The ruling on facing the qiblah in prostration of recitation
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
The questioner says: Shaykh, when I am reading the Qur'an and I come across the verses of prostration, is it permissible for me to prostrate not facing the qiblah, or in a direction other than the qiblah?
Answer:
This is a matter of scholarly disagreement regarding the prostration of recitation: is it a prayer, in which case it requires the conditions of prayer, such as ritual purity and facing the qiblah? Or is it an independent act of worship, in which case one prostrates when he comes across a verse of prostration, even if he is not in a state of ritual purity, if he is reciting from memory, or prostrates in the direction he is facing? The matter is broad in this regard, and praise be to Allah. And facing the qiblah is undoubtedly better, because acts of worship are better when performed facing the qiblah. Yes.
The questioner says: Shaykh, when I am reading the Qur'an and I come across the verses of prostration, is it permissible for me to prostrate not facing the qiblah, or in a direction other than the qiblah?
Answer:
This is a matter of scholarly disagreement regarding the prostration of recitation: is it a prayer, in which case it requires the conditions of prayer, such as ritual purity and facing the qiblah? Or is it an independent act of worship, in which case one prostrates when he comes across a verse of prostration, even if he is not in a state of ritual purity, if he is reciting from memory, or prostrates in the direction he is facing? The matter is broad in this regard, and praise be to Allah. And facing the qiblah is undoubtedly better, because acts of worship are better when performed facing the qiblah. Yes.
Source
نور على الدرب - الفوزان - 02/222 — archive.org (9:52)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.