Quote · during Asr prayer, the same day as the revelation
O people of the masjid! I have just come from the Prophet's ﷺ Masjid, and I prayed with him Zuhr, and he was praying facing Makkah! The command has come to change direction!
withMuhammad ﷺ
~the day of the Change of the Qibla (2 AH) · 2 AH
Details differ across the sources
A popular later account claims the Prophet ﷺ himself turned mid-prayer when Jibril AS interrupted him in his own masjid; the authentic reports instead describe the change being announced between Fajr and Zuhr, with only Banu Salama's congregation turning mid-salah on hearing the news secondhand.
On the day the qibla changed, the Prophet ﷺ prayed Fajr in his own masjid facing Jerusalem, then announced the change and prayed Zuhr facing Makkah. The change was announced between the two prayers, not in the middle of one. Those who had prayed Zuhr with him were then meant to carry the news to their own people. The companion tasked with informing the masjid of Banu Salama arrived late; by the time he reached them, they were already praying Asr, so he called out from the back of the mosque, "O people of the masjid! I have just come from the Prophet's ﷺ Masjid, and I prayed with him Zuhr, and he was praying facing Makkah! The command has come to change direction!" The entire congregation turned together, mid-prayer, with the imam walking straight through the rows to the new front.
This became known as Masjid al-Qiblatayn (Mosque of the Two Qiblas) because it, uniquely, physically turned direction mid-salah, unlike the Prophet ﷺ's own masjid, where the change happened administratively between prayers.
Other events recorded in 2 AH. Their order within the year is not established; use the storyline above for the sequence.
O people of the masjid! I have just come from the Prophet's ﷺ Masjid, and I prayed with him Zuhr, and he was praying facing Makkah! The command has come to change direction!