(149–150) “From wherever you set out, turn your face toward the Sacred Mosque. This is indeed the truth from your Lord, and Allah is not unaware of what you do. From wherever you set out, turn your face toward the Sacred Mosque; and wherever you may be, turn your faces toward it, so that people may have no argument against you except the wrongdoers among them. Do not fear them, but fear Me, so that I may complete My favor upon you and so that you may be guided.”
That is, “From wherever you set out”—whether on your journeys or otherwise, for this is general—“turn your face toward the Sacred Mosque,” meaning toward its direction.
He then addressed the community as a whole, saying: “Wherever you may be, turn your faces toward it.” He also said: “This is indeed the truth from your Lord.” He emphasized this with the particle inna and the emphatic lām, so that no one might entertain even the slightest doubt concerning it or suppose that it was prompted by personal inclination rather than obedience.
“Allah is not unaware of what you do.” Rather, He observes you in all your circumstances. Therefore, conduct yourselves properly before Him and remain mindful of Him by obeying His commands and avoiding His prohibitions. Your deeds do not escape His notice; rather, you will receive full recompense for them: good for good and evil for evil.
Here He also said: “So that people may have no argument against you.” That is, We prescribed that you face the honored Kaaba so that the arguments of the People of the Scripture and the polytheists against you might be brought to an end. Had he continued facing Jerusalem, they would have had grounds to argue against him. The People of the Scripture find in their Book that his permanent qiblah is the Kaaba, the Sacred House. The polytheists, meanwhile, regard this magnificent House as one of their glories and as part of the faith of Abraham. They reasoned that if Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—did not face it, they could argue against him, saying, “How can he claim to follow the faith of Abraham, when he is one of his descendants, yet has abandoned facing his qiblah?”
Thus, by facing the Kaaba (1), the proof was established against the People of the Scripture and the polytheists, and their arguments against him were brought to an end.
“Except the wrongdoers among them.” That is, whoever among them advances an argument does so unjustly, for it rests on nothing but the pursuit of whim and wrongdoing. There is no way to persuade or reason with such a person. Nor is there any point in treating the specious objections they present as arguments worthy of notice or attention. For this reason, Allah Most High said: “Do not fear them,” because their argument is false. Falsehood, as its very name indicates, is left without support, as is its proponent. This is unlike one who possesses the truth, for truth has authority and honor that cause its upholder to be feared. Allah Most High commanded that He be feared, for fear of Him is the foundation (2) of every good. Whoever does not fear Allah will neither refrain from disobeying Him nor comply with His command.
Redirecting the Muslims toward the Kaaba caused tremendous turmoil, which the People of the Scripture, the hypocrites, and the polytheists fomented by raising numerous arguments and specious objections. Allah Most High therefore treated the matter at length, explained it with the utmost clarity, and reinforced it through the various forms of emphasis contained in these verses.
Among these is that He issued the command three times, although once would have sufficed. Another is that the usual convention is for a command either to be addressed to the Messenger, with the community included by extension, or to the community in general. In this verse, however, the Messenger is specifically commanded in the words, “Turn your face,” while the community is addressed generally in the words, “Turn your faces.”
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Another is that He refuted every false argument advanced by the obstinate and invalidated each specious objection one by one, as previously explained. Another is that He ended all hope that the Messenger might follow the qiblah of the People of the Scripture. Yet another is His statement: “This is indeed the truth from your Lord.” The mere declaration of the Great and Truthful One is sufficient and decisive, yet He nevertheless said: “This is indeed the truth from your Lord.”
Another is that He—the Knower of all hidden things—informed us that the People of the Scripture were firmly convinced of the validity of this command, but knowingly concealed this testimony.
Since His directing us to face the qiblah was a tremendous blessing, and since His kindness and mercy toward this community have continually increased—every ordinance He prescribed for them being a tremendous blessing—He said: “So that I may complete My favor upon you.”
The foundation of this favor is guidance to His religion through sending His Messenger and revealing His Book. Thereafter came countless supplementary blessings that completed this foundation, from the time Allah sent His Messenger until his departure from this world drew near. Allah bestowed upon him and his community such circumstances and blessings as completed His favor upon him and upon them. Allah revealed to him: “Today I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favor upon you, and chosen Islam as your religion.”
All praise therefore belongs to Allah for His bounty, which we cannot even enumerate, let alone duly thank Him for. “So that you may be guided”—that is, so that you may know the truth and act upon it. Out of His mercy toward His servants, Allah—Exalted is He—has made the means of guidance exceedingly easy for them, directed them to follow its paths, and explained those paths with the utmost clarity. This even includes His bringing forth opponents of the truth to dispute it. Through their disputation, the truth becomes clear, its proofs and distinguishing signs become manifest, and the falsity of falsehood becomes evident, showing that it has no reality. Were falsehood not set against the truth, its true nature might not become clear to most people. Things are known through their opposites: were it not for night, the virtue of day would not be known; were it not for ugliness, the virtue of beauty would not be known; were it not for darkness, the benefit of light would not be known; and were it not for falsehood, the truth would not become so manifestly clear. All praise belongs to Allah for this.