Geography 150

Question 1. Which of the following is Islam's holiest city?

Question 2: How often should observant Muslims pray each day?

Answer 2 -select- once twice five times ten times

Question 3: What is the name of the month during with the Sawm fast is observed?

Answer 3: -select- January Sawm Ramadan Shahadah

Finding the Qibla Using a Flat Map

When Muslims heed the call to prayer, they must be clean and ready to turn their faces to the Kabbah, a sacred structure in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. For those who live near Mecca, the direction one must face is not much of an issue, but for Muslims who live in North America, some controversy surrounds which direction one must face during prayer.  This direction is called qibla. 

The source of the controversy stems from the multiple means by which one can answer the question “Which way is Mecca?”

For must of us, when we're asked which way is some other place, we would get out a map and go from there. Some Muslims, quite logically, do exactly the same thing. They get out a map of the world, they locate themselves, find Mecca, draw a straight line (called a rhumb line) between Mecca and their location. This rhumb line is then used to derive the angle one must turn from a cardinal direction (like true north or due east) to face Mecca.

The next question becomes, "Which way is north, or east?". To answer that question, one typically uses a magnetic compass, which as most folks know has an arrow that points north, and like watch-like markings that help you calculate east, west and south by radial degrees. What many folks don't know is that compasses point toward the Magnetic North Pole, not the actual North Pole. The magnetic north pole is actually south of the North Pole, in Canada and in constant slow motion.

This fact then requires you to calculate "true north" by adding or subtracting the degrees of magnetic declination, which is the difference between true north and magnetic north, which can be very great in the far north. If you want to find the magnetic declination for any place in the US, click to open this web page from the U.S. Government

Once you have figured out true north, then you can spin yourself the correct number of degrees to the right or left to get yourself facing Mecca. Luckily, most Mosques have somebody who has figured this out, and they have the qibla marked somewhere on a wall, so followers could use that as a handy reference.

Some Muslims use the process outlined above to determine the qibla.  Take a look at the images below to see what that process might look like.  The qibla for Los Angeles, Seville Spain and Abuja, Nigeria have been calculated using a flat map, rhumb line. Your task is to interpret these maps. Click on the images to open them in a separate tab or browser window. Then answer the questions below.

Maps of the Qibla using a Mercator Map and the Rhumb Line Method

Qibla from Los Angeles	Qibla from Nigeria	Qibla from Spain
click to enlarge	click to enlarge	click to enlarge

Refer to the paragraph and maps above and answer the following qustions.

Question 4: Why do you need to know the magnetic declination of a location in order to accurately use a compass?

Answer 4: -select- Because most of the time "East is not East" Because most of the time, "north is not north" Because magnets are often messed up by local mountains Because magnetic compasses are thrown off by your own body.

Qustion 5: Where in the United States would knowing the magnetic declination be most important?

Answer 5: -select- Alaska Hawaii California Florida

Question 6: Muslims in Los Angeles who use a Mercator map and a rhumb line should face in what direction in order to pray toward Mecca?

Answer 6: -select- North Northeast South Southeast Southwest

Qustion 7: According to the method used above, how many degrees from true north would one turn to face Mecca if you were in Abuja, Nigeria?

You'll have to do some math. The map shows you that you have to turn 22 degree north of due east.

Answer 7: -select- 15 22 68 180

Qustion 8: According to the method used above, how many degrees from true north would one turn to face Mecca if you were in Seville, Spain?

Answer 8: -select- 12 22 78 112 Can't tell from the information.

Finding the Qibla using the Great Circles and Google Earth

Another means of finding the quibla rejects the rhumb line method outlined above and uses instead the ‘great circle distance ’ to determine the quibla.  The great circle distance is the distance between two places on a sphere, like a globe. A great circle is the counter part to a rhumb line that is drawn on a flat map.  When a great circle line is projected back onto a flat map, it appears often as an arc or semi-circle. 

Take a look at this quick video of a great circle being drawn in Google Earth by clicking on the link below.

The video is saved as an Adobe Flash file, so if it doesn't load, you'll need to download and install Adobe Flash. It's free and small.

Locating the Qibla using Google Earth. (may take as much as a minute) You may want to press F11 in your browser to go to full screen and F11 to quit full screen.

Question 9: Using the great circle method, what is the approximate angle between true north and the great circle line that runs between Northridge and Mecca?

Answer 9: -select- 10 degrees east of North 24 degrees east of North 43 degrees east of North 95 degees east of North 5 degrees South of East

Finding the Qibla using the Qibla Locator

Next, open the web site Qibla Locator. It is designed to help Muslims find the qibla from anywhere. They note "without a compass", though if you don't know which way is true north from where you are standing, then you might still need a compass. Luckily, in much of Los Angeles, streets are laid out on a grid that is tied to the cardinal directions, so Reseda Boulevard actually runs pretty much toward 'true north'.

When it opens, the software will estimate your location from your IP address. Very clever. Next, enter the ZIP code 91330. That's the ZIP code for California State University, Northridge. Click on the "Locate" button.

Take a look at the map. The line extending away from the point marker in the center of the map, should be at about the same angle from true north as that which you saw in the video above.

Make a note of the information in the box to the right of the map under the heading "Qibla Direction". The "degrees" reported in the information box is the number of radial degrees east of true north.

Answer the following questions.

Question 10: What is the distance between CSUN and Mecca? Answer 10: -select- 5,124 km 13,431 km 52,145 miles 9,424 miles

Question 11: What is the number of 'degrees' and direction indicated in the information box for CSUN? Answer 11: -select- 12.2 degrees 14.6 degrees 18.2 degrees 23.5 degrees

Question 12: What method of determining the qibla does the website quiblalocator.com use? Answer 12: -select- Rhumb Line Great Circle

Enter "London, England" in the dialog box and click "Locate". Answer question 13.

Question 13: What is the quibla in degrees from true north for London, England? Answer 13: -select- 34 degrees 59 degrees 119 degrees 156 degrees

Now enter "Moscow, Russia" and click "Locate". You'll note that the degrees from north is around 176. Answer question 14.

Question 14: Use the drop down menu to complete the following sentence: "Moscow is almost directly _____________ of Mecca"
Answer 14: -select- North South East West Cannot tell from this

Thinking about the Cultural Ecology of Religion

Read the following paragraphs and answer the question below.

Another geographic or environmental component of Islam, or any religion for that matter, is its environmental context. Islam, like Judaism and Christianity, is a religion with a hearth in the Middle East (Southwest Asia).  Because of this, it has elements that an environmental determinist geographer would argue are caused by Islam's hearth location in the desert.

Please note that environmental determinism is a largely discredited. Instead, most geographers today argue instead that culture is influenced by geography and environment, but we are just as likely to ignore these influences.

Think about some of the environmental contexts found in the Bible. The flood story which recounts a time when it rained 40 days and 40 nights may not seem as dramatic to a person from the rainforest of the Amazon or from the monsoonal areas of Asia. They might think, "What's the big deal...it rains here everyday." Consider how the story of Moses and his desert crossing sounds to someone from the mountains of Peru, the tundra of Siberia or the rainforests of Borneo. They might ask, "What's a desert?"

One specific element of Islam that seems heavily influenced by its low latitude hearth place is the yearly fast during the month of Ramadan.  Ramadan, like all Islamic months, is a lunar month because they use a lunar calendar called the Hijri calendar.  In the United States, and much of the world, we use a solar calendar, so our years are 365 days a year, except on leap year. The Hijri calendar is used mostly for religious purposes.

The Hijri calendar has about 354 days, and its months are about 28 days.  Because of these differences, the Islamic year is 10 or 11 days shorter than a solar year.  Also because of this discrepancy, Islamic months are not tied to any single season of the solar year.  Ramadan, therefore is about 11 days earlier in the solar year than it was the previous year.

• In 2009, Ramadan will begin on the 22nd of August.
• In 2008, Ramadan began on September 2nd.
• In 2007, Ramadan began on September 13th

Though Ramadan has in recent years been in the summer and moving deeper into fall and towards winter, it was a decade or so ago, Ramadan was in the spring.  Basketball fans may remember that Muslim basketball stars Akeem Olajuwon and Kareem Abdul Jabbar both played in NBA while fasting.  Olajuwon even once won the NBA player of the month award for his play during a February that overlapped largely with Ramadan.

Having a month of daytime fasting that changes season every 10 years or isn’t much of a problem for Muslims who live in the low latitudes where the length of a day varies little from winter to summer.  However, in the very high latitudes, and especially above the Arctic circle, exactly when Ramadan falls during the solar year presents an interesting question.  If Ramadan is during the winter months, when the day is short, (only a few hours or nonexistent) it would not be difficult to fast.  However, when Ramadan comes during the summer months when days are very long, or in some cases 24 hours long, then fasting no doubt becomes a much greater challenge. 

Answer the questions below.

Question 15. Estimate the day Ramadan will begin in 2010. Select from the answers in the drop down menu below that best matches your estimate:

Answer 15: -select-- September 2nd September 20th August 12th Cannot tell from the information

Qustion 16: In what American state would a summertime Ramadan present the most challenge? Answer 16: -select- Alaska Hawaii California Florida

Question 17: In what American state would a wintertime Ramadan present the least challenge? Answer 17: -select- Alaska Hawaii California Florida

Question 18: What is the name of the largely discredited theory that environmental conditions force culture to develop in specific manners? (Fill in the blank below)

Answer 18:

Read this note: According to various experts on this, the solution to this conundrum is for Muslims who find themselves at high latitude during Ramadan is to pick out a place with a more regular sunrise and sunset (perhaps even Mecca) and fast according to the timetable in that place.

When you are confident in your answers, select the name of your instructor from the drop down list and enter your name (first name first, last name last).

Then click submit.

Instructor: -select- Steve Graves

Name:

Submit