The Orientation of Medieval Islamic Religious Architecture and Cities

Note: Most of the vast literature on medieval Islamic architecture or city-planning has been omitted.

Ali , al-Bīrūnī's Taīdīd: Jamil AM, The determination of the coordinates of cities … by al-Bīrūnī (Beirut, 1967). [See also Kennedy , al-Bīrūnī's Taīdīd. ].

Barmore , ‘Turkish orientations’: Barmore Frank E. , ‘Turkish mosque orientation and the secular variation of the magnetic declination’, Journal of Near Eastern studies , xliv (1985), 81–98.

Barthold , ‘Orientierung’: Barthold Wilhelm , ‘Die Orientierung der ersten muhammedanischen Moscheen’, Der Islam , xviii (1929), 245–50.

Bonine , ‘Iran’: Bonine Michael E. , ‘The morphogenesis of Iranian cities’, Annals of the Association of American Geographers , lxix (1979), 208–24.

Bonine , ‘Maghrib’: Bonine Michael E. , ‘The sacred direction and city structure: A preliminary analysis of the Islamic cities of Morocco’, Muqarnas: An annual on Islamic art and architecture , vii (1990), 50–72.

Burgoyne , Mamluk Jerusalem : Burgoyne Michael H. , Architecture in Mamluk Jerusalem (London, 1987).

Cairo survey : King David A. , A survey of the scientific manuscripts in the Egyptian National Library (Publications of the American Research Center in Egypt, Catalogs, no. 5; Winona Lake, Ind., 1986).

Chelhod , ‘Pre-eminence of right’: Chelhod Joseph , ‘A contribution to the problem of the pre-eminence of the right, based upon Arabic evidence’, in Needham R. (ed.), Right & left (Chicago and London 1973), 239–62.

Crone , Meccan trade : Crone Patricia , Meccan trade and the rise of Islam (Princeton, N.J., 1987). [To be used with caution.].

Crone Cook , Hagarism : Crone Patricia Cook Michael , Hagarism: The making of the Islamic world (Cambridge, 1977). [To be used with caution.].

EI¹: Encyclopaedia of Islam 1st edn (4 vols, Leiden, 1913–34; reprinted in 9 vols, 1987, and again in paperback, 1993).

EI²: Encyclopaedia of Islam , new edn (7 vols to date, Leiden: 1960–), especially articles ‘Anwā’(aspects of folk astronomy), ‘Bādgīr’ (ventilator (in the Supplement)), ‘ ḳibla’ (religious and astronomical aspects of the sacred direction), ‘Layl wa-nahār’ (aspects of folk astronomy), ‘Makka, iv: As centre of the world’ (sacred geography), ‘Maṭbla’ (astronomical risings and settings), ‘Rīḥ’ (winds in the folk-astronomical tradition), ‘Samt’ (direction) and ‘ṭāsa’ (compass).

Hawkins King , ‘Orientation of the Kaaba’: See King , Studies , C-XII.

History of cartography , ii/1: Harley J. B. Woodward David (eds), The history of cartography , ii/1: Cartography in the traditional Islamic and South Asian societies (Chicago and London, 1992).

Janin King : See King , Studies , B-XII.

Kennedy , Studies : Kennedy Edward S. , colleagues and former students, Studies in the Islamic exact sciences (Beirut, 1983).

Kennedy , al-Bīrūnī's Taḥdīd : Kennedy E. S. , A commentary upon Bīrūnī's Kitāb Taḥdīd [nihāyāt] al-amākin (Beirut, 1973). See also Ali , al-Bīrūnī's Taḥdīd. .

Kennedy Kennedy , Geographical coordinates : Kennedy E. S. Kennedy M. H. , Geographical coordinates of localities from Islamic sources (Frankfurt am Main, 1987).

Kessler , ‘Mecca-oriented architecture’: Kessler Christel , ‘Mecca-oriented architecture and urban growth of Cairo’, Atti del Terzo Congresso di Studi Arabi e Islamici (Ravello, 1966) (Naples, 1967), 425; ‘Funerary architecture within the city’, Collogue International sur l'Histoire du Caire (Cairo, 1969), 257–67; and ‘Mecca-oriented architecture within the city: Reflections on a singular building practice of medieval Cairo’, published in a memorial volume for Prof. Nuwayhi M. [this last not available for consultation].

King , ‘Astronomy in the Maghrib’: King David A. , ‘An overview of the sources for the history of astronomy in the medieval Maghrib’, Actes du 2^e Colloque Maghrébin de l'Histoire des Mathématiques Arabes, Tunis, 1–3 Dec. 1988 (Tunis, n.d. [c. 1990]), 125–57. (A revised and expanded version is to appear in a memorial volume for Prof. al-'Alawī al-Dīn Jamal , to be published in Fez).

King , Astronomy in the Yemen: —, Mathematical astronomy in medieval Yemen: A bio-bibliographical survey (Publications of the American Research Center in Egypt, Catalogs, no. 4) (Malibu, Calif., 1983).

King , ‘Cairo ventilators’: King David A. , ‘Architecture and astronomy: The ventilators of medieval Cairo and their secrets’, Journal of the American Oriental Society , civ/1 (1984), 97–133.

King , ‘Ethnoastronomy’: King David A. , ‘Ethnoastronomy in the service of Islam’, in Ruggles Clive L. N. Saunders Nicholas J. (eds), Astronomies and cultures (Niwot, Col., 1993), 124–38.

King , ‘Qibla in Transoxania’: King David A. , ‘Al-Bazdawī on the qibla in early Islamic Transoxania’, Journal for the history of Arabic science (Aleppo), vii (1983/86), 3–38.

King , ‘Sacred geography’: King David A. , ‘The sacred geography of Islam’, to be published by Islamic Art Publications, S.p.A. [A summary is available in EI² article ‘Makka, iv’.].

King , Studies, A: King David A. , Islamic mathematical astronomy (London, 1986; 2nd rev. edn, Aldershot (U.K.), 1993). Contains reprint of:

XIII ‘al-Khalīlī's qibla table’, Journal of Near Eastern studies , xxiv (1975), 81–122.

King , Studies , B: King David A. , Islamic astronomical instruments (London, 1987). Contains reprints of:

XII ‘Ibn al-Shībir's andūq al-yawāqīt: An astronomical compendium’ (with Janin Louis ), Journal for the history of Arabic science , i (1977), 187–256.

XV ‘Three sundials from Islamic Andalusia’, Journal for the history of Arabic science , ii (1978), 358–92. [See especially the appendix on pp. 370–87 (incorrectly paginated): ‘Some medieval qibla values for Cordova’, and the corrections in the addenda to the reprint.].

XVII ‘The sundial on the west wall of the madrasa of Sultan Qaytbay in Jerusalem’ (with Walls Archibald G. ), Art and architecture research papers , xv (1979), 16–21.

King , Studies , C: King David A. , Astronomy in the service of Islam (Aldershot (U.K.), 1993). Contains reprints of:

I ‘Science in the service of religion: The case of Islam’, Impact of science on society , xl (1991), 245–62.

IX-XI Articles ‘ḳibla, ii’, ‘Makka, iv’ and ‘Maṭbla’ from EI².

XII ‘On the orientation of the Ka'ba’ (with Hawkins G. S. ), Journal for the history of astronomy , xiii (1982), 102–9.

XIII ‘Astronomical alignments in medieval Islamic religious architecture’, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences , ccclxxxv (1982), 303–12.

XIV ‘The earliest Islamic mathematical methods and tables for finding the direction of Mecca’, Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften , iii (1986), 82–149, with corrections listed ibid. , iv (1987/88), 270, incorporated.

King & Lorch, ‘Qibla charts’: — Lorch Richard P. , ‘Qibla charts, qibla maps, and related instruments’, a chapter in History of cartography , ii/1, 189–205.

King Walls , ‘Jerusalem sundial’: See King , Studies , B-XVII.

MacKay , ‘Qibla in Greece’: MacKay Pierre , ‘The qibla of Ottoman mosques in Greece’, paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Oriental Society, San Francisco, April 1980.

Meinecke , Mamlukische Architektur. Meinecke Michael , Die mamlukische Architektur in Ägypten und Syrien (2 pts, Glückstadt, 1992).

Morley , ‘Safavid astrolabe’: Morley William H. , Description of a planispheric astrolabe constructed for Sháh Sultán Husain Safawí … (London, 1856; reprinted as an introduction to Gunther's Robert T. The astrolabes of the world … (2 vols, Oxford, 1932; reprinted in 1 vol., London, 1976)).

Nuremberg GNM 1992–93 exhibition catalogue : Bott Gerhard (ed.), Focus Behaim-Globus (2 vols, Nuremberg, 1992).

Paris IMA 1993–94 exhibition catalogue : Cluzan Sophie Delpont Eric Mouliérac Jeanne (eds), Syrie, mémoire et civilisation (Paris, 1993).

Philibert , Qibla au Maghreb : Philibert M. , La qibla et le Mih'râb: Différences constatées dans la direction des mosquées maghrébines. Raisons possibles, orientation par des precédés modernes (Algiers, 1972). [Privately-circulated photostat.].

Renaud , ‘Réponse’: A reply by Renaud H. P. J. to Sarton's ‘Query’, Isis , xxxiv (1942), 24.

Rubin , ‘Ka'ba’: Uri Rubin, ‘The Ka'ba: Aspects of its ritual functions and position in pre-Islamic and early Islamic times’, Jerusalem studies on Arabic and Islam , viii (1986), 97–131.

Samsó , Ciencias : Samsó Julio , Las ciencias de los antiguos en al-Andalus (Madrid, 1992).

Sarton , ‘Query’: Sarton George , ‘Orientation of the mihrab in mosques’, Isis , xx (1933), 262–4. [See also Renaud , ‘Réponse’.].

Schoy , Beiträge : Sezgin F. (eds), Carl Schoy: Beiträge zur arabisch-islamischen Mathematik und Astronomie (2 vols, Frankfurt am Main, 1988).

al-Shabīb , Al-Matījī's Dalā'il al-qibla : ‘Ammār Sa'īd al-Šabīb, ‘Kitāb Dalā'il al-Qibla: Abū ‘Alī al-Matīŷī’, unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Barcelona, 1992.

Smith , ‘Corpus’: Smith Bement Myron , ‘Material for a corpus of early Iranian Islamic architecture’, a series of papers published in Ars Islamica, starting in vol. ii (1935).

Whitcomb , ‘Ayla Mosque’: Whitcomb Donald , ‘The Ayla Mosque: Early Islamic remains in Aqaba, Jordan’, Fondation Max van Berchem (Geneva) — Bulletin, no. 8 (Nov. 1994), 3–5.

See the article ‘Ḳibla, i: Ritual and legal aspects’ by Wensinck A. J. in EI ² .

. On the Kaaba see the article ‘Ka'ba’ by Wensinck A. J. in EI¹ as well as the revised version by idem and Jomier J. in EI² (in which some material from the former has been omitted). A useful recent study, which does not mention the orientation of the edifice, is Rubin, ‘Ka'ba’.

See Crone Cook , Hagarism , 23–24, and Crone , Meccan trade 198.

See King , ‘Ethnoastronomy’, and the articles ‘Maṭbla’ and ‘Rīḥ’ in EI² which supplement material surveyed in the articles ‘Anwā’ and ‘Layl wa-nahār’ by Charles Pellat.

In the early 1980s I conducted an armchair survey of over a thousand published plans of mosques and other religious architecture. Other than being a useful educational experience, this proved to be mainly a waste of time as far as my immediate purpose was concerned, the information gathered being so unreliable that nothing useful could be done with it. See below for some of the few exceptions.

Bonine , ‘Maghrib’. See also idem , ‘Iran’, for an analogous study of another region of the Islamic world.

Hawkins King , ‘Orientation of the Kaaba’, and King , ‘Astronomical alignments’ (both reprinted in King , Studies , C-XII and XIII). See also Chelhod , ‘Pre-eminence of right’.

Certain mosques in Andalusia and India, which do not appear to face the qibla, have been declared to have been built on pre-existent architecture. Most of these pronouncements, which are not worth citing, are rendered void by the findings presented here.

King , ‘Sacred geography’, summarized in the article ‘Makka, iv: As the centre of the world’ in EI², reprinted in King, Studies, C-X.

See the articles ‘Matla’ (reprinted in King , Studies , C-XI) and ‘Rīḥ’ by Forcada Miquel in EI ² .

See various articles in Schoy , Beiträge ; Kennedy , Studies ; and King , Studies , A-XIII and C-XIV; as well as Ali (translation) and Kennedy (commentary), al-Bīrūnī's Taḥdīd (dealing with the most important medieval work on mathematical geography). A summary is in the article ‘ḥibla, ii: Astronomical aspects’ in EI ² , reprinted with corrections of many printing errors in King , Studies , C-IX.

See, for example, Morley , ‘Safavid astrolabe’, 23–26. On Islamic geographical coordinates in general see Kennedy Kennedy , Geographical coordinates. .

King , Astronomy in the Yemen 29 and Plate 7; and idem, Studies , B-XII (with Janin L. ), 195 and 216.

The description in Paris IMA 1993–94 exhibition catalogue , 440–1 (no. 336) was written before the geographical information had been analysed.

On Islamic qibla-charts and instruments see King Lorch , ‘Qibla charts’, and my chapter ‘Weltkarten zur Ermittlung der Richtung nach Mekka’, in Nuremberg GNM 1992–93 exhibition catalogue , i, 167–71, as well as ii, 686–91 (detailed description of the Isfahan world-map, with several errors of interpretation).

See ref. 7 above.

See Barthold , ‘Orientierung’, and also King , ‘Astronomical alignments’, 308–9.

King , Astronomy in the Yemen , especially pp. 92 (index sub qibla) and 97 (caption to Plate 7).

King , ‘Cairo ventilators’.

Extant in MS Oxford Bodleian Marsh 592. See already King , ‘Cairo ventilators’, 115, notes 70–71. This was a source for al-Maqrīzī's information.

Meinecke , Mamlukische Architektur. 22. This phenomenon is noted in the three papers listed as Kessler , ‘Mecca-oriented architecture’, and to some extent explained in King , ‘Cairo ventilators’.

On mosque orientations in Jerusalem see, for a modest start, the information gathered in King Walls , ‘Jerusalem sundial’, 21. Plans are now available in Burgoyne, Mamluk Jerusalem. .

See King , ‘Qibla values in Cordova’, 370–87 (improperly paginated), an appendix to Studies , B-XV (with corrections in the addenda), based mainly on information in an early Andalusian treatise on the use of the astrolabe. The subject is discussed further in Samsó, Ciencias , 60–67.

See Bonine , ‘Maghrib’, and also ref. 6 above, as well as King, ‘Astronomy in the Maghrib’, 145–6. The problems of Maghribi orientations were first discussed in Sarton , ‘Query’, and Renaud , ‘Réponse’, later also in Philibert, Qibla au Maghreb. .

See al-Shabīb , Al-Matījī's Dalā'il al-qibla , for an uncritical edition and some useful appendixes.

See, for a useful treatment, the kind of information recorded in Smith, ‘Corpus’. Even so, Smith M. B. was under the impression that the modern qibla, with which he compared the actual orientations, was somehow relevant. But the point is: He realized that the orientations are important and he took the trouble to measure them properly.

Tashkent MS . Oriental Institute 177, fols 97r–144v, by’ Abd al-Qāhir al-Baghdādī; see Cairo survey 46 (no. B46) and King , Studies , C-XIV, 84, note 6.

King , ‘Qibla in Transoxania’, on a treatise by the legal scholar Abu l-Yusr al-Bazdawī, extant in Cairo (see Cairo Survey 50 (no. B88)).

Barmore , ‘Turkish orientations’, and MacKay , ‘Qibla in Greece’.

Private communication from Wilson Thomas H. Dr , Lamu Museum, Kenya, in 1980.

King , ‘Astronomical alignments’, 304.

See the texts of al-Dimyāṭbī al-Matījī al-Baghdādī , mentioned in refs 20, 26 and 28 above, as well as some pronouncements on orientations in the medieval Maghrib by the ‘ulamā’ of Cairo in the sixteenth century, extant in MS Cairo DM 540 (see Cairo survey , 86, no. C110).

The papers listed as King, ‘Astronomical alignments’ (Studies, C-XIII) and ‘Ethnoastronomy’ were presented at conferences on tropical archaeoastronomy and ethnoastronomy worldwide, respectively.

The most recent findings concerning the Mosque of Ayla near Aqaba in Jordan (reported in Whitcomb, ‘Ayla Mosque’) came to my attention on the very day that I submitted this report for publication. This mosque was built about the year 650 by the Caliph ‘Uthmān. It faces roughly 215°, yet Ay la is slightly west of north from Mecca. This orientation has disturbed the archaeologists, who felt, not unreasonably, that the mosque might have been more appropriately oriented due south, as was common in early Islamic architecture in S. Syria and Jordan. They also noted similar discrepancies in the qiblas of some early mosques in the province of al-’Irāq, described as being ‘misplaced by some 34°’ or ‘some 35° in error’. Yet in fact the mosque at Ayla is oriented so that its qibla-wall (at c. 125°) is very roughly ‘parallel’ to the north-east wall of the Kaaba (at c. 150°). For better or for worse, the qibla chosen for this mosque was that of al-'Irāq, which was towards winter sunset (at c. 240°) or, by analogy to the situation in Andalusia, towards the setting point of Canopus in Mecca (to face which — at c. 210° — one should stand with summer sunset on one's right hand side). The direction of winter sunset, roughly 240°, was one of the qiblas of al-'Irāq chosen by the Companions of the Prophet. If this was behind the qibla of the mosque at Ayla, then the fact that its orientation differs from the direction of winter sunset by c. 25° is not surprising, given the early date of the mosque and in view of the crude procedures for finding the qibla advocated even in the later folk-astronomical sources. The orientation of the mosque might have been determined by someone standing with the Pole Star in the direction behind his right ear, which is the kind of prescription for finding the qibla in the south of al-'Irāq attested in the sacred geography of Ibn Surāqa (c. 1000). (His prescriptions for each major region of the Islamic world are recorded in the article ‘Makka, iv: As centre of the world’, in EI², vi, 184.) On the other hand, the mosque might have been laid out by someone standing with summer sunrise on their right hand side, in which case its orientation is fairly ‘accurate’. The fact that astronomers in Baghdad in the ninth century computed the qibla there as c. 13° W of S (see King , Studies , C-XIV, 126–9) is another matter.