Question: What does istiqbal al-qibla, which is one of the conditions of salat, mean?
ANSWER
It means offering salat in the direction of the Ka’ba. The direction of the building of the Ka’ba, which is located in Mecca, is called qibla.

Question: Does the term qibla refer to the structure of the Ka’ba?
ANSWER
Qibla is not the building of the Ka’ba; it is its building plot. That is, that space from the Earth to ’Arsh is the qibla. For this reason, a person who is down in a well, under the sea, on top of a high mountain, or on a plane can perform salat in that direction.

Question: How can I locate qibla easily? Is there a rule of thumb?
ANSWER
Place an analog watch horizontally with its face toward the sky and its hour hand in the same direction as the sun. Imagine a line halving the angle between the hour hand and the 12. This line points south. The opposite end of the line points north.

When one turns eastward by 29° from south in Istanbul, one will locate the qibla. To that end, place the analog watch on a table with the 6 toward south. When the minute hand is manually moved to the 5, it will point to the qibla.

Question: There is a section called Qibla Hour on Turkiye Calendar. What is it?
ANSWER
When one faces the sun during the qibla hour of a city, the direction one faces will be the direction of the Ka’ba, so one will locate the qibla direction for that city.