Surah Al-Baqara
Chapter 2 · Verse 144 · Revealed in Madinah
“We have certainly seen the turning of your face, [O Muhammad], toward the heaven, and We will surely turn you to a qiblah with which you will be pleased. So turn your face toward al-Masjid al-Haram. And wherever you [believers] are, turn your faces toward it [in prayer]. Indeed, those who have been given the Scripture well know that it is the truth from their Lord. And Allah is not unaware of what they do.”
Translation: Saheeh International
Listen to recitation
Mishary Rashid Alafasy
Reflection — Ibn Kathir
The First Abrogation in the Qur'an was about the Qiblah
`Ali bin Abu Talhah related that Ibn `Abbas narrated: The first abrogated part in the Qur'an was about the Qiblah. When Allah's Messenger ﷺ migrated to Al-Madinah, the majority of its people were Jews, and Allah commanded him to face Bayt Al-Maqdis. The Jews were delighted then. Allah's Messenger ﷺ faced it for ten and some months, but he liked to face the Qiblah of Ibrahim (Ka`bah in Makkah). He used to supplicate to Allah and look up to the sky (awaiting Allah's command). Allah then revealed:
قَدْ نَرَى تَقَلُّبَ وَجْهِكَ فِي السَّمَآءِ
Reflection — Maarif ul Quran
The orientation to Qiblah قبلہ
This verse begins by speaking of how deeply the Holy Prophet ﷺ ،; wished that the Ka'bah کعبہ be appointed as the Qiblah قبلہ of the Muslims. This inclination has been explained in different ways, but there is no real contradiction involved in these different views. For example, it has been said that before prophethood was conferred on him, he used to follow, out of the impulsion of his own nature, the way of Sayyidna Ibrahim ؓ (Araham) , and that when he began to receive the Revelation, the Holy Qur'an itself designated his Shari'ah as being in total accord with the Abrahamic Way. Moreover, the Qiblah قبلہ of Sayyidna Ibrahim (علیہ السلام) as well as that of Sayyidna Ismail (علیہ السلام) ، had been the Ka'bah کعبہ . So, it was quite in the nature of things for him to wish that the Ka'bah کعبہ be appointed as the Qiblah قبلہ of the Muslims. An additional factor was that the Arab tribes, in spite of being associators, at least claimed to be the followers of the Abrahamic Way, and acknowledged the Ka'bah کعبہ as their Qiblah قبلہ in contradiction to the Jews. Once the Ka'bah کعبہ had been made the Qiblah قبلہ of the Muslims, the Arabs could be expected to find Islam more acceptable. As. for the hope that the adoption of the Baytul-Maqdis بیت المقدس as the Qiblah قبلہ would bring the Jews closer to Islam, it had been dashed by the events of the last sixteen or seventeen months, for the hostility of the Jews to Islam, fed by their vanity, had only been growing more intense.
What does this verse bring up for you today?