The Holy Quran 2:148 — Surah Al-Baqarah

Arabic text

وَلِكُلٍّ وِجْهَةٌ هُوَ مُوَلِّيهَا ۖ فَٱسْتَبِقُوا۟ ٱلْخَيْرَٰتِ ۚ أَيْنَ مَا تَكُونُوا۟ يَأْتِ بِكُمُ ٱللَّهُ جَمِيعًا ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدِيرٌ

Translation

Every nation has a direction towards which they turn (in prayer), so hasten towards good actions (salaah). Wherever you may be, Allaah shall collect you all together (on the Day of Qiyaamah and reward you for your good acts). Surely Allaah has control of everything (it is therefore useless for people to quarrel over these matters because they lie in the hands of Allaah and man has no say in them).

Tafsir (excerpt) — Tafsir Usmani

Every nation has its qibla: that is, Allah has prescribed for each nation a qibla towards which they turn their faces at the time of worship. Or: each Muslim people is situated in a different direction from the Kaaba — some in the east, some in the west. So quarrelling over this is pointless, and insisting on one's own qibla or one's own direction is futile.

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