Brass sheet qiblah compass, engraved, with hinged lid and hasp, Iran, 1800-1875.

Brass sheet qiblah compass, engraved, with hinged lid and hasp; magnetic iron needle under a glass held in place by a pierced brass plate, to which a rotatable pointer and folding simple gnomon are attached. The rotating pointer pivoted at the centre serves to set the direction of Mecca and the gnomon shows noon when its shadow falls on itself, after the compass has been correctly orientated.

This is a typical example of small qiblah compasses produced in Iran during the 18th and 19th centuries. Many carry inscriptions relating to their function which vary in the content. Similar examples in the Khalili collection are engraved with the principle places of pilgrimage for Twelver Shi'is, namely Mecca, Medina, Karbala', Najaf, al-Kazimayn, al-'Askariyyayn, Qum, Mashhad and Imam 'Abd al-'Azim near Tehran; while others contain verses giving instructions on how to use the compass. The literature on the determination of the qiblah is extensive: it appears that the compass in the astronomical compendium Sanduq al-yawaqit ('The Chest of Rubies') made in 1365-6 AD by Ibn Al-Shatir is the first known with a pivotal needle, and of a qiblah compass. The introduction of the magnetic compass from China made it possible to manufacture small instruments which, when correctly orientated by means of the pivoted needle, would show the azimuth of the qiblah from a number of places marked on the compass plate.

Muslims face the holy city of Mecca when they perform their prayers, an orientation known as the Qiblah. Over the centuries many methods have been devised to determine the Qiblah, some more accurate than others. The magnetic compass, introduced from China in the Middle Ages, was an element in many Qiblah finders, including this type, produced in some numbers in nineteenth-century Iran. The brass case is densely engraved with a gazetteer that gives the geographical coordinates of the Qiblah at many cities in the Islamic world.

307-1887