Qiblah is the direction to the Kaabah the Holiest shrine in Makkah.  This is a must for Muslim prayer to be accepted. Allah Almighty says in the Glorious Quran:
{We have seen the turning of your face to heaven (for guidance, O Muhammad).  And now surely We shall make you turn (in prayer) toward a qiblah that satisfies you.  So turn your face toward the Sacred Mosque (in Makkah), and you (O Muslims), wherever you may be, turn your faces (when you pray) toward it}.
II,144

As a matter of fact, Muslims were ordered in the beginning to pray towards Jerusalem.  They obeyed and continued to do so for about 16 months until Allah allowed them to pray in the direction of the Kaabah which they liked most.  When Muslims turn to the Kaabah, they do not worship it, they rather do so in obedience to Allah Almighty.  In other words, the Kaabah is a symbol of unity for the world Muslims in prayers.

Thus all Muslims have to pray facing the Kaabah, not necessarily to the strictly physical location of it but in its direction according to the view of the majority Muslim scholars.  The right direction to the Kaabah in North America is the North East.  It, however, varies from one city to another according to the following schedule.  May Allah accept our prayers, Amen.
 

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