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Deviation from the Qibla

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Deviation from the Qibla (Arabic: الانحراف عن القبلة), in "fiqh", refers to when a person is not facing the Kaaba according to common view. The issue of not facing the Qibla is discussed in jurisprudential sources regarding acts such as daily prayer, hajj, sacrifice, and the rulings related to excretion (relieving oneself).

Jurists consider not facing the Qibla in certain acts of worship, such as daily prayer, to invalidate those acts. Additionally, according to their fatwas, turning away from the Qibla is obligatory during excretion (relieving oneself).

Definition and Significance

Muslims call the Kaaba or the direction in which the Kaaba is located the Qibla.[1] Deviation from the Qibla has been considered to be when a person is not facing the Kaaba according to common view[2] (not with actual precision).[3]

Jurists, in many of the religious obligations of Islam — such as daily prayer, hajj, sacrifice, the rulings of excretion (relieving oneself), and the rulings concerning the dead — have discussed the issue of facing the Qibla and not deviating from it, and have regarded failure to observe it as causing the invalidation of certain acts of worship.[4]

According to some scholars, facing the Qibla and not deviating from it during prayer, in addition to obeying the command of God, brings about unity among Muslims.[5]

Jurisprudential Rulings on Deviation from the Qibla

Jurists have considered deviation from the Qibla as invalidating certain acts of worship, and in some actions they have deemed it obligatory or prohibited;[6] among them are:

  • If a person performing daily prayer intentionally deviates from the Qibla to the extent that it can no longer be said he or she is facing the Qibla, or if the person turns his or her head to the left or right, the prayer becomes invalid.[7] However, if the deviation from the Qibla occurs unintentionally and is less than 90 degrees, the prayer remains valid.[8] A slight deviation of the head from the Qibla also poses no problem.[9]
  • Upon slaughtering the animal, the front of the animal's body must face the Qibla; [10]otherwise, the slaughtered animal becomes najis and eating it is forbidden.[11] However, if due to forgetfulness or not knowing the direction of the Qibla the animal is not slaughtered facing the Qibla, the slaughter is valid.[12] Some narrations[13] and consensus[14] have been cited as the basis for this ruling.
  • Deviation from the Qibla during excretion (relieving oneself) is obligatory,[15] and facing or having one's back to the Qibla in this state is prohibited.[16]
  • During the circumambulation of the Kaaba, it is obligatory that the left shoulder of the person performing circumambulation be toward the Kaaba[17] and that, he or she should not deviate from it according to common view.[18]

Notes

  1. ↑ Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, Mufradāt alfāẓ al-Qurʾān, p. 392; Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 7, p. 320.
  2. ↑ Muḥaqqiq Ḥillī, al-Muʿtabar, vol. 2, p. 65; Muqaddas Ardibīlī, Majmaʿ al-fāʾida wa al-burhān, vol. 2, p. 57; Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 7, p. 329; Ruḥānī, Fiqh al-Ṣādiq, vol. 4, p. 90.
  3. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 7, p. 328; Ḥakīm, Mustamsak al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā, vol. 5, p. 176-179; Ṭūsī, al-Khilāf, vol. 1, p. 295.
  4. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī, al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā, vol. 2, p. 310-313; Mishkinī, Muṣṭalaḥāt al-fiqh, p. 415.
  5. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 1, p. 337; Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 1, p. 415.
  6. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī, al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā, vol. 2, p. 310-313; Mishkinī, Muṣṭalaḥāt al-fiqh, p. 415.
  7. ↑ See: Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī, al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā, vol. 3, p. 7-9; Banī Hāshimī Khomeinī, Tawḍīḥ al-masāʾil-i marajiʿ, vol. 1, p. 617.
  8. ↑ See: Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī, al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā, vol. 3, p. 7-9; Banī Hāshimī Khomeinī, Tawḍīḥ al-masāʾil-i marajiʿ, vol. 1, p. 617; Deviation from the Qibla without a valid excuse (Persian)
  9. ↑ Banī Hāshimī Khomeinī, Tawḍīḥ al-masāʾil-i marajiʿ, vol. 1, p. 618.
  10. ↑ Mufīd, al-Muqniʿa, p. 419; Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 36, p. 110; Banī Hāshimī Khomeinī, Tawḍīḥ al-masāʾil-i marajiʿ, vol. 2, p. 573.
  11. ↑ Tabrīzī, Istiftāʾāt-i jadīd, vol. 1, p. 398.
  12. ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Khilāf, vol. 8, p. 319; Shahīd al-Thānī, Masālik al-ifhām, vol. 1, p. 160; Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 36, p. 111; Banī Hāshimī Khomeinī, Tawḍīḥ al-masāʾil-i marajiʿ, vol. 2, p. 573.
  13. ↑ Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Wasāʾil al-Shīʿa, vol. 14, p. 152-153.
  14. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 36, p. 110; Ṭūsī, al-Khilāf, vol. 6, p. 50.
  15. ↑ Mīr Dāmād, Shāriʿ al-najāt, p. 301.
  16. ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Nihāya, vol. 1, p. 9,10; Ḥillī, Qawāʿid al-aḥkām, vol. 1, p. 180; Shahīd al-Thānī, Masālik al-ifhām, vol. 1, p. 28.
  17. ↑ Khomeinī, Muntakhab Manāsik al-ḥajj, p. 142.
  18. ↑ Maḥmūdī, Manāsik al-Ḥajj, p. 298.

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  • برگشتن و انحراف بدون عذر از قبله (Deviation from the Qibla without a valid excuse (Persian)). Accessed: 2025/10/28.
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