Chapter 2: Surat Al-Baqarah (The Cow), verses 144-147
Translation:
Indeed, We see you look repeatedly towards heaven. We will make you turn towards a qiblah that will please you. So turn your face towards the Sacred Mosque; wherever you are, turn your faces towards it. Those to whom the Book was given know this to be the truth from their Lord. God is not unmindful of what they do. But even if you gave those to whom the Book has been given every proof, they would not accept your qiblah, nor are you going to accept their qiblah nor would any of them accept the qiblah of the other. If, after all the knowledge you have been given, you yield to their desires, then you will surely become an evil-doer. Those to whom We gave the Book know Our apostle as they know their own sons. But some of them deliberately conceal the truth. This is the truth from your Lord: therefore never doubt it.
Tafsir
(Commentary):
Not until
the Prophet of Islam received divine revelation on a certain matter, did he
change the pattern of previous prophets. Faithful to this principle, he
initially made Jerusalem his qiblah, for prophets since the time of
Solomon had prayed in that direction. The coming of Islam signaled the removal
of the Jews from their position as torch-bearers of the true faith. The true
faith had also to be separated and made distinct from Jewish tradition, so that
it could appear in a new and unmistakably pure form. For this reason the Prophet
was eagerly awaiting instructions to change the qiblah. In the second
year after his emigration to Medina he received the commandment. The Prophets
who had come among the Jewish people had been informed that one day God would
alter the qiblah, and they had passed the knowledge on to the Jews. It
was something, therefore, that Jewish theologians should have been expecting.
Yet only a few of them, such as Abdullah ibn Salam and Mukhaireeq, confirmed the
authenticity of this commandment and acknowledged that God had revealed the
truth through the Prophet Muhammad. The reason for the majority’s refusal to
follow the Prophet Muhammad was the fact that they were used to behaving as they
saw fit. They had certain romantic notions about the special position occupied
by their own people, and they had made these the bedrock of their life and
creed. Those who give free rein to their own desires will never follow the path
of reason. By denying God’s signs, they aspire, in their perversity, to the
satisfactions that God wishes man to derive from their acceptance.