If you are illiterate and can't read his fatwa, listen to what Husayn Jisr [^26] has to say, since he is our contemporary and holds similar ideas to us. For he both loudly threatened those who deny that the earth is round, and with the power of truth declared fearlessly: "Whoever denies the earth's sphericity citing religion and to defend it is a foolish friend and more harmful than a fierce enemy."

[^26]:Ḥusayn al-Jisr of Syria (d. 1327/1909), scholar, educationalist, and apologist, and author of the famous exposition of the basic beliefs of Islam, al-Risāla al-Ḥamīdiyya. See, al-Risāla al-Ḥamīdiyya (Beirut: 1305 Mali), 372-3.

If his resounding voice does not rouse your idea of the truth from its slumbers and your eyes do not open, take the hand of people like Ibn Humam [^27] and Fakhr al-Islam. [^28] Go to Imam Shafi'i [^29] and ask for a fatwa. Ask him:

[^27]:Kamāl al-Dīn Muḥammad b. 'Abd al-Wāḥid Ibn al-Humām (d. 861/1457). An eminent Hanafi/Maturidi jurist and theologian. Born in Alexandria, though his family hailed from Sivas, and died in Cairo.

[^28]:Abū al-'Usr Fakhr al-Islām al-Bazdawī (d. 482/1089). Another eminent Hanafi/Maturidi jurist. Born in the region of Bukhara and died at Kish, some distance from Samarqand.

[^29]:Imām Abū 'Abd Allāh Muhammad b. Idrīs al-Shāfi'ī (d. 204/820), founder of the Shafi'i school of law. Born in Gazza in Palestine, and died in Cairo. He was descended on his father's side from the Quraysh tribe, sharing a great-great grandfather, 'Abd al-Manaf, with the Prophet Muhammad (UWBP).

"It is included in the Shari'a that all five of the daily ṣalāt may be performed in a single period between two of the ṣalāt. Moreover, there is a people for whom there are times they cannot perform the 'Ishā' ṣalāt, and there is another people for whom the sun never sets for days and for many nights the sun never rises, so how can they perform the fast?" And ask that since according to the Shari'a a matter is stipulated in accordance with its connection (mukârin) with other principal matters, how should the direction of the qibla be fixed, which is obligatory for the ṣalāt? For there is a connection (mukârenet) only in those parts of the ṣalāt performed while standing and half-sitting?

You may be certain that Imam Shafi'i would solve the first mat-