part two 1

142. " the fools among the people will say: ` what has turned them from 
their qiblah (direction of prayer) which they were facing at.' 
say: ` allah's is the east and the west; 
he guides whoever he pleases to a straight way '."

commentary : 
occasion of the change of qiblah

this verse together with a few verses following it refers to one of 
the great happenings in the history of islam which caused a huge wave 
of excitement among the people of that time. the explanation for the 
occurrence is that the prophet of islam (p.b.u.h.), under divine 
direction, prayed towards the direction of jerusalem for thirteen years 
in mecca after proclaiming his mission and then, also, for several 
months in medina after his migration. but again, under divine 
direction, the qiblah (i.e. the direction of prayer) was changed and 
muslims were commissioned to pray towards the ka`bah. 

the commentators are divided as to the length of time that 
muslims worshipped facing towards jerusalem in medina. the 
duration of this ritual situation has been cited from seven to seventeen 
months. however, during this period, muslims were always entangled 
with the reproaches of the jews, because jerusalem was originally the 
jewish qiblah. since the muslims used to pray towards the direction of 
jerusalem, the jewish qiblah, during that time, they blamed that their 
(muslims) acceptance of their (jewish) qiblah proved, as they thought, 
that the jews were right in their creed and muslims, who were not 
independent for themselves in the direction of prayer, were not. 

these statements were difficult for the prophet of islam (p.b.u.h.) 
and muslims to bear. they were, on one hand, showing obedience to 
the command of allah, and, on the other hand, the ceaseless sarcasm 
of the jews was intolerable. it was for this reason that by night prophet 
muhammad (p.b.u.h.) occasionally turned his face towards the heavens 
in a way that showed he was expecting to receive divine revelation. 

after some time of waiting, finally the command for changing the 
qiblah was revealed. it was while the prophet (p.b.u.h.) was praying 
the noon prayer and he had already performed only two rak`ats of the 
prayer in bani-salim mosque towards the direction of jerusalem when 
gabriel was commissioned by allah to take the arm of the prophet 
(p.b.u.h.) and turn his face towards the direction of the ka`bah. 

the jews were annoyed with this occurrence and according to 
their old traditional style, they began seeking pretexts. aforetime, they 
used to say that they were superior to muslims because muslims were 
dependent on the jews regarding their qiblah. but, when the 
command of changing the qiblah was sent down by the lord, a party of 
the jews protested; as the qur'an says: 

" the fools among the people will say: ` what has turned them from 
their qiblah (direction of prayer) which they were facing at ? '..." 

the jews disputed about why the muslims altered the former 
prophets' qiblah that day. they said if the first qiblah was correct, 
then why the change? and, if the second one was right, then why had 
they been praying towards the direction of jerusalem for more than 
thirteen years? 

the lord ordered his apostle thus: 

"...say: ` allah's is the east and the west; he guides whoever he 
pleases to a straight way '."
 
similar to this circumstance the words east and west, besides the 
verse under discussion, have occured in four other verses of the qur'an: 
2: 115, 2: 177, 26: 28, 73: 9. there is a short explanation about their 
objective meaning when commenting on verse 115 (pg. 267 this vol.). 
the content meaning of these terms refers to the omnipresence of 
allah as the absolute reality, the hold of which penetrates the 
universe in its every part and particle as well as its whole, meaning both 
the rise of the light in the east and its setting in the west are the 
various aspects of manifestation of allah's mighty and glory i.e., 
whichever direction the mind turns there is this aspect of his. 

this verse was a decisive clear reasonable answer for those who 
sought pretext by letting them know that jerusalem, the ka`bah and all 
other places belong to allah, and, intrinsically, allah has no house 
and no place; he is the omnipresent. the main principle here is that 
we servants should submit to his command and whatever direction he 
appoints for prayer, that direction is sacred and respectable and that 
direction should be prayed towards. without his commission, no place 
has excellence or preference in its own essence. 

and, the change of the qiblah, in fact, is one stage of the many 
different stages of trial and development, each of which is an example 
of divine guidance. it is he who guides people to the ` straight path '.

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1 the commentary of the first part of the holy qur`an ended of the previous page, but verses about the theme of qiblah in the qur`an is still continued. hence, to complete the idea, we had to add some verses of part2,  here, at the end of this volume.