The Arabs were good at finding direction with the help of the stars. Prophet Muhammad made use of this special skill of the Arabs to determine the direction Muslims should face when praying. Initially the prophet told the followers to stand in line facing the kaabah in the mosque at Mecca and the "Further mosque" in Juruselem when praying i.e facing both mosques. The prophet continued praying in the same direction even after he migrated to Madinah. As a result the kaabah was at his back. In other word he was not facing the kaabah at all instead he was facing the Juruselem mosque only. One day when the prophet was praying in Madinah, Allah ordered him to do a U-Turn to face the kaabah in Mecca. Some Muslims believe that Juruselem was the fisrt kiblat of the Muslims and later changed to Mecca. I think this was not the case. Mecca has been the kiblat of the Muslims since the begining. The order to turn towards Mecca was not about changing the kiblat but it was about returning to the original kiblat. The kaabah built by Abraham in Mecca is much older than the Juruselem mosque built by Solomon
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
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