The small,
cubed building known as the Ka'aba may not rival skyscrapers in height or
mansions in width, but its impact on history and human beings is
unmatched.
The Ka'aba
is the building towards which Muslims face five times a day, everyday, in
prayer. This has been the case since the time of Prophet Muhammad (peace
and blessings be upon him) over 1400 years ago.
The Size
of the Ka'aba:
The current
height of the Ka'aba is 39 feet, 6 inches and total size comes to 627
square feet. The inside room of the Ka'aba is 13x9 meters. The Ka'aba's
walls are one meter wide. The floor inside is 2.2 meters higher than the
place where people perform Tawaf. The ceiling and roof are two levels made
out of wood. They were reconstructed with teak, which is capped with
stainless steel. The walls are all made of stone. The stones inside are
unpolished, while the ones outside are polished. This small building has
been constructed and reconstructed by Prophets Adam, Ibrahim, Ismail and
Muhammad (peace be upon them all). No other building has had this honor.
Yet, not very much is known about the details of this small but
significant building.
Did you
know the Ka'aba was reconstructed as recently as close to four years ago?
Did you
know that the Ka'aba has been subjected to danger by natural disasters
like flooding, as well as human attacks?
If you keep
reading, you’ll find some rarely heard of information discussed below
and discover facts about the Ka'aba many are unaware of.
The other
names of the Ka’aba:
Literally,
Ka'aba in Arabic means a high place with respect and prestige. The word
Ka'aba may also be derivative of a word meaning a cube.
Some of
these other names include:
Bait ul Ateeq:
Which means, according to one meaning, the earliest and ancient. According
to the second meaning, it means independent and liberating. Both meanings
could be taken
Bayt
ul Haram:
The honorable house
The Ka'aba
has been reconstructed up to 12 times. Scholars and historians say that
the Ka'aba has been reconstructed between five to 12 times. Prophet Adam
did the very first construction of the Ka'aba. Allah says in the Qur'an
that this was the first house that was built for humanity to worship
Allah. After this, Prophet Ibrahim and Ismail rebuilt the Ka'aba. The
measurements of the Ka'aba's Ibrahimic foundation are as follows: the
eastern wall was 48 feet and 6 inches the Hatim side wall was 33 feet the
side between the black stone and the Yemeni corner was 30 feet the Western
side was 46.5 feet.
Following
this, there were several constructions before the Prophet Muhammad's time.
Reconstruction
of Ka'aba by Quraish
Prophet
Muhammad (sallahu alayhi wasalam) participated in one of its
reconstructions before he became a Prophet. Since the tribe of Quraish did
not have sufficient funds, this reconstruction did not include the entire
foundation of the Ka'aba as built by Prophet Ibrahim. This is the first
time the Ka'aba acquired the cubical shape it has now unlike the rectangle
shape, which it had earlier. The portion of the Ka'aba left out is called Hateem
now.
Construction
After the Prophet's Time-Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr
The Syrian
army destroyed the Ka'aba in Muharram 64 (Hijri date) and before the next
Hajj Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with him) reconstructed
the Ka'aba from the ground up. Ibn az-Zubayr wanted to make the Ka'aba how
the Prophet Muhammad wanted it, on the foundation of the Prophet Ibrahim.
Ibn
az-Zubayr said, "I heard Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) say,
'The Prophet said: "If your people had not quite recently abandoned
the Ignorance (Unbelief), and if I had sufficient provisions to rebuild it
[the Ka'aba], I would have added five cubits to it from the Hijr. Also, I
would make two doors; one for people to enter therein and the other to
exit." (Bukhari).
Ibn
az-Zubayr said, "Today, I can afford to do it and I do not fear the
people." Ibn az-Zubayr built the Ka'aba on Prophet Ibrahim's
foundation. He put the roof on three pillars with the wood of Aoud (a
perfumed wood with aroma which is traditionally burned to get a good smell
out of it in Arabia). In his construction he put two doors, one facing the
east the other facing the west, as the Prophet wanted but did not do in
his lifetime. He rebuilt the Ka'aba on the Prophet Ibrahim's foundation,
which meant that the Hateem area was included. The Hateem is the area
adjacent to the Ka'aba enclosed by a low semi-circular wall.
Abdullah
ibn az-Zubayr also made the following additions and modifications:
§ Put a small window close
to the roof of the Ka'aba to allow for light.
§ Moved the
door of the Ka'aba to ground level and added a second door to the Ka'aba.
§ Added nine
cubits to the height of the Ka'aba, making it twenty cubits high. its
walls were two cubits wide.
§ Reduced the
pillars inside the House to three instead of six as were earlier built by
Quraish.
For
reconstruction, ibn az-Zubayr put up four pillars around Ka'aba and hung
cloth over them until the building was completed. People began to do Tawaf
around these pillars at all times, so Tawaf of the Ka'aba was never
abandoned, even during reconstruction.
During
Abdul Malik bin Marwan's time
In 74 Hijri
(or 693 according to the Gregorian calendar), Al-Hajjaj bin Yusuf al-Thaqafi,
the known tyrant of that time, with the approval of Umayyad Khalifa Abdul
Malik bin Marwan, demolished what Ibn az-Zubayr had added to it from the
older foundation of Prophet Ibrahim, restore its old structure as the
Quraish had it.
Some of the
changes he made were the following:
§ He rebuilt
it in the smaller shape which is found today
§ Took out
the Hateem
§ Walled up the western
door (whose signs are still visible today) and left the rest as it was
§ Pulled down
the wall in the Hateem area.
§ Removed the
wooden ladder Ibn az-Zubayr had put inside the Ka'aba.
§ Reduced the door's
height by five cubits
When Abdul
Malik bin Marwan came for Umra and heard the Hadith that it was wish of
Prophet for the Ka'aba to be constructed the way Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr
had built it, he regretted his actions. Imam Malik's advice to the Khalifa
Harun al Rasheed Abbasi Khalifa Harun al Rasheed wanted to rebuild the
Ka'aba the way the Prophet Muhammad wanted and the way Abdullah ibn
az-Zubayr built it. But when he consulted Imam Malik, the Imam asked the
Khalifa to change his mind because constant demolition and rebuilding is
not respectful and would become a toy in the hands of kings. Each one
would want to demolish and rebuild the Ka'aba. Based on this advice, Harun
al Rasheed did not reconstruct the Ka'aba. The structure remained in the
same construction for 966 years, with minor repairs here and there.
Reconstruction
during Sultan Murad Khan's time
In the year 1039 Hijri,
because of heavy rain, flood and hail, two of the Ka'aba's walls fell
down. The flood during which this occurred took place on the 19th of
Shaban 1039 Hijri which continued constantly, so the water in the Ka'aba
became almost close to half of its walls, about 10 feet from the ground
level. On Thursday the 20th of Shaban 1039 Hijri, the eastern and western
walls fell down. When flood receded on Friday the 21st of Shaban, the
cleanup started. Again, a curtain, the way Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr
established on 4 pillars, was put up, and the reconstruction started on
the 26th of Ramadan. The rest of the walls except for the one near the
Black Stone, were demolished. By the 2nd of Zul-Hijjah 1040 the
construction was taking place under the guidance of Sultan Murad Khan, the
Ottoman Khalifa. From the point of the Black stone and below, the current
construction is the same as that done by Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr. The
construction, which was done under the auspices of Murad Khan, was exactly
the one done at the time of Abdul Malik ibn Marwan, which is the way the
Quraish had built it before Prophethood. On Rajab 28 1377, one historian
counted the total stones of the Ka'aba and they were 1,614. These stones
are of different shapes. But the stones, which are inside the outer wall,
which is visible, are not counted in there.
Reconstruction
of the Ka'aba In 1996
A major reconstruction of
the Ka'aba took place between May 1996 and October 1996. This was after a
period of about 400 years (since Sultan Murad Khan's time). During this
reconstruction the only original thing left from the Ka'aba are the
stones. All other material has been replaced including the ceiling and the
roof and its wood.
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