Indonesian Muslims Were Praying in Wrong Direction

Council miscalculated direction of Mecca
Indonesian Muslims Were Praying In Wrong Direction
Indonesian Muslim men perform Eid al-Adha prayer at Sunda Kelapa port in Jakarta, Indonesia.   (AP)

Indonesian Muslims discovered that they have been praying in the wrong direction on Friday when the country's highest Islamic authority admitted that the instructions it gave to face west had worshipers turned toward Africa instead of Saudi Arabia. Muslims are always supposed to face the holy city of Mecca while praying, but the Indonesian Ulema Council miscalculated slightly when it issued an edict in March instructing Indonesians to pray in a direction that is actually more in line with Kenya and Somalia.

"We are now suggesting people shift the direction slightly to the north-west," the head of the council told Reuters. "There's no need to knock down mosques, just shift your direction slightly during prayer." He also assured Muslims that the errant prayers would still be heard by Allah. (More Indonesia stories.)

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