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The Switch of the Qiblah: Story of Masjid Qiblatayn | Al-Aqsa: Past, Present, and Promise
Masjid al-Qiblatayn in Madinah marks the site where the qiblah of the Muslims changed from Masjid al-Aqsa to Masjid al-Haram. Dr. Omar Suleiman explains when, why, and how this occurred, and what it meant for the Muslims who passed away before the qiblah changed.
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.
As-salaamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. Alhamdulillah wa salatu wassalamu ala Rasulillah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala. So as we're going through the virtues of Al-Aqsa
and we're going through this blessed series, I wanted us to have the opportunity to actually come to the place where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala turned the page. And it's really beautiful that as you're reading through the mushaf, the very first ayat of the second juz, as
if subhanAllah you are turning the page, the next chapter is,
that the foolish ones will mock the Prophet (ﷺ), they will mock the Ummah of the Prophet (ﷺ) and say what caused them to turn away from
the Qibla that they were on before. What is behind me is Masjid al-Qiblatayn. And it's called Masjid al-Qiblatayn now, the Masjid of the two Qiblas, for a very obvious reason
which is that the switch happened from Jerusalem to Mecca here. But there's a story that precedes that. When the Prophet (ﷺ) first came to Medina, there are a few things that happened. Number one, when the sahaba were in Mecca, even though they were facing
Al-Bayt al-Maqdis in Jerusalem, they would put the Ka'bah between them and Jerusalem as they were praying. And so now as they are in Al-Medina, the Ka'bah is no longer between
them and Jerusalem, they are facing Jerusalem exclusively. And that comes with all sorts of emotional challenges, psychological challenges, spiritual challenges, that their backs are essentially turned towards Mecca. And you can see this when you come inside the Masjid,
that as you pray towards Jerusalem here, your back is literally towards Mecca. And so this further alienated them from, especially the Muhajireen, from the place that they had just
left. But there's also a second thing that, why was there a Masjid here in the first place? The tribes that lived a distance from the Masjid of the Prophet (ﷺ) established their Musallas. And so they would pray in their Musallas, but they would connect
to the central Masjid of the Masjid of the Prophet (ﷺ). And behind me, this was Masjid Banu Salima. Banu Salima is a famous tribe, it's the tribe of Jabir
ibn Abdullah (رضي الله عنهما), whose father, Abdullah ibn Amr ibn Haram, was a famous Shaheed of the Battle of Uhud, who the Prophet (ﷺ) said
Allah spoke to directly when he was martyred (رضي الله عنه). And Jabir (رضي الله عنه) tells the story of this place. That when the Prophet (ﷺ)
set up the Masjid, Masjid Nabawi, the people who were here wanted to basically pick up and move closer to the Masjid of the Prophet (ﷺ), which is Banu Salima. And it's about a two mile walk from here to the Masjid of the Prophet (ﷺ).
And you can imagine how hard it is to make that walk every single day to be with the Prophet (ﷺ). And here is the famous hadith where the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) told the people here, stay in your places because your
footsteps will be recorded. Every single step that you take to the Masjid of the Prophet (ﷺ) is going to be recorded with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, so don't abandon your places. But he would come out (ﷺ) and he would pray in these
various musallas and that was a way of keeping connected to these tribes. So it wasn't always them going to him (ﷺ), sometimes it was him coming out to them. Now how does this relate to the switch of the Qibla? When the Prophet (ﷺ)
got here of course there were Jewish tribes, people of the book that were waiting for the Prophet that was prophesized in their scripture. But the Prophet (ﷺ) didn't fit the mold. He wasn't from the children of Ishaq, instead he was from the children
of Ismail. And because of that, many of them rejected the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). And what made it more audacious to them and a source of mockery was that how is it that this man (ﷺ) dares to face towards Jerusalem in his prayer
because that too was their Qibla, that too was their prayer direction. And they said what is it with him? He contradicts our religion, but he follows our Qibla. And so they were
mocking the Prophet (ﷺ). And here in Mujahid (rahimahullah) mentions that the sentiment that the companions of the Messenger of Allah had of missing Mecca and missing the Ka'bah as well as being mocked for facing Jerusalem as if it wasn't there
comes together in this moment where the Prophet (ﷺ) says to Jibreel (عليه السلام), Ya Jibreel, would Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to face towards Mecca? He was missing the Qibla, Qibla to Abi Ibrahim, the Qibla that was built by his father Ibrahim
(عليه السلام). And Jibreel (عليه السلام) says to the Prophet (ﷺ), look I am just a slave of Allah just like you. And you are a noble slave of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. You have a place with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So go ahead and ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and see what happens. And this is where the ayah comes,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that we see you looking towards the heavens. And the Prophet (ﷺ) was looking towards the heavens waiting for an answer to his request
to face towards Masjid al-Haram in Mecca. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent Jibreel (عليه السلام) to switch the Qibla of the Muslims towards Mecca. As Anas ibn Malik (رضي الله
عنه) says this was about 16 or 17 months into the hijrah of the Prophet (ﷺ). How does it happen and what makes this Masjid so special? So in the Masjid of the Prophet (ﷺ) if you look at the initial construction it was facing
towards Jerusalem. So facing towards Jerusalem from Medina is not different. If you look at the original construction of Masjid Quba they were facing towards Masjid al-Aqsa. But here in Masjid al-Qiblatayn is the only place that the Prophet (ﷺ)
prayed towards both Qiblas in a single Salah. It was Salat al-Dhuhr or Salat al-Asr that the Prophet (ﷺ) was leading the companions here. And the switch came in the middle of the Salah. And so the Prophet (ﷺ) turned towards Al-Masjid
al-Haram and it is literally in the opposite direction. And as the scholars mentioned the Prophet (ﷺ) and the men switched with the women and the Qibla entirely
switched within that single Salah. And so afterwards the message started to go out. The messengers went to Masjid Quba. They went to the Masjid of the Prophet (ﷺ) to say we swear by Allah that we saw the Prophet (ﷺ) praying
towards a different Qibla, a new chapter. Literally the first page of the second chapter of the Quran for the Muslims. And when this happens, as the Qibla starts to change towards
Mecca, the same people of the book that initially mocked the Prophet (ﷺ) for facing towards Al-Masjid al-Aqsa, they came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and they were grieved as the Prophet (ﷺ) was no longer facing their
Qibla and so they didn't have that claim over him anymore. And some of them even said to the Prophet (ﷺ), if you face back towards Jerusalem, then maybe we will follow you. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala had made permanent the place of the
first Qibla and now the place of Masjid al-Haram as well. We have not lost the spiritual significance of Jerusalem, of Al-Bayt al-Maqdis, but at the same time we face towards what Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala commanded us, which is Al-Masjid al-Haram and it is upon us to follow the command of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as He has given to us. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says wa ma ja'alna al-qibla alati kunta alayha illa li na'lama man yatabi'u al-rasool mimman
yanqalibu ala aqibay. That we did not assign this first Qibla of Jerusalem except as a test because Al-Masjid al-Haram is greater than Masjid al-Aqsa. It is greater than the
Masjid of the Prophet (ﷺ). We assigned it as a test to see who would indeed follow the Messenger of Allah, who would indeed follow the scripture, who would indeed follow the command of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because where Allah tells you to
face you face, what Allah tells you to follow you follow. And just like those companions didn't ask questions, when the Prophet (ﷺ) turned around and he faced the different Qibla, they all turned around. Sami'na wa ata'na, we hear and we obey. That
was the message that was given to the people of the book, that was the message given to anyone who claims to be ready to follow the instructions of the Prophet of Allah, who claims to be ready to follow the scripture as it has been given. And so facing al-Aqsa
was a test, facing al-Aqsa was a virtue and Allah combined for the Prophet (ﷺ) al-Qibla as a sign that he is the Prophet to Bani Ismail and he is the Prophet to Bani Israel and he is the Prophet to Bani Adam as a whole. And that Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala has given the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) all of those things together and by virtue of that a place in the hearts of the Ummah of Muhammad (ﷺ). But one more question remains, what about all those people who never got
to pray towards Makkah? What about all those people who never got to pray towards Masjid Al-Haram? The Sahaba wondered what was the state of their Salah?
So I want you to think about the fact that all of the Shuhada of Uhud passed away from this world, Hamza (رضي الله عنه), Mus'ab (رضي الله عنه) and beyond and none
of them knew Makkah as a Qibla for the time that they were here. All of their Salah was entirely towards Al-Bayt Al-Maqdis. And so some of the companions came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and they said Ya Rasool Allah, what about Ikhwan Al-Ladheena
Matu Qabla Tahawul Al-Qibla? What about those people that died, our brothers who died before the Qibla was changed and all of their Salah was towards Bayt Al-Maqdis? Was all of their prayer in vain? And that's why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed,
Wa maa kaana Allahu liyu dhiyaa imanakum inna Allaha bin nasi la ra'oofun raheem Allah will not let your faith go to waste, i.e. your Salah. Your Salah has not gone to
waste. Oh Hamza the great Shaheed, Mus'ab the great Shaheed, all of their prayers were towards Al-Bayt Al-Maqdis but the same Lord was being prayed to whether they were facing
Al-Bayt Al-Maqdis or they were facing Makkah after that change. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will not lose our faith, Allah will not lose our efforts, may Allah accept our efforts
for Al-Bayt Al-Maqdis and may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala turn our hearts towards Him and bring us near to Him and allow us to be neighbors of our beloved Prophet (ﷺ) fil Firdaws Al-A'la with all of the Prophets that came before, with the martyrs, with the
Siddiqeen and the Saliheen. Allahumma Ameen. Jazakum Allah Khair. Wassalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. This is a test. This is a test. This is a test. This is a test. This is a test. This is a test. This is a test. This is a test. This is a test.
This is a test. This is a test. This is a test. This is a test. This is a test. This is a test. This is a test. This is a test. This is a test. This is a test. This is a test. This is a test. This is a test. This is a test.
This is a test. This is a test. This is a test. This is a test. This is a test. This is a test.
