How do we prove the authority of the Prophetic Sunnah as an independent source of legislation through the verses regarding the changing of the Qiblah in the Holy Qur'an?

This inquiry presents a methodological challenge to all who deny the authority of the purified Prophetic Sunnah. This challenge is based on a major historical and legislative event mentioned in the Holy Qur'an: the issue of the changing of the Qiblah.

The fundamental question here is: On what basis did the Prophet ﷺ and his noble companions pray toward Jerusalem for many years? He who contemplates the verses of the Wise Remembrance finds that no Qur'anic verse contained a direct command to pray toward Jerusalem; rather, it was a purely Prophetic command.

The Holy Qur'an informed us of the story of the transition of the Qiblah from Jerusalem to the Sacred Kaaba, and in this lies a definitive indication that the first Qiblah was established by the legislation of the Sunnah. The Almighty said:

{The foolish among the people will say, "What has turned them away from their Qiblah, which they used to face?"}

Then the following verse clarifies the matter regarding the following of the Messenger ﷺ:

{And We did not make the Qiblah which you used to face except that We might make evident who would follow the Messenger from who would turn back on his heels.}

The Qiblah which the Prophet ﷺ faced (which was the Qiblah of Jerusalem) was obligatory to follow by the text of the Qur'an, even though the original command for it was not revealed in the Qur'an. Allah, Glorified and Exalted, made following this Prophetic command a criterion for distinguishing between those who follow the Messenger and acknowledge the authority of his Sunnah, and those who turn back on their heels.

Accordingly, anyone who denies the Prophetic Sunnah or denies that the Prophetic Hadith is an independent legislation finds himself in direct confrontation with the implication of this verse; for following the Messenger ﷺ in what he legislated outside of the Qur'an is the essence of the divine test mentioned by Allah in His Noble Book.