A Dictionary of Islam Being a cyclopedia of the...

I. A Description of the Kaʿbah.—It is, according to Burckhardt and Burton, an oblong massive structure, 18 paces in length, 14 in breadth, and about 35 feet in height. It is constructed of grey Makkan stone, in large blocks of different sizes, joined together in a very rough manner, with cement. (Burton says it is excellent mortar, like Roman cement.) The Kaʿbah stands upon a base two feet in height, which presents a sharp inclined plane; its roof being flat, it has, at a distance, the appearance of a perfect cube. The only door which affords entrance, and which is opened but two or three times in the year (Burton says it can be entered by pilgrims, by paying the guardian a liberal fee), is on the east side, and about seven feet above the ground. At the south-east corner of the Kaʿbah, near the door, is the famous black stone [HAJARU ʾL-ASWAD], which forms a part of the sharp angle of the building, at four or five feet above the ground. The black stone is an irregular oval, about seven inches in diameter, with an undulating surface, composed of about a dozen smaller stones of different shapes and sizes. It is surrounded on all sides by a border of reddish brown cement, both the stone and the border being encircled by a band of a massive arch of gold or silver gilt, the aperture of the stone being one span and three fingers broad. In the corner facing the south, there is another stone about five feet from the ground. It is one foot and a half in length, and two inches in breadth, placed upright, and of common Makkan stone.

According to the rites of the pilgrimage, this stone, which is called ar-Ruknu ʾl-Yamānī, or Yaman pillar, should only be touched with the right hand as the pilgrim passes it, but Captain Burton says he frequently saw it kissed by the pilgrims. Just by the door of the Kaʿbah, and close to the wall, is a slight hollow in the ground, lined with marble and sufficiently large to admit of three persons sitting, which is called al-Miʿjan, and supposed to be the place where Abraham and his son Ishmael kneaded the chalk and mud which they used to build the Kaʿbah. Here it is thought meritorious to pray. On the basis of the Kaʿbah, just above the Miʿjan, is an ancient Kufic inscription, which neither Burckhardt nor Burton were able to decipher or to copy. On the north-west side of the Kaʿbah, about two feet below its summit, is the water-spout, which is called the Miʾzābu ʾr-Raḥmah, or the water-spout of mercy. This spout is of gold, and was sent hither from Constantinople in A.H. 981. It carries rain from the roof, and discharges it upon Ishmael’s grave. There are two large green marble slabs, which are said to have been presents from Cairo, A.H. 241, which are supposed to mark the graves of Hagar and Ishmael. The pavement round the Kaʿbah consists of a very handsome mosaic of various coloured stones, and is said to have been laid down A.H. 826. On one side of the Kaʿbah is a semicircular wall, the extremities of which are in a line with the sides of the Kaʿbah, and distant about six feet, leaving an opening which leads to the grave of Ishmael.

The wall is called al-Ḥat̤īm, “the broken,” and the enclosed area al-Ḥijr, “the enclosure.” The Kaʿbah is covered with a coarse tissue of mixed silk and cotton, being of a brilliant black colour, and with a gold band round it, upon which is inscribed the ninetieth verse of the third chapter of the Qurʾān: “Verily the first home founded for mankind was surely that at Bakkah, for a blessing and a guidance to mankind.” The inscription being in large Kufic characters. For a further account of this cover, see KISWAH.

According to the Traditions and the inventive genius of Muslim writers, the Kaʿbah was first constructed in heaven (where a model of it still remains, called the Baitu ʾl-Maʿmūr) two thousand years before the creation of the world. Adam erected the Kaʿbah on earth exactly below the spot its perfect model occupies in heaven, and selected the stones from the five sacred mountains, Sinai, al-Jūdī, Ḥirāʾ, Olivet, and Lebanon. Ten thousand angels were appointed to guard the structure, but, as Burckhardt remarks, they appear to have been often most remiss in their duty! At the Deluge the Sacred House was destroyed. But the Almighty is said to have instructed Abraham to rebuild it. In its reconstruction Abraham was assisted by his son Ishmael, who with his mother Hagar were at the time residents of Makkah, Abraham having journeyed from Syria in order to obey the commands of God.

Upon digging they found the original foundations of the building. But wanting a stone to mark the corner of the building, Ishmael started in search of one, and as he was going in the direction of Jabal Qubais, the angel Gabriel met him, and gave him the famous black stone. Ibn ʿAbbās relates that the Prophet said, the black stone when it came down from Paradise was whiter than milk, but that it has become black from the sins of those who have touched it. (Mishkāt, book xi. ch. iv. pt. 2.)

Upon the death of Ishmael, the Kaʿbah fell into the possession of the Banū Jurhum, and remained in their hands for a thousand years. It then became the property of the Banū K͟huzāʿah, who held it for three hundred years. But being constantly exposed to torrents, it was destroyed, and was rebuilt by Quṣaiy ibn Kilāb, who put a top to it. Up to this time it is said to have been open at the roof.

It is said, by Muḥammadan historians, that ʿAmr ibn Luḥaiy was the first who introduced idolatry into Arabia, and that he brought the great idol Hubal from Hait in Mesopotamia and placed it in the sacred house. It then became a Pantheon common to all the tribes. [IDOLS.] The tribe of Quṣaiy were the first who built dwelling-houses round the Kaʿbah. The successors of the Banū Quṣaiy were the Quraish. Soon after they came into possession, the Kaʿbah was destroyed by fire, and they rebuilt it of wood and of a smaller size, than it had been in the time of the Banū Quṣaiy. The roof was supported within by six pillars, and the statue of Hubal was placed over a wall then existing within the Kaʿbah. This took place during the youth of Muḥammad. Al-Azraqī, quoted by Burckhardt, says that the figure of the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus was sculptured as a deity upon one of the six pillars nearest the gate.

The grandfather of Muḥammad, ʿAbdu ʾl-Mut̤t̤alib, the son of Hāshim, became the custodian of the Sacred House; and during his time, the Kaʿbah being considered too low in its structure, the Quraish wished to raise it; so they demolished it and then they rebuilt till the work reached the place of the black stone. Each tribe wishing to have the honour of raising the black stone into its place, they quarrelled amongst themselves. But they at last agreed that the first man who should enter the gate of the enclosure should be umpire. Muḥammad was the first to enter, and he was appointed umpire. He thereupon ordered them to place the stone upon a cloth and each tribe by its representative to take hold of the cloth and lift it into its place. The dispute was thus ended, and when the stone had reached its proper place, Muḥammad fixed it in its situation with his own hand.

At the commencement of Muḥammad’s mission, it is remarkable that there is scarcely an allusion to the Kaʿbah, and this fact, taken with the circumstance that the earliest Qiblah or direction for prayer, was Jerusalem, and not the Kaʿbah, seems to imply that Muḥammad’s strong iconoclastic tendencies did not incline his sympathies to this ancient idol temple with its superstitious ceremonies. Had the Jews favourably received the new prophet as one who taught the religion of Abraham, to the abrogation of that of Moses and Jesus, Jerusalem and not Makkah would have been the sacred city, and the ancient Rock [SAKHRAH] and not the Kaʿbah would have been the object of superstitious reverence.

Taking the Sūrahs chronologically, the earliest reference in the Qurʾān to the Kaʿbah occurs in Sūrah lii. 4, where the Prophet swears by the frequented house (al-Baitu ʾl-Maʿmūr), but commentators are not agreed whether it refers to the Kaʿbah in Makkah, or its heavenly model above, which is said to be frequented by the angels. We then come to Sūrah xvii. 1, where Muḥammad refers to his celebrated night dream of his journey from the Sacred Mosque (al-Masjidu ʾl-Ḥarām) at Makkah to the Remote Mosque (al-Masjidu ʾl-Aqṣā) at Jerusalem. And in this verse we find the Rock at Jerusalem spoken of as “the precinct of which We (God) have blessed, to show him (Muḥammad) of our signs,” proving that even then the Prophet of Arabia had his heart fixed on Mount Zion, and not on the Kaʿbah.

When Muḥammad found himself established in al-Madīnah, with a very good prospect of his obtaining possession of Makkah, and its historic associations, he seems to have withdrawn his thoughts from Jerusalem, and its Sacred Rock and to fix them on the house at Bakkah as the home founded for mankind,—Blessed, and a guidance to all creatures. (Sūrah iii. 90). The Jews proving obdurate, and there being little chance of his succeeding in establishing his claim as their prophet spoken of by Moses, he changes the Qiblah, or direction for prayer, from Jerusalem to Makkah. The house at Makkah is made “a place of resort unto men and a sanctuary” (Sūrah ii. 119).

“We appointed the Qiblah which thou formerly hadst, only that we might know him who followeth the apostle, from him who turneth on his heels: The change is a difficulty, but not to those whom God hath guided. But God will not let your faith be fruitless; for unto man is God Merciful, Gracious. We have seen thee turning thy face towards every part of Heaven; but we will have thee turn to a Qiblah which shall please thee. Turn then thy face towards the sacred Mosque, and wherever ye be, turn your faces towards that part. They, verily, to whom ‘the Book’ hath been given, know this to be the truth from their Lord: and God is not regardless of what ye do. Even though thou shouldest bring every kind of sign to those who have received the Scriptures, yet thy Qiblah they will not adopt; nor shalt thou adopt their Qiblah; nor will one part of them adopt the Qiblah of the other. And if, after the knowledge which hath come to thee, thou follow their wishes, verily then wilt thou become of the unrighteous. They to whom we have given the Scriptures know him—the apostle—even as they know their own children: but truly a part of them do conceal the truth, though acquainted with it. The truth is from thy Lord. Be not then of those who doubt. All have a quarter of the Heavens to which they turn them; but wherever ye be, hasten emulously after good: God will one day bring you all together; verily, God is all-powerful. And from whatever place thou comest forth, turn thy face toward the sacred Mosque; for this is the truth from thy Lord; and God is not inattentive to your doings.

And from whatever place thou comest forth, turn thy face toward the sacred Mosque; and wherever ye be, to that part turn your faces, lest men have cause of dispute against you: but as for the impious among them, fear them not; but fear me, that I may perfect my favours on you, and that ye may be guided aright.”

In the seventh year of the Hijrah, Muḥammad was, according to the treaty with the Quraish at al-Ḥudaibiyah in the previous year, allowed to enter Makkah, and perform the circuit of the Kaʿbah. Hubal and the other idols of the Arabian pantheon were still within the sacred building, but, as Muḥammad’s visit was limited to three days, he confined himself to the ordinary rites of the ʿUmrah, or visitation, without interfering with the idolatrous arrangement of the Kaʿbah itself. Before he left, at the hour of midday prayer, Bilāl ascended the holy house, and from its summit gave the first call to Muslim prayers, which were afterwards led by the Prophet in the usual form.

The following year Muḥammad occupied Makkah by force of arms. The idols in the Kaʿbah were destroyed, and the rites of the pilgrimage were established as by divine enactment. From this time the history of the Kaʿbah becomes part of the history of Islām.

KAʿB IBN MĀLIK (كعب بن مالك). A companion of the Prophet and one of the Anṣārs of the tribe of K͟hazraj. He was celebrated as a poet, and embraced Islām after the second pledge of ʿAkabah. He was one of the three companions who refused to accompany Muḥammad on the expedition to Tabūk (Hilāl and Marārah being the other two), and who are referred to in the Qurʾān, Sūrah ix. 118, 119: “Verily He is kind to them, unto the three who were left behind.” For a time Muḥammad was displeased with them, but he afterwards became reconciled. Kaʿb became a companion of some note, and died during the reign of ʿAlī.

KAFAN (كفن). The shroud for the dead. It usually consists of three pieces of cloth for a man and five for a woman. Those for a man: 1, An izār, or piece of cloth, reaching from the navel to the knees or ankle joints; 2, A qamīṣ, or shirt, from the neck to the knees; 3, A sheet to cover the whole corpse. For a woman there are also a breast band and head band. The whole being of white. [BURIAL.]