Makkah: Muslims around the world will have another chance to locate Qibla without compass today i.e. Saturday May 28, 2022 at 12:18 PM Makkah Time (03:48 PM IST) when the Sun will come exactly above the Holy Kaaba.
The celestial event occurs twice in a year and helps Muslims to locate and confirm the Qibla position without compass.
Ummid.com had last reported the event in 2016 when it was witnessed first on July 16 and then again on May 27. Last year i.e. in 2021, the event was reported on May 25.
Qibla is the direction towards the Kaaba in the Holy City of Makkah, and used by Muslims in various religious contexts. More importantly, Muslims offer Salah, prayers, facing towards the Qibla.
“The Sun will be directly above the Ka'bah tomorrow (28th May) at 12:18 PM (Makkah time). During the minute anyone who sees in the direction of the Sun will be perfectly aligned with the Qibla (sic)”, officials of the Harmain Sharifain, The Two Holy Mosque, confirmed in a message posted on Twitter.
During this time shadows will disappear for a while.
“This celestial phenomenon will enable people all over the world who can see the Sun at that moment to determine the direction of the Qibla through the simplest and easiest way”, Mulhim Bin Muhammad Al-Hindi, a researcher at the department of space science and astronomy at King Abdulaziz University, said.
"Anyone facing the sun at that moment will be facing the Kaaba with 100 percent accuracy,” he added.
According to astronomers, the celestial phenomenon called “zero shadow” occurs twice every year at the Grand Mosque in Makkah because of its location between the Equator and the Tropic of Cancer.
Due to the tilt of the Earth’s axis, the Sun travels at 23.5 degrees north and south of the celestial equator. The Sun falls directly overhead on places lying over the equator during equinox.
Al Hindi further said that those living near the Kaaba will find it more difficult than the rest of the world to locate the direction the Sun is traveling and will have to rely on an ancient method to locate the Qiblah.
“They can determine the Qibla by looking at shadows of objects. If a pen is held vertically, the Qibla direction will be the exact opposite to the pen’s shadow,” he said.
"Relying on shadows to determine the direction of the Qibla dates back to the 12th century", he added.
For all the latest News, Opinions and Views, download ummid.com App.
Select Language To Read in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic.
