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Key points
- For about sixteen or seventeen months in Madinah, the Muslims prayed facing Jerusalem. Then Allah commanded them to face the Kaaba in Makkah.
- Masjid al-Qiblatain, “the mosque of the two qiblahs”, is linked by tradition to the place where a prayer was turned from one direction to the other.
- It is in the north-west of Madinah, about 5 km from Masjid an-Nabawi, and is part of most Madinah ziyarat tours.
- It is an ordinary working mosque: pray two rak’ahs if it is not a disliked time, and keep the visit simple.
The change of qiblah
When the Prophet ﷺ came to Madinah, the Muslims prayed facing Bayt al-Maqdis in Jerusalem. The Prophet ﷺ longed to face the Kaaba, the House built by Ibrahim (AS), and would turn his face towards the sky.
Then Allah revealed: “We have seen the turning of your face towards the heaven, so We will turn you to a qiblah that will please you. So turn your face towards Masjid al-Haram” (2:144). Al-Bara’ (RA) said they had prayed towards Jerusalem for sixteen or seventeen months before this (Bukhari 40).
Turning in the middle of a prayer
The news spread through Madinah quickly. A companion who had prayed with the Prophet ﷺ towards the Kaaba passed by people who were in the middle of their prayer, still facing Jerusalem, and told them. They turned towards the Kaaba right there, in their prayer (Bukhari 40). The people of Quba did the same during Fajr the next morning (Bukhari 403).
This quick obedience is the lesson pilgrims remember at this mosque: when the command of Allah came, they did not wait to finish, they simply turned.
The mosque of Banu Salimah, where tradition places the turning of a prayer, came to be called Masjid al-Qiblatain. Historians give slightly different details of exactly which prayer it was, so we keep to what the hadith tell us.
The mosque today
The present building is modern, white, with two minarets and two domes, rebuilt and enlarged in the late twentieth century. Inside, the mihrab faces the Kaaba. The old direction towards Jerusalem is no longer marked inside the prayer hall.
There are separate areas for women, wudu areas and washrooms, and a car park for buses.
Visiting Masjid al-Qiblatain
- It is about 5 km north-west of Masjid an-Nabawi, around 10 to 15 minutes by car
- Most Madinah ziyarat tours stop here, together with Masjid Quba, Mount Uhud and the Seven Mosques area
- Pray two rak’ahs of greeting the mosque if it is not a time when prayer is disliked
- There is no special prayer or ritual for this mosque. Its value is the story it holds and the reminder to obey Allah quickly
Questions
Qiblatain means “two qiblahs”. By tradition, it is the mosque where a prayer was turned from facing Jerusalem to facing the Kaaba when the command to change the qiblah came.
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Official guidance
This guide is general travel information. For religious rulings, please ask a qualified scholar.
