Ka'bah

The Ka'aba (الكعبة, lit. "the Cube") is the holiest mosque in Islam located in Mecca (Muhammad's city of birth) and is figuratively known as the "House of God" (or Bayt Allah بيت الله, lit. "House of Allah"). Another name for the Ka'aba is Masjid al-Haram مسجد الحرام, which means "Mosque of the sanctuary", where "the sanctuary" is the name for the part of the city of Mecca that is considered sanctified. Muslims face its direction in daily prayer and it is intrinsic to the Hajj pilgrimage, two of the five pillars of Islam. In the Quran and Islamic tradition the Ka'bah is identified with the site of a sanctuary built by Abraham where he went to sacrifice his son Ishmael.

Origins and ritual significance

Prior to Muhammad claiming to receive revelations from Allah, the Ka'aba served as a popular pre-Islamic shrine, which according to hadith tradition housed 360 idols and images of mostly pagan deities and attracted pilgrims and trade from many parts of Arabia. There were also reports that figures of Mary and Jesus were in the Kaaba narrated from Muslims who died in the early 2nd century.^[1] According to a hadith, the Ka'bah may have contained pictures of Abraham and Mary (see Sahih Bukhari 4:55:570 and similarly Sahih Bukhari 4:55:571). Also according to tradition, particularly emphasized at this shrine during Muhammad's pre-Islamic years was the worship of the pagan Arab god Hubal.

History of the house of Abraham mythology

The Quran frequently mentions a secure sanctuary or house where rituals take place, which it names "the Ka'bah, the sacred house" in Quran 5:95-97. Traditionally, this is identified with the "foundations of the house" raised by Abraham and Ishmael in Quran 2:127, which is probably the intended implication. See also Quran 3:96 which says the first house for mankind where Abraham used to pray was built at Bakkah, generally understood to mean Mecca, and Quran 14:35-41 where the sacred house built by Abraham is described in the same terms as the Ka'bah in other verses. Even more explict is Quran 22:26-29 where the site of the house of Abraham is identified with the "ancient house" which it permits pilgrims to circumambulate. There is, however, little to no direct evidence on the pre-Islamic history of the Ka'bah in Mecca. In contrast, there is some significant indirect evidence bearing on the question and it does not favour the traditional understanding.

In his paper Foundations of the house, Joseph Witztum discusses this verse (Quran 2:127). He argues that the Quranic scene reflects a number of post-Biblical traditions building on Genesis 22 where Abraham goes to sacrifice Isaac (in the Quran, instead it is Ishmael). In later exegetical traditions, Abraham builds an altar for the sacrifice and Isaac willingly offers himself for slaughter. By the time of Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews 1:227 (1st century CE), Isaac even helps in its construction. In the 4th to 5th centuries several (mostly Syriac) Christian homilies take up this motif. Then a 6th century CE Syriac homily by Jacob of Serugh on Genesis 22 describes them as building not just an altar but a "house" (Syriac: bayta), like in the Quran (Arabic: bayt). Witztum argues that the Quran transfers this imagery associated with Jerusalem to Mecca.^[2] The clearly late development of the idea that Abraham build a sacred house in which to sacrifice his son undermines the idea that there is any history to the story, let alone that the Ka'bah in Mecca is the location where it happened. For many more examples of Syriac Christian narrative elements in the Quran, see the article Parallels Between the Qur'an and Late Antique Judeo-Christian Literature

Witztum's findings are also summarised by Gabriel Said Reynolds in his academic commentary on the Quran. At the same time Reynolds notes that the 5th century CE Byzantine historian Sozomen (d. 450 CE) records that the Arabs made an annual pilgrimage to Hebron near Jerusalem where Abraham traditionally received a divine visitation (Genesis 18). Reynolds suggests the possibility that this Arab pilgrimage was eventually transferred to Mecca.^[3] Indeed, it seems strange that these Arabs would go all the way to Hebron for pilgrimage if Abraham's house was already identified with a sanctuary in Mecca at that time. Professor Sean Anthony has written a useful further discussion on the topic.^[4] Patricia Crone is widely considered to have established that Mecca was of no wider importance at the time of Islam's emergence, was not on the major trade route, and traded in goods like leather, wool and other pastoral products.^[5]

A place called Macoraba in Arabia is mentioned in a geographic work by Ptolemy in the 2nd century CE. Many academic scholars believe this is a reference to Mecca (first proposed in the 16th century), and some even think that the name derives from an ancient South Arabian word for temple, mkrb. Others historians such as Patricia Crone and Ian D. Morris have argued that there is no good reason to believe Macoraba and Mecca are the same place. The idea has never been backed by any significant academic investigation, nor has any other ancient source been shown to describe Mecca or its temple.^[6]

It seems that Muhammad unwittingly merely continued a pre-Islamic tradition of worship and pilgrimage at the Ka'bah. Its identification with the house of Abraham is without any historical foundation. Evidence suggests that not even the story that Abraham and his son built a sacred house at all had any significant antiquity.

Qibla, or direction of prayer

Muslims worldwide face the Ka'aba in Mecca five times a day to preform their daily prayers (one of the Five Pillars of Islam). In this capacity, as the direction of prayer, the Ka'aba is referred to as the Qibla. While it is taught by orthodox Islam that the Qibla changed during Muhammad's lifetime from Jerusalem to the Ka'aba, some recent critical scholarship has suggested that early Muslims after Muhammad's death used to face the city of Petra for several decades. However, this view has been widely rejected by other academic scholars who have discussed the theory.

Hajj

Today, as with many Arabs during the pre-Islamic period, Muslims travel to the Ka'aba to perform the Hajj ceremony (which reflects in great detail the pilgrimage rituals of the pre-Islamic Arabs) at least once during their lifetime if they are financially and physically able. The Hajj is another of Islam's Five Pillars and has its rituals outlined in some detail in the Qur'an.

Black stone

Housed in the eastern corner of the Ka'aba's walls is the black stone, which is known to have been a sacred baetyl revered by the pre-Islamic Arabs. Islamic scriptures teach that the stone fell from heaven and was once completely white, only to be lost during Noah's flood and blackened by the sins of mankind. This stone is then said to have been provided back to Ibrahim by Gabriel as Ibrahim was constructing the Ka'aba

According to historians

Patricia Crone

The above view is outlined by Crone as a possibility among others (see also: Hubal).

Structural history

Islamic scriptures state that the original Ka'aba built by Abraham was rather more rectangular than cubic, but that due to reconstruction the Ka'aba had lost its original dimensions. The story recorded suggests that the Ka'aba, when Muhammad was growing up, used to be rectangular in shape but that a natural disaster decimated the structure such that it had to be rebuilt. The Quraysh, revering this structure, are said to have lacked sufficient "clean money" (that is, money untainted by sinful business, such as gambling and prostitution), and thus were only able to rebuild the temple in the shape of a cube. It is thus suggested that the short, semi-circular wall opposite the Iraqi (northwestern) wall of the Ka'aba delineates the portion of earth which in fact, counts as a part of the Ka'aba itself, despite its falling beyond the Ka'aba's walls. Consequently, pilgrims circumambulating the Ka'aba are able to earn the blessing of having "entered it" without having to step inside.

The Ka'aba has been destroyed deliberately and by natural disasters and thus reconstructed several times over since the seventh century.The first major destruction happened in the Hijri year 73/common era year 693. During the second Fitna of Al-Zubayr, Al-Zubayr took hold of Mecca and proclaimed his caliphate from the city. The Umayyad governor, Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, laid siege to the city including using catapults. The sanctuary was badly damaged during this siege and had to be rebuilt by the caliph 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan after the fitna was ended by the execution of Al-Zubayr.^[7]

The second great calamity that came to the Ka'abah was inflicted by the Qarmatians in the Hijri year 371/common era year 930. The Qarmatians, a radical Shi'i sect, attacked Mecca, damaged and desecrated the shrine, and stole the Black Stone within. It was later returned to the shrine in 951 CE, but in the process the stone was broken into several pieces. ^[7]

The third great destruction came in the hijri year 1039/common era year 1629. A great flood inundated the shrine, killing 1000 pilgrims, and this caused the walls of the shrine to collapse. After the flood subsided the Ottoman caliph Murad IV rebuilt it.^[8]

Relevant quotations

Qur'an

The following verses describe the origins of the Ka'aba

Note that "Becca" here is traditionally understood to refer to Mecca, although some critical scholars have suggested that the word is simply a typographical error or misspelling.

The following verse suggests that fighting should not take place around the Ka'aba unless it is instigated

The following verses describe the Qibla, or direction of prayer, as having shifted to the Ka'aba and further argue that the Jews and Christians (referred to in Islam as the People of the Book) of Muhammad's time knew of the Ka'aba (presumably as having Abrahamic rather than pagan origin) "like they knew their sons" (i.e. "like the back of their hands")

Note that "the inviolable place of worship" here is Pickthall's translation of Masjid al-Haram (one of the names of the Ka'aba) which can mean both the "Mosque of the sanctuary" as well as the "the sanctified mosque"

References

See Also

• Pre-Islamic Arab Religion in Islam

External links

• Inside the Kaaba (cell phone video)
• Inside the Kaaba (3D animated film)
• Qarmatians (sect’s leader Ṭāhir Sulaymān, desecrated the Black Stone and Well of Zamzam with Muslim corpses during the Hajj season of 930 CE)