By Qaanitah Hunter- Cii News – July 16, 2012

Muslims are to have the opportunity once again to reassure themselves that they are facing the correct Qiblah.

At 11; 27 Central African Time on Monday the position of the sun will be directly above the Ka’bah and therefore the accurate Qiblah can be determined by facing the position of the sun at the time.

According to lecturer in geography at Darul Uloom Zakariya, Ahmed Saeed Moola, this occurs twice a year, on the 28th of May and the 16th of July.

“Take a straight object and place it outside and then align your musallah (prayer mat) towards the sun opposite the shadow and you will be facing the Qiblah,” he said.

Moola explained that the earth goes around the sun and at the same time the axis of the earth is slanted, and it remains slanted in the same direction throughout the 12 months. The result of this is that the vertical sun moves from the tropic of Capricorn to the tropic of Cancer, according to him

“Looking at Makkah’s position, it is between the tropics so when the sun crosses the tropics it passes Makkah on the 28th of May and then after it reached the tropic of Cancer, the vertical sun moves South and that is why on the 26th of July the vertical sun is directly above the Ka’abah,” he elucidated.

Moola said it is important for ones time to be exactly accurate and applies only to Central African Time (CAT).

“I translated the time of Zawaal in Makkah to Central African Time,” he said

He further said that the Qiblah can not be ascertained if overcast conditions prevail as the direction of the sun can not be located.

qaanitah@ciibroadcasting.com