The Brief History of Kaaba

                               

                               

“Once, Ibrahim raised the foundations of Beytullah with Ismail. (they said) O our Lord! You accept it from us: You are certainly the hearer, you know ”. (Surat al-Baqara - Verse: 127)

In the dictionary, Kaaba, which means " square or cube-shaped", means "cube-shaped object".

Although some classical sources attribute the existence of the Kaaba before the earth was created, these rumors should be approached with caution.  According to the rumors about the construction of the Kaaba, when the Prophet Adam and Eve were expelled from heaven, they meet in Arafat on earth and walk together towards the west. Meanwhile, thanks to this meeting, Prophet Adam wants to worship his Lord, and while he is in Paradise, he wants to be given the pillar of the light he worshiped by circumambulating it. That pillar of light is manifested there, and the Prophet Adam worshiped Allah by circumambulating it. This luminous column disappears in the time of Hz.Şeth ( son of Hazrat Adam ), and a stone remains in its place. Thereupon, Hazrat Seth built a square building from stone and placed that black stone in one corner of the building. That is the black stone known today as Hajr e Aswad. Then, during the Noah's Flood, the building remains hidden under the sand for a long time.

Therefore, People were unaware of the existence of the Kaaba until Prophet Ibrahim showed its location. Prophet Abraham goes to the place where the Kaaba is located by the order of Allah. His son Ismail settles there with his mother. Then he digs the place of the Kaaba with Ismail. He finds the foundations of the building made by Hz. Seth. With the help of his son Ismail, Prophet Ibrahim built the Kaaba out of stone, without mud, without plaster and without a roof. Although the Kaaba was repaired by some tribes after Prophet Ibrahim, the Quraysh rebuild the Kaaba. The building built by the Quraysh was architecturally different from the building that Prophet Ibrahim built. Later on, In H 683, Kaaba suffered greatly in the struggle between Zubayr and the Umayyad army, the Black Stone broke into three pieces and Ibn Zubayr reassembled it with silver. Thereupon, Abdullah b. Zubayr Kaaba had it demolished until he got to the foundations and he rebuilds it according to the hadith of the Prophet.

A few years later, Hajjaj ibn Yusuf besieged the Kaaba to defeat Ibn al-Zubayr. Siege lasted from 6 to 7 months. After regaining control of Mecca, Khalifa Abdul Malik bin Marwan rebuild Kaaba and restored its old structure as the Quraish had had it. He undid all the changes made by Ibn al-Zubayr. He was unaware of the hadith of the Prophet regarding the Kaaba, Later, Abbasi Khalifa Harun al Rasheed wanted to rebuild the Kaba the way the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) wanted and the way Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr built but notable scholars of the period did not accept this on the grounds that the sacredness and dignity of the Kaaba would be reduced by constant demolition and rebuilding. Thus the Kaaba, took its final shape with the changes made by Yusuf al-Sakafi.