Al-Bayhaqī then said:
“– And what is intended—Allah knows best—is the people of Medina and everyone whose qiblah lies on the same alignment as theirs, somewhere between east and west. This, therefore, applies to those situated north or south. As for those who are to the east or west, their qiblah falls between north and south.”

Al-Ṣanʿānī states in Subul al-Salām:
“The ḥadith proves that what is obligatory for anyone unable to see the Kaʿbah is merely to face the general direction, not the very structure itself. A number of scholars have adopted this view on the strength of this report.”

I add: this is also the position of our Ḥanafī scholars. Al-Majmūʿ records: “Al-Tirmidhī reported it from ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, Ibn ʿAbbās, Ibn ʿUmar, and Ibn al-Mubārak.”

Al-Qurṭubī, in his Tafsīr, even cited a consensus of the scholars to that effect, yet this claim is open to question, for al-Nawawī affirmed that the sound ruling among the Shāfiʿīs is that one must face the very spot of the Kaʿbah. He added: “This is likewise the view of some Mālikīs and one narration from Aḥmad.”

I say: That view runs counter to what has been transmitted from the Companions as well as to this ḥadith. Al-Ṣanʿānī then continued: