We prayed the midday prayer while facing away from the qiblah, and some of us knew this; should we repeat the prayer?

The questioner : Today we prayed the midday prayer at Umm Munir’s house, and I remember that their qiblah was to the west. They were a large group of women, and we prayed facing the wrong direction. During the prayer, I remembered... I calmed myself down a bit, but the mu’adhdhin was facing the wrong direction, and everyone was facing the wrong direction. The point is, the qiblah was like that, and they were praying like that. After we finished the prayer, I told them, “The qiblah is not in that direction, is it?” She said, “Oh, by Allah, okay; why didn’t you say something?” She said, “I knew?!!” In this situation, do we repeat the prayer, or is it done? We were praying with sincerity.

The Shaykh : If they prayed after making an effort to determine the direction or by asking, and it turned out that they were facing away from the qiblah, then the prayer is valid. However, if they did not pray...

Another questioner : ...after making an effort to determine the direction before the prayer.

The Shaykh : Yes.

Another questioner : They did not make an effort; meaning, they did not verify it.

The Shaykh : Meaning, they did not ask. For example, if a person enters a house for the first time, with four walls, and he faces one wall and prays, he was paying attention. If he asked and the answer was wrong, the prayer is valid. But if he did not ask, did not make an effort to determine the direction, and prayed, his prayer is invalid; it must be repeated.

The questioner : Invalid?

The Shaykh : It must be repeated if they did not ask.

Another questioner : If they had previously been aware in their minds that they had prayed in this place in this direction before; does that count as making an effort to determine the direction?

The questioner : No, and the owner of the house was praying with us; it is her house.
Another questioner: ... .

Another questioner : What? Is the deviation complete, meaning, not a complete deviation, but a partial deviation, meaning that is what you are saying?
Another questioner : We deviated partially, but it has to be a bit more!

The Shaykh : Abu Abdullah, if the deviation is slight, it does not affect the prayer; because the qiblah is between the east and the west.

Another questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Except for the one who knows the direction exactly, he must face it exactly. As for the one who does not know, the qiblah is between the east and the west.
Another questioner : A slight deviation or the direction of excellence.

The Shaykh : These ones.

The questioner : The people in front of me were all facing the wrong direction in front of them.
Another questioner : We are asking about the complete deviation.

The questioner : Yes, the deviation...