“witnesses over mankind, and that the Messenger may be a witness over you.” (1)

Regarding His words, “And We did not appoint the qiblah which you had been facing”: that is, We did not change it—meaning the direction of the Sacred House in Jerusalem—except for a purpose. This is an instance of the omission of the annexed word. It is also possible that the second object of “appoint” is omitted, the meaning being: “And We did not appoint the qiblah which you had been facing to be abrogated.” It is also said that it means: the qiblah which you are now facing, namely the Kaʿbah, just as He says, “You were the best community,” meaning, “You are.”

“Except that We might know who follows the Messenger”: If it is asked, what is the meaning of His saying, “Except that We might know,” when He knows all things before they come to be? It is said: What is meant is the knowledge with which reward and punishment are connected, for they are not connected with what He knows of in the unseen; rather, they are connected with what actually occurs. Its meaning, then, is: that We might know with the knowledge by which the doer deserves reward or punishment. It is also said: “Except that We might know” means: that We might see and distinguish who follows the Messenger with regard to the qiblah from one who turns back on his heels,” thereby apostatizing. It is related in a hadith that, when the qiblah was changed, a group of Muslims apostatized to Judaism and said, “Muhammad has returned to the religion of his forefathers.”

Scholars of meaning said: Its sense is, “except in accordance with Our knowledge of who would follow the Messenger and who would turn back on his heels,” as though it had already preceded in His knowledge that changing the qiblah would be a cause of guidance for some people and misguidance for others. The wording of the future tense may also occur with the sense of the past, as Allah Most High says, “Why, then, do you kill the prophets of Allah?” (al-Baqarah 91), meaning: Why did you kill them?

“And indeed it was”: that is, it indeed was—the turning toward the Kaʿbah. It is also said that the feminine pronoun refers to the qiblah, and it is said that it refers to the Kaʿbah. Al-Zajjāj said: “And indeed the change was a great matter”—that is, burdensome and severe—“except for those whom Allah guided,” meaning, those whom Allah had guided. Sībawayh said: “In” is emphatic, resembling an oath; this is why the letter lām occurs in its answer.

“And Allah would not let your faith go to waste.” This was because Ḥuyayy ibn Akhṭab and his Jewish companions said to the Muslims, “Tell us about your prayers toward the Sacred House in Jerusalem. If they were guidance, then you have turned away from them; and if they were misguidance, then you worshipped Allah by means of them. Whoever among you died upon that direction died in misguidance.” The Muslims replied, “Guidance is only that which Allah commands, and misguidance is that which Allah forbids.”

They said, “Then what do you say concerning those among you who died while facing our qiblah?” Before the qiblah was changed, among the Muslims who had died were Asʿad ibn Zurārah of the Banū al-Najjār and al-Barāʾ ibn Maʿrūr of the Banū Salamah; they were among the leaders, along with other men. Their clans went to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and said, “O Messenger of Allah, Allah has turned you toward the qiblah of Abraham; but what of our brethren who died while praying toward the Sacred House in Jerusalem?” Thereupon Allah Most High revealed: “And Allah would not let your faith go to waste,” meaning, your prayers toward the Sacred House in Jerusalem. “Indeed, Allah is Most Kind and Most Merciful to mankind.”

The people of the Hijaz, Ibn ʿĀmir, and Ḥafṣ recited “Most Kind” with a fully pronounced hamzah, in the pattern faʿūl, because most of the names of Allah Most High follow the patterns faʿūl and faʿīl, such as the All-Forgiving, the Most Appreciative, the Most Merciful, the Most Generous, and others; whereas Abū Jaʿfar