248 THE LIFE OF THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD I I
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I.God (SAAS) had been praying towards Jerusalem for 16 or 17 months though
he wanted to face towards the kacba. And so God sent down, "We see you turn-
ing your face about in the sky and we shall provide you with a qibla that will
please you. Turn your face towards the Sacred Mosque" (sarat al-Baqara; 11,
v.144). And so he did face towards the kacba.
"The foolish people - the Jews - asked 'What could it be that turned them
from the prayer direction they had previously?' And so God sent down the verse,
'Say: To God belong both East and West; he guides whomever He wishes to the
straight path"' (stirat al-Baqara; 11, v.142).In short, the Messenger of God (SAAS) used to pray in Mecca towards Jerusalem,
while the kacba was directly in front of him, so Im%n Abad related from Ibn
CAbbas, God be pleased with hi. And when he emigrated to Medina it was not
possible for him to combine both and so he prayed towards Jerusalem immediately
after his arrival there, keeping his back directed to the kacba for 16 or 17 months.
This would require it to have been until Rajah of 2 AH. But God knows best.
The Messenger of God (SAAS) wanted to change his prayer direction towards
the kacba, the qrbla of Abraham, and often prayed and entreated God, Almighty
and Glorious is He, to allow this. In doing so, he would raise his hands and sight
to the sky in supplication. And so God, Almighty and Glorious is He, revealed
the words, "We see you turning your face about in the sky and we shall provide
you with a qabla that will please you. Turn your face towards the Sacred Mosque."
When the order came down to change the direction of prayer, the Messenger
of God (SAAS) made an address to the Muslims and told them of this, as
al-Nasali related, from Aba Sa'id b. al-Mu'alla, and this was at noon.
Some scholars say that the change was revealed between two prayers. Mujahid
and others stated this.
This is substantiated by what is given in both sahih collections from al-Bar%].
Namely, that the first prayer he made in Medina towards the kacba was that of
al-<asr.
It is strange that the people of QubZ1 did not hear of this until the early morn-
ing prayer of the next day, as is established in the ~ahih collections, from Ibn
Wmar. He stated, "While the people in Quba' were at the morning prayer some-
one came to them and said, 'The Messenger of God (SAAS) has received tonight
a Qur'an revelation! He has been ordered to face the kacba in prayer, so you must
too.' They had been facing towards Syria, but they now turned towards the
kacba."
In the sahih collection of Muslim, from Anas b. Mdik there is a similar account.What is shown here is that when the change in the direction of the prayer to the
kacba was decreed, and God Almighty abrogated the direction of prayer towards
Jerusalem, various fools and ignorant people made criticisms, asking "What was
it that turned them away from the direction of prayer they had before?"