Around 200 mosques in Islam’s holiest city, Mecca, aren’t facing where they should, according to an article in the Saudi Gazette. Concerned Muslims, who for decades have been worshipping in the wrong direction, believe that this may affect the validity of their prayers.
Deputy secretary for the Saudi Arabian Islamic affairs ministry, Tawfik al-Sudairy downplayed people’s fears, stating that ‘there are no major errors but corrections have been made for some old mosques, thanks to modern techniques. In any case, it does not affect the prayers’.
Mosques worldwide are supposed to face, have niches facing, or have indicators showing the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca’s Grand al-Haram mosque. A cube shaped building constructed over two thousand years ago, the Kaaba is the most sacred site in Islam. Ibrahim (Abraham) is supposed to have erected a building on the same spot.
All able bodied Muslims who are capable of doing so are required to complete the Hajj pilgrimage to the Kaaba at least once during their lifetime, and walk around it several times anti-clockwise. Up to 2 million people do so on the same day.
The qibla, or official alignment towards the Kaaba, ensures that Muslims orient their prayers in the correct direction. Residents in modern high rise buildings in Mecca spotted from above that certain Mosques, mostly those built over fifty years ago, aren’t aligned precisely on their relative qiblas prompting the current panic.
Find the qibla *anywhere*: http://www.qiblalocator.com/
