Question: Is it impermissible to sleep with your feet pointing west?

The noted scholar Dr Muhammad Saifullah answered that no hadith establishes that sleeping with your feet towards the west or north is forbidden. Nothing in the hadith of the Prophet (PBUH) or in the statements of jurists establishes that it is haram, makruh or disliked.

So anyone who says it is a sin is wrong. East and west are all Allah's creation, and Allah's servants may sleep with their feet in any direction. It is permissible.

We have been told to face the Qibla when praying; Allah says in the Quran: "Turn your faces towards the Sacred Mosque." This instruction to face the Qibla is to honour it. It is never permissible for believers to dishonour the Qibla by any act, and acts that dishonour it are haram. Spitting towards the Qibla, for example, was forbidden by the Prophet, because it shows disrespect.

But pointing your feet in a direction is not a matter of disrespect, because when you lie down your feet have to point somewhere. If necessary you may point your feet in any direction; it has nothing to do with dishonouring the Qibla.

Source: Amader Shomoy. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.