The Stone That Moved Between Foundations

Muhammad (peace be upon him) opened Makkah, and then he said that if it wasn't for the fact that the people are new Muslims, he would have rebuilt it on the foundations of Ibrāhīm. Years later, ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Zubayr became the emir of Makkah. He knew of this hadith, because ʿĀʾishah was his aunt—ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Zubayr's mother is Asmāʾ bint Abī Bakr, the sister of ʿĀʾishah. So ʿĀʾishah was his aunt, and he was familiar with this hadith. So he decided to rebuild the Kaʿbah on the original foundations, because now the people had been Muslim for a long time—they weren't new Muslims any more, they would be able to handle the situation.

He decided that he's going to rebuild the Kaʿbah, especially since the Kaʿbah was burnt, because al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf al-Thaqafī laid siege on Makkah. At that time there was a war between ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Zubayr and Banū Umayyah in Syria, and the army general of Banū Umayyah laid siege to Makkah, and one of the catapults hit the Kaʿbah, and it caused some damage, and it burned. Now, that damage could have been fixed without tearing down the Kaʿbah, but ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Zubayr wanted to take advantage and rebuild the Kaʿbah on the original foundations, which he did, and he fulfilled the description that was given by Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the hadith: that he would lower the gate, and have an east door and a western door, and expand the size of the Kaʿbah towards al-Ḥijr, which he did. So that's the third time the Kaʿbah was rebuilt.

ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Zubayr ended up losing the war, and he was killed. Al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf took over. The khalīfah of that time, ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān, was not familiar with this hadith, so he gave his commands to take the Kaʿbah back to the way it was before ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Zubayr. So the Kaʿbah was shortened again, according to the way the people of Quraysh built it, after the khilāfah of Banū Umayyah. Banū ʿAbbās were the family of khulafāʾ after them. One of the khulafāʾ of Banū ʿAbbās was thinking about rebuilding the Kaʿbah again on the original foundations, and he consulted Imam Mālik. Imam Mālik gave him a very wise answer. He said, "We don't want the Kaʿbah to be a toy in the hands of kings, that they keep changing its size every now and then." Even though the plan of Muhammad (peace be upon him), and his desire, was to build it on the foundations of Ibrāhīm, "let's keep it the way it is and not change it any more"—because it was going back and forth, on the foundations of Ibrāhīm, and then the way Quraysh built it, and then again on the foundations of Ibrāhīm. Imam Mālik said that the people have known the Kaʿbah, and they have known these stones the way they are: don't keep on changing it, keep it the way it is. And that was very wise advice from Imam Mālik, which the khalīfah followed.

So the qiblah that exists today is built on which foundation—the foundation of Ibrāhīm, or the foundations of Quraysh? Quraysh. But alḥamdulillāh, that's something good. Why? If the Kaʿbah was built on the original foundations of Ibrāhīm, the chance of praying inside the Kaʿbah would have been lost. But since it is shortened, that area which is enclosed by the semicircle is actually part of the Kaʿbah, so praying in that area is as if one has prayed inside the Kaʿbah. And Muhammad (peace be upon him) did pray inside the Kaʿbah—when he opened Makkah, he prayed inside the Kaʿbah, he prayed eight rakʿahs inside the Kaʿbah. So now there is a chance to pray in al-Ḥijr; otherwise one would have to get permission to get inside the Kaʿbah, and it would be very cumbersome and difficult. But now one can pray inside al-Ḥijr and it will count as if one prayed in the Kaʿbah.

Now, over time, the height of the Kaʿbah has increased, but the size of it has remained constant. Now, with the stones that the Kaʿbah is built from, many of them are remnants of the original stones that were used by Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him), but not all of them—some other ones were introduced later by Quraysh and others. But the black stone is the original stone that was used by Ibrāhīm; the black stone hasn't ever changed, it is the original stone that was given to Ibrāhīm.

And there are many stories about the black stone itself. Some say it originated from Jannah. There is a hadith that is authentic that says that the black stone was white, but then it turned black because of the sins of the sons of Ādam. And there is a hadith that says that the black stone is the right hand of Allah on earth. So the black stone is very special, it's very honoured and it's very respected, and it's the only part of the Kaʿbah that is kissed, and it's the only part of the Kaʿbah that is pointed to from a distance. Some people point to the Yemeni corner, which is wrong. The Yemeni corner can be touched when passing by it, but one shouldn't point towards it or greet it from a distance—that is only for the black stone. So this is the history of the Kaʿbah.