Prayer in a certain direction is characteristic of many world religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the Baháʼí Faith.
Judaism
![Mizrach Omer Calender (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Mizrach_Omer_Calender_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Jews traditionally
pray
Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified a ...
in the direction of
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, where the "presence of the transcendent God (''
shekinah
Shekhinah, also spelled Shechinah ( Hebrew: שְׁכִינָה ''Šəḵīnā'', Tiberian: ''Šăḵīnā'') is the English transliteration of a Hebrew word meaning "dwelling" or "settling" and denotes the presence of God, as it were, in a pla ...
'')
esidedin the
Holy of Holies of the Temple."
Within the Holy of Holies lay the
Ark of the Covenant that contained the
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...
tablets given to the prophet Moses by God; this is the reason that the
Temple of Solomon
Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple (, , ), was the Temple in Jerusalem between the 10th century BC and . According to the Hebrew Bible, it was commissioned by Solomon in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited by the ...
became the focal point for
Jewish prayer.
In the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
, it is written that when the prophet
Daniel was in Babylon, he "went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open to Jerusalem; and he got down upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously" (cf. ).
After the destruction of the Temple of Solomon, Jews continue to pray facing Jerusalem in hope for the coming of the
Messiah
In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; ,
; ,
; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...
whom they await.
The
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...
(''
Berakhot'' 30a) instructs Jews outside the
Land of Israel to face the Holy Land while praying; Jews residing in Israel should turn towards the city of Jerusalem; those living within Jerusalem should orient themselves towards the
Temple Mount
The Temple Mount ( hbo, הַר הַבַּיִת, translit=Har haBayīt, label=Hebrew, lit=Mount of the House f the Holy}), also known as al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf (Arabic: الحرم الشريف, lit. 'The Noble Sanctuary'), al-Aqsa Mosque compou ...
, and those next to the Temple Mount should turn towards the former site of the Holy of Holies.
The
Shulchan Aruch
The ''Shulchan Aruch'' ( he, שֻׁלְחָן עָרוּך , literally: "Set Table"), sometimes dubbed in English as the Code of Jewish Law, is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Judaism. It was authored in Safed (today in I ...
(Code of Jewish Law) thus specifies that in synagogues, the
Ark
Ark or ARK may refer to:
Biblical narratives and religion Hebrew word ''teva''
* Noah's Ark, a massive vessel said to have been built to save the world's animals from a flood
* Ark of bulrushes, the boat of the infant Moses
Hebrew ''aron''
* ...
should be placed such that "worshipers may pray in the direction of the Holy Land and the place of the Sanctuary in Jerusalem".
When synagogues are erected, they are built to face Jerusalem.
The
Mizrah
''Mizrah'' ( he, ''mīzrāḥ'') is the Hebrew word for "east" and the direction that Jews in the Diaspora west of Israel face during prayer. Practically speaking, Jews would face the city of Jerusalem when praying, and those north, east, or ...
(literally, "East") is a plaque or other decorative wall hanging which is placed on the eastern wall of many homes of Jews in the
Diaspora to the west of Israel, in order to mark the direction of Jerusalem towards which prayer is focused.
A Mizrah plaque is often an artistic, ornate piece, being written in calligraphy and featuring a panorama of Jerusalem. Mizrah wall hangings typically feature the Hebrew word ''Mizrah'' ( he, מזרח), and may include the verse from the
Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...
which states, "From the rising of the sun unto its going down, the Lord's name is to be praised" (cf. ).
Christianity
Since the time of the
early Church, the eastward direction of Christian prayer has carried a strong significance, attested by the writings of the
Church Fathers.
In the 2nd century, Syrian Christians hung a
Christian cross on the eastern wall of their house, symbolizing "their souls facing God, talking with him, and sharing their spirituality with the Lord."
Two centuries later,
Saint Basil the Great
Basil of Caesarea, also called Saint Basil the Great ( grc, Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, ''Hágios Basíleios ho Mégas''; cop, Ⲡⲓⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ Ⲃⲁⲥⲓⲗⲓⲟⲥ; 330 – January 1 or 2, 379), was a bishop of Cae ...
declared that one of the unwritten commandments of the Church was to pray facing east.
Nearly all
Christian apologetic tracts published in the 7th century AD in the Syriac and Arabic languages explicated that the reason that Christians prayed facing the east is because "the Garden of Eden was planted in the east () and that at the end of time, at the
second coming
The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on messian ...
, the Messiah would approach Jerusalem from the east."
Throughout
Christendom
Christendom historically refers to the Christian states, Christian-majority countries and the countries in which Christianity dominates, prevails,SeMerriam-Webster.com : dictionary, "Christendom"/ref> or is culturally or historically intertwine ...
, believers have hung or painted a
Christian cross, to which they
prostrated in front of, on the eastern wall of their home in order to indicate the eastward direction of prayer, as an "expression of their undying belief in the coming again of Jesus was united to their conviction that the cross, 'the sign of the Son of Man,' would appear in the eastern heavens on his return (see )."
Communicants in the
Oriental Orthodox Churches today (such as those of the
Coptic Orthodox Church and
Indian Orthodox Church
The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (MOSC) also known as the Indian Orthodox Church (IOC) or simply as the Malankara Church, is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church headquartered in Devalokam, near Kottayam, India. The church serves ...
), and those of the
Mar Thoma Syrian Church (an
Oriental Protestant denomination) pray the
canonical hours contained in the
Agpeya
The ''Agpeya'' ( Coptic: Ϯⲁⲅⲡⲓⲁ, ar, أجبية) is the Coptic Christian "Prayer Book of the Hours" or breviary, and is equivalent to the Shehimo in the Indian Orthodox Church (another Oriental Orthodox Christian denomination), as wel ...
and
Shehimo breviaries, respectively (a practice done at
seven fixed prayer times a day) facing the eastward direction.
Islam
![Mihrab, Umayyad Mosque](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Mihrab%2C_Umayyad_Mosque.jpg)
In Islam, the direction of prayer is known as the
qibla
The qibla ( ar, قِبْلَة, links=no, lit=direction, translit=qiblah) 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 ...
and this direction is towards the
Sacred Mosque (''al-Masjid al-Ḥarām'') of
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow ...
. Originally the qibla of Muhammad and his followers in
Medina
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...
was towards
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, but it was changed to Mecca after the Quranic verses (Al-Bakarah 2:144, 2:145) that Muslims believe was revealed in the second Hijri year (624 CE), about 15 or 16 months after Muhammad's
migration to Medina.
If a person does not know which direction they are facing, that individual should pray in the direction that he/she feels is towards Mecca. All mosques are supposed to be designed to be oriented towards the qibla.
A niche known as the
mihrab is built into the wall of a mosque that faces Mecca so that Muslims know in which direction to pray.
The determination of qibla has been an important problem for Muslim communities throughout history. Muslims are required to know the qibla to perform their daily prayers, and it is also needed to determine the orientation of mosques. Originally,
various traditional methods were used to determine the qibla, and from the eighth century onwards Muslim astronomers developed methods based on mathematical astronomy, especially computations techniques based on
spherical trigonometry
Spherical trigonometry is the branch of spherical geometry that deals with the metrical relationships between the sides and angles of spherical triangles, traditionally expressed using trigonometric functions. On the sphere, geodesics are grea ...
using a location's latitudes and longitudes. In the fourteenth century, the astronomer
Shams al-Din al-Khalili compiled a table containing the qibla for all latitudes and longitudes. Scientific instruments, such as the
astrolabe, helped Muslims orient themselves for prayer facing the city of Mecca.
According to the author
Dan Gibson
Dan Gibson (January 19, 1922 in Montreal – March 18, 2006) was a Canadian photographer, cinematographer and sound recordist.
During the late 1940s, Dan Gibson took photographs and made nature films, including ''Audubon Wildlife Theatre''. Gib ...
early Islamic Qiblas pointed towards the city of
Petra and not
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow ...
.
Baháʼí Faith
In the
Baháʼí Faith
The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people. Established by Baháʼu'lláh in the 19th century, it initially developed in Iran and parts of the ...
, the
Qiblih
__NOTOC__
In the Baháʼí Faith the Qiblih ( ar, , "direction") is the location to which Baháʼís face when saying their daily obligatory prayers. The Qiblih is fixed at the Shrine of Baháʼu'lláh, near Acre, in present-day Israel; app ...
is the direction of prayer towards which adherents focus.
It is a “fixed requirement for the recitation of obligatory prayer”.
See also
*
Fixed prayer times
*
Hygiene in Christianity
*
Islamic hygienical jurisprudence
Purity ( ar, طهارة, ''ṭahāra(h)'') is an essential aspect of Islam. It is the opposite of ''najāsa'', the state of being ritually impure. It is achieved by first removing physical impurities (for example, urine) from the body, and then ...
References
{{reflist, 2
Jewish practices
Christian prayer
Salah
Horizontal coordinate system