Table of Contents
The Jurhum, as descendants of the maternal uncles of the children of Ishmael, continued their administration of the House after them.
Eventually, the Khuza’ah ousted them and remained there after them, as long as God wanted them to remain.
Then, the descendants of Ishmael became numerous and spread. They branched out into the Kinanah, who, in turn, branched out into the Quraysh and others.
The administration of the (Ka’bah by the) Khuza’ah deteriorated.
The Quraysh took it away from them. They ousted them from the House and took possession of it themselves.
Their chief at the time was Qusayy b. Kilab. He rebuilt the House and gave it a roof of doom-palm and date-palm boughs.
Al-A’shai said:
I swear by the 2 garments of the monk (of al-Lujj) and by (the building) that was built by Qusayy all alone and by Ibn Jurhum.
A
During the Qurashite administration later on, the House was hit by a flood - or a fire - and was destroyed.
The Quraysh rebuilt it with money collected from their own property. A ship had been wrecked on the coast near Jidda.
They bought its wood for the roof (of the Ka’bah). The height of its walls was (just) over a fathom, and they made them 18 cubits high.
The door had been level with the ground, and they raised it (just) above one fathom in height, so that floodwaters could not enter it. They did not have enough money to finish it.
Therefore, they shortened its foundations, and omitted six cubits and one span. They surrounded that area with a low wall. In making the circumambulation (of the Ka’bah), one keeps outside this wall. This (area) is the hijr.
The House remained in this state, until Ibn az-Zubayr, who wanted to be caliph, fortified himself in Mecca.
The armies of Yazid b. Mu’awiyah, under al-Husayn b. Numayr as-Sakuni, advanced against him in the year 64 [683].
The House was set afire by means of naphtha, which the armies of Yazid shot against Ibn az-Zubayr. Its walls began to crack.
Ibn az-Zubayr had it torn down and rebuilt it most beautifully.
There was a difference of opinion among the men around Muhammad with regard to how the Ka’bah was to be reconstructed.
Ibn az-Zubayr argued against the others with the following remark, which the Messenger of God had made to ‘A’ishah:
If your people had not but recently been unbelievers, I would have restored the House on the foundations of Abraham and I would have made two doors for it, an eastern and a western one.
A
Ibn az-Zubayr, therefore, tore it down and laid bare the foundations of Abraham.
He assembled the great personalities and dignitaries (of Mecca) to look at them.
Ibn ‘Abbas advised him to think of preserving the qiblah for the people (during thereconstruction).
Therefore, he set .up a wooden scaffolding over the foundations and placed curtains over it, in order to preserve the qiblah (and keep it visible as a temporary measure). He sent to San’a’ for gypsum and quicklime, which he had brought back to Mecca.
He asked about the original stone quarry used in constructing (the Ka’bah). As many stones as were needed by him were brought together.
Then, he started construction over the foundations of Abraham.
He built the walls twentyseven cubits high, and he made two doors for (the Ka’bah) on a level with the ground, as it was said in the tradition (quoted). He made floors and wall coverings of marble for (the Ka’bah), and he had keys and doors of gold fashioned for it.
Later on, in the days of ‘Abd-al-Malik, al-Hajjaj came to besiege Ibn az-Zubayr. He bombarded the mosque from mangonels until its walls cracked.
After Ibn az-Zubayr’s defeat, al-Hajjaj consulted ‘Abd-al-Malik concerning (Ibn az-Zubayr’s) reconstruction of the House and additions to it.
‘Abd-al-Malik ordered him to tear it down and rebuild it upon the foundations of the Quraysh. The Ka’bah has this (appearance) today.
‘Abd-al-Malik regretted his action when he learned that Ibn az-Zubayr’s transmission of the tradition of ‘A’ishah was a sound one.
He said:
“I wish I had left it to Abu Khubayb (Ibn az-Zubayr) to rebuild the House as he had undertaken to do it.”
Al-Hajjaj tore down six cubits and a span of (the Ka’bah), where the hijr is, and rebuilt (the Ka’bah) upon the foundations of the Quraysh. He walled in the western door and that part of the eastern door that today is below the threshold. He left the rest entirely unchanged.
The whole building as it now stands is the building of Ibn az-Zubayr. In the wall, between his building and that of al-Hajjaj, one can distinctly see a crack in the wall where the two buildings are connected. The one construction is separated from the other by a crack in the wall, originally one finger wide, now repaired.
There is a weighty problem here. The situation described is in disagreement with what the jurists say relative to circumambulation (of the Ka’bah). The person who makes the circumambulation must be careful not to lean over the shadharwan understructure 46 running underneath the foundation walls.
Were he to do so, his circumambulation would be inside the House. This (restriction) is based upon the assumption that the walls cover only a part of the foundations, a part that is not covered by the walls being where the shadharwan understructure is.
The jurists also state with regard to kissing the Black Stone, that the person who makes the circumambulation must straighten up again when he has kissed the Black Stone, lest part of his circumambulation be inside the House.
If all the walls belong to the building of Ibn azZubayr, which was erected upon the foundations of Abraham, how could there occur what (the jurists) say could occur, (namely, that unless due caution is practiced, part of the circumambulation might fall inside the Ka’bah)? There is no escape from (the difficulty), except by assuming one of two alternatives.
Al-Hajjaj may have torn down the whole and rebuilt it, as a number of persons have reported, (but not covered the whole of Ibn az-Zubayr’s foundation).
However, this assumption is refuted by the crack visible between the two buildings and the differences of technical detail between the upper and lower parts. The other alternative would be that Ibn az-Zubayr did not fully restore the House upon the foundations of Abraham.
He would only have done this in the case of the hijr, so as to include it. (The Ka’bah) today, although built by Ibn az-Zubayr, would thus not be on the foundations of Abraham. This is unlikely. But it is one of the two possible alternatives.
The area (courtyard) around the House, that is, the Mosque, was an openspace to be used by those who were making the circumambulation. In the days of the Prophet and his successor, Abu Bakr, there were no walls surrounding it. Then the number of people (who made pilgrimage to the Ka’bah) increased. ‘Umar bought the (adjacent) houses and had them torn down, and added their (sites) to the Mosque (area).
He surrounded it with walls less than a fathom high. The same was done, successively, by ‘Uthman, Ibn az-Zubayr, and al-Walid b. ‘Abd-al-Malik. The latter rebuilt (the Mosque) with marble columns. Al-Mansur and his son and successor al-Mahdi added to it. Subsequently, no further additions were made, and the Mosque has remained as it was then down to our time.
Indications that God has honored the House and been greatly concerned with it are too impressive for them all to be recorded. It is sufficient to mention that He made it the place where the revelation and the angels came down, and a place for worship and fulfillment of the religious duties and rites of pilgrimage.
The sacred precinct of the House has been singled out for more venerable rights and privileges than any other place. God has forbidden anyone who opposes the religion of Islam to enter the sacred precinct.
He enjoined those who enter it to wear no sewn garments but a piece of cloth (izar) to cover them 47 He has granted asylum and protection against all harm to those who take refuge in it and to the cattle that graze on its pastures. No one has anything to fear there. No wild animal is hunted there. No tree is cut down for firewood.
The limits of the sacred precinct, which is invested with so much sanctity, extend, in the direction of Medina, three miles to at-Tan’im; 48 in the direction of the ‘Iraq, seven miles to the pass of the mountain of al-Munqata’; in the direction of al-Ji’ranah, 9 miles to ash-Shi’b; 49 in the direction of at-Ta’if, 7 miles to Batn Namirah; and, in the direction of Jidda, 10 miles to Munqata’ al-‘Asha’ir.
This is the importance and history of Mecca. Mecca is called “the Mother of Villages.” 50 The name of the Ka’bah is derived from ka’b (cube), because of its heights 51
Mecca is also called Bakkah.52 Al-Asma’i 53 says= “(It is called Bakkah,) because the people ‘squeezed’ (bakka) -that is, pushed-each other toward it.”
Mujahid 54 says= “The b of Bakkah was changed into m, as one says lazim and lazib ‘clinging, adhering,’ because of the proximity of the place of articulation of the two sounds.” An-Nakha’i 55 says= “Bakkah means the House, and Mecca the place.” Az-Zuhri 56 says; “Bakkah means the whole mosque, and Mecca the sacred precinct.”
Ever since pre-Islamic times, Mecca has been honored by the nations. Their rulers sent property and treasures there. (This was done, for instance,) by the Persian emperor (Khosraw) and others. The story of the swords and the two gazelles that ‘Abd-al-Muttalib found when the Zamzam was excavated is well known. 57
During the conquest of Mecca, the Messenger of God found in the cistern there 70,000 ounces of gold, which were gifts to the House by the rulers (of the foreign nations). Their value was 2,000,000 dinars of a weight of 200 hundredweight.
‘Ali b. Abi Talib told Muhammad that he should use the money for his war, but Muhammad did not do that. He (‘Ali) later on mentioned (the same thing) to Abu Bakr, but he could not move him. This is stated by al-Azraqt.
In al-Bukhari, there is the following story with a chain of transmitters going back to Abu Wa’il, who said:
The story was (also) published by Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah.
The money remained in Mecca up to the time of the disturbance caused by al-Aftas, that is, al-Husayn b. alHasan b. ‘Ali b. ‘Ali Zayn-al-’ Abidin, in the year 815.
When (al-Aftas) conquered Mecca, he went to the Ka’bah and took everything that was in the treasury.
It lies there unused.
We are more entitled to use it for our war (than is the Ka’bah to hold it)."
So he took it out and used it. Since then, there has been no treasure in the Ka’bah.
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