt, in 1910.[49] His map is centered in Mecca and its range is limited to show the predominantly Muslim lands.[49] Extending the map further than 90 in longitude from the center will result in crowding and overlaps.[50][51]

The determination of qibla has been an important problem for Muslim communities throughout history. Muslims are required to know the qibla to perform their daily prayers, and it is also needed to determine the orientation of mosques.[56] When Muhammad lived among the Muslims in Medina (which, like Mecca, is also in the Hejaz region), he prayed due south, according to the known direction of Mecca. Within the few generations after Muhammad's death in 632, Muslims had reached places far away from Mecca, presenting the problem of determining the qibla in new locations.[57] Mathematical methods based on astronomy would develop only at the end of the 8th century or the beginning of the 9th, and even then they were not initially popular. Therefore, early Muslims relied on non-astronomical methods.[58]

Accurate longitude values in the Islamic world were available only after the application of cartographic surveys in the 18th and 19th centuries. Modern coordinates, along with new technologies such as GPS satellites and electronic instruments, resulted in the development of practical instruments to calculate the qibla.[72] The qibla found using modern instruments might differ from the direction of mosques, because a mosque might be built before the advent of modern data, and orientation inaccuracies might have been introduced during the building process of modern mosques.[72][20] When this is known, sometimes the direction of the mosque's mihrab is still observed, and sometimes a marker is added (such as lines drawn in the mosque) that can be followed instead of the mihrab.[20]

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.[72] Qibla compasses have existed since around 1300, supplemented by the list of qibla angles often written on the instruments themselves.[73] Hotel rooms with Muslim guests may use a sticker showing the qibla on the ceiling or a drawer.[16] With the advent of computing, various mobile apps and websites use formulae to calculate the qibla for their users.[23][74]

Because varying methods have been used to determine the qibla, mosques were built throughout history in different directions, including some that still stand today.[75] Methods based on astronomy and mathematics were not always used,[76] and the same determination method could yield different qiblas due to differences in the accuracy of data and calculations.[77] 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.[78] 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 Crdoba (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).[78] 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.[18] In Mecca itself, many early mosques were constructed that were not directly facing the Kaaba.[79] e24fc04721