A man living in Poland who does not know the direction of the qiblah: what do you advise him to do?
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Question:
He says: I am one of the Arab citizens residing in the Republic of Poland, and he calls himself Engineer Muhammad. He says: I pray, praise be to Allah, but I do not know exactly the direction of the noble qiblah. Is it permissible for me to pray in the direction I believe to be the qiblah, or what do you advise me to do? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
It is obligatory for you to know the direction of the qiblah, because completing the qiblah in prayer is a condition for its validity. Allah the Exalted said:[Al-Baqarah 2:144] regarding the Sacred Mosque. So it is obligatory for you to act according to the evidence that indicates the direction of the qiblah, either by the mihrabs, the mihrabs of the mosques, or by asking the people of expertise who know the direction of the qiblah, or by looking at the sun and the moon, knowing the east, west, south, and north, and facing the direction where the qiblah is. So it is obligatory for you to act according to the evidence that indicates the direction of the qiblah with certainty or preponderant probability, and that is by referring to these conditions that we mentioned.
As for exerting your own effort without looking at the evidence, this is not permissible for you. It is not permissible for you to be lenient and to pray without looking at the evidence by which the qiblah is known, or by asking the people of expertise, unless you are in a country. But if you are in a wilderness and you have no one with you, you exert your effort as much as you can, looking at the indications and the evidence present with you, and you exert your effort and pray. Your prayer is valid if a certain direction is preponderant in your opinion.
He says: I am one of the Arab citizens residing in the Republic of Poland, and he calls himself Engineer Muhammad. He says: I pray, praise be to Allah, but I do not know exactly the direction of the noble qiblah. Is it permissible for me to pray in the direction I believe to be the qiblah, or what do you advise me to do? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
It is obligatory for you to know the direction of the qiblah, because completing the qiblah in prayer is a condition for its validity. Allah the Exalted said:
And wherever you [believers] are, turn your faces toward it [in prayer].
وَحَيْثُ مَا كُنتُمْ فَوَلُّوا وُجُوهَكُمْ شَطْرَهُAs for exerting your own effort without looking at the evidence, this is not permissible for you. It is not permissible for you to be lenient and to pray without looking at the evidence by which the qiblah is known, or by asking the people of expertise, unless you are in a country. But if you are in a wilderness and you have no one with you, you exert your effort as much as you can, looking at the indications and the evidence present with you, and you exert your effort and pray. Your prayer is valid if a certain direction is preponderant in your opinion.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، رجل يعيش في بولندا لا يعرف اتجاه القبلة، بماذا توجهونه؟ الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.
