ISTIQBÂL-I QIBLA

Istiqbâl-i Qibla means to perform namâz towards the Kâ'ba. The direction towards the building of the Kâ'ba, in the city of Makka-i Mukarrama, is called (the Qibla). Previously, the qibla was Jerusalem. Seventeen months after the Hegira, on a Tuesday, in the middle of the month of Sha’bân, Muslims were commanded to turn towards the Kâ’ba.

The Qibla is not the building of the Kâ’ba; it is its building plot. That is, that space from the Earth to the ’Arsh is the Qibla. For this reason, a person who is down in a well, [under the sea], on top of a high mountain [or on a plane] can perform namâz in that direction. Namâz will be sahîh if the opening between the crosswise directions of the optic nerves includes the Ka’ba.

In case one can not perform one's ritual prayers even by uniting two of them [that is, combining the early afternoon prayer and the late afternoon prayer, or the evening prayer and the night prayer by imitating the Mâlikî or the Shâfi'î Madhhabs], due to illness, danger of theft, danger of predatory animals, danger of being detected by one's enemy, or in the case of if one dismounts one's animal and will not to be able to remount it, one performs the namâz towards the direction one is able to turn. It is a must to turn towards the Qibla when performing a ritual prayer on a ship or train.