Verses 96–97

Examining Narrations

6:236(1) Ibn Shahrāshūb narrates from the Leader of the Faithful (ʿAlī) about the words of God, Most surely the first house appointed for men..., as follows:

“A man asked him whether it was the first house (built). He said: ‘No. Surely there were houses (built) before it, but it is the first House appointed for men, blessed, in which there is guidance, mercy and blessing. And it was Abraham who first built it; then an Arabian group from the (tribe of) Jurhum built it, then it was demolished, so the al-ʿAmāliqah rebuilt it; again it fell down and then the Quraysh rebuilt it.’ ”

(2) Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abī Ḥātim have narrated through the chain of al-Shaʿbī, from ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, that he said, explaining this verse: “There were houses before that; but it was the first House made for the worship of God.” (al-Durr al-manthūr)

Author’s comment: al-Suyūṭī has also narrated a similar tradition through Ibn Jarīr from Maṭar (b. Ṭuhmān). And there are numerous traditions of the same theme.

(3) al-Ṣādiq said: “The land on which the House stands is Bakkah; and the town is Mecca.” (ʿIlal al-sharāyiʿ)

The same book quotes the same Imam as saying: “Bakkah was named Bakkah because people are crowded therein.”¹

(4) al-Bāqir said: “Mecca is called Bakkah because men and women are crowded therein; a woman prays in front of you, and on your right, and on your left, and with you, and there is no harm in it (at that place); but surely it is disliked in all other towns.” (ibid.) (5) The same Imam said: “When God intended to create the earth, He ordered the winds and they agitated the face of water until it produced waves (and) then brought up foam (and froth); so (all of) it became one foam. Then God gathered it in the place of the House (that is, where the House now stands) and made it a mountain of foam; thereafter He spread out the earth from beneath it. And this is the (meaning of the) words of God: Most surely the first house appointed for men is the one at Bakkah, blessed. Thus the first plot created of the earth is the Kaʿbah; then the earth was expanded from it.” (ibid.)

6:237Author’s comment: “There are numerous traditions saying that the earth was expanded and extended from beneath the Kaʿbah. There is nothing against the Qur’an in these traditions. Nor is there any rational reason to refute it—except the ancient philosophers’ theory that the earth was an eternal indivisible element; but that theory has so manifestly been proved wrong that it needs no further exposition.

This narrative explains how and why the Kaʿbah was the first House (that is, piece of land) of the earth—from traditions’ point of view. But so far as the obvious meaning of the verse is concerned, it supports the first two traditions.

(6) al-Ṣādiq was asked what were the clear signs mentioned in the verse: In it are clear signs. He said: “The Standing Place of Abraham—where he stood upon the stone and his feet left their prints in it, and the Black Stone, and the House of Ishmael” (al-Kāfī; al-Tafsīr, al-ʿAyyāshī)

Author’s comment: There are other traditions of the same meaning. Perhaps the Imam mentioned them as examples, although some of them are not mentioned in the verse.

(7) ʿAbd al-Ṣamad said: “Abū Jaʿfar (al-Manṣūr) wanted to buy from (some) Meccans their houses in order to extend the (Sacred) Mosque; but they refused. Then he induced them; they still resisted. So he was frustrated. Then he came to Abū ʿAbdillāh and said to him: ‘I requested these people (to sell to us) some of their houses and compounds, so that we could extend the Mosque; but they have refused; and it has put me into utmost grief.’ Abū ʿAbdillāh said: ‘Why does it grieve you and your proof against them is (very) clear?’ He said: And what should I argue against them with?’ (The Imam) said: ‘With the Book of God.’ He said: ‘In which place (is it explained)?’ (The Imam) said: ‘The words of God: Most surely the first house appointed for men is the one at Bakkah. And God has informed you (in this verse) that the first House appointed for the men is the one that is at Bakkah. Now if they had taken the possession (of the land) before the House (was built) then their plots would belong to them; but if the House was there before them, then it (the Kaʿbah) owns its plot.’ Abū Jaʿfar then called them and argued with them accordingly. Thereupon they said: ‘Do whatever you want.’ ” (al-Tafsīr, al-ʿAyyāshī)

6:238(8) al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. al-Nuʿmān says: “When al-Mahdī built (that is, extended) the Sacred Mosque, there remained there one house (because of which) the Mosque could not be made square. He asked for it from its owners; but they refused. He asked jurists about it, and all of them told him that he should not include in the Sacred Mosque anything taken by force. Then ʿAlī b. Yaqṭīn said: ‘O leader of the faithful! I am writing(a letter) to Moses b. Jaʿfar (peace be on them both), so that I may tell you what the proper ruling is in this matter.’ So he wrote to the Governor of Medina to ask Musa b. Jaʿfar (peace be on them both) about the house which we wanted to include in the Sacred Mosque but its owners refused (to sell it)—how this problem could be solved? (The Governor) told Abu al-Ḥasan (Musa b. Jaʿfar—peace be on them both) about it. Abu al-Ḥasan said: ‘Is it necessary to give its reply?’ He said: ‘(Yes), it is a matter that is necessary.’ Then (the Imam) said to him: ‘Write down: “In the Name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful, if the Kaʿbah had settled down with the people, then the people have more rights on its courtyard; but if the people have settled down around the Kaʿbah, then the Kaʿbah has more right over its courtyard.” ’ When the letter reached al-Mahdī, he took it and kissed it, then he ordered to demolish the (said) house. The house owners then came to Abu al-Ḥasan and requested him to write a letter to al-Mahdī regarding the price of the house. He wrote to him to give them something, so he made them happy.” (ibid.)

Author’s comment: The two traditions contain a very fine point of argument. It was Abū Jaʿfar al-Manṣūr who began the extension of the Sacred Mosque which was completed during al-Mahdī’s reign.

(9) al-Ṣādiq said about the words of God, and for the sake of Allah, pilgrimage to the House is incumbent “(God) means by it the ḥajj and the ʿumrah both, because both are obligatory.” (al-Kāfī) Author’s comment: al-ʿAyyāshī too has narrated it in his al-Tafsīr. This tradition takes the word ḥijj in its literal sense, that is, to proceed to.

(10) al-Ṣādiq has explained the word, and whoever disbelieves, as “whoever neglects”. (al-Tafsīr, al-ʿAyyāshī)

Author’s comment: al-Shaykh has narrated this tradition in at-Tahdhīb. We have explained it earlier that disbelief, like belief, has many grades; and that the word, as used in this verse, means disbelieving in—that is, not complying with—a commandment of the shariah.

6:239(11) ʿAlī b. Jaʿfar narrates from his brother Mūsā, a tradition in which he, inter alia, says: “I said: ‘Then whoever among us does not go for ḥajj, is an unbeliever?’ (The Imam) said: ‘No. But whoever says that it is not so (that is, it is not obligatory) becomes an unbeliever.’ ” (al-Kāfī)

Author’s comment: There are many traditions of the same theme. Disbelief, as explained in this tradition, means rejection and refutation, and the verse could mean it. Thus disbelief has been used here in its literal meaning, that is, hiding the truth; and it may refer to various grades of disbelief according to various situations.

A Short History of the Kaʿbah

It is mutawātir and definitely known that it was (Prophet) Abraham (al-Khalīl) who built the Kaʿbah. The residents around it at that time were his son, Ishmael, and the tribe of Jurhum (originally from Yemen). It is an almost square building whose sides face the cardinal points of the compass; the winds, no matter how strong, lose their force when they strike it—without doing it any harm.

The construction of Abraham stood intact, until it was rebuilt by al-ʿAmāliqah, and later by the tribe of Jurhum (or vice versa), as has been described in the earlier narrated tradition of the Leader of the Faithful (ʿAlī).

When the management of the Kaʿbah came into the hands of Quṣayy b. Kilāb—an ancestor of the Prophet—in the second century before hijrah, he demolished and rebuilt it on firm foundation, putting a roof of doom palm timber and date-palm trunk on it. He also built Dār al-Nadwah (Council House) on one side. It was the place from where he ruled and where he held counsel with his colleagues. Then he divided various sides of the Kaʿbah among different clans of the Quraysh and each clan built their houses at the side allotted to them; and they opened their doors towards the Kaʿbah.

Five years before the start of the Prophet’s mission, there came a flood which destroyed the Kaʿbah’s building. The Quraysh divided among themselves the various responsibilities connected with its reconstruction. They hired a Roman mason to build it and an Egyptian carpenter to help him with the woodwork. When the time came to fix the Black Stone, a dispute erupted as to which clan should be accorded the honor of putting the Black Stone in its place. Then they agreed to leave the decision to Muḥammad, who at that time was thirty-five years old—because they had full faith in his deep wisdom and sound judgment. He got his robe, and putting the Stone on it, told all the clans to hold the sides of the robe and raise it together. When the Stone reached the required height (on the eastern corner), he took it in his hands and fixed it in its proper place.

6:240But the Quraysh found their funds exhausted. So they reduced the size on one side—as it is today; thus a part of the original foundation was left out, and that is the portion known as Ḥijr Ismāʿīl (the Enclosure of Ishmael).

The building remained in that condition until ʿAbdullāh b. al-Zubayr established his rule over Ḥijāz during the reign of Yazīd b. Muʿāwiyah. Ḥusayn b. Numayr, the commander of Yazīd’s army, besieged him at Mecca and struck the Kaʿbah with catapult. The Kaʿbah was demolished, the al-Kiswah (covering of the Kaʿbah) and some roof timbers were burnt down. The siege was lifted when news came of Yazīd’s death. Ibn al-Zubayr decided to demolish the Kaʿbah completely and rebuild it on its original foundation. He got good mortar from Yemen and constructed the new building. Ḥijr Ismāʿīl was re-included in the Kaʿbah; the door was fixed at the level of the ground; another door was fixed on the opposite side, so that people might enter from one door and go out from the other. He fixed the height of the House at twenty-seven arms. When the building was ready, he covered the whole building with musk and perfume inside out, and put silken Kiswah on it. The construction was completed on 17th Rajab, 64 A.H.

When ʿAbd al-Malik b. Marwān came to power in Damascus, he sent his commander, Ḥajjāj b. Yusuf, who defeated Ibn al-Zubayr and killed him. Entering the Sacred Mosque, he saw what Ibn al-Zubayr had done regarding the Kaʿbah. He wrote to ʿAbd al-Malik about it who ordered him to return it to its previous shape. Ḥajjāj, therefore, demolished six and a half arms from the northern side and rebuilt it according to the plan of the Quraysh; he raised the eastern door and closed the western one; he also filled the inside with the stones that could not be re-used (thus raising the inside floor to the new level of the door).

When the Ottoman Sultan Sulaymān ascended the throne in 960 A.H., he changed the roof of the Kaʿbah. Sultan Aḥmad (who came to power in 1021 A.H.) made some other repairs and alterations. Then came the great flood of 1039 A.H. which demolished parts of its northern, eastern and western walls. Therefore, the Ottoman Sultan Murād IV got it repaired. And the same building continues till this day and it is the year 1375 by lunar hijri calendar, and 1338 according to the solar one.

6:241The Shape of the Kaʿbah: The Kaʿbah is nearly square in shape, built with hard dark bluish-grey stones. It now rises to sixteen metres; but was much lower at the time of the Prophet as may be inferred from the fact that, on the day of conquest of Mecca, the Prophet raised ʿAlī on his shoulders so that ʿAlī could remove and break the idols that were placed on the roof of the Kaʿbah.

The wall (the northern one that faces the Enclosure of Ishmael and) over which is placed the water trough and the one on its opposite side (the southern one) are ten metres and ten centimeters long; while the (eastern) wall which has the door and the one opposite to it are twelve metres long. The door is placed at a height of two metres from the ground level. The Black Stone is fixed in the (east-south) corner, so that if one wants to enter the door, the Stone would be on his left. This Stone is one and a half metres above the ground level, that is, above the level of the circumambulation area. The Black Stone is a hard rock of irregular oval shape, black with some reddish tint; it has red dots and yellow wavy lines which appeared when some broken pieces were soldered and joined. It has a diameter of about thirty centimeters.

The Kaʿbah’s corners, since ancient days, are called al-arkān pl. of al-Rukn (pillar); the northern one is called, the Iraqī rukn; the western, the Syrian; the southern, the Yemenite; and the eastern (wherein the Black Stone is fixed), is named the Black. The area between the door and the Black Stone is called al-Multazam (lit.: the place where one clings to) because when one circumambulates one adheres to it for invocation and prayer.

The trough fixed over the northern wall, which is called the Trough of Mercy, was an innovation of al-Ḥajjāj b. Yusuf; in 954 A.H. Sultan Sulaymān changed that with a silver one; that too was replaced by Sultan Aḥmad in 1021 A.H. with another one of enamelled silver with golden designs. In 1273 A.H. Sultan ʿAbd al-Majīd replaced it with another one made of gold, and it is the present one.

Facing the northern wall is a wall—half circle in shape. It is called, al-Ḥaṭīm. It is like a bow whose two ends face the northern (Iraqī) and the western (Syrian) rukns; there is a gap of two metres and three centimeters between the ends of the bow and the said rukns. The wall, al-Ḥaṭīm, is one metre high and one and a half metres wide. It is panelled with carved marble. The distance between the centre of al-Ḥaṭīm and the centre of the northern wall of the Kaʿbah is eight metres and forty-four centimeters. The area covered by al-Ḥaṭīm and the northern wall is known as Ḥijr Ismā‘īl (Enclosure of Ishmael). About three metres of this space was included in the Kaʿbah built by Abraham ; and the remaining area was the pen for sheep of Hājirah and her son. It is said that Hājirah and Ishmael are buried in the same Enclosure.

6:242The changes and alterations that were done inside the Kaʿbah, and the rituals and sunnah rites connected with the House are not so necessary to be described here.

The Covering of the Kaʿbah: We have described, in the chapter of ‘The Cow’, in the traditions relating the story of Hājirah and Ishmael and their settlement at Mecca, that Hājirah hang her mantle as a curtain on the door of the Kaʿbah when its construction was completed.

As for the covering of the House itself, it is said that the first to cover it was the Tubbaʿ¹ Abū Bakr Asʿad, who hang on it the sheets embroidered with silver threads. His successors followed this custom. Then people started covering it with sheets of various kinds—putting one upon the other. Whenever a covering looked old, a new one was put over it. This continued until Quṣayy came on the scene. He imposed a tax on the Arabs for putting a new covering every year. This system continued in his descendants. Abū Rabīʿah b. al-Mughīrah used to put a covering one year and all the clans of Quraysh did so the next year.

The Prophet covered the House with Yemenite sheets. This custom continued. When the ʿAbbāside caliph al-Mahdī went for pilgrimage, the attendants of the House complained to him about the coverings that had accumulated on the roof of the Kaʿbah. They said there was a danger of the roof collapsing down because of that load. The King ordered that all the old coverings should be removed and that every year a new covering should replace the old one—and that custom is followed until now.

The Kaʿbah is draped from inside too. The first to do so was the mother of ʿAbbās, son of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib—she had done so because of a vow she had taken regarding her son—ʿAbbās.

6:243Prestige of the Kaʿbah: The Kaʿbah was held in high esteem by various nations. The Hindus respected it, believing that the spirit of Siva, the third person of their Trimurty, entered into the Black Stone, when he was accompanied by his wife visited Ḥijāz.

The Sabaeans of Persia and Chaledonia counted it as one of their seven holy sanctuaries². Many of them said that it was the House of the Saturn—because it was the most ancient, and the longest in existence.

The Persians too respected the Kaʿbah, believing that the spirit of Hormoz was present therein; they sometimes went for its pilgrimage.

The Jews honored it and worshipped God there according to the religion of Abraham. There were many pictures and images in the Kaʿbah, including those of Abraham and Ishmael which had divining arrows in their hands. Also there were pictures of the virgin Mary and Christ— which indicates that the Christians too respected the Kaʿbah like the Jews.

The Arabs held it in the highest esteem; they believed that it was the House of God, and came to its pilgrimage from every place. They believed the Kaʿbah to be built by Abraham and the ḥajj to be a part of his religion which had come to them as his legacy.

Trusteeship of the Kaʿbah: The trusteeship was in the hands of Ishmael; and after him it remained in his descendants. Then the Jurhumites became more powerful and took over the trusteeship. They in their turn were vanquished after several wars by the ʿAmāliqah, who were a part of Banū Karkar. The ʿAmāliqah resided at the lower section of Mecca while the Jurhumites had settled in its upper section. They had their own Kings. Later on, the Jurhumites defeated the ʿAmāliqah and regained the trusteeship, which remained with them for about three hundred years.

They extended the area of the House and increased its height.

Gradually the Ishmaelites grew in number and gained power; and they found the place too congested and over-populated. Then they fought the Jurhumites, defeated and expelled them from Mecca. The leader of the Ishmaelites at that time was ʿAmr b. Laḥiyy, the chief of the clan of Khuzāʿah. He became over-lord of Mecca and took over the trusteeship of the Kaʿbah. It was he who put idols in the Kaʿbah and called people to worship them. The first idol he put there was Hubal which he had brought from Syria; then he brought others. Gradually there were a lot of idols, and idol-worship spread among the Arabs; the upright religion of Abraham was discarded.

6:244Shaḥnah b. Khalaf al-Jurhumī refers to this episode, when he addresses ʿAmr b. Laḥiyy in the following ode:

O ʿAmr! you have invented various gods; At Mecca—idols around the House.

And there was for the House One Lord from ever; But you have made for it several lords (which are now worshipped) by the people.

Surely you should know that God is in no hurry; Soon He will choose for (His) House stewards other than you.

The trusteeship remained in the clan of Khuzāʿah up to the time of Ḥalīl al-Khuzāʿī. He nominated his daughter (who was married to Quṣayy b. Kilāb) to succeed him, and gave the right of opening and closing the door to a man from his clan, Abū Ghabshān al-Khuzāʿī by name. Abū Ghabshān sold his right to Quṣayy b. Kilāb for a camel and a skinful of liquor. The proverb, “More loss incurring than the deal of Abū Ghabshān,” alludes to this sale.

The trusteeship was thus transferred to the Quraysh. Quṣayy rebuilt the House, as we have mentioned above. The things continued as they were, until the Prophet conquered Mecca, and entering the Kaʿbah ordered the pictures to be effaced, and the idols to be thrown down and broken.

The Standing Place of Abraham—the stone with the imprints of Abraham’s feet—was at first put in a kneading trough near the Kaʿbah; then it was buried in the place where it is at present. It has a dome on four pillars where the people offer their prayers after the circumambulation.

There are a lot of details of various aspects of the Kaʿbah and other religious buildings attached to it. We have described here only the things which are necessary for understanding the verses of ḥajj and the Kaʿbah.

One of the specialities of this House—which God has blessed and made a guidance—is that no Muslim group has ever disagreed about it or its prestige, honor and respect.