The Ruling on the Prayer of a Traveler Who Makes a Mistake in Determining the Direction of the Qiblah
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. If a traveler exerts his effort in determining the direction of the qiblah and prays, and then it turns out that he was mistaken, does he have to repeat the prayer?
Answer:
If he has someone he can ask who is more knowledgeable and better informed about the evidence for the direction of the qiblah, he should ask. Yes, he should ask the one who is more knowledgeable about the evidence for the direction of the qiblah. If he has no one with him, or if they all exerted their effort and arrived at a direction and prayed, and then the mistake became apparent, their prayer is valid. It has been reported that a group exerted their effort while traveling and prayed in a direction other than the qiblah at night. When morning came, they found that they had not been facing the qiblah. They asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and Allah the Exalted revealed His saying:[Al-Baqarah 2:115].
So if they exerted their effort and did their best, and prayed in a direction based on their effort, and the prayer was completed, then it is valid, and praise be to Allah. The religion is easy, and praise be to Allah.
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. If a traveler exerts his effort in determining the direction of the qiblah and prays, and then it turns out that he was mistaken, does he have to repeat the prayer?
Answer:
If he has someone he can ask who is more knowledgeable and better informed about the evidence for the direction of the qiblah, he should ask. Yes, he should ask the one who is more knowledgeable about the evidence for the direction of the qiblah. If he has no one with him, or if they all exerted their effort and arrived at a direction and prayed, and then the mistake became apparent, their prayer is valid. It has been reported that a group exerted their effort while traveling and prayed in a direction other than the qiblah at night. When morning came, they found that they had not been facing the qiblah. They asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and Allah the Exalted revealed His saying:
And to Allah belongs the east and the west. So wherever you [might] turn, there is the Face of Allah. Indeed, Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing.
وَلِلَّهِ الْمَشْرِقُ وَالْمَغْرِبُ فَأَيْنَمَا تُوَلُّوا فَثَمَّ وَجْهُ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌSo if they exerted their effort and did their best, and prayed in a direction based on their effort, and the prayer was completed, then it is valid, and praise be to Allah. The religion is easy, and praise be to Allah.
Source
صلاة المسافر إذا تحرى القبلة وصلى ثم تبين أنه مخطئ — alfawzan.live
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.