Muslims prayed in wrong direction for 37 years in village in Turkey’s west

YALOVA

Muslims in a village in western Turkey have discovered they had performed their prayers in the wrong direction for 37 years.

The Sugören mosque, which was built in the Sugören village of the Yalova province in 1981, appointed İsa Kaya as an imam last year.

After local rumors that his congregation had been praying facing the wrong direction, Kaya recently applied to the mufti’s office in Yalova to check if the rumors held truth, Demirören News Agency reported on Oct. 17.

According to the Quran, Muslims must perform their prayers five times a day in the direction of the qibla, which is the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca.

A team from the mufti’s office confirmed last month that the mihrab, a semicircular niche in the wall of a mosque indicating the qibla, had been built in the wrong place when the mosque was built.

Instead of demolishing parts of the mosque to correct the mihrab, officials opted for an improptu solution and put white strips on the carpet indicating the right direction for prayer.

“We have explained the situation to our congregation and most of them have reacted positively to our solution,” Kaya told the agency.