Is the qiblah of the Muslims when they pray always towards the East?
Question

                Please why do Muslims face the east in prayers.please your answer with references.
Praise be to Allah.Firstly: 
The Muslims turn to face 
    the Ka’bah when they pray, in response to the command of Allaah, This is the 
    qiblah (direction of prayer) of their father Ibraaheem (peace be upon him). 
There is great wisdom in 
    this command to turn towards the Ka’bah when praying. 
The scholars of the 
    Standing Committee for issuing Fatwas were asked: What is the wisdom behind 
    the Muslims taking the Ka’bah as their qiblah or direction of prayer? 
They replied: 
It is no secret that the 
    Muslim is required to do whatever he can of the things that are enjoined, 
    and to refrain from all the haraam things that are forbidden, whether or not 
    he understands the wisdom behind the prohibition, whilst believing that 
    Allaah does not command His slaves to do anything but that which is in their 
    best interests, and He does not forbid them to do anything but that which is 
    harmful to them. His laws are all for a reason which is known to Him, and He 
    makes apparent whatever He wills of it, so that the believer will increase 
    in faith thereby. And He conceals whatever He wills thereof, so as to 
    increase the believer in submission to the command of Allaah out of faith. 
The Muslims take the Ka’bah 
    as their direction of prayer in response to the command of Allaah in the 
    verse where He says (interpretation of the meaning): 
“Verily, We have seen 
    the turning of your (Muhammad’s) face towards the heaven. Surely, We shall 
    turn you to a Qiblah (prayer direction) that shall please you, so turn your 
    face in the direction of Al-Masjid Al-Haraam (at Makkah). And wheresoever 
    you people are, turn your faces (in prayer) in that direction”
[al-Baqraah 2:144]
Perhaps one of the reasons 
    why Allaah commanded them to do that is that it was the qiblah of their 
    father Ibraaheem (peace be upon him). It is also narrated concerning the 
    reason for revelation of this verse that our Prophet  (peace and 
    blessings of Allaah be upon him) wanted to be commanded to turn to face the 
    Ka’bah when praying instead of turning towards Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem), 
    and Allaah commanded him to do that. 
It may also have been to 
    put an end to the Jews’ argument that he was facing the same direction of 
    prayer as they did. 
And it may have been for 
    other reasons. Allaah knows best. End quote. 
Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn 
    Baaz, Shaykh ‘Abd al-Razzaaq ‘Afeefi, Shaykh ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Ghadyaan, 
    Shaykh ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Qa’ood. 
Fataawa al-Lajnah 
    al-Daa’imah (6/311, 312) 
For more information please 
    see the answer to question no. 1953. 
Secondly: 
It is not correct to say 
    that the Muslims face east when praying, rather for some Muslims the Ka’bah 
    may be in the east, or it may be in the west or the north or the south. That 
    varies according to the geographical position of a country in relation to 
    Makkah al-Mukarramah. 
As for those whose 
    direction of prayer is always to the east, they are some groups of 
    Christians, not Muslims! 
Allaah says (interpretation 
    of the meaning): 
“And even if you were to 
    bring to the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) all the Ayaat 
    (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.), they would 
    not follow your Qiblah (prayer direction), nor are you going to follow their 
    Qiblah (prayer direction). And they will not follow each other’s Qiblah 
    (prayer direction). Verily, if you follow their desires after that which you 
    have received of knowledge (from Allaah), then indeed you will be one of the 
    Zaalimoon (polytheists, wrongdoers)”
[al-Baqarah 2:145]
Imam al-Tabari (may Allaah 
    have mercy on him) said: 
With regard to the words “nor 
    are you going to follow their Qiblah (prayer direction)”, He is saying: 
    You have no way, O Muhammad, of following their direction of prayer, because 
    the Jews turn to face Jerusalem when they pray, and the Christians face 
    towards the east. So how can you follow their direction of prayer when they 
    differ from one another? So stick to the qiblah which you have been 
    commanded to turn towards, and ignore what the Jews and Christians say when 
    they call you to turn towards their qiblah. 
Tafseer 
    al-Tabari (3/185). 
Ibn Qudaamah (may Allaah 
    have mercy on him) said in al-Mughni (1/429) that the Christians 
    turned towards the East, and the Christians’ turning towards the east is one 
    aspect of the way in which they have distorted their religion and gone 
    against the Messiah and the Gospel. 
Shaykh Saalih ibn al-Husayn 
    al-Ja’fari al-Haashimi said: 
Another issue is that the 
    Christians pray towards the east, where the sun rises, and they take this as 
    their direction of prayer. The Messiah (peace be upon him) throughout his 
    stay on earth, prayed towards Bayt al-Maqdis or Jerusalem, which was the 
    qiblah of Moosa ibn ‘Imraan and the Prophets. He said: 
“Do not think that I have 
    come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but 
    to fulfill them. 
18 
    I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth 
    disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by 
    any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished”
[Matthew 5:17-18] 
But the Christians went 
    against the Messiah and the Prophets, and they gave as their excuse for 
    turning to face towards the east the notion that this is the direction 
    facing which their Lord was crucified and their God was killed. 
It may be said to them: 
O fools! If you had any 
    understanding you would hate the direction of the east, and despise it, and 
    regard it as inauspicious, and you would refuse it in ordinary matters, let 
    alone matters of worship, because it is not the direction towards which the 
    Messiah prayed and the Gospels do not testify to that. None of the Prophets 
    prayed facing it at all. Moreover it is the direction from which you were 
    destroyed and scattered and divided into groups. So the fact that you 
    venerate this direction which is the worst of directions for you is 
    something which makes a laughing-stock of you and brings scorn upon you. It 
    would have been better for you not to turn away from the direction of 
    Jerusalem because the Gospel says that the Samaritan woman said to the 
    Messiah:  
“ ‘Sir … our fathers 
    worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must 
    worship is in Jerusalem.’
 21Jesus declared, ‘Believe 
    me, woman, … you Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we 
    do know’”
[John 4:19-21] 
Here the Messiah is 
    testifying that God has no direction which is to be faced in prayer except 
    Bayt al-Maqdis, which is Jerusalem. Do you know better than the Messiah what 
    God has enjoined? Verily we belong to God and unto Him is our return; we 
    mourn the loss of your reason, which lead to your doom. End quote. 
Takhjeel man harrafa 
    al-Tawraat wa’l-Injeel (2/591, 592) 
Thus it is clear that the 
    questioner is mistaken in thinking that the Muslims always face towards the 
    east when they pray, and it is clear that this is the religious practice of 
    the Christians. 
And Allaah knows best.