A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with magnetic north. Other methods may be used, including gyroscopes, magnetometers, and GPS receivers.
An astrolabe is an astronomical instrument dating to ancient times. It serves as a star chart and physical model of visible heavenly bodies. Its various functions also make it an elaborate inclinometer and an analog calculation device capable of working out several kinds of problems in astronomy. In its simplest form it is a metal disc with a pattern of wires, cutouts, and perforations that allows a user to calculate astronomical positions precisely. It is able to measure the altitude above the horizon of a celestial body, day or night; it can be used to identify stars or planets, to determine local latitude given local time, to survey, or to triangulate. It was used in classical antiquity, the Islamic Golden Age, the European Middle Ages and the Age of Discovery for all these purposes.
The qibla is the direction towards the Kaaba in the Sacred Mosque in Mecca, which is used by Muslims in various religious contexts, particularly the direction of prayer for the salah. In Islam, the Kaaba is believed to be a sacred site built by prophets Abraham and Ishmael, and that its use as the qibla was ordained by God in several verses of the Quran revealed to Muhammad in the second Hijri year. Prior to this revelation, Muhammad and his followers in Medina faced Jerusalem for prayers. Most mosques contain a mihrab that indicates the direction of the qibla.
Mihrab is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the qibla, the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a mihrab appears is thus the "qibla wall".
The Prophet's Mosque is the second mosque built by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in Medina, after that of Quba, as well as the second largest mosque and holiest site in Islam, after the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, in the Saudi region of the Hejaz. The mosque is located at the heart of Medina, and is a major site of pilgrimage that falls under the purview of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.
The Quba Mosque is a mosque located in Medina, in the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia, built in the lifetime of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the 7th century C.E. It is thought to be the first mosque in the world, built on the first day of Muhammad's emigration to Medina. Its first stone is said to have been laid by the prophet, and the structure completed by his companions. The mosque was subsequently modified across the centuries until the 1980s, when it was completely replaced by a new building that stands today.
ʿAbu al-Ḥasan Alāʾ al‐Dīn bin Alī bin Ibrāhīm bin Muhammad bin al-Matam al-Ansari known as Ibn al-Shatir or Ibn ash-Shatir was an Arab astronomer, mathematician and engineer. He worked as muwaqqit in the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus and constructed a sundial for its minaret in 1371/72.
Shams al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Khalīlī was a Mamluk-era Syrian astronomer who compiled astronomical tables. He worked for most of his life as a muwaqqit at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus.
The Masjid al-Qiblatayn, also spelt Masjid al-Qiblatain, is a mosque in Medina believed by Muslims to be the place where the final Islamic prophet, Muhammad, received the command to change the Qibla from Jerusalem to Mecca. The mosque was built by Sawad ibn Ghanam ibn Ka'ab during the year 2 AH and is one of the few mosques in the world to have contained two mihrabs in different directions.
The Amr ibn al-As Mosque is a mosque in Cairo, Egypt. Named after the Arab Muslim commander Amr ibn al-As, the mosque was originally built in 641–642 CE as the center of the newly founded capital of Egypt, Fustat. The original structure was the first mosque ever built in Egypt and one of the first in Africa. For 600 years, the mosque was also an important center of Islamic learning until al-Muizz's Al-Azhar Mosque in Islamic Cairo replaced it. Through the twentieth century, it was the fourth largest mosque in the Islamic world.
Medieval Islamic geography and cartography refer to the study of geography and cartography in the Muslim world during the Islamic Golden Age. Muslim scholars made advances to the map-making traditions of earlier cultures, explorers and merchants learned in their travels across the Old World (Afro-Eurasia). Islamic geography had three major fields: exploration and navigation, physical geography, and cartography and mathematical geography. Islamic geography reached its apex with Muhammad al-Idrisi in the 12th century.
Mecca Time was a proposed time standard that uses the line of longitude that goes through Mecca, Saudi Arabia as its Prime Meridian. A clock based on this meridian would be at approximately UTC+02:39:18.3.
Katib al-Wilaya Mosque or Welayat Mosque was a small historic mosque located along Omar Mukhtar Street in Gaza City in the Zaytun Quarter of the Old City. The mosque was built by the Burji Mamluks in 1432, however, the structure could date further back to 1344. Additions to the western part of the mosque were commissioned in 1584 by Ahmed Bey, the Ottoman clerk of the Damascus Vilayet. Damascus Vilayet's Arabic transliteration was Wilayat Dimashq, hence the name of the mosque Katib al-Wilaya.
Both Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims agree on the three Holiest sites in Islam being, respectively, the Masjid al-Haram, in Mecca; the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi, in Medina; and Al-Masjid al-Aqsa, in Jerusalem.
Salat al-jama‘ah or prayer in congregation (jama'ah) is considered to have more social and spiritual benefit than praying by oneself. When praying in congregation, the people stand in straight parallel rows behind the chosen imam, facing qibla. The imam, who leads the congregation in salat, is usually chosen to be a scholar or the one who has the best knowledge of the Qur'an, preferably someone who has memorised it in its entirety. In the first row behind the Imam, if available, would be another hafiz to correct the Imam in case a mistake is made during the performance of the salat. The prayer is performed as normal, with the congregation following the actions and movements of the imam as he performs the salat.
The compass is a magnetometer used for navigation and orientation that shows direction in regards to the geographic cardinal points. The structure of a compass consists of the compass rose, which displays the four main directions on it: East (E), South (S), West (W) and North (N). The angle increases in the clockwise position. North corresponds to 0°, so east is 90°, south is 180° and west is 270°.
Al-Malik Al-Ashraf Umar Ibn Yūsuf Ibn Umar Ibn Alī Ibn Rasul, known as Umar Ibn Yusuf was the third Rasulid sultan, who ruled as Al-Ashraf Umar II. He was also a mathematician, astronomer and physician.
Twice every year, the Sun culminates at the zenith of the Kaaba in Mecca, the holiest site in Islam, at local solar noon, allowing the qibla to be ascertained in other parts of the world by observing the shadows cast by vertical objects. This phenomenon occurs at 12:18 Saudi Arabia Standard Time on 27 or 28 May, and at 12:27 SAST on 15 or 16 July. At these times, the Sun appears in the direction of Mecca, and shadows cast by vertical objects determine the qibla. At two other moments in the year, the Sun passes through the nadir of the Kaaba, casting shadows that point in the opposite direction, and thus also determine the qibla. These occur on 12, 13, or 14 January at 00:30 SAST, and 28 or 29 November at 00:09 SAST.
Prayer in a certain direction is characteristic of many world religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the Bahá'í Faith.
Baylak Al-Qibjāqī or Bailak ibn Muhammad al-Qabajaqi was an Egyptian scholar known from the Arabic work Kitab Kanz al-tujjar fi ma'rifat al-ahjar which translates as "Treasure of the Merchants on the Knowledge of Minerals". The book was dedicated to al-Malik al-Muzaffar II and suggests that the author served in the court of the ruler of Hamah. The book is one of the earliest Arabic treatises that mention the use of floating magnetic compasses for navigation. He described the use of a needle floating on water which was used aboard a ship between Tripoli and Alexandria. The book was translated into French by Julius Klaproth and later by Clement Mullet in 1868.
