ﲄ ﲅ ﲆ ﲇ ﲈ ﲉ ﲊ ﲋ ﲌ ﲍ ﲎ ﲏ ﲐ ﲑ ﲒ ﲓ ﲔ ﲕ ﲖ ﲗ ﲘ ﲙ ﲚ ﲛ ﲜ ﲝ ﲞ ﲟ ﲠ ﲡ ﲢ ﲣ
And from wherever you go out [for prayer], turn your face toward al-Masjid al-Haram. And wherever you [believers] may be, turn your faces toward it in order that the people will not have any argument against you, except for those of them who commit wrong; so fear them not but fear Me. And [it is] so I may complete My favor upon you and that you may be guided.
Tafsir
Verse range: 2:150
This is conjoined to the aggregate of His saying: {ولكل وجهة} (And for each is a direction), or to His saying: {قد نرى تقلب وجهك} (We have certainly seen the turning of your face), being a coordination of one narrative with another. It is not conjoined to His saying: {ومن حيث خرجت} (And from wherever you go out), which falls under the fa of causality, indicating that it is a consequence of the statement {ولكل وجهة}, because that is qualified by His saying: {لئلا يكون للناس عليكم حجة} (so that people will have no argument against you).
Although the latter is the cause for an implied clause—meaning, "We have taught you the path of correctness regarding your Qiblah and the argument therein," as has been suggested—it is understood from it that it is also the cause for the command to turn (tawliyah). For if the cessation of argument through the act of turning is achieved for the Ummah, its achievement for the Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) through the same means follows a fortiori. If the address is taken as general to both the Messenger and the Ummah, and one does not insist on restricting it to the Ummah—in the manner of other addresses in the verse—then it is a cause for both.
This ruling was repeated due to the multiplicity of its causes, and the restriction derived from {إلا لنعلم} (except that We might make evident) is relative or argumentative. For Allah, the Exalted, mentioned three reasons for the change:
Turning toward the Kaaba repels the Jews' contention that the one described in the Torah has the Kaaba as his Qiblah, not the Rock; thus, since this Prophet prays toward the Rock, he cannot be the promised Prophet. It also repels their contention that he (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) claims to possess a Sharia while following our Qiblah, and there is a contradiction between them, because His custom, Exalted be He, is to specify a unique Qiblah for every possessor of a Sharia. It further repels the polytheists' contention that he (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) claims to be upon the creed of Ibrahim while opposing his Qiblah.
He, the Exalted, abandoned the general after the specific in that rank, deeming the generality derived from the cause sufficient. He added {من حيث خرجت} (from wherever you go out) to dispel the notion that the state of traveling should differ from the state of being at home—as if the state of travel were to remain as it was, similar to how in prayer two rak'ahs are added while at home, or as if he were given the choice between two directions, as in fasting.
It is sometimes said that the benefit of this repetition is to show concern for the ruling, as it is a place of potential criticism and many opponents, due to their inability to distinguish between abrogation (naskh) and change of intention (bada'). Others have said: there is no repetition, for there are three conditions: his being in the Masjid, his being in the city outside the Masjid, and his being outside the city. The first is applied to the first, the second to the second, and the third to the third. It is not hidden that this is mere analogy, for which there is no evidence.
The naming of this false suspicion as an "argument"—despite it being the opposite of the proof that establishes the intended meaning—is because it is similar to such a proof in that they present it in the same manner as one. It has been objected that if the beginning of the speech included this, it would necessitate combining the literal and the metaphorical; otherwise, the exclusion would not be valid because "argument" (hujjah) is restricted to the literal. There is no escape except to intend by "argument" that which is clung to, whether true or false.
It was answered that their suspicion was not excluded from the "argument," but rather their persons were excluded from "the people." However, it resulted in their suspicion being called an "argument" based on the concept of mafhum al-mukhalafah (implication of the opposite), so there is no need for the beginning of the speech to include it. You know that the intention of the objector is that although the exclusion is from "the people," it affirms for the excepted party what was negated from the excepted-from party, based on the principle that exclusion from negation is affirmation. If the beginning of the speech contained what was affirmed for the excepted party, the combination would be necessary; otherwise, the exclusion would not be realized according to its requirement, since what is affirmed for the excepted-from is one thing, and for the excepted is another.
There is no escape from this dilemma unless "argument" is understood as "that which is clung to" or "that which is generally called an argument." In this case, the exclusion is realized according to its requirement, because a suspicion is an "argument" in this sense, just like a demonstration, and there is no need to combine the literal and the metaphorical. You may also take "argument" to mean "disputation and contention," as in His saying: {لا حجة بيننا وبينكم} (There is no argument between us and you). In that case, the structure of the exclusion is clear, although the phrasing of the speech is far from common usage when intending this meaning.
It has also been said: The exclusion is munqati' (disconnected), and it is a case of confirming something by its opposite and establishing it through its negation. The meaning is: "If they have an argument, it is only injustice, and injustice cannot be an argument; therefore, their argument is impossible by principle." This is establishing by way of proof, on the order of the saying: "There is no fault in them, except that their guest is blamed for forgetting loved ones and home."
Zayd ibn Ali (may Allah be pleased with them both) recited "ألا" with a fathah and takhfif (lightness), which is a particle used to open speech to alert the listener to pay attention. {الذين} (those who) is an mubtada' (subject), and its khabar (predicate) is His saying: {فلا تخشوهم} (do not fear them). The fa is redundant for emphasis, or—it is said—it is included because the subject contains the meaning of a condition. It is also permissible for the relative noun to be in the accusative case as a condition for interpretation. The well-known view is that "fear" (khashyah) is synonymous with "fear" (khawf), meaning: Do not fear the wrongdoers, for they have no power over benefit or harm. It is also permissible for the pronoun to refer back to "the people," but there is remoteness in that.
Yes, it has been objected due to the remoteness of relevance, and because the desire for guidance—which is signified by the hope (la'alla)—is only suitable as a cause for the command to turn, not for the act of the one commanded, as is apparent in the clause conjoined to it. Thus, the apparent meaning is that it is a cause for an implied clause, meaning: "I have commanded you to turn and to fear Me in order to complete My favor upon you and because of My desire for your guidance." The causal sentence is conjoined to the previous causal sentence, or it is a conjunction to an implied cause, estimated as: "And fear Me so that I may protect you, and that I may complete," etc.
Some have favored this view by what al-Bukhari extracted in al-Adab al-Mufrad and al-Tirmidhi from the hadith of Mu'adh ibn Jabal: "Completion of favor is entry into Paradise." It is not hidden that according to the first view, the speech may be interpreted as: "Worship and pray facing toward the Masjid al-Haram so that I may cause you to enter Paradise," and the hadith does not reject this; rather, it corresponds to it precisely. Thus, considering it a preference for that is far from thorough investigation.
If it is said: "He, the Exalted, revealed near the end of the life of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace): {اليوم أكملت لكم دينكم وأتممت عليكم نعمتي} (This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you), clarifying that the completion of favor was achieved only on that day; how then did He say years before that in this verse: {ولأتم نعمتي عليكم} (that I may complete My favor upon you)?" It is answered that the completion of favor at every time is according to what befits it. So contemplate this.
