Never really got this one in a general sense. Why pray towards a location? Shouldn’t they be praying to God. Pretty sure he’s not tucked away in that evil looking black cube building.
Many (most?) churches of the Jesus variant of Sky Daddy believers point generally eastward - it’s where the word orientation (I.e. The Orient / east) comes from. Gives people somewhere tangible to focus - and is also where the sun rises. Gets full use out of those beautiful windows to point towards sunrise and/or sunset.
Organization purposes. The entire purpose of religion is to organize people under a common belief. If everyone prays to random directions, its all chaos. Religion is all about maintaining order. It might not make sense now we all live in very sophisticated, organized societies, but we came from anarchy, and religion is derived from the fear of said anarchy. All civilizations have had some form of religion in common.
Islam came from a very tribal, disorganized place where everyone pretty much did as they pleased, especially the stronger. And so Islam has rules for everything to avoid specifically that.
Never really got this one in a general sense. Why pray towards a location? Shouldn’t they be praying to God. Pretty sure he’s not tucked away in that evil looking black cube building.
I guess I’m looking for logic in the wrong place.
Many (most?) churches of the Jesus variant of Sky Daddy believers point generally eastward - it’s where the word orientation (I.e. The Orient / east) comes from. Gives people somewhere tangible to focus - and is also where the sun rises. Gets full use out of those beautiful windows to point towards sunrise and/or sunset.
Organization purposes. The entire purpose of religion is to organize people under a common belief. If everyone prays to random directions, its all chaos. Religion is all about maintaining order. It might not make sense now we all live in very sophisticated, organized societies, but we came from anarchy, and religion is derived from the fear of said anarchy. All civilizations have had some form of religion in common.
Islam came from a very tribal, disorganized place where everyone pretty much did as they pleased, especially the stronger. And so Islam has rules for everything to avoid specifically that.