“…Behold, the first House (of Prayer) established for humanity is the one at Bakkah (Makkah)…” [Qur’an, 3: 96]
Man has been created solely for the purpose of worshipping Allah SWT: “I have not created the jinns and humans but to worship Me.” [Q, 51: 56] Thus, the first man who resided on earth was the first to worship Him and wherever he performed that act of worship became the first place of worship to Him. That man is Prophet Adam and the place where he worshipped is the Ka’bah – the House of Allah SWT in Mecca, a symbol of Divine Unity or Tawheed.
Abdullah bin Omar bin A’as reports that the Prophet Muhammad SAW said: Following the arrival of Adam and Eve on earth, Allah SWT ordered them through Archangel Gabriel to build Ka’bah. After they had fulfilled the Divine Will, they were asked to walk around it performing tawaf (a form of worship). Then Adam was told by Allah SWT: ‘You are the first human (representing mankind) and this House is the first place on earth established for mankind to worship Me.’
The above narration establishes the significance of Ka’bah that this is the first place on earth that was declared sacred and dedicated for the worship of Allah SWT and to recognize His Sovereignty over everything else. The concept of Allah’s Sovereignty is central to Islam, which demands total submission and unqualified obedience to the Creator. The Ka’bah signifies that concept as the origin of man’s spiritual journey on earth in the pursuit of his Creator’s pleasure by serving His cause of unifying humanity under His Sovereignty.
With the passage of time, however, moral decline began to creep into every aspect of human life, including the belief system and religious practices. The concept of Tawheed was replaced with the idolization of rituals of infidelity. By the time the Prophet Noah arrived, every self-appointed god, like Wadd, Suwa, Yaghut, Yauq, and Nasr, was being worshipped except the One True Allah SWT. Prophet Noah preached to his people for nearly 950 years without much success. When he became totally despaired with the heedless people, he invoked: “My Lord, leave not on the earth any dweller from among the disbelievers.” [Q, 71: 26] Allah SWT answered his prayer by causing a flood that destroyed everything, including the Ka’bah.
This incident clarifies one major misunderstanding that Muslims worship the Ka’bah. This is baseless because the Ka’bah is neither divine nor indispensable. Allah is not confined in that physical structure – He is everywhere, nor do Muslims worship that black cube. Were it not to be the case, it would have been divinely saved during the flood. Rather, it is just a structure made of bricks and mortar and used merely as a marker – in recognition of being the first place of worship – for believers around the globe to face towards in their daily prayers. This orientation signifies discipline and unity of purpose. Following the Great Flood of Noah, for thousands of years, there was no Ka’bah on the face of the earth.
Much later when Prophet Ibrahim was sent to that area, over four thousand years ago, to revive the concept of Tawheed, he was asked to rebuild the Ka’bah: “Remember when We assigned to Ibrahim the site of the House (Ka’bah)… [Q, 22: 26] It is narrated that Archangel Gabriel brought Prophet Ibrahim to the site where the Ka’bah used to stand and directed him to its original foundations, as they were covered under a mound of dirt and sand. Both Prophet Ibrahim and his son Ismail cleared the site and raised the walls of the Ka’bah on the same foundations: “Recall when Ibrahim and Ismail raised the foundations of the House, praying: Our Lord! Accept this (service) from us …..” [Q, 2: 127]
Once more, the motive behind re-erecting the walls was not just to rebuild a structure, but rather to re-institute the purpose for which it was originally established. Pursuant to that Prophet Ibrahim was further commanded to purify the place: “…Do not ascribe partners to Me, and purify My House for those who walk around it (tawaf) and for those who stand and who bow down and make prostration.” [Q, 22: 26]; and call pilgrims to come from all corners to perform Hajj: “And publicly proclaim unto mankind the Hajj so that they come to you on foot and on every lean camel from every distant path.” [Q, 22: 27] That is, re-establish the sanctity of this place for those who would aspire to undertake the journey to this place from every corner of the land by every available means just to glorify their Lord.
Since that time, the Ka’bah became a focal point in the lives of Arabs, as descendants of Prophet Ibrahim, and the annual Hajj played a pivotal role in their social, cultural, and religious interactions, as well as for their economic viability. However, the Ka’bah was destroyed again twice since. After the first demolition, a group from the Jerham tribe restored the building; and after the second incident, the Ama’leqa tribe completed its reconstruction.
During the early age, of 35, of the Muhammad Prophet SAW, the building was destroyed yet once again and rebuilt by the Quraysh of Mecca. Several tribes participated in this project. But they got divided over the issue of Hajr-e-Aswad (Black Stone), which was supposed to be inserted in a corner of the building. Each tribe was adamant about having the honor of placing the stone in the slot and was ready to fight to the end. They finally agreed to let the first person entering the precinct of the Ka’bah the following morning arbitrate the issue. Coincidentally, that person happened to be Muhammad ibn Abdullah and they approached him to break the impasse. He instructed them to place the stone on a shroud and had each tribe hold one corner of it and raise it together to the right position. He then, using his own hands, pushed the stone into the slot; thus sparing the Quraysh from a bloody tribal conflict over it. Since that historical moment, the young Muhammad began to be recognized as a wise man and peacemaker.
During the reconstruction of the Ka’bah, the Quraysh deviated from the original design of Prophet Ibrahim in three ways: They left a big area on the right out of the building, now known as ‘hateem;’ the building used to have two doors – one for entrance and the other for an exit, they eliminated one and kept the other on the eastside; and they also raised the level of the door several feet above the ground to restrict entry into the building without their permission. These modifications were devised in favor of the Quraysh to have increased control over the holy site.
Though, the Arabs protected and maintained the building with great devotion and considered that central to their society, what went inside the building was totally contrary to its concept and purpose. Over almost two thousand and five hundred years since Prophet Ibrahim, they were steep in their moral decline and corrupt religious practices. They had even set a new record of infidelity by having 360 statues inside the Ka’bah, one for each day of the year, and men and women used to circle around it nude in devotional services.
In the 8th Hijri (8 years after Prophet’s migration to Medina), Muslims returned to Mecca in a peaceful takeover of the city and gained control of the Ka’bah. The Prophet SAW immediately made two extraordinary moves, displaying his magnanimity as the true Messenger of Allah SWT. First, he granted a general amnesty to his old foes, winning their hearts and minds in return; they then instantaneously joined under the banner of Islam. Second, he removed all the statues from the Ka’bah; thus, restoring its sanctity, like Prophet Ibrahim and his son Ismail had done centuries earlier. The Ka’bah once again became the House of Allah SWT and a symbol of Tawheed.
The changes that the Quraysh had made to the structure of the Ka’bah, discussed earlier, were not to the liking of the Prophet SAW. He shared his disapproval of those changes with his wife Aisha. He also expressed his desire to correct them by reconstructing the Ka’bah. However, he refrained from moving forward to avoid any misunderstanding on the part of the Meccans who had just entered Islam. In sensitivity to their feelings, he decided not to press the issue at that time. He passed away before any chance to revisit the issue later.
The wisdom of the Prophet SAW and his sensitivity to human feelings must be noted here. After the conquest of Mecca, as mentioned above, the Prophet Saw did not wait for a moment to remove all idols from the Ka’bah that the Quraysh had been worshipping for centuries. No sensitivity was shown to their feelings in this matter. But when it came to putting the building back on its original plan designed by Prophet Ibrahim, he showed enormous respect to the feelings of people and ignored the issue. Obviously, the form is important, but what is more important is the substance. The physical structure is not all that important; what goes on inside that structure, however, is what transforms it into an institution for change in thoughts and behavior. The beliefs and principles and, above all, the Divine Unity symbolized by that House could not be compromised for a minute longer. He purified the place from all traces of infidelity soon after he gained control of it. How that House looks architecturally is of little significance to the concept and practice. Sensitivity to one’s feelings is a virtue, but it cannot be misplaced in defiance of Allah’s rights and His Sovereignty.
Abdullah bin Zubair, a nephew of Aisha, was aware of the Prophet’s desire to rectify errors in Ka’bah’s design. When he became the ruler of Mecca, he fulfilled that desire by rebuilding it along the lines of Prophet Ibrahim. Unfortunately, however, his rule was short-lived. His rival Hajjaj bin Yousuf invaded Mecca and killed him. Following his takeover of Mecca, Hajjaj bin Yousuf reverted the Ka’bah to what it was, using the ploy that it should have been left the way the Prophet SAW had left. The Muslim rulers, who followed, indicated their inclinations to undo Hijjaj bin Yousuf’s action; but Imam Malik issued a fatwa that the House of Allah must not be tinkered with for political scores. Other than minor renovations from time to time, to date, the Ka’bah continues to look as if the Quraysh had been modified and re-enforced by Hajjaj bin Yousuf.
Following the victory of Mecca in the 8th year, Hajj became part of the Islamic Shari’ah in the 9th Hijri. Even though Hajj had always been a part of Arab traditions since the time of Prophet Ibrahim, they had corrupted it in two major ways by replacing Prophet Ibrahim’s concept of Tawheed with the idolization of their own rituals of infidelity and, worse than that, by practicing nasi (intercalation) with their calendar to suit their socio-economic and political needs. As a result of that practice, Hajj was performed once on its appointed day, the true 9 Dul Hijjah (DH), and then for the next 33 years on a day fictitiously declared to be 9 DH. In the 9th Hijri, however, Islam condemned nasi (fixation of dates) as an act of unbelievers: “The intercalation (of sacred months) is an act of gross infidelity…” [Q, 9: 37]
It is unthinkable for a Messenger of Allah SAW to willfully delay a fard (obligation) after it has been decreed. Yet it is known that the Prophet SAW did not perform Hajj in the year it was ruled, for no obvious reasons. In the following year (10th Hijri), however, he did undertake the journey to Mecca and performed his first Hajj, which also turned out to be his last. He observed yaum al’Arafat (Day of Arafat) on the True 9 DH and alluded to this in his Farewell Address. That also provided the reason why he had not performed this duty in the year before. He said: “The time has returned to what it was when Allah created the heavens and the earth.” [Bukhari] That is, in 33 years the calendar had gone full circle and, for the first time, the fictitious 9 DH in the 10th Hijri had coincided with the True 9 DH on a Friday – the correct day the Prophet SAW had been waiting for to perform his Hajj. He further instructed the audience in his landmark Last Sermon: “O people! The unbelievers indulge in tampering with the calendar in order to make permissible what Allah has forbidden, and to forbid what He has made permissible. The pattern according to which the time is figured is always the same …Beware of Satan for the safety of your religion …I leave behind me two things, the Qur’an and my Sunnah, and if you follow these you will never go astray…”
In sum, the Ka’bah in its formation is just a cubical structure of concrete. It signifies, however, the first place of worship established on earth by man as ordered by his Sovereign Creator. It also serves as the focal point to face in daily prayers offered globally by the followers of Islam. Since its inception, it has been destroyed/demolished and rebuilt six times. The Hajj, an ultimate manifestation of the infinite essence of monotheism by a global congregation organized at that location, displays the unity of purpose by standing together in submission before the Almighty.
Islamic Point of View 