On the various Islamic traditions concerning the Kacba see WensinckA. J., article “Kacba” in The encyclopaedia of Islam (1st and 2nd eds, the latter with deletions and additions by JomierJ.).
2.
This material is discussed in KingD. A., The world about the Kacba: A study of the sacred direction in medieval Islam (in preparation; to be published by Islamic Art Publications, S.p.A). See especially Section 3.
3.
Previous writings on the orientation of the Kacba include ChelhodJ., “A contribution to the problem of the pre-eminence of the right, based upon Arabic evidence”, in NeedhamR. (ed.), Right and left (Chicago and London, 1973), 239–62, especially pp. 248–53; FinsterB., “Zu der Neuauflage von K. A. C. Creswells Early Muslim architecture”, Kunst des Orients, ix (1972), 89–98, especially p. 94; and LülingG., Der christliche Kult an der vorislamischen Kaaba … (Erlangen, 1977), especially pp. 43–52. None of these authors was aware of the actual alignment of the Kacba or of any medieval accounts of its astronomical alignment.
4.
See further WensinckA. J., article “Kibla (ritual and legal aspects)” in The encyclopaedia of Islam (1st and 2nd eds).
5.
See already KingD. A., “Astronomical alignments in medieval Islamic religious architecture”, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1982. A more detailed discussion is in the work cited in ref. 2.
6.
See KingD. A., article “Kibla (astronomical aspects)” in The encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.), for details of the impressive achievements of the Muslim astronomers in solving the qibla problem.
7.
For more information on the author and his works see KingD. A., Mathematical astronomy in the medieval Yemen (Publications of the American Research Center in Egypt; Malibu, California, 1982).
8.
For a bio-bibliographical survey of Arabic literature dealing with folk astronomy and meteorology, see SezginF., Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums, vii: Astrologie, Meteorologie und Verwandtes (Leiden, 1980), 203 ff.
9.
Cf.RenaudH. P. J., “Astronomie et Astrologie Marocaines”, Hespéris, xxix (1942), 41–63, especially p. 58.
10.
Cf.KingD. A., “Some medieval values for the qibla at Cordova”, Journal for the history of Arabic science, ii (1978), 370–87, where the remark that the Grand Mosque in Cordova faces due south (based on Creswell) is to be suppressed.
11.
On this see the article “Zamān (time)” by HartnerW. in The encyclopaedia of Islam (1st ed.), and the bibliography there cited, as well as the article “Nasī' (intercalation)” by MobergA. in the same work. Further information is provided in various articles such as those in Islamic culture, xvii (1943), 327–30; xxi (1947), 135–53; and xxii (1948), 174–80.
12.
Cf.HamidullahM., “Intercalation in the Qur'ān and the Hadīth”, Islamic culture, xvii (1943), 327–30, especially p. 328, note 1.
13.
See NegevA., “The Nabateans and the Provincia Arabia”, in TemporiniH. and HaaseW. (eds), Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, viii (Berlin and New York, 1977), 520–686, for references to Nabatean temples; DostalW., “Zur Megalithfrage in Südarabien”, in GrafE. (ed.), Festschrift Werner Caskel (Leiden, 1968), 54–61, for a survey of stone formations in Southern Arabia; and on the stone circles of Central Arabia see MasriA. H., “The historical legacy of Saudi Arabia”, Atlal, i (1977), 9–19, especially p. 13, and various archaeological survey reports in the same journal, especially i (1977), 34–36 and ii (1978), 37–40.
14.
HawkinsG. S., Beyond Stonehenge (New York, 1973), 291–94. See also idem, Archaeoastronomy in the Americas, special report, Center for Archaeoastronomy, University of Maryland (1979), 17.
15.
See HawkinsG. S., “Stonehenge decoded”, Nature, cc (1963), 306–8.
16.
HawkinsG. S., “The sky when Islam began”, Archaeoastronomy bulletin, iii (1978), 6–7, especially p. 7a.
17.
Cf.HawkinsG. S., “Astroarchaeology: The unwritten evidence”, in AveniA. F. (ed.), Archaeoastronomy (Austin, Texas, 1975), 131–62. The alignment with Canopus is discussed in Hawkins, Mind steps and the cosmos (New York, in press).
