Magnetic Compass and Its Declination Important works of author

from Standard Directions 1 Fathahul Kanz ( A verse in Arabic Malayalam )

2 Tazveedul fikari val himam fee tabyeenil nisabi val Logarithm
3 Ilmul falak ala lauil ilmil hadees
4 Isthikraj aukathi ssalathi vasumoothil Quibla ala hisabi Logarithm
5 Al boosilathul Mignateesiyya vanhirafu’a anil jihathil asliyya
6 Adabul siyami va favaiduha
7 Charithra shakalangal
8 Magnetic Compass and its declination from standard directions

Publishers:

Chembarikka Quazy C Muhammed Kunhi Musliyar Trust

Quazy Abdulla Muhammed Chembarikka Copy right reserved

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 Magnetic Compass and Its Declination
from Standard Directions
Foreword
The term direction is generally understood to every one
but it is difficult to one to define it because all directions are
Most of the people do not care to check the Magnetic
related to another direction. Therefore it is necessary for
Compass they use for making out various points of the basement
practical purpose, Eg: navigation or Quibla determination that
of their structures for Homes or Mosques where accurate
there should be some selected fixed directions to which other
directions of cardinal points should be known. They do not
directions could be related Eg: Quibla point from Kasaragod is
consider the value of the magnetic variation of the place at all
19º45' North from West or 289º 45' from North.
while using a magnetic Compass. This aspect was the
The fixed directions are called standard directions. This
inducement for the author for endeavor.
is provided by the familiar and universally adapted system of
I have tried, in very simple term in the following pages a
North, South, East and West and their sub divisional points.
brief history of magnetic Compass and clear description of
declination of the magnetic needle from the true direction North Direction
including the method by which to find out the standard direction The North direction is fixed by the position of the North
(cardinal points). This book not only explains the direction and pole Which is an imaginary point at the one end of Earth to the
the declination but also guides you to achieve them from their Zenith of Which the pole star is very close. The South is the
sources. opposite direction from the North. East and West directions are
I am very thankful to those prominent persons who at right angles to these.
helped me in this handy-work. First of all I thank Anver hudavi, Magnetic Compass or Mariner’s Compass is a most
the former principal in charge of M.I.C. Darul Irshad Academy, useful instrument to determine the directions.
Chattanchal, Kasargod, who co-operated with me in making this This instrument has a magnetized needle which is free to
version and Ismail hudavi, who was in close co-operation with move in a horizontal plain. The needle always shows not
me in all works. and Dr.Abdul Azeez , M.A, PhD, the principal towards the true North but towards the direction which is called
of M.I.C Arts and Science College, Chattanchal, Kasargod, who the magnetic North. The amount of angle of declination from the
conducted a detailed look-over in matters of literature and true North could be found at various places on the earth and with
Ahmad Kalanad (BE) superintending Engineer (retd.) who gave its correction the true North can correctly be found. The details
me most valuable information and instruments. of that will come afterwards.
Divisions of the Compass
Quazy Abdulla Muhammed Chembarikka Thirty two divisions system
It is mentioned that the main part of compass is a
magnetic needle. The second part is the Compass card or dial. In
the dial two diameters at right angle to one another divide the
circle into four quadrants representing North, South, East and
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West. Each of the Quadrants is further subdivided into eight
equal divisions. Thus the whole circle has thirty two divisions
each of which represent a definite direction. The names given in
the figure to indicate these directions are shown for the first
quadrant only (fig 1).

figur 2

The Modern System

There is another system which is modern and most
efficient method for indicating directions. In this system north is
0º or 360º, east is 90º, south is 180º and west is 270º. Thus in
this system the compass is marked in succession from 0º to 360º
figur 1 in a clock wise direction. This method is most useful to
determine Quibla points in which directions of Quibla display
automatically (see fig 3).
Those in other quadrants are similarly divided and
described. The arc of each of the thirty two divisions substance
an angle which must be 11.25º because the whole circle is 360º
(360/32= 11.25)
Quadrant system
This system is still widely used because it is very useful
for the working of many navigation problems. It is also useful
for the working of Quibla notation using quadrant (Al-Rubah-
Almujeyyeb) which is marked from 0º to 90º. In this system the
compass is divided in to four quadrants by the cardinal points.
N, E, S and W. directions are given to the East of North up to
90º. To the East of South up to 90º. To the West of South up to
90º.And to the West of North up to 90º (see fig 2).

figur 3
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Specification of directions Db-c-±o]sacn-bn¨p-þ ¯c-{[p-h-tc-J-bnÂ
It is supposed that the first identified direction is north. X«n-¨p-t\m-¡n-bm-em-cm þIm-Wp-ap-¯-c-Zn¡v ØnXn.
Because a star is twinkling at the zenith point at one of the two “You can find out the North direction by illuminating a lamp on
poles of Earth though it is not a bright one and that pole is a higher place and observing the portion”
named as North. Then the opposite is south. The East and West When we got the North point we can easily find the
are at opposite sides in right angle. South point also because it is the opposite point in the line. Draw
Finding of the pole star a line at right angle to the North south line. It will represent the
East West directions. It is obvious that this system became
Pole star has significant status in the field of navigation
useless in the Southern Hemi sphere.
and among desert travellers since very early times because it is
the only star standing in certain celestial point with out moving Finding Direction by Sun Shadow.
neither to West nor to East. It is very near to the celestial North Koyitatta writes in the Book ‘Homes for resting’ as follows;
Pole and on the zenith of the North Pole of Earth. For this reason i¦p ZoÀL-an-c«n¨
it has earned this position though it is not belonging to the bright hr¯mÀ²w sIm­v kq£-a-ambv
stars in the sky. hc¡hr¯w \Sp-hnÂ
You can find out the pole star with the help of the \n¡pw Ipän¡pNpäp-ambv
constellation Ursamajor and two guide stars Dubhe and Merak hr¯ tcJ-bn hogp¶
(see fig 4) i¦p-Om-b-Ip-dn-¡Ww
]Sn-ªm-dp-¨-X³ap¼v
Ing-¡p-¨bv¡p tijhpw
Ursamajor Ipdn c­pw sXm«p-\osf
hc¡pw EPptcJ-bmÂ
t\ÀIn-g-¡p-]-Sn-ªmdmw
Zn¡v kq{X-ap-f-hm-bn-Spw.
Sheik Thahir Jalaluddeen Malesia said in his famous book
DUBHE ‘Nukbathu -ul- Thakreerath’ There is an easy way to fix midday
time by illustrating a circle which is Called in Arabic ‘Dairathul
MERAK Hindiyya’ (Geometrical Circle).Make the surface of a plane
leveled using any of the Earth leveling instrument . Draw a
Finding out the directions by pole star circle, set a Conic Stick on the centre of circle the radius of the
It was custom both in old times and nowadays to find out circle should be equal to the said Conic Stick then mark the
the direction by observing the pole star. This was done by setting entering point of shadow of the stick in Western side before
illumination with a candle or a small electric bulb on a high noon and mark the exiting point in the Eastern side after noon
stand. and join the two points with a straight line which will represent
Koyithatta the Malayalee astrologist said in his book Sugavasa the East West directions. Draw another line at right angle
Bhavanangal (Homes for resting)
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crossing the former which will be North South line and on the if one travelled far enough South then the South end began to
plane of your meridian. It is better to do this practice on about dip down. Also it was found (3) that the North end of the piece
21st March or 23 September (see figure 5) of stone only pointed approximately north. You can observe by
comparison with the well known polestar or by the sun shadow
circle system (‫ ) اﻟﺪاﺋﺮة اﻟﮭﻨﺪﯾﺔ‬that the North end of the needle
pointed to the East of North in some localities and to the West of
North in others (see the Book Navigation by A.C. Gardner)
In modern Magnetic Compass the needle is made of hard
steel and it is artificially magnetized by electricity and which is
constrained by mechanical means to always lie in the horizontal
plane and is not permitted to dip down wards. At the same time
the declination of the needle to the East of true North in some
localities and to the West of North in others is still existing.
There is another type of compass which indicates directions
relative to the true meridian (or the true North and South) which
is called ‘Guyro’ compass. But it is very complicated instrument
figur 5 and it has been known to break down at the most inconvenient
times. So the every time useful one is the ordinary magnetic
compass. But it is dispensable that we must have to aware of its
Finding direction by Magnetic Compass declination to east or west of the true North.
This is widely used nowadays for determining directions The mode of declination of the magnetic needle
especially the direction of Quibla for Muslim mosques. But If we take a magnetic compass on shore and made sure
many people do not check the Compass to define the declination that there is no iron or other magnetic material any where near it
of the needle from true directions supposing that Magnetic or any thing effecting the magnetic needle then the Compass
Compass in hand is true North showing instrument. They do not needle will lie in magnetic meridian (and not in Geographical
think about the variations. This makes mistakes in fixing meridian) The same will happen if we take a compass out to sea
basement point for mosques. in an entirely wooden boat that has nothing magnetic in structure
First Magnetic Compass. or equipment.
The old magnetic Compass to be used Consisted of a The angle between the magnetic meridian and the true
long sliver magnetized suspended by a thin cord tied round its meridian at any place is called the magnetic variation or briefly
middle. It is found (1) that this piece of stone always aligned the “Variation” (‫ )اﻻﻧﺤﺮاف‬.If the magnetic meridian is to the left
itself approximately the direction north and South. It was also (West) of the true meridian then the variation is West (minus). If
found (2) that it did not always lie on horizontal plain. If one to the right (East) it is (plus) .The minus variation is to be added
travelled far enough North, the North end began to dip down and to the true meridian and the plus variation is to be subtracted

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from the true meridian to get the magnetic direction .E.g. The Why this variation?
Quibla point from a certain place on Earth. You know that the needle of the compass is a magnetized
steel and all magnetics materials attract the other magneticals .
The Earth itself is a huge magnet having a magnetic field
surrounding the surface of it . So every magnetical thing under
the field will be attracted by the Earth obeying the wellknown
magnetical laws .For this reason the magnetic needle lies on the
North-South line .But not on the Geographical meridian but on
the line of magnetic North and South poles . The magnetic
poles differ from the Geographical poles . The differance is not
fixed because the North magnetic pole is moving slowely all the
time . It makes a circle round the North geographical pole in
about one thousand years.
It is said that the North magnetic pole continues to shift
and is located at present ( 2007 AD) approximately at latitude
In figur 6(a) suppose OQ is a direction to Quibla in a 82º N and Long 114ºW. And the South magnetic pole also
place which is 50˚ from the true meridain and 40º from the shifting and it is now located at about 66º Lat S, and Long139º E
magnetic meridian,the variation is 10ºE .This variation is to the ( See Latest Almancs)
right of (+) the true direction or true North .Then it would be Definition of the Magnetic Meridian
subtracted from the true direction (50º) to get the magnetic It is known that the Earth is a huge magnet and it has a
direction of Quibla from that place (40º). magnetic field around its surface and the magnetic meterials
Figure 6(b) OQ = direction to Quibla in a place which is under this field are attracted by the magnetic forces surrounding
again 50º from true meridian .But it is 60º from the magnetic the Earth. Magnetic meridiens are not paralled to the
meridian. the variation being 10º W (-) from true meridian of Geographical meridaian and also the lines of force do not flow
True North . Then we added 10º to the true meridian or true in a constant direction from South magnetic pole to North
North to gain the Quibla point 60˚ from the magnetic meridian magnetic pole . Thier direction fluctuates considerably,and for
or magnetic North. There is dirived a rule as follows ; this reason we cannot define the magnetic meridian as ‘The arc
Variation West Magnetic Best of a great circle joining the North and South megnetic poles’ as
Variation East magnetic Least . we can difine the geographical meridian of the Earth that it is
That is variation West(-) to be added and variation East (+) to be ‘the arc of a Great circle joining the North and South
subtracted. Geographical poles of Earth’.
We therefore difine the magnetic meridian as follows,
“The magnetic meridian at any place is the direction that a

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compass needle will take up when under the influvence of the point on the circumferance of the circle . And that is the
Earth’s magnetic field only”. (see A C Gardner –Navigation ) variation .
Finding the amount of variation Geomagnatic field model
It is shown that the difference between the true direction The systems we refred so far for finding out the magnetic
and the magnetic direction is called the ‘magnetic variation’ declinatiion from true North were in use from early times .At
.Now we discuss how we can find the amount of this variation at present there are modern machanical systems for this purpose
different locations on the surface of earth . There are several such as the one described by Dr. Manzur Ahmad (UK) in his
methods to find out this variation .One of those methods is the Quibla calc .He writes : ‘This (direction relative to magnetic
wellknown polestar system. you can find the pole star and by north) is acheived using a sophisticated Geomagnetic field
which the true North of the Earth . And you can compare your model to calculate the strength and direction of the Earth’s
magnetic compass needle with the true North and find the magnetic field at any location’
difference very easly .The pole star could be found by looking Magnetic variation and Quibla point in Website
the constallation “Ursamajour” as discribed before. Another There is Website denoting the Quibla points and
method to determine the true North and South direction is the variations of all places on the surface of the Earth . Give your
sun shadow circle method which is also mentiond above. Here I location; Latitude and Longitude in degree and minutes of arc .
quote a complete illustration of this method as it is described by You can see in the computer screen the Quibla point of the
the famous scholar of “ Ilmul Meekath” ( The science of Islamic location in degree, minutes and seconds of arc, you can also see
times and places ) Al shaik Tahir jalaluddeen in his book a line extending from your location to Makkah . The variation
‘Nukbathul Thakreerath’ as follows . will be minus (-) or plus (+) .The minus should be added to arc
Draw a sun shadow circle ( Al –Dairathul Hindiyya) . value shown in the screen and plus would be subtracted from
Put your compass on the centre of that circle .Make the North that figur.
South line of the circle and that line in the compass parellel in a You can achieve the Quibla direction and magnetic
vertical plane . If it is perfect you can understand that your declination ( variation ) from any location on Earth from Quibla
compass is correct and the needle is showing the true North and calc Program and documentation by Dr Manzur Ahmad .
South . If this does not occur you have to find the difference that monz@ starlight.dimon.co.uk
is to say the variation. To attain this draw a circle on the Here I write two examples for Quibla direction from true
crossing point of the North South line and East West line .The North and its variation from true North by which we can
diameter of the circle should be equal to the diameter of the calculate Quibla direction from magnetic North . First example
compass.And also draw a bigger circle which should be marked is for minus (-) variation and the second is for plus (+) variation.
correctly from 0º to 360º .Put your compass again on the former (1) location : Latitude 12ºN
one as the North South line of the compass apply on the North Longitude 75º E
South line of the latter . Extend a thread parellel to the needle Point of Quibla from true North 290.4º
vertically and it would go on the latter circle passing upon the Variation -1.99º
Norhtern and Southern part of the circle. Then take a compass Quibla piont from magnetic North : 292.39º
and find the differance between the said mark and the North
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 (2) Location: 9ºN lat is very useful to know the direction of Quibla in various Towns
70.4ºE Long. of the world .It is very helpful for travellers and piligrims to
Quibla from true North : 70.4º perform prayers (swalath) during the travelling ocassions . The
Variation: 1.12º directions and discriptions shown in them are not such as the
Quibla from magnetic North : 68.28º compasses we dealed with .
Obtaining the Latitude and Longitude In these compasses the dial had divided in to 40 divisions
It is obvious that Latitude and Longitude are essential for or four hundred . One division will be 9 degree of arc or 0.9
the discovery of Quibla point . How can we obtain these.You degrees, that is to say 0º54' or 0º5'24" of arc. These instruments
can find these in world atlases. But only prominent towns are are accompanied with booklets showing Quibla points for
mentioned in Atlases.We cnnot obtain the local places in several prominent towns .You can see that vast areas are
Atlases. It is a problem. included in one figur .wich will decrease the accuracy or make
There are some methods described in books of ‘Ilmul you Thrown in to big error. There fore you must be alert to
Meekath’ ( Science of Islamic time and place) by which we can check them and verify before using them for prayers or Quibla
easly find the Latitude and Longitudes of every places on Earth. determination.
Nowdays this is most easly achieved by the help of ‘ internet’
you can see in Google wiki mapia........ every small towns and
villages and all locations expressing Latitude and Longitude can
obtain from it very easily. I quote here some examples caught
from the Said wiki mapia .
1) India Kerala Kasaragod
Latitude : 12º 29' 32.95" N
Longitude: 74º 59' 28" E
2) India kerala Chattanchal
Latitude: 12º 28' 15" N
Longitude: 75º 3 '43" E
3) India Kanataka Vitla
Latitude: 12º 28 '15" N
Longitude: 75º 3' 43" E
4) India Karnataka Belthangadi
Latitude 12º 59 ' 15" N
Longitude 75º16' 58" E
Quibla compasses
At present times there are several kinds of north seeking
instrumets called Quibla compasses or Ka-aba compass, which

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