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Geodetic analysis of disputed accurate qibla direction

Article  in  Journal of Applied Geodesy · February 2018

DOI: 10.1515/jag-2017-0036

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Tono Saksono, Mohamad Ali Fulazzaky*, and Zamah Sari
Geodetic analysis of disputed accurate qibla
direction
https://doi.org/10.1515/jag-2017-0036
Received October 2, 2017; accepted January 10, 2018
Abstract: Muslims perform the prayers facing towards the
correct qibla direction would be the only one of the practi-
cal issues in linking theoretical studies with practice. The
concept of facing towards the Kaaba in Mecca during the
prayers has long been the source of controversy among the
muslim communities to not only in poor and developing
countries but also in developed countries. The aims of this
study were to analyse the geodetic azimuths of qibla cal-
culated using three different models of the Earth. The use
of ellipsoidal model of the Earth could be the best method
for determining the accurate direction of Kaaba from any-
where on the Earth’s surface. A muslim cannot direct him-
self towards the qibla correctly if he cannot see the Kaaba
due to setting out process and certain motions during the
prayer this can significantly shift the qibla direction from
the actual position of the Kaaba. The requirement of mus-
lim prayed facing towards the Kaaba is more as spiritual
prerequisite rather than physical evidence.
Keywords: azimuth error, Earth’s model, Kaaba position,
qibla direction, prayer, setting out procedure
1 Introduction
Qibla is a direction to which all muslims must face when
they perform prayer [14]. The qibla direction can be de-
fined as the intersection point between the circle of hori-
zon and the great circle passing in the direction of our
zenith and Kaaba in Mecca. It is technically a geodetic az-
imuth of the shortest distance [11, 25, 38] of connecting the
Kaaba to anywhere on the Earth’s surface and theoretically
*Corresponding author: Mohamad Ali Fulazzaky, Islamic Science
Research Network, University of Muhammadiyah Prof. Dr Hamka,
Jalan Limau No. 2, Kabayoran Baru, Jakarta 12130, Indonesia; and
Directorate General of Water Resources, Ministry of Public Works
and Housing, Jalan Pattimura No. 20, Jakarta 12110, Indonesia,
e-mail: fulazzaky@gmail.com, phone: +62818167775
Tono Saksono, Islamic Science Research Network, University of
Muhammadiyah Prof. Dr Hamka, Jalan Limau No. 2, Kabayoran Baru,
Jakarta 12130, Indonesia, e-mail: tsaksono@gmail.com
Zamah Sari, Faculty of Islamic Studies, University of Muhammadiyah
Prof Dr Hamka, Jalan Limau No. 2, Kabayoran Baru, Jakarta 12130,
Indonesia, e-mail: reza.zamahsari@yahoo.com
J. Appl. Geodesy 2018; aop
changes from one point to another. The concept of prayers
facing towards the accurate qibla direction has long been
the source of controversy among the muslim communities
worldwide [1, 35]. All disputes about qibla direction are not
solely problems of the muslim communities in developing
countries but also in some developed countries. A dispute
of the qibla direction arose at Al-Hikmah Mosque located
in Astoria, New York. It even had to invite the New York
city police to help in solving the dispute even though a
court decision had justified one of the disputing parties.
In spite of the Google Earth application enables us to view
a 3D representation of the Al-Hikmah Mosque in New York
located at φ = 40°45󸀠 30󸀠󸀠 N and λ = 73°54󸀠 37󸀠󸀠 W, the no-
tion that different measures of qibla direction can give dif-
ferent results is true with any strategy. Using the Accurate
Times 5.3.6 software permits us to calculate the qibla direc-
tion of Al-Hikmah Mosque to be at 58.5° from the true north
[29] and using the hamariweb.com gives it at 58.502° from
the true north [41]. Even though the determination of qi-
bla direction by using these two methods can yield almost
similar results, significant diversity often exists within the
muslim communities of Al-Hikmah Mosque in terms of
knowledge, opinion, their objects, and interests.
Disputes of the qibla direction occur even more
harshly in a developing country like Indonesia such as
when an amateur astronomer sparked a rumor by deliv-
ering a persuasive speech before a students’ seminar in
2010. People quoted it as saying that mosques and mus-
lim graveyards have been significantly affected by a se-
ries of earthquakes that have shifted the Earth’s surface
in spite of shaking induced gravitational processes were
not the primary driving mechanism [8, 10, 42]. The ru-
mor has been denied by the government of Indonesia to
anticipate the possible social unrest at grassroots level.
The government declared that due to the natural disaster
may affect up to 20 % of mosque direction, people do not
need to destroy and rebuild the mosques but it might seem
like simply changing the orientation of prayer line (call a
saff in Arabic) inside the mosque would be the easiest op-
tion [2, 6]; however, most ignored government’s messages
until it was too late. Because the surau (small mosque) is
not sufficiently spacious properly to accommodate the re-
orientation of prayer line, it is commonly thought that the
rumor on the change of qibla direction by 20 % can have
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2 | T. Saksono et al., Geodetic analysis of disputed accurate qibla direction

Table 1: The world’s most powerful earthquakes since 1900.

No Location Date UTC* Magnitude Latitude Longitude

1 Off the Coast of Ecuador 1906 01 31 8.8 1.00 −81.50

2 Chile–Argentina Border 1922 11 11 8.5 −28.55 −70.50
3 Kamchatka 1923 02 03 8.5 54.0 161.00
4 Banda Sea, Indonesia 1938 02 01 8.5 −5.05 131.62
5 Assam–Tibet 1950 08 15 8.6 28.50 96.50
6 Kamchatka 1952 11 04 9.0 52.76 160.06
7 Andreanof Islands, Alaska 1957 03 09 8.6 51.56 −175.39
8 Chile 1960 05 22 9.5 −38.29 −73.05
9 Kuril Islands 1963 10 13 8.5 44.90 149.60
10 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake 1964 03 28 9.2 61.02 −147.65
11 Rat Islands, Alaska 1965 02 04 8.7 51.21 178.50
12 Off the West Coast of Northern Sumatra 2004 12 26 9.1 3.30 95.78
13 Northern Sumatra, Indonesia 2005 03 28 8.6 2.08 97.01
14 Southern Sumatra, Indonesia 2007 09 12 8.5 −4.43 101.37
15 Offshore Maule, Chile 2010 02 27 8.8 −35.84 −72.71
16 Near the East Coast of Honshu, Japan 2011 03 11 9.0 38.32 142.36
17 Off the west coast of northern Sumatra 2012 04 11 8.6 2.31 93.06
* UTC stands for Coordinated Universal Time and is considered interchangeable with Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

serious consequence that the mosque must be demolished
and then rebuilt a new one.
In a report published on 11 April 2012, the United
States Geological Survey keeps track of the deadliest earth-
quakes around the world since 1900 [36, 28], as shown in
Table 1. It is recognised that almost all of the world’s most
devastating earthquakes occur in the Ring of Fire, the vol-
canically and seismically volatile swath of the Pacific that
runs from New Zealand up through Indonesia and Japan,
across the ocean to Alaska, and down the west coast of
the Americas to Chile [15, 37]. Table 1 shows five of sev-
enteen most devastating earthquakes occurred in Indone-
sia. Because according to the opinion of some scholars this
may cause the shifting of correct qibla direction, the direc-
tion of mosques and muslim graveyards need to be reori-
ented to face towards the Kaaba in Mecca. Due to the lack
of a scientific basis to support it, the majority of muslims
in Indonesia very often spark unnecessary action which
costs a great deal in the society. Of extreme case occurred
in East Java when people demolished and reconstructed
several mosques to readjust the direction of qibla besides
that hundreds of muslim graveyards were unearthed and
reoriented for the reasons to correctly face towards the
Kaaba [19].
Earthquakes can lead to the displacement of a build-
ing on the Earth’s surface and can also trigger landslides
[21, 39, 40]. Started by rumors, it further developed into is-
sues to accuse that earthquakes have changed either the
geographical position of Kaaba in Mecca or the position of
affected mosque at anywhere on the Earth’s surface. This
often leads to an excessive reaction for less-educated peo-
ple due to the positional change of mosque in their re-
view of comprehension must alter the direction muslims
correctly face towards the Kaaba in Mecca when perform-
ing their prayers. Because of the direction of qibla may be
mathematically expressed as the shortest distance of the
Kaaba to any mosque on the Earth’s surface, a geodesic
analysis of disputed correct direction of qibla must be per-
formed to have a new insight of the attitude of the muslim
communities when performing the prayers to face towards
the qibla direction. The aims of this study are as follows:
(1) to analyse the shifting direction of qibla by comparing
four different azimuth errors obtained from three different
models of the Earth and (2) to analyse the problems or er-
rors related to the setting out procedures for the determi-
nation of qibla direction.
2 Methodology
2.1 Azimuthal model of the Earth
The simplest model for the shape of the entire Earth is
a flat plane. It is obvious that since 276 BC Erastothenes
may have been the first to use the world geography [30]
and had been able to use this simple model for determin-
ing the circumference of the spherical earth which devi-
ates only by 1.6 %, compared to modern estimate of the
direction of any location on the Earth’s surface. As such,
the qibla direction depends on the location of any place

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 T. Saksono et al., Geodetic analysis of disputed accurate qibla direction | 3

Figure 1: Plat-earth model of determining the Kaaba direction. Figure 2: Spherical triangle of predicting the qibla direction.

at point A on the Earth’s surface is the azimuth of spheri-

vis-à-vis Kaaba in Mecca [4]. People most commonly prefer
cal line facing towards the Kaaba from such a place of the
a plane to be tangent at the point whereby they are seek-
interest. The geometric components of spherical triangle
ing the qibla direction. In this model, the qibla direction
in Fig. 2 are that: NP is the north pole, K is the Kaaba, A is
can be expressed as an azimuth at the point A (αA ) of a
location on the Earth’s surface from where the qibla direc-
straight line connecting the point of projection of Kaaba
tion is being sought, O is center of the Earth (sphere), φK is
onto a plane, as shown in Fig. 1. However, the prediction
latitude of Kaaba, φA is latitude of A, φK is co-latitude of
of the exact direction of qibla has, until recently, received
the Kaaba (90° − φK ), φA is co-latitude of A (90° − φA ), Δλ is
emphasis from a model evaluation standpoint despite the
longitude difference between Kaaba and A (λK − λA ), and
widespread concern that the qibla direction may be the
αA is qibla direction (azimuth of AK at point A). Spherical
least accurate of the major inputs to the various model
components of NP-K, NP-A and AK represent a spherical
identification methods. This is the least accurate model
triangle as shown in Fig. 2 where: (1) AK represents the
viewed from two standpoints: (1) the 2D plane model can
shortest distance from the location at point A to the Kaaba
predict the direction of not being able to precisely express
in Mecca and (2) αA is azimuth of AK at point A and is es-
a 3D object like the Earth and (2) the plane only represents
sential for muslims to figure out the qibla direction from
the actual condition at point A in Fig. 1. The figure shows
the location at point A for performing their prayers. From
that, at the other end, the point K’ is actually just a projec-
the spherical trigonometry in Fig. 2, the following relations
tion of point K (Kaaba) onto the plane. Therefore, the az-
can be written [34]:
imuth at point A in Fig. 1 is not really the correct azimuth
to be used for the accurate prediction of qibla direction. sin β sin αA = sin φK sin Δλ (1)
sin β cos αA = cos φK sin φ − sin φK cos φ cos Δλ (2)

2.2 Spherical model of the Earth By applying the spherical trigonometry and consider-
ing its co-latitudes in Fig. 2 then eqns (1) and (2) can re-
A more accurate estimate of the qibla direction can be ob- spectively be rewritten as:
tained using a sphere model of the Earth [3, 13, 17, 31]. In
spite of the sphere model is mathematically better than sin β sin αA = cos φK sin Δλ (3)
the azimuthal model of the Earth, it is also known as an sin β cos αA = sin φK cos φ − cos φK sin φ cos Δλ (4)
approximation model of predicting the qibla direction be-
It is recognised that sin β sin αA ≠ 0 and sin β cos αA ≠
cause the shape of the Earth closely resembles an oblate
0 hence dividing eqn (3) by eqn (4) this can yield:
ellipsoid, which provides a mathematically tractable way
to specify a point on the surface of the Earth. Figure 2 sin Δλ cos φK
− tan αA = (5)
shows the diagrammatic representation of spherical trian- sin φ cos Δλ cos φK − cos φ sin φK
gle to be used for calculating the azimuth of a point on − sin Δλ
tan αA = (6)
the Earth’s surface. The qibla direction from the location sin φ cos Δλ − cos φ tan φK

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4 | T. Saksono et al., Geodetic analysis of disputed accurate qibla direction
where αA , as an azimuth, is angle measured from the north
to find the direction of qibla at point A in Fig. 2. Other-
wise, one may also measure angle αA󸀠 (180° − αA ) from the
south. In this concept of azimuth, the Earth is modelled as
a sphere because of the distance between A and K in Fig. 2
is part of great circle. Another model can account for pre-
dicting the qibla direction when the Earth is modelled as
ellipsoid even though it is more complicated than either
plane model or spherical model of the Earth.
2.3 Ellipsoidal model of the Earth
An ellipsoidal model of the Earth [9, 16, 26, 27] can more
accurately predict the qibla direction and takes into ac-
count the effect of the Earth’s compression on the rota-
tion of the Earth around its own axis (see Fig. 3), but it
comes with some disadvantages. Two pieces of informa-
tion are needed for the description; however, the calcula-
tions of distance, area, direction and other quantities are
vastly more complicated due to an ellipsoid is formed by
rotating an ellipse around its axis. Due to an oblate ellip-
soid could have two radii of curvature at any point on the
ellipsoid, they can thus be calculated using the following
equations [32, 18, 12]:
a (1 − e2 )
M= 3/2
(7)
(1 − e2 sin2 φ)
a
N= 1/2
(8)
(1 − e2 sin2 φ)
Figure 3: Ellipsoidal model of the Earth for predicting the qibla direction; (a) normal sections at points A and B and (b) geodesic az-
imuth – a zoom of the reciprocal normal sections in Fig. 3a.
2 2 1/2
with e = (a −ba ) or the first eccentricity of the ellipse,
where M is radius of curvature for the meridian at point A,
N is radius of curvature for the prime vertical at point A,
a is ellipsoid’s semi major axis, b is ellipsoid’s semi minor
axis, φ is latitude of an arbitrary at point A on the ellipse.
The parallels of latitude and meridians of longitude
are two imaginary lines that envelop the Earth and could
be different from each other between the two arbitrary
points of A(φA , λA ) and B(φB , λB ), and this creates the exis-
tence of so-called reciprocal normal sections by the inter-
section of two normal planes nA AB and nB BA with ellipse,
as shown in Fig. 3a. In view of the rigorous geometric defi-
nition of a line, neither of these normal sections as the line
of shortest distance between two points of A and B. Geode-
sists commonly define the shortest distance between two
such points as geodesic line; this is however not a plane
curve like in great circle (see line AK in Fig. 2). A geodesic
is imagined as an S-shaped curve due to the existence of
two radii of curvature at any point along the geodesic line
and has double curvatures (or torsion) with its important
characteristics that: N cos φ sin α = constant for φ ≠ 0.
Geodesic line is defined as the principal path that repre-
sents the shortest possible distance in a unique way be-
tween any two given points on the Earth ellipsoid [24, 12].
The calculation of geodesic line can be performed using
the two methods of Direct Solution and Inverse Solution
[32, 18, 12] that:
(1) the Direct Solution can be used to determine the co-
ordinates of point B (φB , λB ) from a known point A (φA , λA )
hence the azimuth of line AB (αAB ) and distance (sAB ) be-
tween A (φA , λA ) and B (φB , λB ) can thus be predicted, and
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 T. Saksono et al., Geodetic analysis of disputed accurate qibla direction | 5

(2) the Inverse Solution can be used to calculate the az-

imuth of line AB (αAB ) or the azimuth of line BA (αBA ) and
distance (sAB ) between the two known points A (φA , λA )
and B (φB , λB ).
Furthermore, the azimuth of the geodesic (α̃ AB ) as
shown in Fig. 3b could involve the azimuth of two normal
sections αAB and αAB
󸀠
. The following equations describe the
relationship among these three azimuths [32, 18]:

󸀠
αAB − αAB
e2 s 2 1 s
≈ sin αAB ( ) cos2 φA (cos αAB − tan φA )
2 NA 2 NA
(9)
αAB − α̃ AB
Figure 4: Geocentric and local geodetic coordinate systems.
e󸀠2 s 2 1 s
≈ sin αAB ( ) cos2 φA (cos αAB − tan φA )
6 NA 4 NA
(10) (3) Calculate the chord between points A and B to find
1 󸀠 the linear distance between these two points by using the
αAB − α̃ AB ≈ (αAB − αAB ) (11)
3 equation of:
1/2
with e = (a2 −b2 )1/2
a
or the first eccentricity of the ellipsoid s = (ΔX 2 + ΔY 2 + ΔZ 2 ) (14)
(a2 −b2 )1/2
and e󸀠 = b
or the second eccentricity of the ellipsoid (4) Convert the geodetic coordinate of point A by using
where αAB is azimuth of the normal section at A through B, the relation of:
αAB
󸀠
is azimuth of the normal section at B through A, α̃ AB is
azimuth of geodesic AB, s is length of the normal section, U − sin φ cos λ − sin φ sin λ
cos φ ΔX
[ ] [ ][ ]
φA is latitude of point A and NA is radius of curvature of [ V ] = [ − sin λ cos λ 0 ] [ΔY ]
the prime vertical at point A. [W ] [ cos φ cos λ cos φ sin λ
sin φ ] [ ΔZ ]
(15)
It needs to calculate the azimuth of the normal section
(5) Calculate the azimuth of normal section by using
αAB before the calculation of the geodesic azimuth α̃ AB in
the equation of:
eqn (10). The calculation of either using Direct Solution or
Inverse Solution can be approached by introducing a lo- U − sin λΔX + cos λΔY
tan αAB = =
cal 3D coordinate system (U, V, W) of geocentric and local V − sin φ cos λΔX − sin φ sin λΔY + cos φΔZ
(16)
geodetic coordinate system [33], as shown in Fig. 4. There-
An ellipsoidal model of the Earth is more accurate be-
fore, this takes a step-by-step approach to calculate the az-
cause the points A and B lie on the ellipsoid’s surface (see
imuth of a normal section plane [32] that:
Fig. 3) that only this condition can be ideal although it does
(1) Convert the geodetic coordinates of points
not really best fit the physical surface of the Earth due to
A(φA , λA ) and B(φB , λB ) into their corresponding geocen-
the existence of topography outside the geoid [7].
tric coordinates (XA , YA , ZA and XB , YB , ZB ) by using the
For an ellipsoidal distance of less than 150 km, the
relation of:
methods of Direct Solution and Inverse Solutions are capa-
X N cos φ cos λ ble of obtaining high-accuracy calculation results of 1 cm
[ ] [ ]
[Y ] = [ N cos φ sin λ ] (12) and 0.0001󸀠󸀠 , respectively, it does not claim accuracy be-
2 yond that distance [12]. However, if the ellipsoidal distance
[ Z ] [N(1 − e ) sin φ]
of 10,000 km is divided into a series of short distances
(2) Calculate the difference in geocentric coordinate of of 150 km, the accumulated error would theoretically fall
points A and B by using the relation of: within a range of 8 cm. The ellipsoidal model of the Earth
cannot work with an ellipsoidal distance of longer than
ΔX XA − XB 20,000 km, the latter being the maximum possible com-
[ ] [ ]
[ΔY ] = [YA − YB ] (13) putable distance between two points on the Earth’s sur-
[ ΔZ ] [ ZA − ZB ] face [12]. Because the circumference of the Earth has been

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6 | T. Saksono et al., Geodetic analysis of disputed accurate qibla direction
estimated to be 37,000 km, the use of ellipsoidal model of
the Earth has been found to be optimal for the calculation
of geodesic azimuth between two points on the Earth’s sur-
face. In spite of the ellipsoidal model of the Earth can the-
oretically be used to calculate the qibla direction with the
highest possible accuracy, an even more important issue
is actually the problem with setting out procedure for the
determination of qibla direction.
3 Results and discussion
3.1 Analysis of shifting qibla direction
3.1.1 Shifting direction of qibla from Jakarta
The slight deviation from qibla is when the muslims lin-
ing up for prayer still keep to the range of qibla, but have
not completely changed direction. Overall it can be sug-
gested that the accumulated error of setting out the true
qibla direction can be off easily in the range of 15°–20°.
The direction effects on the azimuth error are geometric in
nature [22] and need to be evaluated to determine if they
are needed in the azimuth determination and to predict
the qibla direction and simulated azimuth error. This study
aims to analyse the shifting direction of qibla from Jakarta.
The Google Earth provides the geographic coordinates of
Jakarta and Kaaba as can be seen in Table 2. A numerical
simulation can be performed using four different error an-
gles of ± (plus or minus) 1°, 10°, 15° and 20° with the results
of this simulation as can be seen in Table 3.
Table 2: Geographic coordinates of Jakarta and Kaaba.
Location Geographic coordinates
Jakarta φj = 6°12󸀠 39.26󸀠󸀠 S λj = 106°50󸀠 42.62󸀠󸀠 E
Kaaba φk = 21°25󸀠 21.03󸀠󸀠 N λk = 39°49󸀠 34.20󸀠󸀠 E
Table 3: Numerical simulation results of azimuth error between Kaaba and Jakarta.
Element Displacement of the qibla direction from Jakarta city with an azimuth error of:
1°
Azimuth 296°1󸀠 31.53󸀠󸀠 305°1󸀠 31.53󸀠󸀠
Latitude 22°20󸀠 25.20󸀠󸀠 N 30°30󸀠 12.91󸀠󸀠 N
Longitude 40°5󸀠 16.82󸀠󸀠 E 42°53󸀠 20.32󸀠󸀠 E
Plat-earth model (km) 138.3
Spherical model of the Earth (km) 105.3
Ellipsoidal model of the Earth (km) 105.2
Table 3 shows the effect of simulated refractive error
on the process of setting out the qibla direction. The el-
lipsoidal distance of 7,922,301.638 meters and the qibla di-
rection of 295°1󸀠 31.53󸀠󸀠 as the geodesic azimuth between
Kaaba in Mecca and Jakarta city were calculated using the
Inverse Solution. All calculations were carried out with re-
spect to the World Geodetic System (WGS84) as its refer-
ence coordinate system. Through the comparison of pre-
dicted displacement of the qibla direction with the results
(Table 3) of the geodetic analysis of different points of the
azimuth error referenced by 1°, 10°, 15° and 20° show that
(1) all azimuth errors of 1°, 10°, 15° and 20° have a larger de-
viation from the Kaaba when the calculation of using the
flat-earth model was performed to estimate the qibla po-
sition from Jakarta city, (2) the use of ellipsoidal model of
the Earth for determining the qibla direction is mathemati-
cally better than that of either spherical model of the Earth
or azimuthal model of the Earth, and (3) the poor arrange-
ment and positioning of the qibla, geodetic lines between
Jakarta and Kaaba and the instruments used to determine
the qibla direction can promote the major source of error
in the setting out process; therefore, an error in the range
of 15°–20° would remain significant and unavoidable even
after feasible models are applied. A numerical simulation
of using the ellipsoidal model of the Earth shows that the
calculation with an azimuth error of 20° can yield a shift-
ing of the Kaaba position to be around 2,100 km. In addi-
tion, even if an error of only 1° in the geodetic azimuth this
can cause the shifting direction of approximately 105 km
from the true Kaaba position, it is due to a deviation is pro-
portional to the distance of Jakarta to Kaaba.
3.1.2 Shifting direction of qibla from Prophet’s Mosque
The setting out process of estimating the position of Kaaba
in Mecca from the location of anyplace on Earth’s surface
must provide an accurate base, such as the provision of ac-
curate models of glacial isostatic adjustment [23], to find
10° 15° 20°
310°1󸀠 31.53󸀠󸀠 315°1󸀠 31.53󸀠󸀠
34°56󸀠 37.59󸀠󸀠 N 39°17󸀠 35.46󸀠󸀠 N
44°51󸀠 40.05󸀠󸀠 E 47°12󸀠 50.74󸀠󸀠 E
1382.7 2074.1 2765.4
1053.2 1579.1 2104.3
1051.6 1577.3 2102.6
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 T. Saksono et al., Geodetic analysis of disputed accurate qibla direction | 7

the right direction of qibla and to minimise the potential

errors attributable to the instruments and the methods of
determining the qibla direction. The Earth is not flat, but
that doesn’t exactly make facing a direction towards the qi-
bla erroneous when muslims perform five daily prayers at
set times of the day. This study provides a detailed anal-
ysis regarding the effect of location errors of setting out
procedure on the qibla direction when muslims perform
the prayers at the Prophet’s Mosque in Madina facing the
Kaaba in Mecca. Table 4 provides the geographic coordi-
nates of Prophet’s Mosque and Kaaba taken from Google
Earth. The use of the Inverse Solution can be used to cal-
culate the geodesic azimuth of Prophet’s Mosque to Kaaba
and ellipsoidal distance of it as high as 176°13󸀠 40.54󸀠󸀠 and
337,988.75 m, respectively.
Figure 5: The shifting direction of qibla when the setting out process
of estimating the position of Kaaba from Prophet’s Mosque with an
azimuth error of 20°.
Table 4: Geographic coordinates of Prophet’s Mosque and Kaaba.

Location Geographic coordinates

Prophet’s Mosque φj = 24°28󸀠 04.96󸀠󸀠 N λj = 39°36󸀠 42.46󸀠󸀠 E
Kaaba φk = 21°25󸀠 21.03󸀠󸀠 N λk = 39°49󸀠 34.20󸀠󸀠 E
Table 5 depicts that the use of ellipsoidal model of the
Earth would be more accurate in determining the qibla di-
rection than that of either spherical model of the Earth or
azimuthal model of the Earth in spite of discrepancies in
calculation might occur due to rounding error. The numer-
ical simulation results (Table 5) show that even though the
distance between Prophet’s Mosque and Kaaba is less than
350 km, the use of an azimuth error of 20° can cause the
shifting of Kaaba position to be approximately 117 km from
the actual Kaaba position as it can be seen in Fig. 5 from
satellite view and map of the Earth using Google Earth
data. However, when the setting out process of estimating
the position of Kaaba from Prophet’s Mosque with an az-
imuth error of only 1° this can cause the shifting of Kaaba
from its real position to be approximately 5.9 km.
3.2 Analysis of setting out procedure for
qibla determination
In practice, the determination of qibla direction can be per-
formed according to the following steps:
(1) Calculate the geodesic azimuth for the shortest dis-
tance between Kaaba and anyplace on the Earth’s sur-
face;
(2) Conduct the setting out process using either a
theodolite-compass or a virtual magnetic compass. Ir-
respective of how accurate an instrumentation engi-
neer can conduct the setting-out process, it can eas-
ily commit a deviation of 4°–5° from the desired qibla
direction. Please recall that the magnetic declination
can be as large as 20°;
(3) Once the mosque is already constructed, the imam
may then install the praying rugs with an azimuth er-
ror in the range of 4°–5° from the predetermined vir-
tual axis (i. e., qibla direction) of the mosque; and

Table 5: Numerical simulation results of azimuth error between Kaaba and Nabawi Mosque.

Element Displacement of the qibla direction from Nabawi Mosque with an azimuth error of:
1° 10° 15° 20°

Azimuth 177°13󸀠 40.54󸀠󸀠 186°13󸀠 40.54󸀠󸀠 191°13󸀠 40.54󸀠󸀠 196°13󸀠 40.54󸀠󸀠

Latitude 21°25󸀠 10.01󸀠󸀠 N 21°26󸀠 00.83󸀠󸀠 N 21°28󸀠 23.05󸀠󸀠 N 21°32󸀠 05.54󸀠󸀠 N
Longitude 39°46󸀠 09.80󸀠󸀠 E 39°15󸀠 29.72󸀠󸀠 E 38°58󸀠 37.43󸀠󸀠 E 38°42󸀠 01.44󸀠󸀠 E
Plat-earth model (km) 5.9 59.1 88.6 118.0
Spherical model of the Earth (km) 5.9 59.3 88.6 117.8
Ellipsoidal model of the Earth (km) 5.9 58.9 88.2 117.3

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8 | T. Saksono et al., Geodetic analysis of disputed accurate qibla direction
(4) In case of qibla direction in a hotel or in a private
house; because of it is not specifically built to com-
ply with the qibla direction requirement, the direction
of Kaaba commonly indicated by an arrow-shaped
sticker is stickered in the ceiling or a drawer in the ho-
tel room. This may yield a deviation in the range of
4°–5° from the desired qibla direction where the stick-
ering process normally uses the visual estimate rather
than using a precise measuring instrument.
A highest possible accuracy of determining the qibla
direction can scientifically be obtained using the ellip-
soidal model of the Earth and is of no use unless it can be
applied such as in case of the mosque construction to ar-
range the position of the daily muslim prayers in a mosque
facing towards the Kaaba direction. Looking at the case of
civil engineering industry, the setting out process for sat-
isfactory building work must provide an accurate base for
the subsequent construction process. Even if a civil engi-
neer may calculate the position of concrete pile or build-
ing column with an accuracy of 1 mm in a computer-aided
design system, it is of no use when he cannot apply that
precision in the real world. One should bear in mind that
the real world is not flat like a piece of paper or a com-
puter’s screen on which detailed planning and engineer-
ing must be performed. It could therefore an accuracy of
2–3 cm be acceptable to professionally judge the detailed
planning and engineering for many applications and does
not correspond to the design with an accuracy of 1 mm.
In case of the qibla direction, the setting out process of
determining the correct qibla direction is of more impor-
tance after calculating the geodesic azimuth of Kaaba to
anyplace on the Earth’s surface. Due to the fact that the
available instruments for setting out the qibla direction are
the use of either theodolite-compass or virtual magnetic
compass, they have been accompanying the reading error.
One of the errors inherent in a theodolite-compass is the
reading inaccuracy of around 0.5 angular minutes or 30
angular seconds. In the grassroots level, people normally
use a magnetic compass or even a virtual magnetic com-
pass installed in their smart phone for setting out the qibla
direction (see Fig. 6). The least count error of typical vir-
tual magnetic compass is one angular degree (i. e. 3,600
angular seconds). It is a fact that the magnetised needle
of a compass does not point towards the north pole of the
calculated geographic meridian. There is, however, an en-
tirely different due to it does point towards the magnetic
meridian that varies with time and by location [20]. The
magnetic declination defined as the angle on the horizon-
tal plane between magnetic north and true north could
be less than 2° for the United Kingdom; however, it can
Figure 6: Typical virtual magnetic compass installed in a smart
phone.
be considered as 20° for the vast geographical area of the
United States [5]. The magnetic declination at anyplace to-
day would be different from many years ago.
Suggesting that control and instrumentation engi-
neers are responsible for designing, developing, in-
stalling, managing and maintaining equipment which can
be used to guide and control every muslim facing correct
direction of qibla from anywhere on the Earth’s surface
mainly during prayers at set times of the day. Such an in-
strument must be placed on the chest of a muslim during
the prayer and can thus give alarm when facing the qibla
has been off from the predetermined qibla direction. How-
ever, it is completely absurd to suggest that the instrument
may give alarm all the time while a muslim cannot stop
breathing during the prayer, sensor will keep reporting
the shifting of correct qibla direction as direction changes
even there is very little change. For example, when Indone-
sian muslims perform five daily prayers at a mosque in
Jakarta, they pray facing towards the Kaaba in Mecca with
a very little change of 1󸀠󸀠 in geodetic azimuth this can shift
the Kaaba to its false position with a deviation of approxi-
mately 104 m from the correct direction of qibla, and thus
this deviation is even much larger than the wide of the
Kaaba itself because the Kaaba is a cubical stone structure
made of granite with sides measuring 11.03 m by 12.86 m.
It is clear that the requirement of muslim prayed facing to-
wards the Kaaba is more as spiritual prerequisite rather
than physical evidence. Therefore, we argue that demol-
ishing old mosque based on the assumption of wrong qi-
bla direction and then reconstructing a new one as well as
unearthing and reorienting graveyards even if the though
of facing towards the correct qibla direction often describe
the futile attempts of human being to exercise their will.
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 T. Saksono et al., Geodetic analysis of disputed accurate qibla direction |
4 Conclusions
This study used three models of the Earth to estimate the
geodesic azimuth between two points on the Earth’s sur-
face related to the direction of qibla. The use of ellipsoidal
model of the Earth to calculate the azimuth angle for the
qibla has been proven to be better than that of either spher-
ical model of the Earth or azimuthal model of the Earth.
The setting out procedure of arranging the position of the
daily muslim prayers in a mosque may contribute to the
shifts in widely varying qibla direction. It is impossible
for the muslims to face towards the correct direction of qi-
bla during the five daily prayers unless they perform the
prayers in front of the Kaaba. The requirement of muslim
prayed facing towards the Kaaba would be more as spiri-
tual prerequisite rather than physical evidence.
Funding: The authors gratefully acknowledge financial
support from the University of Muhammadiyah Prof. Dr
Hamka for Research Grant No. 230/F.03.07/2017.
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