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Indonesian Muslims Told to Change Prayer Direction (They Faced Toward Africa Instead of Mecca)
The Malaysian Insider ^ | July 16, 2010 | Reuters

Posted on 07/17/2010 6:46:16 PM PDT by DogByte6RER

Indonesian Muslims told to change prayer direction

JAKARTA, July 16 — Indonesia’s Muslims learned today they have been praying in the wrong direction, after the country’s highest Islamic authority said its directive on the direction of Mecca actually had people facing Africa.

Muslims are supposed to face the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia during prayer and the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) issued an edict in March stipulating westward was the correct direction from the world’s most populous Muslim country.

“But it has been decided that actually the mosques are facing Somalia or Kenya, so we are now suggesting people shift the direction slightly to the north-west,” the head of the MUI, Cholil Ridwan, told Reuters. “There’s no need to knock down mosques, just shift your direction slightly during prayer.”

Ridwan said Muslims need not fear that their prayers have been wasted because they were facing the wrong way.

“Their prayers will still be heard by Allah,” he said.

Said Agil Siradj, head of Indonesia’s largest Muslim organisation Nahdlatul Ulama, told English language newspaper the Jakarta Globe that the confusion showed the MUI issued edicts too fast and that this was a lesson for them.

The MUI has, in the past, issued controversial edicts banning Muslims from chanting during yoga, and from smoking.

Indonesia is a majority Muslim but officially secular country. — Reuters


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 2nukemecca; 4thecommongood; africa; assclowns; change; council; direction; doh; dumbass; epigraphyandlanguage; indonesia; indonesian; islam; mecca; middleages; muhammadsminions; mui; muslims; petra; prayer; qibla; rop; told; ulema
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To: DogByte6RER

21 posted on 07/17/2010 7:21:28 PM PDT by OCC
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To: DogByte6RER

They’re all wrong, the right direction is toward the White House.


22 posted on 07/17/2010 7:22:42 PM PDT by rfp1234
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To: Roccus

I agree with you! I wonder if that black rock they worship in Mecca is the entrance to Hell.


23 posted on 07/17/2010 7:28:19 PM PDT by proudofthesouth (A Dictatorship doesn't want the competition of God in the lives of the Peasants.)
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To: Lonely Bull

Some Muslim groups in North America take the rhumb line to Mecca (southeastwards) as theirqibla (praying direction) instead of the traditional rule of the shortest path, which would give a northeastward direction from the Eastern USA[citation needed].

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhumb_line


24 posted on 07/17/2010 7:35:05 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT (The best is the enemy of the good!)
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To: Migraine

Lol, 1000 yrs from now they’ll still be in a sh**hole.


25 posted on 07/17/2010 7:40:23 PM PDT by 99Floyd (zero/empty suit=deception, division and disaster)
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To: DogByte6RER

It seems like from Indonesia it would only be a few degrees different to face Africa instead of Mecca (in Saudia Arabia).


26 posted on 07/17/2010 7:44:16 PM PDT by libertylover (The problem with Obama is not that his skin is too black, it's that his ideas are too RED.)
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To: proudofthesouth
I wonder if that black rock they worship in Mecca is the entrance to Hell.

Nah.....satan wouldn't waste his time. It's just a giant turd polished to a high shine by millions of dirtbag lips.

27 posted on 07/17/2010 8:11:49 PM PDT by Roccus (......and then there were none.)
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To: DogByte6RER

So if theyre on a space station, or Mars, which direction do they face?


28 posted on 07/17/2010 8:16:05 PM PDT by Soothesayer9
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To: leapfrog0202
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29 posted on 07/17/2010 8:17:11 PM PDT by leapfrog0202 ("the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of personal discover" Sarah Palin)
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To: DogByte6RER


30 posted on 07/17/2010 8:29:33 PM PDT by Chode (American Hedonist *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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To: DogByte6RER

The Lemmings all acted in concert to do something stupid????!!!! I’m shocked, SHOCKED!! (Good thing they caught it early, otherwise it would have been “tradition”, established hundreds of years ago, forgoing the values of any other culture in the region!)


31 posted on 07/17/2010 8:32:25 PM PDT by LittleBillyInfidel (Rev. Wright said "G_d D_mn America!". B-HO replied, "I'll do my best.")
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To: DogByte6RER

¨What´s the frequency, Kenneth?¨


32 posted on 07/17/2010 8:47:49 PM PDT by onedoug
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To: Mad Dawg

There’s a spot in the Society Islands, i.e. near Tahiti, where you could face any direction you want ... or straight down!


33 posted on 07/17/2010 9:26:45 PM PDT by dr_lew
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To: 99Floyd; BenLurkin; Migraine

Oh my, you are all clever! I can’t stop laughing. Keep up the good work. :-)


34 posted on 07/17/2010 9:27:48 PM PDT by Pining_4_TX
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To: Soothesayer9

Sadly, the muzzies have focused their brightest minds on that very problem:

http://www.wired.com/science/space/news/2007/09/mecca_in_orbit


35 posted on 07/17/2010 10:36:43 PM PDT by bornred
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To: Mad Dawg

How about the rump line?


36 posted on 07/17/2010 10:58:12 PM PDT by smokingfrog (freerepublic.com - Now 100% flag free.)
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To: Chode

That looks satanic!


37 posted on 07/18/2010 1:48:30 AM PDT by acliffhang3r
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To: hoosiermama
"No need to tear down mosques, just shift your direction slightly to the northwest"...

It sounds so reasonable at first. Then you get to thinking about how silly it is and you just have to wonder - how can rational people put up with this? Or how can a people worship a God so petty and who has no son?

38 posted on 07/18/2010 4:51:33 AM PDT by x_plus_one (Liberal politics is now a form of social snobbery.....)
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To: acliffhang3r
it's their Moon Rock/God...
39 posted on 07/18/2010 5:46:52 AM PDT by Chode (American Hedonist *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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To: smokingfrog

Personally I prefer the baba au rhum line.


40 posted on 07/18/2010 7:17:29 AM PDT by Mad Dawg (O Maria, sine labe concepta, ora pro nobis qui ad te confugimus.)
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