CHANGING DIRECTION

CHANGING DIRECTION The True Import “The foolish will ask, ‘What has made them turn away from their direction of prayer which they used to face?’ Say, ‘The East and the West belong to God. He guides whom He pleases to the right path.’ Thus, We have made you a middle nation, so that you may act as witnesses for humankind, and the Messenger may be a witness for you. We decreed your former prayer direction towards which you used to face only in order that We might make a clear distinction between the Messenger’s true followers and those who were to turn their backs on him. This was indeed a hard test for all but those whom God has guided. God will never let your faith go to waste. God is compassionate and merciful to humankind.” (2: 142-143) T HE qiblah (present-day Kabah) is the direction Muslims face when they pray. This direction has to do with the form, rather than the spirit, of worship. A qiblah is appointed so that prayer may assume an organized pattern. God can change it as He pleases, for every direction faces Him. The direction that He lays down is the one that we should face in our prayer, whatever direction it may be. Before the advent of Islam, Jews offered their prayers facing towards Jerusalem. This old qiblah had come to be thought of as sacred and inviolable. In the second year after the Prophet’s emigration to Madinah, he was commanded to change the direction of prayer, and face Makkah instead of Jerusalem. Some people found this switch difficult to accept. How, they thought, could another place be the qiblah when Jerusalem had held this position since time immemorial? The Jews used the change of the qiblah as an excuse for spreading all sorts of rumours about the Prophet. Previous prophets have always faced Jerusalem in their prayer, they said. How is it that this prophet has gone against them? They inferred that the only purpose of his mission was to spite the Jews. Some poured scorn on Muhammad’s claim to prophethood. “He seems to be in two minds about his own mission”, they said. “Sometimes he faces Jerusalem, sometimes Makkah.” Others said: “Well, if the Kabah in Makkah is the The change of qiblah was a sign indicating that God had changed the course of history towards peace and reconciliation.