AL-QIBLA=DIRECTION OF ALL MUSLIM PRAYERS

 بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

IN THE NAME OF GOD, the MOST GRACIOUS, the MOST MERCIFUL

Wahba Mahmoud Diyab

When men spread themselves over the earth, and became many nations, speaking diverse languages and observing diverse customs and laws; the evils became multiplied. One race or nation became alienated from one another. The brotherhood of mankind is now doubly forgotten, first between individuals, and secondly between nations. Arrogance, selfishness and untruth were sown and reaped in larger fields: and peace, faith, love and justice were obscured behind a shield from masses of men, as large tracts of land starved for sunshine and rain while the clouds floating far and high in the sky. But God in His infinite Mercy and love, Who forgives and guides individuals and nations, and turns to good even what it seems to us as evil, never forsakes the struggling souls that turns to Him, nor the groups of men and women who join together to obey His Will and Law, and strengthen each other in unity and truth.

But those people have passed away -who promised to uphold the Law of God- their progeny have been found unworthy, their place was taken by a new people looking towards Mecca, a new people with new Message to bear witness to God’s Law, to proclaim the truth, maintain His Symbols, and strive and fight for Unity in God’s Way.

And God in His infinite Mercy has given us a Qibla: a direction to face when performing our Prayers. Let us see in Surat Al-Bagara 2 verses 142-150:

سَيَقُولُ السُّفَهَاءُ مِنَ النَّاسِ مَا وَلَّاهُمْ عَنْ قِبْلَتِهِمُ الَّتِي كَانُوا عَلَيْهَا قُلْ لِلَّهِ الْمَشْرِقُ وَالْمَغْرِبُ يَهْدِي مَنْ يَشَاءُ إِلَى صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ (142)

The fools (Pagans, Hypocrites and Jews) among the people will say: “What has turned them from their Qiblah (which was the direction of their prayers – towards Jerusalem) to which they were used to face in prayer” Say, O’ Muhammad PPBUH; to God belong the east and the west, He guides whom He wills to a Straight Way.  (142)

وَكَذَلِكَ جَعَلْنَاكُمْ أُمَّةً وَسَطًا لِتَكُونُوا شُهَدَاءَ عَلَى النَّاسِ وَيَكُونَ الرَّسُولُ عَلَيْكُمْ شَهِيدًا وَمَا جَعَلْنَا الْقِبْلَةَ الَّتِي كُنْتَ عَلَيْهَا إِلَّا لِنَعْلَمَ مَنْ يَتَّبِعُ الرَّسُولَ مِمَّنْ يَنْقَلِبُ عَلَى عَقِبَيْهِ وَإِنْ كَانَتْ لَكَبِيرَةً إِلَّا عَلَى الَّذِينَ هَدَى اللَّهُ وَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيُضِيعَ إِيمَانَكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ بِالنَّاسِ لَرَءُوفٌ رَحِيمٌ (143)

Thus, We have made of you an Ummat = [Nation; true Muslims, real believers of Islamic Monotheism) justly balanced, that you might be witnesses over the nations, and the Apostle/ Messenger (Muhammad PPBUH) will be witness over yourselves. And We appointed/made the Qibla (Prayer direction) which you used to face (towards Jerusalem) only to test those who followed the Apostle/Messenger from those who would turn on their heels (from the Faith/disobey Muhammad). Indeed it was great and momentous change except to those who are guided by God, and God would never make your Faith lost or of no effect. Truly God is full of Kindness, the most Merciful towards mankind. (143)

قَدْ نَرَى تَقَلُّبَ وَجْهِكَ فِي السَّمَاءِ فَلَنُوَلِّيَنَّكَ قِبْلَةً تَرْضَاهَا فَوَلِّ وَجْهَكَ شَطْرَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ وَحَيْثُ مَا كُنْتُمْ فَوَلُّوا وُجُوهَكُمْ شَطْرَهُ وَإِنَّ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ لَيَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّهُ الْحَقُّ مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ وَمَا اللَّهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا يَعْمَلُونَ (144)

Verily, We have seen the turning of your face (for guidance) to the heaven. Surely, We shall turn you to a Qibla (prayer direction), that shall please you, so turn your face to the direction of Al-Masjid Al-Haram (the Sacred Mosque at Mecca), and where-ever you are turn your faces (in prayer) in that direction. Certainly, the people who were given the Scripture/Book (Jews and Christians) [they] know well that it is the Truth from their Lord; nor God is unmindful/unaware of what they do. (144)

وَلَئِنْ أَتَيْتَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ بِكُلِّ آَيَةٍ مَا تَبِعُوا قِبْلَتَكَ وَمَا أَنْتَ بِتَابِعٍ قِبْلَتَهُمْ وَمَا بَعْضُهُمْ بِتَابِعٍ قِبْلَةَ بَعْضٍ وَلَئِنِ اتَّبَعْتَ أَهْوَاءَهُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَكَ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ إِنَّكَ إِذًا لَمِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ (145)

And even if you were to bring to the people of the Scriptures/Book all the Signs together, they would not follow your Qiblah (the Sacred Mosque- at Mecca), nor are you going to follow their Qiblah, and they will not follows each other’s Qiblah (prayer direction). Verily, if you follow their vain desires after which you have received of knowledge –from God- then indeed you will be one of the (Zalimien) transgressors /polytheists/wrongdoers.  (145)

الَّذِينَ آَتَيْنَاهُمُ الْكِتَابَ يَعْرِفُونَهُ كَمَا يَعْرِفُونَ أَبْنَاءَهُمْ وَإِنَّ فَرِيقًا مِنْهُمْ لَيَكْتُمُونَ الْحَقَّ وَهُمْ يَعْلَمُونَ (146)

The people of the Book. Those whom We gave the Scriptures/the Book (the Jews and Christians) recognize/know him (Muhammad PPBUH) as they know their own sons, but verily, a party of them conceals that truth, while they know it (the qualities of Muhammad which is written in the Torah and the Gospel). (146)

الْحَقُّ مِنْ رَبِّكَ فَلَا تَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْمُمْتَرِينَ (147)

That is: The Truth from your Lord, so do not at all be in doubt. (147)

وَلِكُلٍّ وِجْهَةٌ هُوَ مُوَلِّيهَا فَاسْتَبِقُوا الْخَيْرَاتِ أَيْنَ مَا تَكُونُوا يَأْتِ بِكُمُ اللَّهُ جَمِيعًا إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ (148)

To each nation there is a goal/direction to which they face (in their prayers), so hasten/strive together (as in the race) towards all that is good, wheresoever’s you may be God will bring you together (on the Day of Resurrection) Truly, God is Able Has Power over all things. (148)

وَمِنْ حَيْثُ خَرَجْتَ فَوَلِّ وَجْهَكَ شَطْرَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ وَإِنَّهُ لَلْحَقُّ مِنْ رَبِّكَ وَمَا اللَّهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ (149)

And from where-so-ever you start forth (for prayer) turn your face to the direction of the Sacred/Holy Mosque. And that is indeed the Truth from your Lord, and God is not unmindful/ unaware of what you do. (149)

وَمِنْ حَيْثُ خَرَجْتَ فَوَلِّ وَجْهَكَ شَطْرَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ وَحَيْثُ مَا كُنْتُمْ فَوَلُّوا وُجُوهَكُمْ شَطْرَهُ لِئَلَّا يَكُونَ لِلنَّاسِ عَلَيْكُمْ حُجَّةٌ إِلَّا الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا مِنْهُمْ فَلَا تَخْشَوْهُمْ وَاخْشَوْنِي وَلِأُتِمَّ نِعْمَتِي عَلَيْكُمْ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ (150)

So from where-so-ever you start forth turn your face in the direction of the Sacred/Holy Mosque (in Mecca), and whence-so-ever you are turn your face thither; so that men may have no argument or ground of dispute against you among the people. Except those of them who are transgressors and wrongdoers, so do not fear them, but fear Me. And so that I may complete My favors/blessings on you, and you may be guided. (150)

Al-Nas: The People, the unthinking multitude that sway to and fro, instead of being firm in God’s Way. The reference here is to the idolaters, the Hypocrites, and the party of Jews who were constantly seeking to “entangle in their talk” Al-Mustafa and his disciples in Medina, even as the Pharisees and the Sadducees of Jesus’ days tried to entangle Jesus (in Malachi xxii cl. 15, 23).

Qibla: the direction to which Muslim turn their faces in prayer. Islam lays great stress on social prayer in order to emphasize our universal Brotherhood and mutual co-operation. For such prayer, order, punctuality, precision, symbolical posture, and a common direction are essential, so that the Imam (leader) and his entire congregation may face one way and offer their supplication to God. In the early days, before they were organized as people, they followed –as a symbol for their Qibla- the sacred city of Jerusalem, sacred to both the Jews and the Christians, the people of the Book. This symbolized their allegiance to the continuity of God’s Revelation. When despised and persecuted, they were turned out of Mecca and arrived in Al-Medina. Al-Mustafa [PPBUH] under divine direction began to organize his people as an “Ummat” an independent people, with laws and rituals of their own. At that stage the Ka’ba was established as a Qibla, thus going back to the earliest centre, with which the name of Ibrahim was connected, and subsequently the name of Adam. Jerusalem still remained sacred in the eyes of Islam on account of its past, but Islam is a progressive religion, and its new symbolism enabled it to shake off the tradition of a dead past and usher in the era of untrammeled freedom, dear to the spirit of Arabia. The change took place about sixteen and half months after Al-Hijrat.

So We, by giving you (O’ Muhammad Al-Mustafa-PPBUH) a Qibla of your own – which is most ancient in history- and most modern as a symbol of your organization and to you and your people as a new Nation (UMMAT). (MUSLIMS)

Justly Balanced: the essence of Islam is to avoid all extravagances on either side. It is a sober, practical religion. But the Arabic word (Wasat=وسط ) also implies a touch of the literal meaning of intermediacy. Geographically Arabia is in an intermediate position in the Old World, as was proved in history by the rapid expansion of Islam in North, South, West and East.

Witness: when two people dispute, they advance extravagant claims. A just witness comes between them, and brings the light of reason to bear on them, pruning all their selfish extravagances. So the mission of Islam is to curb –for instance- the extreme formation of the Mosaic Law and the extreme “other-worldliness” professed by Christianity. The witness must be unselfish, equipped with first-hand knowledge and ready to intervene in the cause of justice. Such is the position claimed by Islam among rival systems. Similarly within Islam itself, the position of witness to whom disputants can appeal is held by Muhammad Al-Mustafa PPBUH.

The Qibla of Jerusalem might itself have seemed strange to the Arabs, and the change –of the Qibla- from of it to the Ka’ba might have seemed more stranger after they had become used to the other. In reality one direction or another, or east or west –in itself- did not matter, as God is in all places, and He is independent of Time and Place. What mattered was the sense of discipline, on which Islam lays so much stress; i.e. who of us is willing to follow the directions of the Apostle/Messenger of God? Mere quibblers about non-essential matters are tested by this.

What became of the prayer with Jerusalem as the Qibla? It was equally efficacious before the new Qibla was ordained, God regards our faith; every act of true and genuine faith is efficacious with Him, even if our formalities pick holes in such acts.

This shows the sincere desire of Muhammad Al-Mustafa [PPBUH] to seek light from above in the matter of the Qibla. Until the organization of his own people into a well-knit community, with its distinctive laws and ordinances, he followed a practice based on the fact that the Jews and Christians looked upon Jerusalem as a sacred city. But there was no universal Qibla among them. Some Jews turned towards Jerusalem –especially during the Captivity- as we shall see later. At the time of our Prophet, Jerusalem was in the hands of the Byzantine Empire, which was Christian. But the Christians oriented their churches to the East (hence the word “orientation” which is a point of the compass, and not the direction of any sacred place. The fact of the altar being in the East does not mean that every worshipper has his face to the east; for – and at least according to the modern practice- the seats in a church are so placed that different worshippers may face in different directions. The Preacher of Unity naturally wanted -in this as in other matters- a symbol of complete unity, and his heart was naturally delighted when the Qibla towards to the Ka’ba was settled. Its connection with Ibrahim/Abraham gave it great antiquity; its character of being an Arab centre made it appropriate when the Message came in Arabic, and was preached through the union of the Arabs; at the time it was adopted; the little Muslim community was shut out of it, being exiles in Medina, but it became a symbol of hope and eventual triumph, of which Muhammad Al-Mustafa- PPBUH lived to see the fulfillment, and also became the centre and gathering ground of all people in the universal pilgrimage, which was instituted with it.

The Sacred Mosque: The Ka’ba in the sacred city of Mecca. It is not correct to suggest that the command of making the Ka’ba as the Qibla abrogates the verse 115 where it is stated that East and West belong to God and He is everywhere. This is perfectly true at all times, before and after the institution of the Qibla. As if to emphasize this, the same words about East and West are repeated in this very passage (verse 142) above.

The glimmerings of such a Qibla were already foreshadowed in Jewish and Christian practice, but its universality was only perfected in Islam.

The Jews and the Christians had a glimmering of the Qibla idea, but in their attitude of self-sufficiency they were not likely to welcome the Qibla idea as perfected in Islam, nor is Islam – after the fuller knowledge which it has been received- it is likely to revert to the uncertain, imperfect, and varying ideas of orientation held previously.

A very clear glimpse of the old Jews practice in the matter of the Qibla and the importance attached to it is found in the Book of Daniel VI (10 Daniel always prayed to God three times every day. Daniel got down on his knees and prayed and praised God. When Daniel heard about the new Law he went to his house. Daniel went up to his room on the roof of his house. Daniel went to the windows that opened towards Jerusalem. Then Daniel got down on his knees and prayed, like he always did.) Daniel was a righteous man of princely lineage and lived about 600 years B.C. he was carried off to Babylon by Nebuchadne/Zar the Assyrian, but was still living when Assyria was overthrown by the Medes and Persians. In spite of the “captivity” of the Jews, Daniel enjoyed the highest offices of state at Babylon, but he was ever true to Jerusalem. His enemies (under the Persian monarch) got a penal law passed against anyone who “asked petition of any god or man for 30 days” except the Persian King. But Daniel continued true to Jerusalem. “His windows being open in his chamber towards Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.

The people of the Book should have known all this as well as “they knew their own sons” as their past tradition and teaching should have made them receptive of the new Message. Some commentators construe the demonstrative pronoun “this” refer the Apostle. In that case the interpretation would be “The People of the Book know Muhammad as well as they know their own sons; they know him to be true and upright; they know him to be in the line of Ibrahim/Abraham; they know him to correspond to the description of the prophet foretold among themselves; but selfishness induces some of them to act against their own knowledge and conceal the truth.

Truth only comes from God, and it remains truth, however men might try to conceal it or throw doubts on it.

The question is how we are to construe the pronoun {HUWA} in the original. The alternative translation would be “To each is a goal to which he turns”.

The simile of life being a race in which we all zealously run forward to one goal, e.g., the goal of good, may be applied individually and nationally. This applies another argument of the Ka’ba Qibla; the unity of goal, with diversity of races, traditions and temperaments.

The simile of race is continued and so the Qibla command is repeated from that point of view. In verse 144 it was mentioned as a new symbol of the new nation (Muslims); now it is shown as the symbol of Good, at which we should all aim, from whichever point we started, e.g. as Jews or Christians, or our individual point of view; the Qibla will unite us as a symbol of the Goal of the Future. In verse 150 below it is repeated; first for the individual, on the ground of uniformity and the removal of all occasions of dispute and argument; and secondly for the Muslim people, on the same ground as a matter of discipline. There is another little harmony in the matter of the repetitions. Note that the race and the starting point of argument begins at verse 140 and is rounded off in the first part of verse 150; while the national and general argument beginning at verse 144 is rounded off in the latter part of verse 150. The latter argument includes the former, and is more widely worded: “wheresoever’s you are”; which in the Arabic expression would imply three things; in whatever circumstances you are, or at whatever time you are; or in whatever place you are, I have spoken before of a sort of musical harmony in verbal repetitions; here, there is a sort of pictorial harmony, as of a larger circle symmetrically including a smaller concentric circle.

We may close the article seeing verse 29 from Surat Al-A’ raf/the Heights 7 and notes:

Say [O’ Muhammad-PPBUH]: “My Lord has commanded Justice; and (said) ‘that you should set your whole selves (to Him) at every time and place of prayer, and call upon Him, making your devotion sincere as in His Sight; such as He created you in the beginning, so you shall reeturn”. (29)

قُلْ أَمَرَ رَبِّي بِالْقِسْطِ وَأَقِيمُوا وُجُوهَكُمْ عِنْدَ كُلِّ مَسْجِدٍ وَادْعُوهُ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ الدِّينَ كَمَا بَدَأَكُمْ تَعُودُونَ (29)

A}- For Wajh= وجه : (The word translated “self” is (وجه – Wajh): it is a comprehensive Arabic word. It means (1) literally Face; but it may imply (2) countenance or favor – as in Surat Al-Layl 92 verse 20 : (3) honor, glory, presence as applied to God as in verse 115, and perhaps also in Surat Al-Rahman 55 verse 27: (4) cause sake “for the sake of” as in Surat Al-Insan 76 verse 8 : (5) the first part, the beginning, as in Surat Al-Imran 3 verse 71: (6) nature, inner being, essence, self, as in Surat Al-Ma’ida 5 verse 111 and Surat Al-Gassas 28 verse 88. Here I understand meaning in (6) the face expresses the personality or the whole inner self of man).  Our devotion should be sincere, not as in other men’s sight, but by presenting our whole selves, heart and soul, to God. Even so, it may not be enough; for the sight of our heart and soul may be faulty. We should call upon God to give us the light, by which our sincerity may commend itself to Him as true sincerity ‘as in His Sight’. B}- Our sincerity should be real sincerity, as in God’s sight; for when we return to Him, we shall be stripped of all preference, even such self-deception as may satisfy us in this life.