﴿ وَكَذَٰلِكَ جَعَلْنَٰكُمْ أُمَّةًۭ وَسَطًۭا لِّتَكُونُوا۟ شُهَدَآءَ عَلَى ٱلنَّاسِ وَيَكُونَ ٱلرَّسُولُ عَلَيْكُمْ شَهِيدًۭا ۗ وَمَا جَعَلْنَا ٱلْقِبْلَةَ ٱلَّتِى كُنتَ عَلَيْهَآ إِلَّا لِنَعْلَمَ مَن يَتَّبِعُ ٱلرَّسُولَ مِمَّن يَنقَلِبُ عَلَىٰ عَقِبَيْهِ ۚ وَإِن كَانَتْ لَكَبِيرَةً إِلَّا عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ هَدَى ٱللَّهُ ۗ وَمَا كَانَ ٱللَّهُ لِيُضِيعَ إِيمَٰنَكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ بِٱلنَّاسِ لَرَءُوفٌۭ رَّحِيمٌۭ ﴾

“And thus have We willed you to be a community of the middle way, so that [with your lives] you might bear witness to the truth before all mankind, and that the Apostle might bear witness to it before you. And it is only to the end that We might make a clear distinction between those who follow the Apostle and those who turn about on their heels that We have appointed [for this community] the direction of prayer which thou [O Prophet] hast formerly observed: for this was indeed a hard test for all but those whom God has guided aright. But God will surely not lose sight of your faith-for, behold, God is most compassionate towards man, a dispenser of grace.”

Thus in the same way that We guided you to it We appointed you O community of Muhammad (s) a midmost community excellent and upright that you might be witnesses to the people on the Day of Resurrection that their messengers delivered the Message to them; and that the Messenger might be a witness to you that he delivered the Message to you and We did not appoint make the direction for you now the direction you were facing that is the Ka‘ba the Prophet s used to face it in prayer but when he emigrated he was commanded to face the Holy House of Jerusalem in order to win the hearts of the Jews. He prayed in this direction for sixteen or seventeen months before he changed direction; except that We might know that it become manifest knowledge who followed the Messenger and believed in him from him who turned on his heels and returned to unbelief doubting the religion and thinking that the Prophet s was confused about this issue; and a number of them apostatised as a result of this— though it the change of direction were wa-in ‘though’ is softened and its noun apocopated originally being wa-innahā a grave thing troublesome for people save for those of them whom God has guided; but God would never cause your faith that is your prayers towards the Holy House of Jerusalem to be wasted but He will reward you for them the reason that this verse was revealed was that some had asked about the status of those that had died before the change of direction of prayer; truly God is Gentle with believing people Merciful when He does not let their deeds go to waste al-ra’fa means ‘intensity of mercy’ and is mentioned first to allow for the end rhyme of the verse with the preceding one.