Hi Original Thinker. Actually, you've misunderstood the custom - it's not a question of east or west, but rather of facing Mecca (or more specifically, the Kaaba inside Mecca.

So, the people in and around the city would be forming circles around the Kaaba, rather than a line of longitude.

I'm not sure what you'd do if you were on the exact opposite side of the earth from the Kaaba...

Marion