Why do Muslims have to face Makkah?1 to pray?
When Muslims pray towards Makkah they are actually praying towards the Ka’bah. The Ka’bah is a stone building that Muslims believe was built by Prophet Abraham. The Ka’bah is referred to as the House of God. This is because they believe it was the first structure to be built for the worship of only one God. So, facing the Ka’bah is symbolic of monotheism and a sign of the unity of the missions of all the prophets of God. In the period immediately before the rise of Islam, the pagan Arabs had used the Ka’bah as a shrine holding their idols, thus perverting the use of the Ka’bah. This is why Muslims prayed facing Jerusalem for a period of time, until the Ka’bah had been cleansed of the idols by the Prophet Muhammad.
