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WikiIslam:Sandbox/Fernando/Mecca: Difference between revisions
WikiIslam:Sandbox/Fernando/Mecca (view source)
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Which suggests hypothesis 4 - The oldest mosques were orientated so the prayer direction was the same as that at Mecca or Petra. This is consistent with Gibson’s data on ‘parallel’ mosques. Towards the end of the seventh century the prayer direction of mosques he describes as ‘Western Umayyad’ became parallel to a line between Petra and Mecca. This does not however solve the problem about the earliest mosques, or tell us whether the target was Mecca or Petra. | Which suggests hypothesis 4 - The oldest mosques were orientated so the prayer direction was the same as that at Mecca or Petra. This is consistent with Gibson’s data on ‘parallel’ mosques. Towards the end of the seventh century the prayer direction of mosques he describes as ‘Western Umayyad’ became parallel to a line between Petra and Mecca. This does not however solve the problem about the earliest mosques, or tell us whether the target was Mecca or Petra. | ||
An orientation the same as the Kaaba might seem better than nothing. But in fact it only raises further questions. Most fundamentally: what geometry did the builders think applicable to their problem? The author of the Quran believed in a flat Earth, ‘spread out like a carpet’ {{quran|71|19}} etc.,[[Islamic Views on the Shape of the Earth]]). To which Euclidean geometry applies. We now know that the Earth is round, as did the ancient Greeks, so that the calculation of angles and distances requires spherical geometry. Flat maps can be useful for small areas, but become increasingly distorted as the area covered grows larger. This is relevant to the problem of what ‘the same’ means when applied to the orientation of buildings. | An orientation the same as the Kaaba might seem better than nothing. But in fact it only raises further questions. Most fundamentally: what geometry did the builders think applicable to their problem? The author of the Quran believed in a flat Earth, ‘spread out like a carpet’ ({{quran|71|19}} etc.,[[Islamic Views on the Shape of the Earth]]). To which Euclidean geometry applies. We now know that the Earth is round, as did the ancient Greeks, so that the calculation of angles and distances requires spherical geometry. Flat maps can be useful for small areas, but become increasingly distorted as the area covered grows larger. This is relevant to the problem of what ‘the same’ means when applied to the orientation of buildings. | ||
In the case of rectangular buildings like the Kaaba, it could mean that the longest axes are parallel. Which in turn could mean: at the same angle to a great circle drawn, say, through the midpoint. Or alternatively: at the same angle to an orthogonal frame of reference based on the fixed stars. These two standards will only give the same result at the equator. | In the case of rectangular buildings like the Kaaba, it could mean that the longest axes are parallel. Which in turn could mean: at the same angle to a great circle drawn, say, through the midpoint. Or alternatively: at the same angle to an orthogonal frame of reference based on the fixed stars. These two standards will only give the same result at the equator. | ||