Qibla is a religious concept that is close to the daily lives of Muslims. At least once a day and night, Muslims specifically worship facing its direction, namely during prayer. The command of Qibla is recorded in the verses of the Qur'an and a great event took place in it. Asy-Sya'rawi interprets the Qibla verse in depth by revealing the spiritual meaning behind the command. The existence of the Qibla command is used by Allah as a means of testing the faith of His servants, as well as providing a separate identity for Muslims from previous nations. This study aims to examine the interpretation of Qibla verses from Asy-Sya'rawi's point of view. A contemporary mufassir whose name is well known because he has a distinctive thought and delivery in the world of tafsir. His tafsir work is quite phenomenal among Muslims by combining several rational and spiritual dimensions. This research focuses on how Asy-Sya'rawi understands more deeply the meaning of the Qibla verse contained in QS. Al-Baqarah [2]: 142-145 and 148-150, then formulated three problems, namely, how the concept of Qibla based on the interpretation of Al-Sya'rawi, the implications of the meaning of Qibla in the perspective of Asy-Sya'rawi's interpretation, and Asy-Sya'rawi's background in interpreting the verse of Qibla. This research uses descriptive-analytical method in examining the object of research in the form of Asy-Sya'rawi's thoughts in his tafsir. The selection of Tafsir Asy-Sya'rawi as a primary source is not without accompanying reasons, starting from the figure of Asy-Sya'rawi who has rational thinking in his tafsir or bi al-Ra'yi. While in his interpretation of the Qibla verse, the nuances of rational interpretation are not so pronounced but tend to be Sufistic.
This research concludes three findings, 1) The concept qibla has two dimensions: first, the outward meaning of facing the entire body toward the Ka’bah during a series of prayers; second, the inner meaning of the qibla as a manifestation of tawhid and obedience to Allah. 2) The implementations on his interpretation of the verse regarding the qibla are the qibla as a critique of the behavior of the Ahl Al-Kitab, a test of faith and obedience to Allah, a means of character formation for Muslim communities, an entity of tawhid, and a form of patience in prayer. 3) The background of his thoughts on the verse regarding the qibla includes Sufi personality, Tafsir Asy-Sya’rawi methodology, social and religious conditions, and theological factors.