Surely We are seeing you turning your face to the sky, So We shall turn you to the Qibla that you are satisfied with, so you turn your face towards the Sacred Masjid. Wherever you are then all of you turn your faces towards It. And indeed, those who have been given the Book, surely they know that indeed It is the Truth from their Lord, while Allah is not heedless of whatever they are doing.
Ka’bah in Mecca is the first House of Lord Allah as well as the only Qibla (concentration point) for the entire mankind. After the period of Messenger Ibrahim, Islam was propagated through the Prophets like Ishaaq (the son of Ibrahim), Ya’qoob (the son of Ishaaq), Yoosuf (the son of Ya’qoob), Moses, Haroon, Dawood, Suleiman, Zakaria, Yahiya, and Jesus. The Children of Israel who deviated from the Straightpath disintegrated into different groups. The Jews didn’t accept Messenger Jesus. They even boasted that they had crucified Messenger Jesus. The Christians instead of serving the Lord alone started to serve and invoke Jesus arguing that Jesus is the son of the Lord. They even argued that the Lord is the third of the three as explained in verse 5: 73. Thus they also were deviated from the Straightpath.
At Mecca, the offspring of Prophet Ismael gradually strayed and installed at Ka’bah about 360 idols of great peoples like Latha, Uzza, Manatha, Messenger Ibrahim, and Ismael. Thus when the whole world became dark and about to be destroyed, Lord Allah deputed Muhammad as the last Messenger and Prophet with the Light Adhikr for the entire world as explained in verses 7: 157-158. After 12 years of Islamic propagation in Mecca, he and his followers were forced to migrate from Mecca to Medina.
Naturally, Messenger Muhammad and his followers had a relationship with those who were given the Book before (Jews and Christians). Because of the idols installed at Ka’bah by the Meccan Pagans, the Lord ordered the Messenger and followers to turn towards ‘Baithul Muqadas’ in Palestine as the Qibla. Then Meccan pagans were questioning that why Messenger Muhammad didn’t choose Mecca which was renovated by Ibrahim and Ismael.
The Lord inspired the Messenger to pray for changing the Qibla into Ka’bah in Mecca. Thus after seventeen months, it happened by revealing verse 2: 144. It was not for the Three-Time-Knower Lord to understand those who are following the Messenger and not following Messenger. Instead, it was for the Messenger and believers to understand who was actually following the Messenger and who are turning back from him. For the hypocrites among the followers of Messenger, the changing of Qibla was an intolerable matter.
Lord taught through His Messenger: “After thirty years of Messenger’s departure, Islam will deteriorate. Then Book reading people will be of three groups. (1) Fajirs who eat the body of the Book, (2) Kafirs who hide the Book knowingly. (3) The believer who follows and testifies the ‘dos and don’ts of the Book’”. Both in verses 2: 143 and 22: 78 believers are commanded to witness Messenger’s life among mankind. Today as there is no group of believers anywhere in the world, it is impossible to witness Messenger’s life in all aspects among mankind. So the Lord can’t punish other people such as Jains, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Christians, etc.
Lord taught through His Messenger on the day of ‘Farewell-pilgrimage’ that “During the Last Days, the believer should stay by holding Adhikr with his molar teeth”. To form the true belief, the believer will read Adhikr especially in the dusk and dawn, and will do the single prolonged ‘prostration of Recitation’. He will help the Lord by propagating Adhikr throughout the world to utilize It as the Balance and Trust to keep the Universe in its equilibrium. He is also involved in doing and promoting organic farming and planting trees aiming for the welfare of the thousand communities of the Lord’s creatures.
‘Wherever you are, then all of you turn your faces towards It’ means whenever and wherever you are, you turn towards the Qibla with your hearts. The aim of situating Qibla is not for arguing for mankind in the unity of Islam and Oneness of the Lord as explained in verse 2: 150. See explanation 1: 5-6; 2: 111-113; 25: 18 and 33-34.