When the qiblah was changed, the Jews said, “Muhammad, this is nothing but something you have invented of your own accord: at one time you pray toward Jerusalem, and at another toward the Kaʿbah. Had you remained steadfast upon our qiblah, we would have hoped that you were our companion whom we await.” Thereupon Allah revealed: “Indeed, those who have been given the Scripture surely know that it”—that is, the matter of the Kaʿbah—“is the truth from their Lord.” Then He warned them, saying: “And Allah is not unaware of what you do.”

Abū Jaʿfar, Ibn ʿĀmir, Ḥamzah, and al-Kisāʾī recited it with the second-person form. Ibn ʿAbbās said: This means, “O company of believers, you seek My pleasure, and I am not unaware of your reward and recompense.” The rest recited it with the third-person form, meaning: “I am not unaware of what the Jews do, and I shall requite them for it in this world and the Hereafter.”

“And even if you brought every sign to those who have been given the Scripture, they would not follow your qiblah; nor are you to follow their qiblah; nor do some of them follow the qiblah of others. And if you were to follow their desires after the knowledge that has come to you, then you would indeed be among the wrongdoers.” (145)

Regarding His saying, “And even if you brought every sign to those who have been given the Scripture”: that is, the Jews and the Christians. They said, “Bring us a sign to prove what you say.” So Allah Most High said, “And even if you brought every sign to those who have been given the Scripture”—that is, every miracle—“they would not follow your qiblah,” meaning the Kaʿbah; “nor are you to follow their qiblah; nor do some of them follow the qiblah of others.” This is because the Jews face Jerusalem, which lies to the west, while the Christians face the east; the qiblah of the Muslims is the Kaʿbah.

Abū ʿUthmān Saʿīd ibn Ismāʿīl al-Ḍabbī informed us; Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Jabbār ibn Muḥammad al-Jarāḥī informed us; Abū al-ʿAbbās Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Maḥbūbī informed us; Abū ʿĪsā Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā al-Tirmidhī informed us; al-Ḥasan ibn Bakr al-Marwazī informed us; al-Muʿallā ibn Manṣūr informed us; ʿAbd Allah ibn Jaʿfar al-Makhzūmī informed us from ʿUthmān al-Akhnasī, from Saʿīd al-Maqburī, from Abū Hurayrah, that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “The qiblah lies between east and west.” (1)

By this he meant the people of the eastern lands. By “east” he meant the point of sunrise in winter, on the shortest day of the year; and by “west,” the point of sunset in summer, on the longest day of the year. Thus, whoever places the summer sunset to his right and the winter sunrise to his left will be facing the qiblah.

As for His saying, “And if you were to follow their desires”: although the address is directed to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, what is meant by it is