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Arabia
Islam: Saudi mosques 'not facing Mecca'
2007-07-30
Riyadh, 27 July (AKI) - Many Saudi imams have discovered that the direction of Mecca indicated to the faithful in their mosques is off-course.

Thanks to the images provided by Google Earth, some Saudi scientists have been able to monitor the main mosques in the kingdom, discovering that many of them have the qibla (the niche in the wall indicating the direction of Mecca) placed incorrectly.

According to Saudi researcher Abelaziz al-Ghamidi, quoted by the daily 'al-Watan', in the area of al-Baha alone 15 mosques have been identified where the qibla does not correspond correctly to the direction of Mecca, the most holy site in Islam.
Posted by:mrp

#16  Maybe mosques should be constructed on gimbaled supports so that they could be constantly adjusted to deal with plate tectonics and all that stuff.

Maybe it should be a requirement as construction of mosques like that should bankrupt even the richest oil tycoons. What does Allah care about economics anyway?

Posted by: 3dc   2007-07-30 22:59  

#15  yep...guess what? Next year, after realigning all the mosques? a slight correction requires you realign them a bit more...damn
Posted by: Frank G   2007-07-30 22:18  

#14  I think in Arabic it's probably "Who gives a gets the goat's ass?" ;-p

Fixed it for ya.
Posted by: AzCat   2007-07-30 20:33  

#13  Wait till they figure out that the Earth is a shpere, so from here, Mecca is in da floor. If more than about 20 miles from Mecca, ya gotta pray into the ground or your prayers will spin out into the universe. And someone else will eat your raisins.
Posted by: wxjames   2007-07-30 20:10  

#12  #10 - I think in Arabic it's probably "Who gives a goat's ass?" ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2007-07-30 18:31  

#11  So much for those great Islamic astronomers.
Posted by: Darrell   2007-07-30 18:12  

#10  What's arabic for "Who gives a rat's ass?"
Posted by: USN, Ret.   2007-07-30 14:59  

#9  What's Arabic for "Inconceivable" ?
Posted by: eLarson   2007-07-30 14:30  

#8  I guess that they had better tear every last one of them down.
Posted by: Zenster   2007-07-30 12:32  

#7  So the worshippers at those mosques are in a state of "Jahiliyah" and a jihad must be in order. Red on red?
Posted by: James   2007-07-30 11:34  

#6  I hope they realize Google earth is a tool of the Zionist Conspiracy. The Jews are trying to get them to point their collect ass in the wrong direction.
Posted by: BrerRabbit   2007-07-30 11:11  

#5  After posting #3,I got to thinking about the proliferation of cell phones with built-in gibla* indicators in the MME. That must rankle some traditionalists. There are probably more mis-aligned mosques in the region than Abelaziz discovered.
*The qibla is the direction from a location on Earth towards the Kaaba.
Posted by: GK   2007-07-30 10:56  

#4  Looks like it might be time to head down to Mosque Depot to pick up some stuff for an improvement project.
Unless, of course, you all want to go to HELL!!!
Posted by: tu3031   2007-07-30 10:35  

#3  That's because the local imam determines the direction based on tradition and not scientific evidence. I've told the story before of the British contractor constructing a mosque on Embassy Row in Riyadh in the early 70's. They made polaris shots, consulted the best maps, and surveyed the new building to align perfectly with the Kaaba in Mecca. After construction was well under way, the local imam visited and directed them to realign the mosque based on his understanding ignorance. Tradition trumps science in the Magic Kingdom. Good luck to Abelaziz in getting things changed. There's probably a fatwa already on this heretic.
Posted by: GK   2007-07-30 10:20  

#2  No..no...
See, this is why they have been losing in Iraq and Afghanistan. It all makes sense now! Align your prayers to Mecca and all will be right in the world! They will win and get global domination and a free pony!
/sarc
Posted by: DarthVader   2007-07-30 10:13  

#1  The logical conclusion: Allah don't care which direction you face.

But go try and tell them that.
Posted by: mojo   2007-07-30 10:11  

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