The Kaba in the City of Makkah 

Prophet Ibraaheem (Abraham) was commanded by Allah to leave his second wife, Haajar (Eng. Hagar), and their newly born son, Ismaa'eel (Ishmael), alone in the un-inhabited and barren valley of Bakkah (also known as Makkah). However, he used to return to visit them periodically. After Prophet Ibraaheem left them, their supplies ran out and Hagar went in search of water. She left the baby, Ismaa'eel, in the valley and she ran between the hills of Safaa and Marwah trying to see if there were any oasis nearby or if any travelers were in the area. As Allah willed it, a spring started bubbling forth from the sand near the feet of baby Ismaa'eel. This spring became known as Zamzam and eventually became a well.

During one of his visits, Prophet Ibraaheem and his son, Ismaa'eel were commanded by Allah to lay the foundations of the first house built expressly for the worship of Allah which became known as the Ka'bah. In subsequent visits they completed the building of the Ka'bah.

Allah described the Ka'bah and its building in the Qur'an as follows: 
" And (remember) when we prepared for Ibraaheem the place for the (holy) House saying: Make nothing as My partner and purify My House for those who walk around it and those who stand, bow and make prostration before it. " (22:26) 

" Lo! The first house (of worship) founded for mankind was that at Bakkah; a blessing and guidance for all people. " (3:96) 

" And remember when Ibraaheem and Ismaa'eel laid the foundation of the House (of worship. " (2:127)

In order to make a specific point as the starting point for circling the Ka'bah, Prophet Ibraaheem placed a special stone in its eastern corner. This stone, according to the Prophet Muhammad ( صلى الله عليه وسلم )'s explanation, was originally shining white in color when it was brought down from Paradise, however due to the sins of man it changed to its present color of dull black, hence its name, al-Hajar al-Aswad (the Black Stone).

During the building of the Ka'bah, Prophet Ibraaheem stood on a large stone block in order to complete the upper part of its walls. He used to move the block around the Ka'bah as he built it and on completion of the building, it was left outside the Ka'bah near the eastern wall and became known in later years as Maqaam Ibraaheem (the standing place of Ibraaheem). In Ibraaheem's time, the Ka'bah reached a height of 4.5 meters. It was rectangular in shape with a semi-circular back wall. Ibraheem built in it two doors at ground level and did not put a roof on it. He would come to Makkah once per year to perform the rites of Hajj with his family until he died. His son Ismaa'eel who had by then married a woman from the tribe of Jurhum, continued the tradition of Hajj and looked after the Ka'bah until he died.

The Ka'bah then fell into the possession of the Jurhum tribe which had settled in the valley of Makkah. It remained in their hands for a thousand years until it became the property of the Khuzaa'ah tribe who in turn held it for another three hundred years.

Since the Ka'bah was at the bottom of a valley surrounded by bare hills, it was constantly exposed to floods. On one occasion it was completely destroyed, but was rebuilt by Qusay ibn Kilaab in its original form except that he added a roof to it to protect it from the elements.

Idolatry was introduced into Arabia by 'Amr ibn Luhay, who brought the idol, Hubal from Mesopotamia (Iraq) and placed it inside the Ka'bah. Later a large wooden dove was also placed inside the Ka'bah and the inside walls of the Ka'bah were also covered with paintings of the Prophets including a picture of 'Eesaa (Jesus) and his mother. Eventually over 360 idols were placed around the Ka'bah as well as altars for slaughtering animals to the idols. During the annual fairs of 'Ukaadh, poetry competitions were held and the seven most outstanding odes were etched in gold and hung inside the Ka'bah.

These poems were called the Mu'allaqaat, literally the hanging things, and the best poet to win the honor was Imr al-Qays (died 540 CE).

The tribe of Qusay was the first to build dwelling-houses around the Ka'bah. The successors of the Qusay tribe were the Quraysh. Soon after they came into possession of the Ka'bah, the fire of a woman incensing the Ka'bah is said to have caught the building and laid part of it to waste. Since successive floods had again weakened its structure, the Quraysh took it upon themselves to rebuild the Ka'bah. In approximately 600 CE the Quraysh gathered funds which had not been touched by Ribaa (interest) or other illegal means in order to rebuild the Ka'bah. It happened that a Byzantine ship was thrown ashore at Jiddah and the Makkans bought its wood and used it for the new building. The Ka'bah was then built of alternate layers of stone and wood. When the work reached the place of the Black Stone, a quarrel broke out among the tribes. Each tribe wished to have the honor of raising the Black Stone into its place. Eventually they agreed that the first man to enter the Haram (the area immediately around the Ka'bah) should decide for them. Muhammad ( صلى الله عليه وسلم ) happened to be the first to enter and he was appointed arbitrator. He then told them to place the stone upon a cloth and a representative of each tribe was to take hold of a portion of the cloth and together they would all lift it into its place.

The dispute was thus ended and when the stone had reached its proper place, Muhammad ( صلى الله عليه وسلم ) fixed it in its position with his own hand. In the course of the building of the Ka'bah its height was doubled, its western door sealed off and its eastern door was placed above ground level to prevent the common people from entering it. A roof and a gutter were also added. However, due to the shortage of funds untouched by Ribaa (interest) or illegal means, the length of the Ka'bah was shortened leaving it in the now familiar cubic form. A semicircular wall was built behind the main structure to indicate the excluded portion and the encompassed area became known as Hijr Ismaa'eel.

At the conquest of Ka'bah in 8 A.H. (630 CE), Prophet Muhammad ( صلى الله عليه وسلم ) left the Ka'bah as a building unaltered. However, he destroyed all of the idols in and around the Ka'bah and the paintings were removed from the inner walls of the building. He also said that only the very recent conversion of the Makkans prevented him from returning it to the form of Ibraaheem's time. These intentions of Prophet Muhammad ( صلى الله عليه وسلم ) were brought to realization in 683 CE by 'Abdullaah ibn az-Zubayr. 'Abdullaah ibn az-Zubayr and his followers rose in rebellion against the Caliph Yazeed, who had been forced upon the Muslims by his father Caliph Mu'aawiyah. They were soon besieged in Makkah by Caliph Yazeed's army under the command of al-Husayn ibn Numayr.

During the siege, catapults of Yazeed's army were erected on the hills around Makkah and huge boulders were hurled on the town and the sanctuary resulting in the smashing of the Ka'bah and the splitting of the Black Stone into three pieces. After the siege was lifted in 684, Ibn az-Zubayr ordered that the Ka'bah be rebuilt according to its original form. These alterations lasted only a short period. In 693 CE, al-Hajjaaj ibn Yoosuf conquered Makkah and killed 'Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr. In agreement with the Caliph 'Abdul- Malik, he demolished the Ka'bah and rebuilt it according to the Qurayshee form. He again separated the Hijr from the Ka'bah and walled up the west door. The building, in keeping with the wish of the Umayyads, thus practically received its pre-Islamic form again and this form has survived to the present day. However, the Caliph Haroon ar-Rasheed (or as others write, his father al-Mahdi or his grandfather, al-Mansour) intended to again change what had been altered by al-Hajjaaj and reduce the Ka'bah to the old form in which it had been left by 'Abdullaah ibn az-Zubayr but was dissuaded from meddling with it in order to prevent so holy a place from becoming the sport of princes, from being newly modeled after everyone's fancy and from losing the reverence which is justly paid it. Thus, the piety of the populace has always resisted any considerable innovations to the Ka'bah's structure. Only to an unimportant degree have the authorities now and then made improvements.

The Ka'bah successfully withstood the 929 CE invasion of Makkah by an army of fanatical Shi'ites belonging to a deviant sect known as the Qaraamitah. The army was led by Abu Taahir al-Janaabee, who on reaching the Ka'bah, ordered his men to kill the pilgrims and dump their bodies in the well of Zamzam. He subsequently tore off the door of the Ka'bah and carried away the Black Stone to the region of al-Ahsaa, which lies on the north-eastern coast of Arabia. Al-Ahsaa had become their capital and the Black Stone remained there for twenty years until the powerful Faatimid rulers of Egypt, who were of the same sect, ordered the Qaraamitah to return the Black Stone, and so they did.

The Ka'bah remained as it was until the beginning of the seventeenth century CE. Seasonal flooding continued to present a danger to the building and in 1611 a huge copper band was placed around its walls to prevent its eminent collapse. However, in 1630 Makkah was struck by a major flood and the north wall of the Ka'bah finally collapsed. Sultaan Muraad then ordered that the Ka'bah be demolished and rebuilt using the original stones and maintaining the Qurayshee design. In 1957, during the reign of King Saud, a new wooden roof was put in place and several other minor renovations were introduced.