Why does muslims pray toward mecca

If you are inside buildings, then to get a more accurate direction you can use the map based Qiblah direction finder. Once again, technology has proved made our lives much easier. With simple computer calculations, we are able to predict past, present and future prayer times.

It will simply find your location and it will calculate all five prayer times as well as sunrise and the time left in between two prayers.

An additional feature in this app is you can input your accommodation location as a traveller. This is a handy feature to calculate the time you have in your city so if you have no choice but to pray back at the hotel you will not miss your prayers.

Did you know? You still need a qibla direction for salah prayers. Over 2 million Muslims from around the world are beginning the five-day hajj pilgrimage on Sunday. The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam, and all able-bodied Muslims are required to perform it once in their lifetime.

The hajj is seen as a chance to wipe clean past sins and start fresh. Despite the physical challenges of the hajj, many people rely on canes or crutches and insist on walking the routes. Those who cannot afford the hajj are sometimes financed by charities or community leaders.

Others save their entire lives to make the journey. A few even walk thousands of miles by foot to Saudi Arabia, taking months to arrive. While following a route the Prophet Muhammad once walked, the rites of hajj are believed to ultimately trace the footsteps of the prophets Ibrahim and Ismail, or Abraham and Ishmael as they are named in the Bible.

Ibrahim was prepared to submit to the command, but then God stayed his hand, sparing his son. When possible, mosques are constructed in such a way that one side of the building faces the Qiblah, to make it easier to organize worshipers into rows for prayer. The direction of the Qiblah is also often marked in the front of the mosque with an ornamental indentation in the wall, known as a mihrab.

During Muslim prayers , worshipers stand in straight rows, all turned in a single direction. The Imam prayer leader stands in front of them, also facing the same direction, with his back to the congregation.

After death, Muslims are usually buried at a right angle to the Qibla, with face turned to face it. When traveling, Muslims often have difficulty determining the Qiblah in their new location, although prayer rooms and chapels in some airports and hospitals may indicate the direction. Several companies offer small hand compasses for locating the Qiblah, but they can be cumbersome and confusing for those unfamiliar with their use.

Sometimes a compass is sewn into the center of a prayer rug for this purpose. In medieval times, traveling Muslims often used an astrolabe instrument to establish the Qiblah for prayers. Most Muslims now determine the Qiblah location using technology and one of the smartphone apps now available. Qibla Locator is one such program. It uses Google Maps technology to identify the Qiblah for any location in a user-friendly, fast and free service. The tool quickly draws a map of your location, along with a red line towards the direction of Makkah and makes it easy to locate a nearby road or landmark to orient yourself.

In the pre-Islamic period it was a shrine to Arabic deities. In CE, Muhammad rededicated the shrine to Allah. Also spelled Koran, this is Islam? The Qur? The Arabic name Qur?