Content uploaded by David A King
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by David A King on Jan 08, 2019
Content may be subject to copyright.
The Sacred Geography of Islam
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the sacred geography of the legal scholars. The scholars of the sacred law of Islam created a sacred geography based on the notion that to face the Kaaba in any region of the world; a person should face the same direction in which a person would be standing if another person were directly in front of the appropriate segment of the perimeter of the Kaaba. In view of the fact that sacred edifice is itself aligned in astronomically significant directions, the directions adopted by the legal scholars for the qibla were towards the risings and settings of the sun at the equinoxes or the solstices or of various significant qibla-stars. The chapter also discusses the sacred geography of the scientists. Muslim astronomers from the 8th century onwards concerned themselves with the determination of the qibla as a problem of mathematical geography. This activity required knowledge of geographical coordinates and involved the computation of the direction among several localities by procedures of geometry or trigonometry, such as the analemma that is a sophisticated device for reducing problems on a sphere from three dimensions to two or spherical trigonometry.
... In contrast to other religions in human history, the orientation to a sacred direction while praying has taken the most considerable attention in Islam. For close to 1.4 K years, the sacred direction of Islam, called "Qibla" in all languages of the Islamic civilizations, has an uppermost significance in the daily lives of Muslims as an obligation for praying and performing various ritual ceremonies towards the Qibla direction (King 1995a(King , 2005b. Islamic tradition orders that particular acts such as reciting Qur'ān, announcing the call to prayer, and sacrificial slaughtering of animals to be executed in the Qibla direction. ...
... The analysis of Islamic astronomical, legal, and cosmological texts has shown verification that several simple, practical, and reliable mosque orientation traditions towards the Qibla direction were used at different times and locations in history. The mosque orientation techniques could also change over time in any particular location, depending on the sources of different Qibla directions, even within the same city (King 1995a(King , 1999(King , 2005b. ...
... The notion of the Kaaba-focused "sacred geography" of Islam emerged from the mosque orientation designed to face the distant Kaaba. The World was split into Kaaba-centred sectors, and the Qibla direction in each sector was defined in terms of astronomical horizon phenomena about a particular part of Kaaba (King and Lorch 1992;King 1999King , 2005b. ...
In the ancient civilizations, the sky has been observed in order to understand the motions of the celestial bodies above the horizon. The study of faiths and practices dealing with the sky in the past has been attributed to the sun, the moon, and the prominent stars. The alignment and orientation of constructions to significant celestial objects were a common practice. The orientation was an important component of the religious structure design. Religious buildings often have an intentional orientation to fix the praying direction. In Islam, a sacred direction (Qibla) towards Kaaba located in the courtyard in the Sacred Mosque in Mecca has been used for praying and fulfilling varied ritual tasks. Therefore, the mosques had then to orientate towards the Qibla direction, being designated by a focal niche in the Qibla-wall, wherever they were built on Earth. In this study, the orientations of the historical Grand mosques in Turkey are surveyed with regard to the folk astronomy derived from pre-Islamic Arabian sources, early traditions of the Islamic period, and geometric-trigonometric computation in mathematical astronomy inherited and developed mostly from Greek sources according to the Islamic view of the World geography.
... The Muslim scientists and astronomers studied and exceeded in many fields of scientific knowledge in general, and in astronomy in particular, this was almost from the 8 th -15 th centuries, where there were nearly ten thousands manuscripts related to Islamic astronomical phenomena and approximately more than a thousand tools linked to astronomical phenomena during the Islamic ages, which are kept in museums and libraries of Near, Middle and Far East, as well as in different counties around the world [36,[131][132][133][134][135][136]. It is worth mentioning that the most important features of Islamic astronomy and what related to astronomical phenomena are the models of astronomical tools [137][138][139][140] 182 associated with the manifestations of Islamic astronomy, which can be addressed through the astronomical phenomena that require survey and surveyor, geography and geographer, mathematics and mathematician, in addition to scientific observations of astronomical phenomena related to astronomy and astronomer, as well as astrology and astrologer [24, [147][148][149][150][151][152][153][154]. Furthermore, there are scientific studies conducted by Muslim astronomers throughout the Islamic ages and related to orientation schedules of the Qiblah [138,[155][156][157][158][159][160][161][162][163]. ...
... There are many Islamic architectural models that have been closely associated with astronomical phenomena, and here will address the most important architectural models as follows; of the winter.In North West Africa, the Qiblah will be towards the sunrise at the time of the equinoxes; in Egypt, the Qiblah will be towards the sunrise at the time of the middle of the winter; in Syria, the Qiblah will be towards the rise of the star known as Canopus; in Iraq, the Qiblah will be towards the sunset at the time of the middle of the winter; in India, the Qiblah will be towards the sunset at the time of the equinoxes; in Yemen, the Qiblah will be in the direction of the northern wind blowing, which will be towards the polar star that does not rise nor fall, however its location in the north [138,[266][267][268] (Figures 4-5). After 623 AD/Second year AH, the direction of these prayers was towards the Kaaba of Makkah instead of Jerusalem; this is right direction and sacred direction to pray, known as the Qiblah [152,[272][273][274][275][276][277][278][279]. The Qiblah was determined by Muslim astronomers through the direction of the major circle that link the locality to Makkah, which has been measured by the angle of the regional meridian that is known as a circle of constant longitude that pass through a given location on the earth's surface and the terrestrial poles [266,275,278] (Figure 8). ...
... The Kaaba was re-dedicated as an Islamic house of worship, and henceforth, the annual pilgrimage was to be a muslim rite, the Hajj [4] [5]. Its four faces apply to the four human faces and the purity of his soul. ...
p>The Holy Kaaba is the house of God; the home of greatness secrets, wisdom and divine beauty, which is reflected in all his creatures. This study aims to find the role of the shape of holy Kaaba in producing such kind of spaces and discovering the characteristics possessed by its form which has an impact in creating such incorporeal space. In this study, scientific articles and research were used to achieve the rules of research theory with taking into account considering the position of Islamic theoretical and practical wisdom. In the process of creating works of art, architecture and joint issues with urbanization, and by using the rational method to find out, in the end, the study shows the space of Holy Kaaba is a sign of divine glory from visualization and embodiment material. The nature veil in this space shines the divine light in human conscience. Human perception of space is related to his knowledge of himself and the world. Human in the use of space is approaches to percepts the true meaning of it. His intellectual device with a personal intelligent device that space is created will be compatible. The holy Kaaba spiritual space makes human feel poverty in front of the richness of the homeowner. Also, a sense of peace and sustainability due to a connection felt with God and seeking to reach the perfection that has been formed by the cube-shaped of holy Kaaba.</p
... Thereafter the main geodesic issues were timekeeping, the determination of the sacred direction (qibla), and the regulation of the lunar calendar. The position of the sun determined the five daily prayers (King 2005). ...
This thesis is an expansion on preliminary methodological systematics to a multi-disciplinary identification of cosmology in sub-Saharan Africa.
The work also draws causal relationships to an explanatory level through rigorous inferences of the observed past across cultural boundaries, specifically amongst the oral traditions, archaeology and ethnography of the Great Zimbabwe cultural complex.
It provides cosmogenic knowledge of sub-Saharan African indigenous astronomy and the geomythology of Great Zimbabwe as evidence suggesting supernova remnant RX J0852.0-4622 / G 266.2-1.2 as an historical event at the turn of the 14th century.
And, that there may be a repository of hidden knowledge amongst other southern hemisphere continental populations that were visibly and physically affected possibly by the nearest, most recent and brightest supernova.
Amongst the newly identified finds announced in the research are various early structures that relate to astronomy, tombs, burials, artefacts, sacred areas, a vast cave system with palaeontological potential, a lost city and a meteorite strewn field associated with impact craters from a recent phenomenal bolide airburst.
The vast socio-political belief system change caused by the impact is discussed, which may also form part of the centuries old origins geomythology, recorded and found amongst the enigmatic genetically-related trader descendants since the mediaeval trade network era of southern Africa.
Furthermore, the work concludes postulates of the 14th century climatic change as a result of the γ-ray flux from the supernova and a host of migrations and affectations throughout the world at the time of the so-called unrecorded event and how the Great Zimbabwe Great Enclosure functioned as a cosmic reference to a unique event.
A Japanese written record on the 13th September 1271 appears to verify and revere a strange orb of light that appeared before dawn which is depicted as a mandala circular ring surrounding a dot. The viewing altitude and azimuth of this orb coincides with the path taken by RX J0852.0-4622 at the exact times recorded in the texts.
Salah satu faktor yang dikenalpasti sebagai sebab runtuhnya akhlak dan mundurnya umat ini adalah kerana kerosakan dalam nilai sosial dan moral. Justeru untuk memperkasa semula umat hari ini, penguasaan ilmu, melalui penguasaan bidang teknologi maklumat dan komunikasi (ICT) harus menjadi agenda utama. Ledakan ICT juga telah membuka satu lagi wahana baru dalam arena dakwah. Bagaimanapun, dalam keghairan melayari bahtera kemajuan ICT, Islam sendiri meletakkan adab yang tersendiri. Era kecanggihan teknologi maklumat dan komunikasi (ICT) mendedahkan satu cabaran getir bagi umat Islam era digital ini. Hakikatnya semua pihak harus punya pendirian tegas dalam agenda menyusuri arus perdana kemajuan ICT dunia. Kata kunci: Peranan ICT, memperkasa ummah, ICT dan Islam 1.0 Pengenalan Lebih kurang 800 tahun dahulu, tradisi pemilikan ilmu dan teknologi terletak di tampuk umat Islam. Baghdad kota raya empayar Islam contohnya telah muncul sebagai peneraju aktiviti intelektual dan penguasa teknologi. Umat Islam pada kurun tersebut gah dicanang sebagai ummah yang disegani. Namun sayang sekali, ummah yang dahulunya pernah menyirami dunia, kenapa hari ini mereka sendiri kelayuan? Salah satu faktor yang telah dikenal pasti oleh Ibnu Khaldun sebagai asbab runtuhnya umat ini adalah kerana kerosakan nilai sosial dan moral [1]. Barat melihat Islam sebagai bersifat mundur dan menafikan pemodenan. Namun sebenarnya Islam memberikan satu impak yang besar kepada perkembangan ekonomi [2], politik [3] dan kepimpinan [4]. Apa yang pasti agama dan kemajuan ummah bersifat penggenap, saling berkaitan dan bukan sebaliknya [5][6]. Bagaimanapun kemajuan dalam bidang bidang teknologi maklumat dan komunikasi (ICT) juga tidak akan membawa apa-apa makna jika nilai masyarakat Islam semakin mundur [7]. Islam tidak pernah menentang kehadiran teknologi moden seperti e-dagang dalam memudahkan urusan muamalat harian Umat Islam [8]. Malah sebagai contoh, dalam urusan asas agama seperti Solat, sumbangan teknologi astronomi dan matematik telah memudahkan penentuan arah kiblat [9]. Justeru ledakan ICT hari ini harus digarap bagi membuka satu lagi wahana baru dalam arena dakwah. Berdakwah dengan keadah digital nyata lebih mudah. Kelebihan teknologi Internet menawarkan khidmat dakwah 24 jam sehari, 7 jam seminggu, dari dan ke mana jua di pelosok dunia. Dalam hal ini ICT harus diterima sebagai satu platform baru dalam gerakan dakwah. Walau bagaimanapun, tidak dinafikan ianya sebagai 100% sempurna. Sekurang-kurannya ICT harus dilihat sebagai salah satu elemen bagi mempercepatkan usaha dakwah era moden ini. Bagaimanapun, di dalam keghairan melayari bahtera kemajuan ICT, janganlah kita mudah melatah. Islam telah meletakkan adab dan etikanya yang tersendiri. Etika ini sebenarnya sudah wujud sejak lebih 14 abad yang lalu [10]. 2. Isu dan cabaran 2.1. ICT: Madu atau racun? Hari ini, pelbagai konteks maklumat dihidangkan melalui corong-corong media seperti akhbar dan Internet. Umat Islam perlu responsif kepada maklumat yang dibaca, didengar dan diterima. Input yang masuk ke minda manusia sama ada melalui pembacaan atau media lain akan memberi kesan kepada keimanan mereka. Imam mereka sama ada akan meningkat atau terjejas bergantung kepada nilai maklumat yang masuk. Maklumat yang diterima bukan ditelan bulat-bulat tetapi harus
Orientation toward Mecca has been compulsory for Muslims in all time periods and in all places. In fact, mosques were built in such a way as to help believers to pray toward the right direction. Nevertheless, the alignment of the sacred buildings was not always exact, and many did not actually face the Kaaba. There are many reasons for this “mistake”, the main one being that at the time of the construction of the most important mosques, the astronomical and geographical knowledge needed to make accurate calculations was lacking. In the Mediterranean area, the scholars who were most involved in this task were the fuqahā’ (experts in Islamic jurisprudence) who were sometimes well versed in astronomical knowledge or, at least, were skilled in the practice of popular astronomy. The combination of astronomy and religion, mixed with the political and topographical conditions, produces a unique area of study which remains controversial today.
Light is fundamental to religious experience, and its symbolism pervades the geography of sacred landscapes. As sun, fire, ray, color, or attribute of being and place, light serves as a bridge between interpretation of landscape and religious experience. To see the light cast upon places orients believers in otherwise undifferentiated space, grounding them in context of home. As sacred places are created, an inner light outweighs outer darkness, and a spiritual journey commences.
In Islam the sacred direction is towards Mecca, or more precisely, towards the sacred Kaaba in Mecca. Muslims face this direction in prayer and during various other ritual acts. Muslim astronomers from the 9th century onwards dealt with the determination of the qibla, as the sacred direction is called in Arabic. They treated it as a problem of mathematical geography and they produced highly sophisticated trigonometric and geometric solutions. They even compiled tables displaying the qibla as an angle to the local meridian for each degree of latitude and longitude difference from Mecca.But these were not the only means used for finding the qibla, a fact immediately apparent from the orientation of medieval mosques, which in general do not face Mecca as they are supposed to. This paper addresses the question: what means were used in practice? The answer is contained in texts on folk astronomy, in which celestial phenomena are discussed without recourse to theory or computation, and texts on the sacred law, in which the qibla is always discussed because of its fundamental importance in Islamic practice. In these sources, astronomical risings and settings were advocated for the qibla. The reason for using astronomical horizon phenomena to face the Kaaba was that the Kaaba itself is astronomically aligned, a fact known in the medieval period but only rediscovered a few years ago. These findings cast new light on the origin of the Kaaba, and the author suggests that it may have been built originally as an architectural representation of an early Arab cosmology.
