Sacred Orientation: How Medieval Muslims, Jews and Christians Understood the Qibla

When any Muslim worships, from anywhere in the world, they orientate themselves towards Mecca. Whether in a mosque, at home, or outdoors, this act of orientation is a prerequisite of prayer. So much so, in fact, that it is easy to take this for granted, without wondering how this came about, and what Muslim—and non-Muslim—scholars thought about it over the centuries. In this episode, we explore the origins, implications and debates about qibla, or sacred orientation, from the verses of the Quran through the inter-religious dialogues of the medieval period and the evidence of early mosque architecture. Nile Green talks to Ari M. Gordon, author of Sacred Orientation in Late Antiquity and Early Islam (Routledge, 2026).