This is something I have always wondered about.

Muslims traditionally kneel and face east, to Mecca, when they pray.

Now, does that also apply if you lived just outside Mecca, on the eastward side, or would you turn round and face the city, ie facing west ?

You see what I am getting at ? I would hazard a guess that it might be considered disrespectful to pray with your rear pointed towards the birthplace of the prophet, but maybe not.

If in fact Muslims just to the eastward side of Mecca do face west to do their prayers, then at some point , at some line of longitude it must be compulsory to face the other way.

This raises the interesting possibility that you could have two groups of Muslims praying simultaneously on either side of the "critical" line, and they would both be facing each other. Or rather , facing away from each other.

Am I the first person ever to have wondered about this ?