THE QUIBLAH OF MAKKAH
In the beginning, the Prophet allowed the Believers full liberty to turn in any direction they pleased when saying their prayers, for: "The East and the West is Allah's; therefore, whichever way ye turn, there is the face of Allah. Truly Allah is Omnipresent, Omniscient." (The Qur'an, ii, 109).
While terminating the building of the first Mosque, the Prophet divined that prayerful impulsiveness diverted in one direction would be more thrilling, because of the feeling of union in the same ideals that was bound to result. By means of a cube of masonry, composed of stone and clay placed against the wall of the building looking south, he primitively established the Qiblah, or direction of prayer, towards the Temple of Jerusalem.
But he was ordered by a verse to change the direction towards Makkah: "We have formerly seen thee turning thy face towards every part of the Heaven; but We will assuredly have thee turn to a Qiblah which shall please thee. Turn then thy face towards the Sacred Mosque, and wherever ye be, turn your faces in that direction." (The Qur'an, ii, 139).
And ever since that day, the Qiblah remains definitively fixed for all the Mussulmans of the world, in the direction of the Temple of Makkah.
INSTITUTION OF THE AZAN, OR CALL OF THE MU'AZZIN
Prayer in common is incontestably the most profitable; the fervour of each Believer communicating with the soul of his neighbour. "It is worth twenty-seven times more than isolated prayer," says the Prophet. It was therefore necessary to summon all Believers together every day, at the same hours fixed for the five prayers.
How was the exact time of meeting to be determined? Scattered over the different districts of the city, some came too early; others too late. A consultation of the leading Moslems took place. Some were for the use of a beacon, to be lit on a commanding eminence; others suggested the blowing of a horn; and the rest proposed bell-ringing. But all these methods were rejected, because they were borrowed, from Persians, Jews or Christians.