Part 2: What Does “Their Qiblah Which They Used to Be Upon” Mean?

Series: The Change of Qiblah

In the previous part, we looked at who the group called السفهاء were, those who questioned the change of qiblah. They were not merely people who did not know. They were people whose judgement was corrupted when facing revelation. They asked not to understand, but to object, shake confidence and plant doubt. Now we enter into the question they raised.

Allah S.W.T says:

سَيَقُولُ السُّفَهَاءُ مِنَ النَّاسِ مَا وَلَّاهُمْ عَنْ قِبْلَتِهِمُ الَّتِي كَانُوا عَلَيْهَا

“The foolish among the people will say: What has turned them away from their qiblah which they used to be upon?”

In this verse, there is one very important phrase that we need to understand:

قِبْلَتِهِمُ الَّتِي كَانُوا عَلَيْهَا

“Their qiblah which they used to be upon.”

The question is, whose qiblah is this? Is it the qiblah of the Jews? Is it the qiblah of the Christians? Or is it the qiblah of Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. and the Muslims before the change took place?

Distinguishing Between Those Who Asked and Those Being Questioned

To understand this verse, we need to distinguish between two parties.

The first party is the group asking the question.

They are:

السُّفَهَاءُ مِنَ النَّاسِ

“The foolish among the people.”

They are the ones questioning the change of qiblah.

The second party is the group being referred to in their question.

They asked:

مَا وَلَّاهُمْ

“What has turned them away?”

The pronoun هم in وَلَّاهُمْ refers to Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. and the Muslims who had turned away from the previous qiblah to the new qiblah.

Then the same pronoun appears in:

عَنْ قِبْلَتِهِمُ

“From their qiblah.”

And also in:

الَّتِي كَانُوا عَلَيْهَا

“Which they used to be upon.”

Therefore, “them” in this phrase does not refer to the group asking the question. It refers to Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. and the Muslims who were the target of that question.

In other words, their question can be understood as follows:

“What caused Prophet Muhammad and his followers to turn away from the qiblah they had been facing all this time?”

So قِبْلَتِهِمُ here refers to the qiblah that the Prophet S.A.W. and the Muslims had faced before the command to face al-Masjid al-Haram was revealed.

Their Qiblah Does Not Mean a Qiblah They Owned

Here we need to be careful. When the verse mentions قِبْلَتِهِمُ (qiblatihimu), we should not quickly assume that the qiblah belonged to them absolutely. The word “their” here indicates the qiblah they were facing at that time, not a qiblah that belonged to them forever.

It is like when we say, “the house they live in.” That does not necessarily mean the house belongs to them. It may simply mean the house they are occupying.

The same applies to “their qiblah.” It means the qiblah they had been facing before the change occurred.

So the meaning is not:

“That qiblah belonged absolutely to the Muslims.”

Nor is it:

“That qiblah belonged to the Jews and the Muslims took it.”

Rather, the meaning is:

“The qiblah that the Prophet S.A.W. and the Muslims had previously been upon before they were commanded to turn toward al-Masjid al-Haram.”

The Qur’an Does Not Name the Previous Qiblah in This Verse

An important point we need to notice is that the Qur’an, in verse 2:142, does not name the previous qiblah.

Allah only says:

قِبْلَتِهِمُ الَّتِي كَانُوا عَلَيْهَا

“Their qiblah which they used to be upon.”

The name Bayt al-Maqdis is not mentioned directly in this verse. The name Jerusalem is also not mentioned in the wording of this verse. However, authentic hadith explains that the Prophet S.A.W. had faced Bayt al-Maqdis for sixteen or seventeen months before he was commanded to face al-Masjid al-Haram.

Therefore, the correct way to arrange the statement is as follows:

The Qur’an states that the Muslims had a previous qiblah before the change took place.

Authentic hadith explains that the previous qiblah was Bayt al-Maqdis.

This is important so that we do not mix the wording of the Qur’an with the explanation of hadith. Both are true, but the position of each source must be arranged accurately.

Why Did This Question Arise?

This question arose because a clear change had indeed taken place. Before that, the Prophet S.A.W. and the Muslims faced one direction. After that, they were commanded to face another direction.

They, meaning as-Sufaha’, saw that change and asked:

مَا وَلَّاهُمْ

“What has turned them away?”

The word وَلَّاهُمْ carries the meaning of turning them, changing their direction, or causing them to move from the former direction to the new one.

So the question was not merely about direction. It was about why the Muslims had turned away from the old norm. This is where the issue becomes significant, because the change of qiblah was not only visible in bodily movement. It showed a transition of obedience.

Before the new command was revealed, obedience meant facing the previous qiblah. After the new command was revealed, obedience meant facing al-Masjid al-Haram. The believers saw this change as revelation. The group called السفهاء saw this change as material for objection.

The Muslims Once Faced the Same Direction as the Jews

In the historical context, the previous qiblah of the Muslims was Bayt al-Maqdis in Jerusalem. This direction was also associated with the qiblah of the Jews. That is why when the Muslims no longer faced Bayt al-Maqdis, the clearest objection came from the Jews.

However, we need to understand this accurately. When the Muslims once faced Bayt al-Maqdis, it does not mean that the Muslims were dependent on the Jews. When the Muslims were later commanded to face al-Masjid al-Haram, it also does not mean that the Muslims were rejecting the value of Bayt al-Maqdis.

In the case of the Muslims, both phases of the qiblah, whether the first or the second, were under the command of Allah. When Allah commanded the Prophet S.A.W. and the Muslims to face Bayt al-Maqdis, obedience for the Muslims at that time meant facing Bayt al-Maqdis. When Allah commanded them to face al-Masjid al-Haram, obedience after that meant turning toward al-Masjid al-Haram.

This does not mean that we are saying the Jews at that time were upon true revelation merely because they also faced Bayt al-Maqdis. What we are discussing is the command of Allah to Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. and the Muslims, not an endorsement of the Jewish millah that had already stood upon its own framework.

So what changed for the Muslims was the direction commanded by Allah. What remained constant was the principle of obedience to Allah and the Messenger when revelation descended. Therefore, we should not understand the change of qiblah as merely the Muslims leaving the “qiblah of the Jews.” That is too narrow. The more accurate understanding is that the Muslims moved from one command of Allah to another command of Allah, according to the timing and decree of revelation.

Closing

Allah’s answer, “Say: To Allah belong the east (mashriq) and the west (maghrib),” is very interesting. Allah did not answer by naming the previous qiblah. Allah also did not immediately name the party that objected. Instead, Allah answered by mentioning al-mashriq and al-maghrib, the east and the west.

At the basic level, this answer explains that all directions belong to Allah. But at a deeper layer, this answer seems to open a major question that we need to examine later. Why was an objection about qiblah answered with east and west? Why was it not answered directly with the name Bayt al-Maqdis? Why was it not answered directly with the name al-Masjid al-Haram?

For that reason, when verse 142 is read together with the verse after it, we begin to see that the change of qiblah is not merely an issue of direction. Verse 143 will later explain that the previous qiblah itself was made a test to reveal who truly follows the Messenger and who turns away.

A large portion of them had a long history as Bani Israil, a group that in the Qur’an was once associated with the inheritance of mashariq al-ard and magharibaha, meaning the easts of the earth and its wests.

Therefore, the answer “to Allah belong the east and the west” should not be read casually as merely a general answer about direction. It is a doorway into a larger discussion.

Who were those who truly objected? What was their relationship with Bayt al-Maqdis? What was their relationship with the land Allah had caused Bani Israil to inherit? And why did Allah bring the wording of east and west when answering their objection?

We will discuss this in another part. For this part, it is enough for us to understand that the phrase “their qiblah which they used to be upon” refers to the qiblah that the Prophet S.A.W. and the Muslims had faced before the change occurred.

We already know that hadith explains that qiblah as Bayt al-Maqdis. However, the Qur’an itself in this verse chooses not to name it. Instead, Allah closes the answer to that objection with a broader wording:

لِلَّهِ الْمَشْرِقُ وَالْمَغْرِبُ

“To Allah belong the east and the west.”