Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
In a recent discussion about qibla with Muslims who pray southeast, one of the brothers mentioned that a few Muslims he knew experienced dreams in which the Prophet (sallAllah-u ‘alayhi wa sallam) confirms that southeast is the direction of qibla in North America. Your comments on this situation are requested Sidi.
Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,
Dreams, even of the Beloved of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace), do not constitute legal proof, according to the agreement of Sunni scholarship, especially in the face of clear and overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Read Shaykh Nuh Keller’s work, Port in a Storm (see: http://www.sunnipath.com/bookstore/ ). It has clear legal reasoning, and fatwas from the very top scholars of Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Morocco, Egypt, and elsewhere, establishing without doubt that the North American qibla is towards the North East.
The North American Qibla is a physical fact, not a legal ‘opinion’ based on dreams.
Wassalam,
Faraz Rabbani
The qibla is the noblest of directions. This widely acclaimed book settles the question of the physical direction of Mecca from North
America in the first thirty pages, after which it presents to readers for the first time the 1998 Fatwa of al-Azhar on the North American qibla. From this point of departure, the author surveys such major contemporary issues as the relation between religion and science, the Sacred and profane, scholars and engineers, ijtihad and taqlid. Combining traditional Islamic law, a clear exposition of the complex geographical issues, and the author’s own meetings and correspondence with twenty-three contemporary scholars from seven Muslim lands, the book is a journey of discovery not only for Western Muslims, but everyone interested in Sacred Law in a modern world.
August 2001 • 292 pages • 156 mm x 234 mm • 52 illustrations
cloth isbn 9957-23-014-x us$45.00; can$65.00; uk£30.00
paper isbn9957-23-004-2 us$12.95; can$18.99; uk£9.99
NUH HA MIM KELLER has studied Islamic jurisprudence, hadith, tasawwuf, and other traditional sciences with sheikhs in Syria and Jordan. His other works include the best-selling classic legal manual Reliance of the Traveller and Al-Maqasid: Nawawi’s Manual of Islam.
“A timely, concise and convincing response”
IMAM ZAID SHAKIR
“likely to prove the authoritative study in a long-debated and divisive controversy. It spells the end of a myth”
DR. MUHAMMAD ISA WALEY
The British Library
“With the publication of Port in a Storm, Sheikh Nuh Keller establishes a new standard for Islamic scholarship in the English language”
YUSUF TALAL DeLORENZO
“…an extremely good work…perhaps
the first time the topic has been covered from all angles, particularly fiqh and science, so well.”
DR. MUZAMMIL SIDDIQI