What are the visible phases and positions of the Moon used for directional indication?

Chapter on Facing the Qiblah

Al-Mughni

Book of Prayer

Book 3 · Issue 6 · Bab 4

Open in Qurani

Primary text

The Moon appears as a crescent in the west on the first night of the month, to the right of the worshipper. Each subsequent night, it shifts one mansion eastward at sunset until the seventh night, when it is near the Qibla direction at sunset. On the fourteenth night, it rises from the east before sunset as a full, luminous moon. On the twenty-first night, it is near the Qibla direction at dawn. On the twenty-eighth night, it appears as a crescent in the east at dawn. Its rising points vary according to its mansions.