The First House

To move on: as was read in the previous chapter, the Qiblah was changed from Masjid al-Aqṣā to Masjid al-Ḥarām. There was a good deal of discussion and a good deal of objection to that, as noted there. Allah (swt) therefore reiterates the point here. One of the contentions, one of the challenges raised, was this: why change to the Kaʿbah, the Baytullāh in Makkah Mukarramah, when Masjid al-Aqṣā is the first house of Allah on the earth?

Masjid al-Aqṣā is indeed one of the earliest houses. It was constructed, it seems, about forty or fifty years after the Kaʿbah was built by the angels, at the very beginning, in the time of Ādam (peace be upon him) — or by the angels. So it is a very old house; and because of the famous story of Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him) raising the foundations again, that is regarded as the moment from which the Kaʿbah has stood continuously. For although the Kaʿbah had been built before, it had been destroyed, and only the foundations remained. Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him), it appears, rebuilt it from the foundations, and he is therefore considered the renovator of the Kaʿbah, from whose time until now it has remained standing as a building. That, perhaps, was their misunderstanding; and so they said that Bayt al-Maqdis is in fact superior to the Kaʿbah, being Allah's first house on the earth.

That is why Allah (swt) clarifies here:

Inna awwala baytin wuḍiʿa lil-nāsi lalladhī bi-Bakkah. Bakkah is the old name of Makkah, another way of saying it. Mubārakan wa-hudan lil-ʿālamīn: the blessed house, and the means of guidance for mankind. It is the first house placed for people, the first established for them; so the Kaʿbah is the first house. Several further points are then made: not only this, but the site holds a number of other things besides. Allah says:

There are other very salient features of Islam there, other features of great importance. Ṣafā and Marwah are there. Zamzam is there. The Maqām of Ibrāhīm is there. A great many remnants from the time of Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him) are there, and they are satisfactorily authenticated as standing in that same position; and for that reason the place holds the greater rank. It has Zamzam; it has the Ḥaṭīm, or the Ḥijr Ismāʿīl, the semi-circular area that is held to be part of the Kaʿbah; and more besides. Thirdly, it is a sanctuary. For that reason no one may be killed there; it is a sanctified area, and whoever enters it is safe.

Fourthly, and among the most important points: there is no other place in the world to which a Muslim, on acquiring a certain amount of money or attaining a certain level of means, is obliged to travel — unless, of course, one lives in Makkah. From anywhere else in the world, once a Muslim comes to possess perhaps five or seven thousand pounds, Hajj becomes farḍ upon him in the months of Hajj. It is the only place in the world to which such a journey must be undertaken, at least once in a lifetime. One is not obliged to go to Bayt al-Maqdis, nor for that matter to Madīnah Munawwarah — though there is immense benefit in going there as well, and one is indeed rewarded for undertaking a journey expressly to those places. But the place to which the journey is obligatory is Makkah Mukarramah, to the House of Allah, to perform the Hajj at least once in one's lifetime. No other place in the world is like it in this respect. And it cannot come to you: with anything else, it may come to you, but the Kaʿbah is fixed where it is.

This shows its faḍīlah. It is, moreover, a special house, built by Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him) with the assistance of his son Ismāʿīl (peace be upon him); and then there is Hājar (peace be upon her), and her contribution there: the well of Zamzam, and her running between Ṣafā and Marwah — which is very nearly the only thing in any of the revealed religions, the religions of the Book — Christianity, Judaism, Islam — the only rite relating to a woman, and it is Islam that has it. Islam has a rite that everyone performs, men and women alike — they must go between Ṣafā and Marwah — which is a revival of what Hājar (peace be upon her) did. And then, mashāʾAllāh, through her efforts Allah (swt) gives: we have Zamzam as well.