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Lu Abel wrote:

> As a side note, Muslims use true (great-circle)
> azimuth (maybe that's because there was no concept
> of Mercator projections and rhumb-line directions
> back when the astrolabe was invented.  When I was
> offered the opportunity to tour a mosque in the
> San Francisco Bay area I was surprised to see it
> was oriented to the northeast, not southeast as I
> first expected.  The tour guide confirmed that the
> direction was great-circle and not rhumb line.

However, judging from the discussion and some of the links mentioned in

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

there are still Muslims who believe that not the great-circle but the
(shortest) rhumb line to Mecca should be followed.

Rob van Gent

   

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