The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) used to prefer praying so that he would be facing the Kabah, the house built by his father, Ibrahim (peace be upon him) and then at the same time be facing the Aqsa mosque. This way you could face both houses at the same time.
When he moved to Madinah, that was impossible. Because if you’re going to face Makkah, your back will be to Aqsa; if you’re going to face Aqsa, your back will be to Makkah. You can’t face both at the same time.
He couldn’t line them up together anymore because now he’s in between both of those locations. And it really used to hurt his feelings that he has to turn his back to the house built by our father, Ibrahim (peace be upon him).
He doesn’t complain to Allah, he doesn’t tell Allah it’s difficult for him, he doesn’t say anything.
One time it was hurting him so much, he just looked up at the sky (peace be upon him). That’s all he did.
And every single Muslim in the world prays in the direction of the Kabah until the Day of Judgment. That is the House built by our father Ibrahim and then purified by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon them) so that humanity can worship the one true God.
That is the purpose of that House, it is actually built so all humanity can finally come to guidance.
This is why whenever Al-Masjid al-Haram is talked about, it always mentions ‘mankind’, it’s not just for the believers, because all humanity is meant to come to Islam. They’re meant to accept the religion of their father Ibrahim.
Now, How many people have prayed since the time of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) until now? And how many people will pray from now until the Day of Judgment? It’s uncountable! How much worship is going on facing that House?
What is the Reason?
What is the reason for the Qiblah – from Aqsa, Jerusalem – to be changed back to the Kabah? There are lots of reasons. Well, what’s the reason in the Quran?
We saw your face already turning to the sky. So we are turning you in direction of the Qiblah so you could be happy.
Allah’s reason for changing the Qiblah is so His Messenger (peace be upon him) could be happy; a direction that he would be pleased with.
We pray in that direction and Allah’s reason is to put a smile on Prophet Muhammad’s face.
Can you imagine?
All the worship in the world that will happen correctly until Judgment Day and all of it boils down to Allah wanting to give happiness to his Messenger (peace be upon him).