Also 8 kiblé, 8–9 kebl. [Arab. qiblah, that which is placed opposite, f. qabala to be opposite.] The point (the temple at Mecca) to which Mohammedans turn at prayer.
For a short period in the early history of Islam the kiblah was at Jerusalem.
1704. J. Pitts, Acc. Mahometans, 40. They all stand with their faces one way, i. e. toward the Kiblah, or the Temple at Mecha.
1855. Milman, Lat. Chr., VII. vi. (1864), IV. 172. The prophet had wavered between Mecca and Jerusalem as the Kebla of prayer for his disciples.
1895. A. Menzies, Hist. Relig., 231. This setting of a new ‘kiblah,’ as it is called, declared that Islam … had an Arab not a Jewish centre.
b. A niche in a Mohammedan building on the side towards Mecca.
1775. R. Chandler, Trav. Asia M. (1825), I. 143. The inside is mean, except the kiblé, or portion towards Mecca.
1825. [Sherer], Impr. Egypt & Italy, 78. We alighted at a cool, clean serai … having its kiblah in the wall.
