Kaaba

The Kaaba ( ), also spelled Ka ba, Ka bah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Ka ba al-Musharrafa ( ), is a stone building at the center of Islam's most important mosque and holiest site, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is considered by Muslims to be the Baytullah ( ) and determines the qibla ( ) for Muslims around the world. According to Islamic tradition, the Kaaba was rebuilt several times throughout history, most famously by Ibrahim and his son Ismail, when he returned to the valley of Mecca several years after leaving his wife Hajar and Ismail there upon Allah's command. The current structure was built after the original building was damaged by a fire during the siege of Mecca by the Umayyads in 683 CE. Circling the Kaaba seven times anti-clockwise, known as tawaf ( ), is a fard rite for the completion of the hajj and umrah pilgrimages. The area around the Kaaba where pilgrims walk is called the mataaf. In early Islam, Muslims faced in the general direction of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem as the qibla in their prayers before changing the direction to face the Kaaba, believed by Muslims to be a result of a Quranic verse revelation to Muhammad.…

The Kaaba ( ), also spelled Ka ba, Ka bah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Ka ba al-Musharrafa ( ), is a stone building at the center of Islam's most important mosque and holiest site, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is considered by Muslims to be the Baytullah ( ) and determines the qibla ( ) for Muslims around the world. According to Islamic tradition, the Kaaba was rebuilt several times throughout history, most famously by Ibrahim and his son Ismail, when he returned to the valley of Mecca several years after leaving his wife Hajar and Ismail there upon Allah's command. The current structure was built after the original building was damaged by a fire during the siege of Mecca by the Umayyads in 683 CE. Circling the Kaaba seven times anti-clockwise, known as tawaf ( ), is a fard rite for the completion of the hajj and umrah pilgrimages. The area around the Kaaba where pilgrims walk is called the mataaf. In early Islam, Muslims faced in the general direction of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem as the qibla in their prayers before changing the direction to face the Kaaba, believed by Muslims to be a result of a Quranic verse revelation to Muhammad. The Kaaba and the mataaf are surrounded by pilgrims every day of the Islamic year, except the 9th of Dhu'l-Hijja, known as the Day of Arafah, on which the cloth covering the structure, known as the Kiswah ( ), is changed. However, the most significant increase in their numbers is during Ramadan and the hajj, when millions of pilgrims gather for tawaf. According to the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, 6,791,100 external pilgrims arrived for the Umrah pilgrimage in . == Etymology and pre-Islamic usage == In Arabic, the literal meaning of the word Ka'ba ( ) is cube. Therefore, the most popular etymology has been that the Kaaba was named after its kaʿb form. Some have questioned that the cubic sense of kaʿb is pre-Islamic, seeking etymologies elsewhere. One disputed hypothesis suggests that the name "Kaaba" is related to the southern Arabian or Ethiopian word "mikrab", signifying a temple. Another relates it to Kʿbt, which is related to the Kaaba of Najran. (See for a word with similar pronunciation: Qubba) is seen through a portal in the Kaaba. ]] In the pre-Islamic religions of Arabia -spanning from the Levant to Yemen, numerous deities —such as, Al-Lat, Dhu al-Khalasa, and al-Uzza (also occasionally referred to as Chaabou), Dushara, Dhu Samawi etc.— were represented by aniconic cubic stone carvings or by cubic structures regarded as the abodes of these deities; furthermore, the existence of "sacred/haram zones" surrounding these sanctuaries and the widespread use of the name "Ka'b" to denote such sanctity, is well-established. They are primarily known from the Arabian Peninsula, with some exception such as Kaaba of Zoroaster. The Black Stone of the Kaaba has been compared to pre-Islamic religious stones called baetyls, which were often black, thought to be of meteorite origins, and venerated in houses or temples of worship for a particular deity. There was a "Red Stone", in the Kaaba of the South Arabian city of Ghaiman; and the "White Stone" in the Kaaba of al-Abalat (near modern-day Tabalah). Grunebaum, in Classical Islam, points out that the experience of divinity of that period was often associated with the fetishism of stones, mountains, special rock formations, or "trees of strange growth." Although the cultural heritage of the pagan era was largely eradicated during Islam's struggle to establish Islamic monotheism, historical research has uncovered traces of some sanctuaries that were significant enough to rival the Kaaba in Mecca; nevertheless, the belief that there has always been only one Kaaba has become deeply ingrained in Muslim literary and religious tradition. Today, the Kaaba and the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca are identified as the direction of prayer; however, an archaeological document found in the Taif region suggests that this view is anachronistic from the perspective of traditional Islamic historiography, as a stone inscription discovered there dates the construction of the Masjid al-Haram to the year 78 AH. Furthermore, a Quranic verse recounting Muhammad's night journey —an event often presented today as a miracle— to the Masjid al-Aqsa offers clues suggesting that the *Masjid al-Haram* mentioned in the Quran might differ from the one located in Mecca. : ===Mythologies=== According to mythological accounts, prior to the creation of the earth, the Divine Throne, Arsh rested upon the waters. Allah sent forth a wind to create a dome at the site of the Kaaba; the earth was created beneath this dome, and stabilized with mountains. Mount Abu Qubays was the first mountain placed upon the earth, and the other mountains spread across the earth from Abu Qubays. Another tradition holds that a thousand years before the creation of the earth, the Kaaba was a white essence resting upon the waters, supported by two angels who were glorifying Allah. The earth was spread out and expanded beneath this essence, and the Kaaba was established as the center of the earth. A comparative analysis of these narratives reveals that many myths associated with the Kaaba—such as the primordial ocean, the axis mundi, and the omphalos—are motifs shared with other cultures, and it can uncover their possible origins in older cultures. ====Ptolemy and Diodorus Siculus==== Writing in the Encyclopedia of Islam, Wensinck identifies Mecca with a place called Macoraba mentioned by Ptolemy. G. E. von Grunebaum states: "Mecca is mentioned by Ptolemy. The name he gives it allows us to identify it as a South Arabian foundation created around a sanctuary." In Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam, Patricia Crone argues that the identification of Macoraba with Mecca is false and that Macoraba was a town in southern Arabia in what was then known as Arabia Felix. A recent study has revisited the arguments for Macoraba and found them unsatisfactory. Based on an earlier report by Agatharchides of Cnidus, Diodorus Siculus mentions a temple along the Red Sea coast, "which is very holy and exceedingly revered by all Arabians". Edward Gibbon believed that this was the Kaaba. However, Ian D. Morris argues that Gibbon had misread the source: Diodorus puts the temple too far north for it to have been Mecca. Marinus of Tyre (70-130) explicitly mentions that the Arabs showed devotion to a “quadrangular stone”, likely referring to the Black Stone of the Kaaba, giving evidence that it was venerated centuries before Islam. ===During Muhammad's lifetime=== . Muhammad is shown with veiled face, CE.]] , , depicting Muhammad and others moving the black stone into the Kaaba]] During Muhammad's lifetime (570–632 CE), the Kaaba was considered a holy site by the local Arabs. Muhammad took part in the reconstruction of the Kaaba around 600 CE, after its structure was weakened by a fire, and then damaged by a subsequent flood. Sources including Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasūl Allāh, one of the biographies of Muhammad (as reconstructed and translated by Guillaume), as well as Al-Azraqi's chronicle of Mecca, describe Muhammad settling a quarrel between the Meccan clans as to which clan should set the Black Stone in its place. According to Ishaq's biography, Muhammad's solution was to have all the clan elders raise the cornerstone on a cloak, after which Muhammad set the stone into its final place with his own hands. The timber for the reconstruction of the Kaaba was purchased by Quraysh from a Byzantine ship that had been wrecked on the Red Sea coast at Shu'aybah. The work was undertaken by a Coptic Egyptian carpenter from the same ship, called Baqum (باخوم Pachomius), the name indicates an Egyptian Origin, The name Pachomius means "eagle" or "falcon", It comes from the Coptic word "akhōm" (eagle/falcon), which originally meant "divine image" in Middle Egyptian. Financial constraints during this rebuilding caused Quraysh to exclude six cubits from the northern part of the Kaaba. This portion is what is currently known as Al-Hateem الحطيم or Hijr Ismail حجر اسماعيل. Muhammad's Isra' is said to have taken him from the Kaaba to the Masjid al-Aqsa and heavenwards from there. Muslims initially considered Jerusalem as their qibla, or prayer direction, and faced toward it while offering prayers; however, pilgrimage to the Kaaba was considered a religious duty though its rites were not yet finalized. During the first half of Muhammad's time as a prophet while he was at Mecca, he and his followers were severely persecuted which eventually led to their migration to Medina in 622 CE. In 624 CE, Muslims believe the direction of the qibla was changed from the Masjid al-Aqsa to the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, with the revelation of . In 628 CE, Muhammad led a group of Muslims towards Mecca with the intention of performing the Umrah, but was prevented from doing so by the Quraysh. He secured a peace treaty with them, the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, which allowed the Muslims to freely perform pilgrimage at the Kaaba from the following year. At the culmination of his mission, in 630 CE, after the allies of the Quraysh, the Banu Bakr, violated the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, Muhammad conquered Mecca. His first action was to remove statues and images from the Kaaba. According to reports collected by Ibn Ishaq and al-Azraqi, Muhammad spared a painting of Mary and Jesus, and a fresco of Ibrahim. Al-Azraqi further conveys how Muhammad, after he entered the Kaaba on the day of the conquest, ordered all the pictures erased except that of Maryam: After the conquest, Muhammad restated the sanctity and holiness of Mecca, including its Great Mosque (Masjid al-Haram), in Islam. He performed the Hajj in 632 CE called the Hujjat ul-Wada' ("Farewell Pilgrimage") since Muhammad prophesied his impending death on this event. After Muhammad's conquest of Mecca, it is said that the 360 idols of the Kaaba were destroyed. The Kaaba became a site for the veneration of Allah only, identified as the same God as that of other monotheists. The Kaaba continued to be a site of annual pilgrimage, and Muslims would perform the Salat prayer facing Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, as instructed by Muhammad, and turning their backs on the pagan associations of the Kabah. ===After Muhammad=== Hajj certificate, early 1200s Ayyubid Syria]] The Kaaba has been repaired and reconstructed many times. The structure was severely damaged by a fire on 3 Rabi' I 64 AH (Sunday 31 October 683 CE), during the first siege of Mecca in 683 in the war between the Umayyads and 'Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, an early Muslim who ruled Mecca for many years between the death of ʿAli and the consolidation of power by the Umayyads. 'Abdullah rebuilt it to include the hatīm. He did so on the basis of a tradition (found in several hadith collections) that the hatīm was a remnant of the foundations of the Abrahamic Kaaba, and that Muhammad himself had wished to rebuild it so as to include it. The Kaaba was bombarded with stones in the second siege of Mecca in 692, in which the Umayyad army was led by al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf. The fall of the city and the death of 'Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr allowed the Umayyads under 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan to finally reunite all the Islamic possessions and end the long civil war. In 693 CE, 'Abd al-Malik had the remnants of al-Zubayr's Kaaba razed, and rebuilt it on the foundations set by the Quraysh. The Kaaba returned to the cube shape it had taken during Muhammad's time. Its basic shape and structure have not changed since then. : Verhandeling van de godsdienst der Mahometaanen]] During its history, the Black Stone at the Kaaba has been struck and smashed by a stone fired from a catapult, it has been smeared with excrement, stolen and ransomed by the Qarmatians and smashed into several fragments. During the Hajj of 930 CE, the Shi'ite Qarmatians attacked Mecca under Abu Tahir al-Jannabi, defiled the Zamzam Well with the bodies of pilgrims and stole the Black Stone, taking it to the oasis in Eastern Arabia known as al-Aḥsāʾ, where it remained until the Abbasids ransomed it in 952 CE. The earliest depiction of the Kaaba seems to have been in the mosaics of the Great Umayyad Mosque of Damascus (705-15), perhaps near the mihrab or qibla wall. However, this image does not survive. Almost four centuries later in 1093-1095 a monumental depiction of Mecca was carved on a slab in Mosul. In 1193, the Kaaba was depicted on an illustrated Hajj certificate, representing the earliest known image of the Kaaba which was circulated, these would only become more popular over the next half century. These typically show Mecca from above, but in the early 18th century a more slanted and less flattened view began to emerge. After heavy rains and flooding in 1626, the walls of the Kaaba collapsed and the Mosque was damaged. The same year, during the reign of Ottoman Emperor Murad IV, the Kaaba was rebuilt with granite stones from Mecca, and the Mosque was renovated. tiles representing the Kaaba in the 17th century]] In 1916, after Hussein bin Ali had launched the Great Arab Revolt, during the Battle of Mecca between Arab and Ottoman forces, the Ottoman troops bombarded the city and hit the Kaaba, setting fire to the protective veil. This incident was later exploited by the propaganda of the Great Arab Revolt to attempt to demonstrate the impiety of the Ottomans and the legitimacy of the revolt as a holy war. On 15 March 1935, three armed men from Oman attacked and tried to assassinate King Ibn Saud during his performance of Hajj. He survived the attack unhurt, through the intervention of the crown prince, and the three attackers were killed by bodyguards. The Kaaba is depicted on the reverse of 500 Saudi riyal and 2000 Iranian rial banknotes. Al-Azraqi provided the following narrative on the authority of his grandfather: The Kaaba came to be considered the axis mundi (world center), with the Gate of Heaven directly above it. The Kaaba marked the location where the sacred world intersected with the profane; the embedded Black Stone was a further symbol of this as a meteorite that had fallen from the sky and linked heaven and earth. , 16th or early 17th century]] ===Opinions of some Western writers=== Patricia Crone and Tom Holland have cast doubt on the claim that Mecca was a major historical trading outpost. Other scholars such as Glen Bowersock disagree and assert that it was. Crone later on disregarded some of her theories. She argues that Meccan trade relied on skins, hides, manufactured leather goods, clarified butter, Hijazi woollens, and camels. She suggests that most of these goods were destined for the Roman army, which is known to have required colossal quantities of leather and hides for its equipment. One of these two records the achievements of one of the most notable circassians, Sultan Barsbay. The document, dated to 1423 (CE), attests to a wide reconstruction and restoration process in the mosque by the Sultan. The inscription on the slab reads: بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم ربنا تقبل منا انك انت السميع العليم تقرب الى الله تعالى بتجديد رخام هذا البيت المعظم المشرف العبد الفقير الى الله تعالى السلطان الملك الاشرف ابو النصر برسباي خادم الحرمين الشريفين بلغه الله اماله و زين بالصالحات اعماله بتاريخ سنة ست و عشرين و ثمان مئه This translates to: "In the name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful. Our Lord, accept from us that you are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing. Draw nearer to God Almighty by renewing the marble of this noble and honorable house. The poor servant of God Almighty, the honorable Sultan King Abu al-Nasr Barsbay, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. May God reach his hopes and adorn his deeds with good deeds. The year eight hundred and twenty-six AH" The other of the two circassian slabs is dedicated to Barsbays son, Sultan Qaitbay, known for his great architectural achievements throughout the Islamic world. Dated to 1479 (CE), the document attests to a wide reconstruction and restoration process undertaken by Sultan Qaitbay for Al-Masjid Al-Haram. The inscription reads: بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم ربنا تقبل منا انك انت السميع العليم أمر بتجيد ترخيم داخل البيت مولانا السلطان الأشرف أبو النصر قايتباي خلد الله ملكه يارب العالمين بتاريخ مستهل رجب الفرد عام أربع و ثمانين و ثمانمائة من الهجرة Which translates to: "In the name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful. Our Lord, accept from us that You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing. He commanded the perfection of melodious chanting inside the house. Our Lord, the honorable and victorious Sultan Qaytbay, may God immortalize his kingdom, Lord of the worlds, on the first of the month of Rajab in the year eight hundred and eighty-four AH." ==Significance in Islam== The Kaaba is the holiest site in Islam, and is often called by names such as the Bayt Allah ( ). and Bayt Allah al-Haram ( ). ===As the Qibla=== The Qibla is the direction faced during prayer. The direction faced during prayer is the direction of the Kaaba, relative to the person praying. Apart from praying, Muslims generally consider facing the Qibla while reciting the Quran to be a part of good etiquette. Today, with the exception of certain heterodox groups stating that God cannot be assigned a place, such as the Druze, Nusayris, Alevis, and Nizari Ismailis, Muslims of all sects perform their prayers facing the Kaaba in Mecca. Historically, one major objection was the Qarmatians, a now-defunct syncretic Shia sect which rejected the Kaaba as the qibla; in 930, they sacked Mecca and for a time took the Kaaba's Black Stone to their centre of power in al-Ahsa, with the intention of starting a new era in Islam. ==Cleaning== The building is opened biannually for the ceremony of "The Cleaning of the Sacred Kaaba" ( ). The ceremony takes place on the 1st of Sha'baan, the eighth month of the Islamic calendar, around thirty days before the start of the month of Ramadan and on the 15th of Muharram, the first month. The keys to the Kaaba are held by the Banī Shaybah ( ) tribe, an honor bestowed upon them by Muhammad. Members of the tribe greet visitors to the inside of the Kaaba on the occasion of the cleaning ceremony. The Governor of the Makkah Province and accompanying dignitaries clean the interior of the Kaaba using cloths dipped in Zamzam water scented with oud perfume. Preparations for the washing start a day before the agreed date, with the mixing of Zamzam water with several luxurious perfumes including Tayef rose, 'oud and musk. Zamzam water mixed with rose perfume is splashed on the floor and is wiped with palm leaves. Usually, the entire process is completed in two hours. ==See also== Glossary of Islam Outline of Islam Al-Masjid an-Nabawi Bayt al-Mawlid, the house where Muhammad is believed to have been born List of largest mosques List of mosques in Saudi Arabia Miscellaneous Symbols and Pictographs (Unicode block), which contains a pictogram for the Kaaba, ==Notes== ==References== ==Bibliography== (reprint) Mohamed, Mamdouh N. (1996). Hajj to Umrah: From A to Z. Amana Publications. . [1915] The Book of History, a History of All Nations From the Earliest Times to the Present, Viscount Bryce (Introduction), The Grolier Society. ==Further reading== ==External links== Ka'bah info: Everything you want to know about the Holy Ka'bah SA's Official Live Webcam of the Kaaba Former door of the Kaaba (ca. 1635) Kaaba | Definition, Interior, Black Stone, & Fact The Kaaba (article) | Islam The Kaaba Mecca pilgrimage: 10 things to know about the Kaaba About The Ka'aba The History Of Kaaba Kaaba - Hajj

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