The Dispute Over the Black Stone

Muhammad (peace be upon him) participated in the rebuilding of the Kaʿbah, and at the time he was maybe around thirty-five years old—that's a rough estimate. So now the people of Quraysh are building the Kaʿbah, and they reach the holiest part of the Kaʿbah, which is the black stone. And now a dispute erupts among them: who will have the honour to place the black stone in its spot? Because when they were rebuilding the Kaʿbah, every tribe took responsibility for building one side of it—they all wanted to participate in this honour. But with the black stone, they disputed; every tribe wanted to have the honour of putting it in its place.

Banū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, they gathered all of their men, and they came in front of the Kaʿbah with a pot of blood, and they placed it in front of everyone, and they all stuck their hands in the blood and pulled it out. In other words, they're telling everyone that this is what will happen if we don't place the black stone in its place—it's like pledging to die and to fight: we will do it, otherwise this is what will happen, blood will flow. Even though that was a drastic measure and quite a threat, that wasn't enough to deter others. Another tribe went and brought in their own pot of blood, and they started sticking their hands in and pulling them out. And then everybody was bringing their own pot of blood, and it was four or five days they couldn't solve the problem, and war was about to erupt between them.

And then the eldest man among them, Umayyah, had a suggestion. He came and said, "Let's agree that the first man to walk in towards the Kaʿbah will be given complete authority in judging between us." So they all gathered next to the Kaʿbah, and they were waiting for the first person to come. And the first person to walk in was Muhammad (peace be upon him). They said, one after another, "Al-Ṣādiq al-Amīn"—the truthful and the trustworthy—"we all agree." Now, they had already agreed that they would give complete authority to the person who would come in, but they were so happy that this person was Muhammad (peace be upon him), because they knew that he would not be biased in his ruling. It would be expected that if someone came from a particular family, he would give authority to his family to place it in its place—and that was the expected thing, that they're going to leave it randomly for the first one to come in and his family would take it. But when they saw that it was Muhammad (peace be upon him), they were so happy, because they know his fairness. So they told him, "We give you complete authority in solving this dispute."

And Muhammad (peace be upon him) asked them to bring a rope, a piece of cloth. He picked up the black stone and he placed it on this cloth, and then he asked a representative from each clan to hold the cloth from one side, and then they all raised it up together at the same time—therefore every one of them would participate in lifting the black stone. And when they all lifted it up, then he, with his blessed hands, picked up the black stone and placed it in its place. So it was Muhammad (peace be upon him) who put the black stone in its spot. So that's the second time the Kaʿbah was rebuilt.