If we don’t Cry out the Mosques will - Qibla Controversy Ep.8

To support the myriad of theories King uses concerning why the earlier Arabs didn’t point their mosques towards Mecca, he introduces 6 mosques, believing that these 6 will prove his theories correct. Let’s assess whether they do explain why the Qiblas are all incorrect early on.

Mosque #1: The Jami’al – Umawi al-Kabir mosque in Damascus, built in 709 AD. King explains that while it faces Petra, it does so because it was built on a Byzantine Basilica, which replaced a Roman temple at that spot. The Syrians who built it, King continues, happily constructed the Mosque facing the ‘Syrian Corner’ of the Kaaba.

Gibson knew that the Byzantines did not follow the designs of the Roman temple below it. They only used the rocks and debris from the Roman temple to build their Basilica. The Muslims likewise built their mosque at the same place as the Basilica, but they completely tore it down and built over top of it, using its debris.

Furthermore, this mosque does not face Petra, but the ‘between’ position, like 20 others of that time.

Mosque #2: The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, along with the Dome of the Chain were built in 691 AD and faced closest to Petra. Its Qibla is off by 12% from Mecca, while it is only 3.4% from Petra, and 3.7% from the ‘between position’, but this was built before the ‘between’ mosques were even created.

King suggests that the Qibla is facing south, so that could possibly be Mecca.

Gibson confronts this response saying that the whole citadel is facing directly towards Petra.

Mosque #3: The Guangzhou (Canton) Mosque in China is facing directly towards Petra. It is oriented at 292%, while Petra is at 295%, and Mecca is at 285%. These are modern degrees and show that it is closer to Petra than Mecca.

King believes it was directed towards the summer solstice (295%), and it couldn’t have been built in 627 AD, which is before Muhammad had died.

Gibson refers to an Islamic tradition which says it was built by an uncle of Muhammad in 630 AD, and then rebuilt in 1350 and again in 1695 AD. To answer the question of such an early date he shows that there was much contact between the Arabs and Chinese from between 100 BC to 600 AD, so there is no reason to doubt contact could have existed during Muhammad’s lifetime.

John Hill, in his book ‘Through the Jade Gate to Rome’ writes about a Chinese explorer who visited the Middle East between 25-50 AD. King obviously did not know about this much more recent research.

Mosque #4: The Sana’a Mosque in Yemen. King suggests that the major axis of the mosque is ‘parallel’ to that of the Ka’aba in Mecca. They wanted the Qibla to face the southeastern wall of the Ka’aba, not Petra, which they knew nothing about.

Gibson responds by saying that everyone had contact with Petra, and it was a well-known city with a history going right back to the 2nd c. BC.

He asks where King can find any early literature (i.e. before the Medieval theorists) which speak of using any walls of the Ka’aba for directing early Qiblas? If they knew the direction of the Meccan Ka’aba wall, and were able to parallel their mosques to that direction accurately, then why couldn’t they have also directed their Qibla with equal accuracy to the direction of Mecca itself? The fact is they didn’t direct their Qiblas to Mecca until after 727 AD.

Mosque #5: The Cordoba Mosque in Spain. It’s facing straight south, and not towards Mecca.

King, using Michael Bonine for his authority, believes that these mosques in N. Africa followed Roman city plans, which follow the cardinal directions.

Gibson confronts this conclusion by pointing out that if these followed Roman roads, then why do over 8 other N. African mosques follow the same southern direction, but none of them have these equivalent Roman roads? This theory of King’s only works with Cordoba.

Mosque #6: The Wasit Mosque, built between Petra & Mecca (706 AD), and then redirected between 1009 – 1155 AD to Mecca.

King says it faces the winter sunset, which is parallel with the Meccan Ka’aba’s NE wall, chosen by early Iraqis, and then redirected later using mathematical equations. He says this was mostly acceptable in those days, but doesn’t quote anyone, he just says it.

Gibson responds by asking how they could build a Qibla which was “more or less parallel to the N.E. wall of the ka’aba, but they couldn’t find a Qibla which actually was directed right at the Ka’aba?”

It was called the ‘between’ mosque by Al Hajjaj for a reason; Wasit means ‘between’, and this was his first one using that alignment, all for political reasons.
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Видео If we don’t Cry out the Mosques will - Qibla Controversy Ep.8 канала CIRA International