<x-charset ISO646-US>David Lawrence? original question confuses me a little. I am not Muslim, but I have done a lot of research on this subject as it relates to astrolabes. I thought some readers of this list might find some details of the subject interesting.
Five daily prayers are required of all devout Muslims. The times of the prayers are all astronomically defined. The subh (morning) prayer time, also called the fajr (dawn) prayer time, begins at the beginning of morning twilight and continues to sunrise. The zuhr prayer time begins after local noon, when the sun has passed the local meridian. Various values were used to determine this time but one that prevailed in many areas was defined by the time when the shadow of a vertical gnomon had increased to one-fourth the length of the gnomon over the noon shadow. The mid-afternoon asr prayer has two possible starting times, one early and one late. The choice of which definition to use depends on local preferences. The Shafi legal school (madhab) specifies the early asr prayer time to start when the shadow cast by a vertical gnomon is equal to the shadow length at noon plus the length of the gnomon. The prayer time ends when the shadow increase has reached twice the length of ! the gnomon. The Hanafi madhab specifies the late start when the shadow length is the noon length plus twice the length of the stick and ends at sunset. The maghrib prayer time starts at sunset when the sun has completely disappeared below the horizon. The ish? prayer time starts at the end of evening twilight. and ends at dawn. Several definitions of twilight were used, mostly in terms of the angle of the sun below the horizon with 18 degrees being widely used. The literature on this subject is vast. Quoting from King, ?The Ka`ba is a shrine of uncertain historical origin which served as a sanctuary and center of pilgrimage for the Arabs for centuries before the advent of Islam. It was adopted by the Prophet Muhammand as the focal point of the new religion, and the Koran advocates prayer towards it. For Muslims it is a physical pointer to the presence of God. Thus, since the early seventh century Muslims have faced the Sacred Ka`ba in Mecca during their prayers. Mosques are built with the prayer-wall facing the Ka`ba, the direction being indicated by a mihrab or prayer-niche. In addition, certain ritual acts such as reciting the Koran, announcing the call to prayer, and slaughtering animals for food, are to be performed facing the Ka`ba. Also Muslim graves and tombs were laid out so the body would lie on its side and face the Ka`ba. (Modern burial practice is slightly different but still Ka`ba-oriented.) Thus the direction of the Ka`ba ? called qibla in Arabic and all other languages of th! e Islamic commonwealth ? is of prime importance in the life of every Muslim.? Due to its importance, methods for determining the qibla received serious attention from some of the most famous Muslim scientists including al-Khw?rizm? (780-850), al-Batt?ni (858-929), Ab? al-W?fa al-B?zj?n? (940-997), Ibn al-Haitham (965-1040), al-B?r?n? (973-1048) and al-T?s? (1201-1274) and others. The qibla was DEFINED as the direction to the Ka`ba from a locality along the great circle on the terrestrial sphere passing through both places. Approximate methods for determining the qibla were developed in the 7th century, and exact methods were developed by the 9th century. Observations were conducted to determine the exact coordinates of Mecca and other cities in order to compute the qibla accurately. In fact, qibla determination inspired much of the activity of early Muslim geographers. The coordinates of the Ka`ba are 21d 25' 24" N, 39d 49' 24" E. Of course, the latitude and longitude in this form was not used in medieval times since standards of longitude were not accepted until the late 19th century. Rather, the difference in longitude from a given place and Mecca was used. The subject of qibla determination has become somewhat more complicated and controversial within the Muslim community in modern times because Muslims now live all over the world and the great circle definition produces results that are not as intuitive as other methods, such as rhumb lines. This was not a problem when most Muslims lived in the same hemisphere. It should also be noted that old customs did not always adhere to the official definitions. For example, some mosques in Egypt are oriented to the east, as required, but other mosques in other places used the same orientation. Apparently, the builders were not aware of the needed change in orientation. Quibla tables are available today for any location in the world. There are several accepted methods for determining the qibla based on both observation and calculation. Observational methods include observing the azimuth of the sun when it is directly above the Ka?ba, which occurs on approximately May 28 (Gemini 8d) and July 16 (Cancer 23d) at local noon in Mecca. The local apparent time when this event occurs can be calculated from the difference in longitude of the place and Mecca. The qibla can then be noted from the shadow of a vertical gnomon at this instant. This method cannot be used at a great circle distance from Mecca greater than 90d. Most commonly, the qibla is now calculated using equations from modern spherical trigonometry. The qibla from Belfast (54 37 N, 5 56W) is about 128 d 53? east of north using this method. It should be noted that there is no ?right? or ?wrong? way to approach this subject. There are many local customs practiced by Muslims and individuals or small groups can be deeply committed to their traditions. However, this being said, some traditions adopted in the Middle East do not transfer very well to farther northern locations or locations far from Mecca. This may be the case here since the sun never reaches the requested positions in Northern Ireland. Similar problems occur when relying on the sun?s azimuth to determine the qibla. As noted by other contributors, there are sundials used for finding the times and direction of prayers that still exist. For example, there is a rather sophisticated vertical dial in Tunisia. Anyone interested in the details should refer to the publications of David A. King. Oddly, only one gnomon used for prayer purposes still exists (in Yemen). Best regards, Jim James E. Morrison [EMAIL PROTECTED] Astrolabe web site at astrolabes.org - </x-charset>
