Facing the wrong way

General Academics Religion and Philosophy
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JAKARTA, Indonesia — People in the world's most populous Muslim nation have been facing Africa — not Mecca — while praying.

Indonesia’s highest Islamic body acknowledged Monday it made a mistake when issuing an edict in March saying the holy city in Saudi Arabia was to the country’s west. It has since asked followers to shift direction slightly northward during their daily prayers.

“After a thorough study with some cosmography and astronomy experts, we learned they’ve been facing southern Somalia and Kenya,” said Ma’ruf Amin, a prominent cleric of the Indonesian Ulema Council, or MUI. “We’ve revised it now to the northwest.”

Now here is something we can test. There should now be a dramatic increase in prayers that get fulfilled.

What is “cosmography”?

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Cosmologists are map people - but they do the whole earth and the universe too. Sort of like cartographers with broad minds.

The poor people may as well face a brick wall when they pray. What if some people had testimonies of answered prayer during the time they were all facing Kenya? Maybe the ancestors were more attentive than Allah.