Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Hi I tried to reply via the web site, but it was not responding.  I was wondering if it was possilble to answer my qusetion: (Bearing in mind the earth is a geometric shape of a sphere), We pray towards Kabah-tullah ie towards the middle east. do we take the shortest distance to kabah-tullah or the longest?

for example I prey in my normal direction but if I did a 180 degree turn and faced directly in the opposite dircetion, theoretically I would still be facing kabah-tullah.

Thanking you for your time and attention

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Praying towards Kaaba

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 144:We have seen you, (O Mohamed), turning your face over and over again towards the heaven! Now, therefore, We turn you towards the Qiblah that you like best. So turn your face towards the Masjid-e-Haraam! Henceforth, wheresoever you may be, turn your face at prayer towards it.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 142-143:Of course the foolish people will say, “What has turned them abruptly away from the ‘qiblah’ towards which they formerly used to turn their faces in prayer? Tell them, “East and West all belong to Allah; He shows the Right Way to anyone He wills.” Thus have We made you a community of the ‘Golden Mean’ so that you may be a witness in regard to mankind and the Messenger may be a witness in regard to you. We had appointed the former ‘qiblah’ towards which you used to turn your face merely to test who would follow the Messenger and who would turn back. It was indeed a hard test, but not for those who had been blessed with Guidance from Allah. Allah will not let go to waste this faith of yours. Rest assured that He is full of pity and mercy to mankind.

Your Question: do we take the shortest distance to kabah-tullah or the longest?

One should take and face the shortest distance towards the Sacred Mosque when one stands up for prayer.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan