Qibla

Sami asked Fadil for the direction of the Qibla.

Muslims face the qibla to pray.

The other mosques' qiblas are also in the 150°'s range, except for the Andalusian Mosque which has a qibla of 148° (table 7, fig. 17).

Muslim astronomers from the 8th century onwards concerned themselves with the determination of the qibla as a problem of mathematical geography.

The original portico was on the west side (i.e. at right angles to the qibla) and consisted of three bays resting on two marble columns.