Faizel Patel, 2016-05-27
Are you facing the correction direction of Qibla at home or the workplace when reading salaah?
If not, tomorrow at 11:18am (CAT) across the continent of Africa, if people face the sun, they will be facing the qiblah as the sun is in its highest zenith or directly above the Ka’ba in Makkah in Saudi Arabia.
According to retired school teacher and astronomy expert Ahmed Sayed Moolla, there are only two days in the year when the accurate direction of the qiblah can be determined without using a compass.
“This has been observed for centuries that twice a year the vertical sun is directly above the Ka’ba. Because of Makkah’s position in the world, the sun passes over the Ka’ba on the 28th of May and the 16th of July.”
Moolla says there is no religious significance attached to the event but is purely an astronomical phenomena.
He says to determine the qiblah direction all person has to do is face the sun.
“Take the shadow of any straight object, a street lamppost outside your house of if you have a north facing window, the shadow of the window frame on the floor of the vertical bars and at 11:18am align your musallah on that shadow, not the way the shadow is going but facing the sun you will get a very accurate direction of qiblah.”
Moolla says the direction of the qiblah which is 14 degrees north as depicted by the shadow lasts for about two minutes and thereafter changes.
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