We moved to a new house and made every effort to determine the qiblah, but we discovered our mistake after praying several prayers!

Question:
May Allah reward you, Your Eminence, father. The questioner says: We moved to a new house and made every effort to determine the qiblah, but after a few days of praying, we realized that we had made a mistake. Is there anything required of us?

Answer:
Yes, there is something required of you, because you are in a town where there are mosques and people you can ask; this does not require ijtihad (independent legal reasoning). This is what requires ijtihad: look and see the mosque, look at the mihrab, ask your neighbors where the qiblah is. They all know the qiblah, praise be to Allah; it does not require ijtihad. Ijtihad is when you are in the desert and you have no landmarks and nothing else, then you make an effort. But in a town, there is no place for ijtihad because the signs are clear. Yes, you must repeat the prayer if you prayed facing away from the qiblah with a significant deviation, such that it was behind your backs or on your sides; you repeat the prayer. But if the deviation was slight, there is no harm. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So for the one far from the Ka'bah, it is sufficient to face the direction in which the Ka'bah is, even if he does not hit the exact spot of the Ka'bah, because he does not see it; the direction is sufficient. But if you deviated from the direction, your prayer is not valid if you are able to ask and see the mihrabs. Yes.