Direction of Muslim Prayer

Muslims are supposed to point towards Mecca when they do their prayers, right?

How do they determine the direction of Mecca when very far away on the globe? If you look at a map, it could appear to be in different directions depending on the projection of the map used.

The reason I ask is because I was eating lunch today in a Pakistani restaurant and some guy came in and started doing the Muslim prayer and he was definitely pointing in a northeasterly direction from New York City. That's certainly not the direction I'd think Muslims would point (more southeast I'd think).

edit:

I guess this answers it, along the great circle line it would be NE:

www.ncgia.ucsb.edu...

[edit on 2/8/2006 by djohnsto77]

Maybe it's different in a public place. What if somebody were sitting down and eating and they just happened to be in the direction of Mecca and the dude started praying in their direction? It might make somebody feel uncomfortable so the owners have them face away from the diners.

Peace

It bothers me why these Muslims would prey towards the direction of a building on earth. They claim to not worship idols yet is this not idolatory? They are worshipping something made out of human hands. Allah does not dwell there, so its just another reason in the long list of hypocrisies.

Good point Firefly. And it's not really the building, it's a rock (believed to be a meteorite) in the building.

Aliens coming down to Earth to observe us would believe all Muslims worship a meteorite in a cube-shaped building, not an almighty God.

Some prayer mats are sold with a "Qibla Compass" on to determine the direction of Mecca.

Originally posted by FactoryLad
Some prayer mats are sold with a "Qibla Compass" on to determine the direction of Mecca.

I don't see how that would work. Mecca can be in any direction, depending on where you are. Unless the said "Only works for this country" on the back

It's not the rock, but the building that is being prayed towards. I don't think it has any significance other than to have everyone facing one direction while praying (unity and such).

It goes that before Muhammad got a revealation from God telling him otherwise, all muslims prayed towards Jerusalem.

From my previous post, an image that basically shows prayer direction globally:



It appears to be basically great circle lines that airlines would use too.

When I took a class on the history of architecture in Irvine Valley College in late 2021, I was dumbstruck to learn that during the conversion of the Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople and overthrew the Byzantine monarchy, Sultan Mehmed II decided to have the apse of the Hagia Sophia fitted with a mihrab so that any Muslims praying in the building could face Mecca from the apse because that part of the Hagia Sophia directly faces Mecca from the north.

Link:
hagiasophiaturkey.com...