And when the previous words made the people of eloquence aware of the occurrence of a matter regarding the qiblah, they anticipated the news about that. He clarified his compassion and mercy towards the people in general, and he clarified that through his Messenger specifically, by stating that his turning towards the Ka'bah is a compassion from Him towards it and a mercy for it, along with the benefits that preceded it. So Allah, the Most High, said: "Indeed, We see your face turning in the sky." Al-Haralī said: In it is news for those who await a matter or news that will benefit with the future rarity of occurrence. In it is an indication that when the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, concealed in his heart the intention to turn towards the Ka'bah, which is a standing for the people, he was a Messenger to all people. And he, blessings and peace be upon him, was upon the religion of his father Ibrahim, peace be upon him, relying on Allah's knowledge of him without asking about it. For the supplication is for those who seek to fulfill a need, and for those who rely on Allah's knowledge, it is worship. Allah responded to the turning of his face, despite the rarity of that from him, as indicated by "Indeed" in reducing the turning and the sight. "In the sky" indicates what He made of the specification of the sky with the face of the supplicant, just as He specified the unseen of the hearts with the face of the one praying. The one praying returns to the unseen of his heart and does not raise his gaze to the sky. "And certainly, some people will cease raising their eyes to the sky during prayer, or their sight will be taken away." And the supplicant turns towards the sky and extends his hands, as he said: "Until we saw the whiteness of his armpits" - this is the end of the summary.

"So We will surely turn you" means: that which resulted from that vision is that we will turn you without a doubt "to a qiblah". Al-Haralī said: He made it indefinite because there is behind it a general qiblah in his movement. That is the qiblah which is directed towards the face of Allah, not a direction towards a visible aspect of Allah's creation. So the expanse of the qiblah is between the specification of the Sham qiblah to the standing of the Hijaz qiblah to the encompassing of the general qiblah in all directions. And in His saying: "that you will be pleased with it" is an indication of His approval of the direction towards this qiblah, for approval is the description of the one who affirms what he intends. Every occurrence is by intention and there is no approval until it is rectified by affirmation. For the pursuit of it is raising and changing, and it is an intended matter that is not approved. This indicates that His approval is the Ka'bah due to the conjunction of the cause in His saying: "So turn your face". As for your heart, its direction is only towards Allah, the unseen for the unseen and the apparent for the apparent.

﴿Shatr﴾ meaning: he designated ﴿the mosque﴾ as Al-Shafi'i, may Allah have mercy on him, indicated in his message with a number of the poetry of the Arabs. He said: And all of this from their poetry clarifies that the shatr of a thing is the intended direction of the thing, if it is seen, then it is correct, and if it is hidden, then it is by effort. ﴿the sacred﴾ and his expression of it in this way without mentioning the Kaaba in it is an expansion. Al-Harali said: Allah named it sacred due to its sanctity, as it has never been trodden except by His permission, and it has not been entered except with the entrance of worship and humility. Thus, it is forbidden for one who enters it to enter with arrogance or confusion. End of quote. [And from Imam Al-Mawardi that every place where Allah mentioned the sacred mosque, the intended meaning is the sanctuary, except in this case, the intended meaning is the Kaaba. End of quote. And he expressed it in this way because the context is for the prayer, the greatest purpose of which is prostration, and there will be an addition regarding ﴿They ask you about the sacred month﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 217] in addition to this.] In Al-Muwatta, it is narrated from Sa'id ibn Al-Musayyab that he said: "The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, prayed after he arrived in Medina for sixteen months towards Bayt Al-Maqdis, then the qibla was changed two months before Badr." And when he was first informed of the change, and the one who was informed of it was mentioned second, he alluded to a third glad tidings of the increase of his nation and their spread in the corners of the earth. Thus, he gathered them to himself in His saying: ﴿And wherever you are﴾ meaning: from the directions of the earth which He has made you inherit. ﴿So turn your faces towards it﴾ by directing your hearts to Me. And when he clarified and established that, he indicated that those who criticize his religion by that are from the People of the Book, knowing the truth of this change, and that it is one of the signs of his prophethood. He said: ﴿And indeed, those who were given the Scripture﴾ meaning: from the Jews and Christians, and he did not describe them here with foolishness to affirm knowledge in his saying: ﴿They know that it﴾ meaning: this change ﴿is the truth﴾ meaning: there is no other truth regarding the qibla that can raise it at all. ﴿from their Lord﴾ meaning: the One who is gracious to them by sending this Messenger who removes their burden, and they were waiting for his message. So when it came to them, they rejected His mercy. And Allah, glorified is He, placed that in a context that threatens them, encouraging him and his followers, as consolation for them, and strengthening for their resolve, and enabling them, as He concluded the verse with His saying: ﴿And Allah﴾ meaning: the One who encompasses everything with power and knowledge ﴿is not unaware of what they do﴾. Al-Harali said: with the letter 'ya' meaning the lower one, indicating turning away from them, and with the letter 'ta' indicating turning towards them. Thus, it indicates their persistence in their evil conditions in two ranks: in a persistent state of evil that threatens them for what they have approached, and in a persistent state of worse than it that necessitated in its threatening turning away from it and turning towards others who have not reached in evil and scheming to what the one who turns away from it has reached.