The Power of the Qibla!

Over the past 2 days, I've been blessed to spend some time near the House of Allah, the Ka'aba, in Makkah. And as I sat and stared at this magnificent building which although is simple in design, yet there's something about it that pulls the heart towards it, a thought crossed my mind.

The Ka'aba is the most powerful focus mechanism the world has ever known. No building in history, attracts so many people, and is the focus of attention of many around the world as this building is. As Muslims, we all know that although we do not worship the Ka'aba, but it is the centre of focus that Allah has chosen for us for our daily prayers. We turn to it, from every part of the globe, and conduct our prayers towards it.

This sense of focus & oneness only intensifies as you get closer and sit in front of it, however, it can be experienced from whichever part of the world by consciously "turning your face to the Qibla" as the instruction in the Quran says.
The beauty of the matter is, as you focus, and consciously realise that you're facing the Qibla, your mind is cleared except with the ONE important thought that should always occupy our minds: Allah (Swt). Such an exercise, done on a daily basis, 5 times a day or more, can truly have an astounding positive effect on the psychology of a person (and of course, his/her productivity!)

Imagine, throughout the day, we're bombarded with so many things and distracted by many others, and by simply taking time out, to face a particular direction and focus on Allah and our purpose of life, we give time for our mind to relax and reorganise itself into its true set of priorities.

The one-ness of the Ka'ba as an object, and it's central location both physically and in the hearts of many Muslims around the world make it a centre of focus like no other. And we only need to turn towards this focal point, to help us remember Allah, and clear our minds from all the distractions that we're indulged in day and night.
May Allah (Swt) bless every Muslim with the opportunity to visit His blessed House, and for those who live nearby it, not to take it for granted. I end with a true story of a shiekh who used to live in Saudi and went and visited an African country for charity purposes, he visited an old man there who was on his death bed, and as the old man found out that his visitor went to Makkah, he drew all his energy, held onto the shiekh and stared at his eyes and said "I want to see the eyes of a man who saw the Ka'aba".