It was while the Prophet (S) was praying the noon prayer and...

It was while the Prophet (S) was praying the noon prayer and he had already performed only two rak'ats of the prayer in Bani-Salim Mosque towards the direction of Jerusalem when Gabriel was commissioned by Allah to take the arm of the Prophet (S) and turn his face towards the direction of the Ka'bah. The Jews were annoyed with this occurrence and according to their old traditional style, they began seeking pretexts.

Aforetime, they used to say that they were superior to Muslims because Muslims were dependent on the Jews regarding their Qiblah. But, when the command of changing the Qiblah was sent down by the Lord, a party of the Jews protested; as the Qur'an says: "The fools among the people will say: ‘What has turned them from their Qiblah (direction of prayer) which they were facing at?'..." The Jews disputed about why the Muslims altered the former prophets' Qiblah that day.

They said if the first Qiblah was correct, then why the change? And, if the second one was right, then why had they been praying towards the direction of Jerusalem for more than thirteen years? The Lord ordered His Apostle thus: "...Say: ‘Allah's is the East and the West; He guides whoever He pleases to a straight way’." Similar to this circumstance the words East and West, besides the verse under discussion, have occurred in four other verses of the Qur'an: 2: 115, 2: 177, 26: 28, 73: 9.

There is a short explanation about their objective meaning when commenting on verse 115 (pg. 267 this vol.). The content meaning of these terms refers to the Omnipresence of Allah as the Absolute Reality, the hold of which penetrates the universe in its every part and particle as well as its whole meaning both the rise of the light in the East and its setting in the West are the various aspects of manifestation of Allah's Might and Glory i.e.

whichever direction the mind turns there is this aspect of His. This verse was a decisive clear reasonable answer for those who sought pretext by letting them know that Jerusalem the Ka'bah and all other places belong to Allah, and, intrinsically, Allah has no house and no place; He is the Omnipresent.

The main principle here is that we servants should submit to His command and whatever direction He appoints for prayer that direction is sacred and respectable and that direction should be prayed towards. Without His commission, no place has excellence or preference in its own essence.