Philip Newton ([info]pne) wrote,
@ 2008-10-04 22:35:00
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Qibla

Out of interest, I decided to figure out Qibla direction from our new house; the Wikipedia entry helpfully links to several online services to help you. (Interestingly enough, several of them showed me in Hamburg right off the bat; IP geolocation, perhaps? Certainly helpful as a starting point.)

I was a bit disappointed to get various directions, even though I used pretty accurate coordinates (53.43434 N 9.985 E).

A couple of places said 132.93° or 132°56' (same thing), but another said 134.71°/134°42" [sic-with second sign " not minute sign ']; they also disagreed as to the distance (4'369'168 m vs. 4'362'403 m).

I think I'd go with what the majority told me (132.93°, 4369 km).

FWIW, Bahá'í Qiblih is 129° and 3023 km, according to one site I found.

And FWIW, "LDS Qiblah" would be -38.79°/-38°48" and 8'180'591 m to the Salt Lake Temple or -50.48°/-50°29" and 7'465'686 m to Independence Temple Lot (according to the one site that let me enter an arbitrary destination... but which was also the odd-one-out on the angle to Mecca so I'm less inclined to trust it).


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[info]pthalogreen
2008-10-04 11:35 pm UTC (link)
From Arizona, I just stand facing due East. From Hungary, I go for south-east. Generally, I figure it out once for the house i live in / places I frequent, and don't worry too much.

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[info]pne
2008-10-05 08:05 am UTC (link)
From Arizona, I just stand facing due East.

Interesting -- this map implies to me that somewhere between North and North-East would be more appropriate for Arizona.

(http://www.bcca.org/misc/qiblih/explain.html explains why that site uses the great-circle method to determine the direction to turn to face the Qiblih.)

Though the Wikipedia article on Qibla (the Islamic term) says that there's a split among North American Muslims whether to use a rhumb line (constant compass bearing) or a great circle (shortest distance) in order to determine the direction they face to pray, probably because facing North-East or even due North (e.g. in Alaska) in order to face Mecca seems counter-intuitive to many.

I suppose among Bahá'ís there are also those who use rhumb lines, then, and the great-circle route that http://www.bcca.org/misc/qiblih/worldmap.html (and http://www.bcca.org/misc/qiblih/main.html) uses isn't universal?

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[info]pthalogreen
2008-10-05 03:36 pm UTC (link)
Huh, that's interesting.

the way i did it was with google maps, had it draw a line between where i live and the shrine. the line looked kinda curved on the big map, and then it had me facing one direction or another. Also, Phoenix and Haifa are on pretty much the same latitude, just a degree or two off. so it makes sense to face due east...

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[info]pne
2008-10-05 04:41 pm UTC (link)
Spherical geometry is a bit hard to "get", I think, when we're mostly used to 2-D maps.

Both ways make sense, IMO, depending on how you approach the subject.

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