Basic night navigation: finding Qiblah direction using Moon

{ وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ ٱلَّيلَ وَٱلْنَّهَارَ وَٱلشَّمْسَ وَٱلْقَمَرَ وَٱلْنُّجُومُ مُسَخَّرَاتٌ بِأَمْرِهِ إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَعْقِلُونَ }

"And He has subjected for you the night and day and the sun and moon, and the stars are subjected by His command. Indeed in that are signs for a people who reason." Surat An-Naĥl (The Bee) [16:16}


The following entry would help find our Qiblah direction at night. I personally find it more precise to navigate at night than during the day.
In our previous entry, we saw how to make use of the Sun to find our directions. Well, believe it or not, even when we do not see the sun at night, we can still make use of it. How? by using its reflection on the moon..

There are many facts related to the Moon, all of them could be easily observed. We just have to pay attention to the world around us to see that Allah Made so many things to help us count and find directions...

Fact 5: Sun illuminates the Moon, the Moon acts like a mirror of the Sun, it "sees" the light coming from the Sun.
Fact 6: The Moon does not appear during all the night (except for the full Moon): new Moon starts from West, then disappears after some time. The following night, the Moon appears higher in the sky, and lasts longer. The following night, again the Moon appears higher in the sky and lasts longer and so on untill the full Moon appears.
Fact 7: the full Moon rises exactly in the East, goes to South, then sets in West. It behaves just like the Sun, but this is only valid during the 13,14 and 15 days of Moon age, which we, Muslims, call the "White Days"(ayyam al baydh). These are the days of each month where we are recommended to fast by our Prophet (S)
Fact 8: from the day 15 to 30 of the Moon phase, the Moon will start to appear later and later at night. Remember at the beginning, the Moon was appearing in the West, but now, the Moon will start to appear in the East, this is crucial information that must be retained: the Moon appears in West during the first phases, and it appears in East during the last phases.(click on the picture to see a larger view)

Basic navigation: finding Qiblah direction using Sun

{ وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ ٱلَّيلَ وَٱلْنَّهَارَ وَٱلشَّمْسَ وَٱلْقَمَرَ وَٱلْنُّجُومُ مُسَخَّرَاتٌ بِأَمْرِهِ إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَعْقِلُونَ }

"And He has subjected for you the night and day and the sun and moon, and the stars are subjected by His command. Indeed in that are signs for a people who reason." Surat An-Naĥl (The Bee) [16:16}

The following page would help find our Qiblah direction using some simple and basic knowledge. Every Muslim and Muslimah should be able to tell the 4 directions (North, South, East, West) at any moment of the day, or the night without the need of any compass or GPS. There is nothing difficult in finding directions and all science Come from Allah, Who Created the Stars, Moon and Sun for us to make use of them.


The directions are referred to North, South, East and West. We must know, according to the place/ country where we live, the direction of Qiblah. Muslims in the U.S. face Eastwards for Mekkah, people in Muscat, Oman, must face West, People in Azerbaijan would face South etc. The issue is to face that direction using the Sun and this is what the following page would help us with...


Fact 1: Sun indicates East when it rises
Fact 2: Sun indicates West when it sets
Fact 3: Sun indicates South at midday (for people in Southern Hemisphere, Sun indicates North at midday)
Fact 4: Sun travels from East to West via the South. The people in Southern Hemisphere would see the Sun travel from East to West, but via the North.


If you face any of the cardinal points (N,S,E,W), then you could tell the 3 other directions easily..

Say I face the Sun when it rises, then I am facing East.
My back is towards West.
My right side = South. 
My left hand side = North

If you face any direction, then you could tell the other 3. ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW IS ONE DIRECTION ONLY, and the rest could be deducted from that one...That is exactly what a compass would do, it would always indicate one direction, North, then you would deduct the 3 other directions  based on the finding of the North position.

Fact 1: Sun position at sunrise = East (click on image for larger view)

Fact 2: Sun position at sunset = West (click on image for larger view)

Fact 3: Sun position at midday = South (click on image for larger view)

In the picture above, the 3 other directions could then be easily deducted: ahead of me is West, on my right is North and behind me is East. If I am in Malaysia, I know that Qiblah direction is towards West, I would then be praying towards the sea to be facing Qiblah.

So these are the basic navigation aids that every Muslim and Muslimah should know, we should never get lost if we know the basic movements of the Sun and Moon....Make sure you teach your children about these as soon as they can understand the concepts

My other entries will describe night navigation using the Moon, and stars. We will also look into some more advanced navigation where we have no Sun visible (cloudy days/ inside Jungle) and yet, still be able to have a rough indication on our directions...

Bringing smile to a child with a cat

Al hamdulil'Allah, today we had our first pet ever in the house. One of my colleagues, a Chinese Lady, could not keep her cat as she often goes to the field and no one is there to feed her during her absence. She asked me if I wanted a cat...

We never had any pet at home, so I took the evening to think about it and talked to my children about bringing the cat at home...they were all so excited about the idea, and I realised how much this could bring joy to them..Based on the fact that it is important to bring joy to Muslims (& one's house), I called my colleague and told her in the evening that we would come and pick up her cat the following day...

My youngest daughter could not wait untill we went there, she was the one pushing us ahead today, untill we left after Dohr to pick up the cat..

The cat's name is "Beijing"...and she is just 4 months old. We brought her home, along many other toys/food/towels that my colleague kindly offered to us...The cat has all the vaccines and the veterinary even put some covers on her nails to prevent her from scratching furniture. One last vaccine is due next week and then nothing required until another year..

Beijing is settling OK, and making discoveries in her new home. After the excitement of the moment, I suddenly started questioning about the najassa of a cat, can we pray if the cat touches our hands, clothes etc...
Al hamdulil'Allah, after searching the web, there is absolutely nothing wrong with keeping a cat at home, as per the reply taken from islamqa website:

I know that cats in Islam are regarded as clean and pure animals but i am not sure what the ruling is on keeping them in the house as pets.
I don't have anything against cats but i feel keeping them in the house and letting them wonder around the kitchen، bedroom etc is unhygienic. Please could you shed some light on this issue.

Praise be to Allaah.

It is permissible in Islam for a person to keep permissible things that no one else has taken possession of before him, such as taking firewood from the desert or wood from the forest. The same applies to taking cats and raising them. One takes possession of a permissible thing by be acquiring it and having it under one's care, provided that it does not belong to anyone. 

Based on the above, we may say that there is nothing wrong with keeping cats which do not belong to anyone, on condition that one feeds them and does not torment them. But if it is proven that they cause some harm, such as if they are ill or one fears that they may transmit disease, then you should not keep them, because “there should be no harming nor reciprocating harm.” So whoever will be harmed by a cat’s presence should not keep one. Similarly, one who is not able to feed a cat should let it eat from the vermin of the earth and not keep it locked up, because of the report  narrated by al-Bukhaari (3223) and Muslim (1507) from ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with them both), according to which the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “A woman was punished because of a cat which she kept locked up until it died, and she entered Hell because of it, because she did not feed it or give it water when she kept it locked up, neither did she let it eat from the vermin of the earth.” For more information see question no. 3004. 

With regard to cats eating food or drinking water, that does not make the food or water naajis (impure), because of the report narrated in Sunan Abi Dawood and elsewhere, which says that a woman brought some hareesah (a kind of food) to ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her) and found her praying. (‘Aa’ishah) gestured to her that she should put it down. Then a cat came and ate some of it. When ‘Aa’ishah had finished praying, she ate from where the cat had eaten and said, “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘They (cats) are not naajis (impure), rather they are among those who go around among you (al-tawwaafeena ‘alaykum).’ I saw the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) doing wudoo’ with water from which a cat had drunk.” 

According to another report narrated by Abu Dawood (68) from Kabshah bint Ka’b ibn Maalik, who was married to Ibn Abi Qutaadah, Abu Qutaadah entered and she poured some water for him to do wudoo’. A cat came and drank from the water, and he tipped the vessel for it so that it could drink. Kabshah said: “He saw me looking at him and he said, ‘Do you find it strange, O daughter of my brother?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, “They (cats) are not naajis (impure), rather they are among those who go around among you (al-tawwaafeena ‘alaykum).”’” These two reports were classed as saheeh by al-Bukhaari, al-Daaraqutni and others, as was stated in al-Talkhees by Ibn Hajar, 1/15. 

“Those who go around among you (al-tawwaafeena ‘alaykum)” means that they are like servants who are with people in their houses, i.e., cats are always with people, in their houses and among their vessels and furnishings, etc., and this is something that cannot be helped. 

So if a cat drinks  from a vessel or eats some of the food, it does not become naajis (impure). The owner has the choice. If he is not put off or if he needs it, he may eat (the food) or drink (the water), because it is taahir (pure), unless it is obvious that it will cause harm. If he is put off by the idea of eating or drinking, then he may leave it. 

But we should point out here that what some people do, paying a great deal of attention to their cats and beautifying them, spending large amounts of money on them, is indicative of a lack of common sense and religious commitment, and exaggeration with regard to leisure, when there are millions of needy Muslims all over the world, let alone the fact that we Muslims should pay attention to making the best use of our time and filling it with worthwhile and beneficial pursuits, far removed from this folly which has come to us from the kaafir west where some people spend more on their cats and dogs than they spend on their own sons and daughters, let alone the poor and needy. They may even bring their pets to stay in fancy hotels and bequeath large amounts of money to them. Praise be to Allaah Who has honoured us with Islam and distinguished us from all the other nations. 

We should also point out that selling cats is not allowed, as was narrated in Saheeh Muslim (2933) from Abu’l-Zubayr who said: “I asked Jaabir about the price of a dog or a cat. He said, ‘The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) forbade that.’” For more information see question no. 7004 and 10207. 

And Allaah knows best.

Islam Q&A
Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid

http://www.islamqa.com/en/ref/22373

So al hamdulil'Allah and Thanks to Allah, to have been allowed to bring some joy to the children today..

Crow burying food

For those who do not know that the crows can actually bury some of their food...Allah Sent a crow to one of Adams' sons to teach him how to bury our dead

{ فَبَعَثَ ٱللَّهُ غُرَاباً يَبْحَثُ فِي ٱلأَرْضِ لِيُرِيَهُ كَيْفَ يُوَارِي سَوْءَةَ أَخِيهِ قَالَ يَاوَيْلَتَا أَعَجَزْتُ أَنْ أَكُونَ مِثْلَ هَـٰذَا ٱلْغُرَابِ فَأُوَارِيَ سَوْءَةَ أَخِي فَأَصْبَحَ مِنَ ٱلنَّادِمِينَ }

"Then Allah sent a crow scratching the ground to show him how to cover the dead body of his brother. He said : Woe to me ! Am I not able to be as this crow and cover the dead body of my brother? So he became of those who regret"

Quran 5:31


The following vids just give us an idea on how the crows do bury some of their food...

Home workshop V2.0

Here is my upgraded workshop at home, after buying few more items and tidying up here and there..

And here is a picture of one of my assistants and also main clients, few of his cars are queuing, waiting to get patched/fixed/ salvaged...