DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CNN) — Majid Abu Zahra, head of the Astronomical Society in Jeddah, said on Sunday that the sky over the city of Makkah al-Mukharramah saw the sun perpendicular to the Kaaba. According to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), for the first time in a year, the noon call to prayer at the Grand Mosque will be at 12:18 in 2023.

Abu Zahra stated in the report that “the position of the Noble Kaaba between the Equator and the Tropic of Cancer results in the phenomenon of the Sun being perpendicular to it” and “during the Sun’s apparent motion”. The sky becomes direct with Kapha when it moves from the equator to the Tropic of Cancer in May, and when the Sun returns south to the equator from the Tropic of Cancer in July,” according to (SPA).

Abu Zahra explained, “All regions located north and south less than 23.5 degrees experience this phenomenon twice a year, but at different times depending on the latitude of the place. It is characterized by some places defined between the equator and the equator. The Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn,” according to the report. .

Abu Zahra said, “One of the methods used by the ancients to more accurately determine the direction of the Qibla was using a piece of wood placed perpendicular to the surface of the earth. When vertical, the opposite direction of the shadow is towards the Kaaba, which is absolutely honorable for all residents of the regions.” Far from Mecca in Arab countries, the neighboring regions of the North Pole, Africa, Europe, China, Russia and East Asia. .

He said that the phenomenon of sun perpendicularity was used to calculate the circumference of the Earth without the need for modern technologies, using some simple rules in ancient systematic geometry dating back two thousand years, and also implying sphericity. Earth, he said.