What are the means by which the qiblah is determined in the open or in the desert?

There remained an issue that I was asked to clarify before the prayer: how can we determine the direction and orientation of the qiblah when we are in the open or in the desert, where there is no mosque found in that location? It is possible that a mosque exists, but its qiblah is deviated from the Sacred House of Allah. So what are the methods and means? You all know what is known today as the compass, which was known in the time of the Turks, even in Arab countries, as the "qiblah name," which is a foreign name, naturally, to Arabic, and its translation is: the indicator of the qiblah. Before this device was known, how did the early Muslims, who were traveling between Makkah and Madinah on winding roads, without a doubt, and between Madinah and Tabuk, for example in the Battle of Tabuk, how did they know the direction of the qiblah in those deserts and barren lands? This is easy for one who takes care to familiarize himself with the means of guidance to know the qiblah. Undoubtedly, this varies depending on the locations of the lands where we are. For example, their departure from Madinah to Tabuk is clear to all these people that they went north. But when the Islamic preachers went to the right, for example, like Mu'adh ibn Jabal, Ali ibn Abi Talib, and Abu Musa al-Ash'ari, they went south. So the knowledge of the qiblah differs between the one who headed north and the one who headed south. Likewise, the matter differs between the one who went east and the one who went west. This means that the Muslim must know, by his fitrah or by his knowledge, the four directions. We must know east, west, north, and south. This is not part of the science of geography or astronomy that the Muslim should learn, just as he learns other theoretical sciences. Knowing the directions is a fitrah matter shared by the literate and the illiterate, because he sees the sun rise from here and set from there, and when it rises, he sees it lean toward the south, not toward the north. Then he sees that its lean toward the south varies with the seasons. For example, in summer, as we are in our time, in our day today, we almost see the sun above our heads at noon, while in winter we see the sun leaning toward the south. These are matters of Allah's (Mighty and Majestic) organization of these celestial bodies with His perfect wisdom for the benefit of mankind, as He the Exalted said: . So one benefit of the sun is that we use it to determine the direction of the qiblah wherever we are. But as I said earlier, there is a difference between being north of the qiblah, the Ka'bah, and being south of it. We are, in our reality today, here north of the Ka'bah. To know the qiblah wherever we are, we must determine the direction of east and the direction of west. This is easy when the sun is up. If we want to know the direction of the Ka'bah when the time for the midday prayer or Jumu'ah catches us, first of all, we determine the direction of the east and the west. We place our left hand toward the east, so our right hand is toward the west, and the south is in front of us. Here, in this discussion, there is a bit of precision. Geographers divide the earth into imaginary mental lines, but they build important scientific facts on them, including what concerns us now: the lines they call lines of longitude, which are connected from the North Pole to the South Pole. All the lands of the world are on these lines. Let us assume now that the straight imaginary line from the North Pole to the South Pole passes through the Sacred Mosque in Makkah. Those who are on this line, north and south of it, who are north of the Sacred House of Allah, face the Ka'bah directly without deviating to the right or left, because it is assumed that the land we are in is on the same line of longitude as the Sacred Mosque or Makkah. Conversely, whoever is south of Makkah faces north, because Makkah or the Ka'bah is to the north. This is clear. But the difference now is that this line of longitude I have described to you runs in front of me and behind me, but the Ka'bah may be to the right or left for some lands. Here, the matter requires something related to the science of geography, meaning that you know which line your country is on. I give you a very clear example now. We are here in Oman. Iraq is to our east. For example, Egypt is to our southwest, or south-southwest, or west-southwest; the terms are not limited. If we assume now that the Ka'bah is in Iraq, what do we face? The east. If the Ka'bah is in Egypt, what do we face? The southwest, and so on. Now, imagine yourselves in Egypt. Egypt, with respect to the qiblah, the qiblah is to their east, just like Jeddah. If none of you has gone to Egypt, you have surely gone to Jeddah, if Allah wills. So Jeddah: those who pray and face the Sacred Mosque face the sun exactly, they face the east, meaning. So the world is like this, all its lands surround the Ka'bah like a circle. Therefore, the one who wants to determine the direction of the Ka'bah must have in his mind knowledge of his location: is he north of the Ka'bah or south of it? Then, if he is north of it, as we are, is it due north on the line of longitude, or is it deviated, ten degrees, twenty degrees, thirty degrees? If he knows this difference in terms of lines of longitude, it is easy for him afterwards to know the direction of the qiblah.