qibla

English

Alternative forms

• qiblah, kiblah

Etymology

From Arabic قِبْلَة (qibla, “which is opposite”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɪblə/; (like Arabic) IPA^(key): [ˈqibla]

Noun

qibla (countable and uncountable, plural qiblas)

1. (Islam) The direction in which Muslims face while praying, currently determined as the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca.
   • 1990, Michael E. Bonine, “Sacred Direction and City Structure”, in Oleg Grabar, editor, Muqarnas: An Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture, volume 7, page 68:

     The other mosques' qiblas are also in the 150°'s range, except for the Andalusian Mosque which has a qibla of 148° (table 7, fig. 17).

   • 1999, David A. King, World Maps for Finding the Direction and Distance of Mecca, page 56:

     Muslim astronomers from the 8th century onwards concerned themselves with the determination of the qibla as a problem of mathematical geography.

   • 2002, Andrew Petersen, Dictionary of Islamic Architecture, page 218:

     The original portico was on the west side (i.e. at right angles to the qibla) and consisted of three bays resting on two marble columns.

Usage notes

Inside a mosque, the qibla is indicated by the location of the mihrab and the orientation of the prayer wall. The qibla (as determined at the time of construction) is therefore reflected in the construction of the building. For this reason, and especially in the case of historical buildings, the mosque itself is sometimes said to have a qibla (or qibla direction), possibly different from the independently calculated direction or from that of other nearby mosques.

Synonyms

• (direction in which Muslims pray): qibla direction

Derived terms

• qibla compass

Related terms

• ghibli

Translations

direction of praying

• Arabic: قِبْلَة (ar) f (qibla)

  Hijazi Arabic: قِبْلة f (gibla)

• Azerbaijani: qiblə
• Bashkir: ҡибла (qibla)
• Belarusian: кі́бла f (kíbla)
• Bengali: ক্বিবলা (kibla)
• Bulgarian: ки́бла f (kíbla)
• Catalan: alquibla (ca) f
• Crimean Tatar: qıbla
• Esperanto: kiblo, Kiblo
• French: qibla (fr) f, kibla (fr) f, kiblat (fr) f, kiblet (fr) f
• Georgian: ქიბლა (kibla)
• German: Qibla f
• Hindi: किबला (hi) m (kiblā), क़िबला m (qiblā), क़िबलाह m (qiblāh)
• Indonesian: kiblat (id)
• Italian: qibla f
• Japanese: キブラ (ja) (kibura)
• Kazakh: құбыла (qūbyla)
• Korean: 키블라 (kibeulla)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: qible (ku)

• Kyrgyz: кыбыла (kıbıla)
• Malay: kiblat
• Ottoman Turkish: قبله (kıble)
• Pashto: قبله (ps) f (qebla)
• Persian:

  Classical Persian: قِبْلَه (fa) (qibla)

  Iranian Persian: قِبْلِه (fa) (ğeble)

• Russian: ки́бла (ru) f (kíbla), кы́бла (ru) f (kýbla) (rare)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ки́бла f

  Roman: kíbla (sh) f

• Spanish: alquibla (es) f
• Swahili: kibla
• Tajik: қибла (qibla)
• Tatar: кыйбла (tt) (qıybla)
• Turkish: kıble (tr)
• Turkmen: kybla
• Ukrainian: кі́бла (kíbla)
• Urdu: قِبْلَہ m (qibla)
• Uyghur: قىبلە (qible)
• Uzbek: qibla (uz)

See also

• mihrab
• salat

Anagrams

• Iqbal

Maltese

Etymology

From Arabic قِبْلة (qibla, “direction of prayer towards Mekka”). The geographically peculiar use for “south” is also found in some dialects of Maghrebi Arabic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʔɪb.la/

Noun

qibla f

1. (archaic or obsolete) south

   Synonym: nofsinhar

Coordinate terms

• (compass points) punti tal-kumpass;

majjistral	tramuntana (xmiel)	grigal
punent (għarb)		lvant (xerq)
lbiċ	nofsinhar (qibla)	xlokk

Uzbek

Etymology

Inherited from Chagatai قبله, from Arabic قِبْلَة (qibla).

Noun

Other scripts
Cyrillic	қибла (qibla)‍
Latin	‍
Perso-Arabic

qibla (plural qiblalar)

1. qibla