And if you brought to those who were given the Scripture every sign, they would not follow your qiblah. Nor will you be a follower of their qiblah. Nor would they be followers of one another's qiblah. So if you were to follow their desires after what has come to you of knowledge, indeed, you would then be among the wrongdoers.
قِبۡلَتَهُمۡۚ(of) their direction of prayerqib'latahum
وَمَاAnd notwamā
بَعۡضُهُمsome of thembaʿḍuhum
بِتَابِعٖ(are) followersbitābiʿin
قِبۡلَةَ(of the) direction of prayerqib'lata
بَعۡضٖۚ(of each) otherbaʿḍin
وَلَئِنِAnd ifwala-ini
ٱتَّبَعۡتَyou followedittabaʿta
أَهۡوَآءَهُمtheir desiresahwāahum
مِّنۢfrommin
بَعۡدِafterbaʿdi
مَا[what]mā
جَآءَكَcame to youjāaka
مِنَofmina
ٱلۡعِلۡمِthe knowledgel-ʿil'mi
إِنَّكَindeed, youinnaka
إِذٗا(would) thenidhan
لَّمِنَ(be) surely amonglamina
ٱلظَّٰلِمِينَthe wrongdoersl-ẓālimīna
Tafsir
By God! If you provided the Jews and Christians who have been given the Scripture with every sign and proof that the change of prayer direction was the truth, they would not face your prayer direction, stubborn against what you say and too proud to follow the truth. You will not face their prayer direction after God has directed you away from it, and they will not face the prayer directions of one another, because each group calls the other disbelievers, and because they follow their desires in the matter of the prayer direction and in other sacred laws and rulings, even after the true knowledge which was revealed to you and about which there is no doubt. If you were to leave guidance, and follow their desires, you would certainly be of the wrongdoers. Here God addresses the Prophet(s) directly to show how wrong it would be to follow them. Of course, God has protected the prophet himself from ever doing so, and this as a warning for his followers after him.