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Chairman of the Ulema Council Plays Down Mecca Misdirection
Nurfika Osman | January 29, 2010

The mosques with directional errors are in quake-hit areas such as West Sumatra, the ministry said. (Antara Photo) The mosques with directional errors are in quake-hit areas such as West Sumatra, the ministry said. (Antara Photo)
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jetset24
6:28am Jan 29, 2010

The use of compass leave that to the Hindus to orient themselves with the cosmic energy and space.....Lost of direction; perhaps Muslims where ever they may be praying to the direction of the Californian coastal beaches....LOL

Look....Be it Muslim or not with the willing of communicating spiritually with god, allah or however you want to name it...The higher being will always be around you. Simple as that.


Roland
4:22pm Jan 28, 2010

Tony The Tiger

Plate Tectonics? You mean like in the latest blockbuster "2012"? Maybe...let's ask Dr Rohadi Abdul Fatah (director for Islamic religion and Sharia law), there must be a scientific explanation for this!

Valkyrie
3:29pm Jan 28, 2010

Are we permitted to use the word "compass" or maybe they don't know what it is. Ahem!!!

Tony The Tiger
2:45pm Jan 28, 2010

Plate tectonics?


Roland
2:27pm Jan 28, 2010

A bit embarrassing, isn't it? So when the earth shook, the little arrows glued on the ceilings all fell off and they just got glued back on by guessing...but at least a low cost solution was explored by Dr. Rohani - not the whole mosque has to be turned, instead just correct the direction to pray to! Well, that's why some folks have academic titles, others not!

Some of the country’s top religious officials stressed on Wednesday that worshippers should not be overly concerned by reports that more than half of Indonesia’s mosques displayed incorrect kiblat, or direction toward Mecca.

“There is no problem in regard to kiblat, because in Islam, you may pray to God in any direction. God is not in Mecca. Remember that,” said Amidhan, head of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI).

Islamic scholar Mutoha Arkanuddin claimed recently that more than 50 percent and up to 80 percent of the country’s mosques and graves did not reflect the correct direction toward Mecca, but his claims have drawn fierce fire.

“Mutoha Arkanuddin’s research was only conducted at several mosques in Yogyakarta and it absolutely does not represent all the mosques in the country,” said Rohadi Abdul Fatah, director of Islam and Shariah law at the Ministry of Religious Affairs. “It is dangerous to publish such statements as it is invalid and can make the public feel uneasy. He is very reckless, and I am disappointed.”

It is a problem that particularly affected mosques in quake-hit areas, such as Yogyakarta, West Java and West Sumatra, Rohadi claimed, adding that the ministry frequently checked kiblat across the archipelago and helped local people when they were uncertain. He added that there was an acceptable margin for error if worshippers were slightly off. “However, if it is more than 20 percent, ask for guidance from local Islamic figures,” he said.

“We have the budget to give them a theodolite. All they have to do is just ask the local religious agency and they will be provided with the device,” Rohadi said, adding that each of the surveying tools cost Rp 30 million ($3,200).

Amidhan said it was unnecessary to renovate mosques to correct the error. “People have only to move the mihrab [where the imam leads prayers] and the prayer mats some degrees toward the direction of Mecca,” he said. “It’s as simple as that.”

Hanief Sahaghafur, secretary of the Middle East and Islamic Studies master’s degree program at the University of Indonesia, agreed that the matter should not be considered a major issue for those wishing to pray. “If you are on a train or plane, you can still pray. Kiblat means direction. People should not have to be worried as God is everywhere — not just in Mecca,” Hanief said