Direction of Mecca – A simple method In any place in the northern hemisphere you can find the exact direction of Mecca (qibla) by observing the direction of the Sun at the moment when it is at zenith of Mecca itself. We must observe the Sun on the day when its declination is equal to the latitude of Mecca, at the instant when its hour angle is equal to the difference between the longitude of the place of observation P and that of Mecca M, that is at the local time given by
[12 + (LongP-LongM) / 15] equal hours. Since the latitude of Mecca is 21° 29’ the days when the sun has this declination are, approximately, May 28 and July 15. For example, since Rome is 27° 16' west of Mecca, on May 28 we have to observe the Sun 1h 49m before local noon, that is at 10h 11m local, corresponding to 10h 18m 25s the civil time (CET) For the places that are located in the southern hemisphere, the qibla can be found by looking at the direction of the Sun when it is exactly at the nadir of Mecca, around January 13 and November 29. The first description of this method can be found in a text of the astronomer Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (Persia 1201-1274) Best Gianni Ferrari 2013/4/11 Douglas Vogt <[email protected]> > Reminds me of someone a year or so ago who developed a method of > determining the east of Mecca for prayer purposes regardless of how far > north or south the location of the person is. In this case, east varies > quite a bit. > > > ------------------------------ > ** >
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