Our Qibla

SHAFAQNA- Etymologically, the Arabic word Qiblah (قبلة) means “direction”. In Islamic ritual and law, it refers to a special direction faced by Muslims during prayers and other religious rituals. For 13 years in Mecca the Prophet (PBUH) was ordered to pray towards Bayt Al-Maqdis (Jerusalem), and to make the Ka’ba in between whenever he could (1). That order was not vain, but rather there was a divine reason as stated in the Holy Quran: “We assigned your former direction [Bayt Al-Maqdis] of prayer only to distinguish those who would remain faithful to the Messenger from those who would lose faith.” (2).

This distinguishment would happen because the people of Mecca had a strong emotional longing towards the Ka’ba, thus Allah (s.w.t) wanted to differentiate between those who truly submit to the Prophet (PBUH) from those who were not sincere in their faith. Only a true follower would abandon their emotional longing and culture for the Prophet’s command. Another reason was that the Ka’ba was a place of idols worshipped by polytheists. Thus, the Prophet (PBUH) complied with the divine command to temporally turn toward Bayt Al-Maqdis, and thus, their direction was different from the direction of polytheists.