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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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Does one who exerted effort in determining the qiblah and made a mistake repeat the prayer?

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Question:
May Allah reward you. In her final question, she says: We were on a journey in the desert, and the time for the 'Isha' prayer arrived. They determined the qiblah for us. After the prayer, they said that the direction of the qiblah was not the direction you prayed toward, but rather in another place. So I stood up and repeated the prayer again. What is the ruling on my action? May Allah reward you with good.

Answer:
If they were in the desert, exerted effort, and sought the qiblah, and prayed, and the error did not become clear to them until after the completion of the prayer, then their prayer is valid and they do not repeat the prayer, because they did what they were able to do. And Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, says:
So fear Allah as much as you are ableفَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ
[At-Taghabun 64:16]
And it has been reported regarding the reason for the revelation of the saying of Allah the Exalted:
And to Allah belongs the east and the westوَلِلَّهِ الْمَشْرِقُ وَالْمَغْرِبُ
[Al-Baqarah 2:115]
So wherever you [might] turn, there is the Face of Allahفَأَيْنَمَا تُوَلُّوا فَثَمَّ وَجْهُ اللَّهِ
[Al-Baqarah 2:115]
. It was revealed concerning a group who prayed while traveling and exerted effort in determining the qiblah.
Then it became clear to them afterwards that they had prayed in a direction other than the qiblah. So the verse was revealed to validate their prayer, because they did what they were able to do at that time. And it is obligatory for them in the future, in the remaining prayers, to face the correct qiblah. But if they were negligent from the beginning, and did not exert effort, and did not ask, and did not look into the evidence, and prayed without exertion, and then it became clear that they were mistaken, then they repeat the prayer, because they were negligent and did not seek the qiblah and did not exert effort at the beginning of the prayer. Yes.
Source قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 5583- هل يعيد الصلاة من اجتهد في تحديد القبلة وأخطأ ؟ - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com

The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.

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