Qiblah

PROF G R MALIK

Some people, believers as well as non-believers, fail to understand the philosophy of Qiblah, the direction facing which prayers are offered. According to the Quran, fixing a certain direction as Qiblah does not imply that God is confined in that direction: 

And Allah’s is the East as well as the West; so whithersoever you turn God’s countenance is there. (2:115)   
Qiblah is actually needed to satisfy some irrepressible devotional urges of man. Our passion for worship remains unfulfilled unless we feast our eyes, and shower our love, in various forms, on the object of our devotion, circumambulate around and hold and kiss the signs that point towards Him. Since God is Incomparable and nothing can represent Him, we can have a measure of satisfaction by turning in a direction appointed by Him and what better direction could be fixed for this than the K‘aba, the first place of worship built for the One, True God in known history; and built by God’s beloved servant and messenger, Abraham (AS), respected by all Semitic religions and other cultures! 
Lest there be any misconception, the Quran makes it patently clear that “virtue does not consist in turning your faces towards the East and the West.” (2:173). The rest of this verse (2:177) tells us that genuine virtue lies in faith in God, belief in the Hereafter and selfless service of mankind particularly the poor, the needy and the down-trodden. Thus the ultimate aim of a believer is to realize God in his life through seeking His pleasure and serving mankind. But even for this noblest of aims a direction is needed to sharpen, chasten and harness psychic energy of the individual believer and to forge unity in the community of believers by making it revolve around a single pivot. As Ghalib rightly put it:   
Hai paray sarhad-e idraak se apna masjood
Qiblah ko ahl-i nazar Qiblah-numa kahtay hain
Far away from the bounds of apprehension is the object of our prostration;
Men of discerning vision treat Qiblah merely as a device pointing to Qiblah.