The Problem of the Return to the First Qibla

THE PROBLEM OF THE RETURN TO THE FIRST QIBLA M uslims generally regard Palestine’s present problem as concerning the return to the first qibla. They point out that when Prophet Muhammad built a mosque in Madinah and laid down that five prayers had to be ritually recited in it, he followed the Jewish tradition in making al-Masjid al-Aqsa his qibla for a period of sixteen months. However, this is a misunderstanding. When Muslims migrated to Madinah, they worshipped at the direction of the Dome of the Rock (Qubbat al-Sakhra), the Jewish qibla, and not at the direction of Al-Masjid al-Aqsa. At the end of these sixteen months, the Quran revealed the command to change the qibla. So, the Prophet adopted the Kabah as the permanent qibla by God’s command. Referring to this incident, Muslims claim that the problem of Palestine is one of the return to the first qibla. Thus, they point out that this problem is not a national but a religious issue for Muslims. This concept is based entirely on a misunderstanding. The first qibla has nothing to do with al-Masjid al-Aqsa. The name al-Masjid al-Aqsa in the following verse of the