114 – He said, “Then cite the evidence for what you have just set out.”

115 – I replied, “Allah—exalted is He—says: ‘We have certainly seen the turning of your face toward the heaven, and We shall surely turn you to a qiblah that will please you. So turn your face toward the Sacred Mosque’ (Quran 2:144). The phrase shatruhu means its direction—that is, facing it squarely.”

116 – He said, “Indeed.”

117 – I continued, “And He says: ‘It is He who made the stars for you so that you might be guided by them amid the darkness of land and sea’ (Quran 6:97).

118 – “And He says: ‘He has subjected to you the stars, the night and the day, the sun and the moon, and He created the mountains and the earth.’

119 – “He placed the Sacred Mosque where He decreed on His earth and charged His servants to face it. Some can actually see the House, and for them nothing suffices but to aim at it precisely. Others are far away, unable to see it; their homes lie at a distance, so they turn toward it by inferring its direction from the stars, the sun, the moon, the winds, the mountains, and the prevailing air-currents. Each of these aids may be employed in certain situations, with one sometimes dispensing with another.

120 – He said, “That is as you have described, yet do you have comprehensive certainty that whenever you turn, you hit the mark?”

121 – I answered, “I have sufficient assurance that when I face it I have fulfilled what I am enjoined to do, and that I have not been charged with anything beyond this—yes.”

122 – He asked, “Then do you possess full knowledge of the exact position of the House by your orientation toward it?”

123 – I replied, “Was I ever charged with comprehensive knowledge of the very site of the House? I have been charged only with ijtihād.”