one scholar that the Muslims unanimously regard anyone who says or does this as mistaken—this is known as a matter of necessity. For human beings are naturally disposed not to turn their hearts and hands in any direction other than upward, nor to seek Allah beneath their feet and stretch their hands toward that lower direction, or toward any direction other than upward.

The fifth argument—which is the fourteenth—is that Allah Most High has said:

“To Allah belong the east and the west. Wherever you turn, there is the Face of Allah.” [al-Baqarah 115]

He thus states that whichever direction a servant faces, he has faced Allah’s qiblah, making clear that wherever the servant is commanded to face and turn, he has faced and turned toward Allah’s qiblah and His appointed direction. Accordingly, they explained that this verse concerns situations in which facing the Kaaba is not specifically required, such as a traveler offering voluntary prayers while riding, who prays in whichever direction his mount takes him, or someone unable to do so because he does not know the direction of the Kaaba or is unable to face