The Kabah and Stonehenge: a Mysterious Connection?

THE KABA AND STONEHENGE: A MYSTERIOUS CONNECTION? 

by Imad Ahmed

Stonehenge and the alignment to the Moon

Several news articles report today that researchers and tourists will be flooding to Stonehenge in January 2025, because it coincides with a major astronomical event, known as the 'major lunar standstill'. This is when the moonrise and moonset are at their respective farthest points from each other. Pilgrims and researchers will observe the alignment of Stonehenge to the moon's most extreme southern rising point. This alignment only happens once every 18 or 19 years (or 18.6 years to be more precise), and will be livestreamed. 

U Mass stone circle - a modern stone circle showing how ancient ones may have worked

Dail Mail today

Daily Mail

BBC today

NB: linking to the BBC or the Daily Mail is not an endorsement of either - !!

The Kabah and the alignment to the Moon

But do you know, the Kabah is also oriented along with the moon? And there is something very significant that will also happen at the Kabah during this major lunar standstill. 

During the standstill, the moon sets at its southern most point in its 18.6 year cycle.

In this period, the southwest axis of the Kabah precisely aligns to the setting point of the new crescent moon behind the mountains of Makkah. 

In other words, if a group of monthly moonsighters were standing at Maqam Ibrahim - they would see the crescent moon and then watch it beautifully set in front of them behind Makkah's mountains, perfectly aligned to the Kaba's wall. 

Look this way to see the crescent moon! Kabah oriented in this picture according N/E/S/W

The degree of accuracy is astonishing - according to archaeoastronomer Gerald Hawkins, it is accurate to less than 1°. To put this into context: it is well known and recorded in early texts that the south-east facing wall is aligned to the rising point of the star, Canopus. We find to be true and accurate to around 2°. Given that this lunar alignment of the Kabah during the lunar standstill is accurate to less than 1°, achaeoastronmoers conclude that such a level of accuracy cannot be coincidental.

You can read more about this, with a greater detail of the astronomical calculations here.

This will occur this year for the month of Jumada al Thani, corresponding with 2 December 2024. This will be the southern most setting point for the visible hilal (crescent moon) in the 18.6 year cycle.

If you are in Makkah this December 2024, please let us know of your experience of sighting the crescent, especially if you can do so near the Kabah!  

Astronomy and the Kaba: Forgotten knowledge and abandoned sunnahs

Remarkably, this information was discovered only a few decades ago by modern archaeoastronomers and is not mentioned in any of the medieval Arabic manuscripts currently accessible. While these medieval texts note that the southwest wall of the Kaaba generally aligns with the crescent moon's appearance during winter, particularly near the winter solstice, they do not document the precise alignment of the Kaaba’s southwest axis with the moonset during the lunar standstill. 

The scholar who first wrote about this in the West is called Gerald Hawkins, who investigated this with the help of another scholar of Muslim astronomy, David King. Hawkins has a fairly recent book called “Minsteps to the Cosmos”, where he looks at a number of monuments, including Stonehenge, the Kabah, and others. He depicts the scene of crescent sighting for an ancient Arab very vividly:

“A person in pre-Islamic times looking along the line of the wall from the black meteorite would see the crescent in the West at the extreme point of the 18.6 year cycle. A person standing at the sanctified stone of Abraham looking at the front face of the Kaba would see the moon setting over the shrine. The crescent would [then] swing to the right winter by winter as it did for a person within the station stone rectangle at Stonehenge, returning in its cycle to align again with the building’s axis” 

It is a shame to think that most Muslims nowadays do not know much about the sunnah of crescent observation, let alone this incredible astronomical alignment with the Kaba! It is staggering to think that thousands will perform pilgrimage from around the world to Stonehenge to observe its alignment with the lunar standstill, whilst very few will know even where to look in Makkah! 

This is just another reason why it is so important to not abandon the sunnahs of unaided local naked eye sightings of the crescent moon, and the cosmos in general, especially in the holy lands of Makkah and Madina. Whoever laid the foundations of the Kabah, we can presume, did so with this cosmic alignment in mind - but in our modern age, these alignments pass us by. 

This astronomical alignment also once again highlights the incredible astronomical knowledge of ancient civilisations. It's worth noting here that some Muslims today propose that we should abandon moonsightings and use a calculated lunar calendar instead. They argue that ancient Muslims lacked astronomical knowledge, suggesting that since modern technology allows for precise calculations of lunar movements, moonsighting is now obsolete. However, this perspective overlooks the fact that medieval Muslims were among the greatest astronomers in human history. They were fully capable of calculating lunar cycles but chose to continue moonsighting. Time and time again, we discover the advanced nature of ancient astronomy. This article should give them pause for thought insha allah, and help them reevaluate their perceptions of past civilisations! 

Cosmic timepieces covered by skyscraper clocks

It does appear to that due to the high rise hotel buildings all across the skyline in the South/South West direction, you'd probably struggle to see the sun setting, let alone the setting crescent moon in the sky. Sadly, it seems like the cosmic timekeeper - the moon - has been obscured by the new clock tower in Makkah!

In the past, there were building-planning rules in Makkah which stated that no building in the vicinity of the Kabah could be taller than the Kabah. This is why the old Ottoman masjid was only a single storey masjid and shorter than The Kabah. This would mean that people at The Kabah could easily see the sun moon and stars rise and set; it would also mean that people coming in from outside of Makkah would be able to see the Kabah at a distance. From the Cave of Hira for example, the Prophet Muhammad (s) had a clear sight of vision of the Kabah - though this view today is totally obscured by buildings.

Sadly, the building of high rise buildings in Makkah obscure the view of the skyline

A pilgrimage to Stonehenge

Ancient monuments and their connection to the cosmos

Why is the Kaba oriented in this way? Why is Stonehenge oriented in this way?

Nobody knows for sure, but theories do suggest that ancient monuments like Stonehenge served as a kind of cosmic calendars. This theory is particularly prominent for Stonehenge, as we can see in the below picture:

Could Stonehenge have been an ancient calendar?

In terms of the Kabah, there do appear to be multiple other cosmic alignments. The Kabah is aligned to the local winds, to the sun's setting and rising on certain dates of the year, and the the rising point of the famous Southern star called Canopus, or Suhayl in Arabic.

Some of the Kaba's alignments

David King, an historian and astronomer who has dedicated his life to studying Muslim astronomers has eloquently suggested that the Kabah was aligned in a way which acted as a metaphor or symbol for the deep unity in the creation of the world we live in. As he eloquently says in his 1982 article 'Faces of the Kaba':

"All things considered, it seems likely that the Kaaba was a kind of microcosm of the celestial and terrestrial universe of the … Arabs. Each of the most important aspects oftheir physical world is represented: of the celestial, the sun, the moon, and Canopus, the brightest star in the southern sky; of the terrestrial, the winds, the rains, and the geographic directions. Unifying the cosmos of celestial bodies, winds, rains, and directions in this way would not have been strange to the pre-Islamic Arabs: astronomical and meteorological phenomena were intimately connected in their folklore."

What might this mean? What is the relationship between the people who built Stonehenge and the Kabah, if any? It's hard to say. When I've shared this information with my friends, some have speculated something along the lines as follows: "We Muslims believe that there is only One God, and that there has only been one religion, with various messengers, prophets and sages around the world divinely inspired by the same God. Perhaps this suggests a spiritual or religious connection between Abraham, who built the Kabah, and the ancient inhabitants of Britain?"

What's clear is, there was a world of advanced knowledge held by the ancients. We are only scratching the surface.

NB: Thank you to Juned Patel for advice on the technical astronomical aspects of this blogpost, and making sense of the data. You can follow him on instagram @junedastro.