Part 62

was to be built ; and wc have a lready narral ed on the au th ority

of the Com mander of the Fait hful, ' Al i Ibn Abi Talib ..;.., and

oth ers that he was guided to it by In spirati on from Allah , th e

A lmight y, the All~ P owerrLl1. We have already mcnti oned in th e

descrip ti on of the c reation o f th e heavens Ih at the Ka 'bah, is

directly below A/- Baillll-Ma'lIIoor, so that if it fell , it would

fall upon it; and the same app li es to the houses of wo rsh ip in

As somc of the Salqf sa id, in every heaven there is a house

in whi ch the inhabitants worship A ll ah and they are like the

Ka'bah for the peopl e of Ihe Earlh. So Allah co mmand ed

Ibrah ec lll ~ 10 build a hOLlse for Him, whi ch wou ld be for

the inh abitants of the Earth, like those places o f praye r for the

angels o f th e heave ns. A llah gu ided him to the pla ce prepared

for the building o f the hOllse, w hich had been se lcclCd for it

since Ihe c rea ti on of the heavcn s and the Eart h, as confirmed

in the Salleell: "Ve ril y, thi s c ity was made sacrosanct by Allah

on th e day of th e creati on of the heavens and th e Ea rth and

it will remain sacred by A llah 's Command until th e Day of

Resurrection. " (2) No in for mati on has come to us frolll an

auth enti c source which would co nfirm that thc House was

(I ) }llllwfo' : Those who pro fess the tme Religion (I slamic MonOl hcism).

(2) Narrntcd by AI-l3ukhari (1587) and Muslim ( 1353) and the word ing is

fro m the hat/eel" of' Abdull ah Ibn ' A bbas ~.

bui lt before A I-Kllaleel ~. Whoeve r re li ed fbr evidence on

th e Words o f A llah : ( the sitc ofthc (Sacred) House) (Soorah

AI-Hajj 22:26), thi s is neith er conc lusive nor ev ident. Because

what is moant is th e place preord ained by All ah - a locat ion

venc rated by the Prophets from Adam ~ unt il th e time of

Al lah, Most Hi gh, says, ( Veril y, th e first House (of worship)

appointed for mankind was that at Bakkah (Makkah), ful l of

blessing, and a guida nce for 'A/ameen. ) (SoOl'all Ali '/1111"(111

3:96). That is, the first House appointed for th e genera lity of

mankind for bless ing and guidance was the 1·lousc whi ch was

in Bakkah; it was sa id that Bakka h mcans Makkah and it was

al so said th at Bakkah was the locati on of th e Ka 'ball. ( In it

are ma nifest s igns ) (SOOI"(dl Ali '/II/IY/n 3:97). That is, it is the

construction of Ibrahcc m ~ , the father of the Prophets who

came after hi m and the Imam of the HUlla/a ' from his sons,

who fol lowed hi s example and held fas t to hi s S/lJ1IIah. Thi s

is why I-I e says, ( th e Maqoll/ (place) of Ibraheem ) (Soorah

Ali '/11I1Y/J/ 3:97). That is, the stone 011 which he stood when

hc raised the structure above his ow n height; hi s son placed

this we ll-kn own stone fo r him to stand on, so th at he wou ld

be tall enough when th e buildi ng reached a hc ight that was

beyond hi s reach, as mentioned prev ious ly in the long hadeerh

of' Abdull ah Ibn' Abba s ~ . (1)

Thi s stone was siruat ed besid e the wa ll of the Ka 'bah in

ancient times, un til the time of ' Umar Ibn AI··Khattab ~ ; he

moved it back a litt le from th e House, so that it should not

di sturb the worshippe rs, as th ey c ircumambul ated the HOllse.

' Umar Ib n AIKhau ab 4;:.. was fo ll owed in thi s because hi s

opinion had co in c id ed w ith the Ordai nment s of hi s Lord in

(t) The taklll"cej orlh is Iwr/cctll has already been given a shon while ngo.

The Slon.' 0' Ibraheem 't8 279

a Ilumber of matters, such as his say ing to th e Messenge r of

Allah ~ , "Were we to lake Maqam Ibra hecm as a place of

prayer. .. " Then A ll ah revea led: ( And take you (peopl e) the

Maqo1l1 (place) of Ibrahcc lll (or the stone on which Ibrahecm

stood whil e he was bui ldi ng th e Ka ' bah) as a place o f prayer

) (Saarah AI-Baqarah 2: 125). The root prints o r AI-Klmleel

~~ had re main ed in the slone from the beg inning o f Isla m and

Abu Ta lib sa id in hi s well -known poem, "AI-Qaseedah AI-

And TllOlVr Cave and he who held/ast IvilIT perseverance fa

A nd proved superior ill pie~)' in Hira .and remained there,

Alld by the H Ollse. (h e fme /-IolISe inlhe center of Makkah,

And by Allah, Iru~F. A//ah is not lIJ1l1WClre,

And by the Black SlOne, wilen rhey louch it,

When fhey slI/To/md if in fhe forelloo ll alld {he lore afternooll,

A lid Ihe place of Ibraheem is visible ill 'he wei SlOlIe,

DIhis./eel, barefool, IVilho lit shoes.

Th is mea ns that hi s nob le fe et were imp ressed in the stone,

show ing th e prints o f bare fee t, without shoes. Thi s is why

A ll ah says, ( And (remember) when Ibraheem and (h is son)

Isma'ee l we re raising th e fo undati ons o f the I-louse ) (Soorah

AI-Baqarah 2: 127) That is, at the time when th ey said, ( "Our

Lo rd! Acc ept (thi s serv ice) fro m us. Ve ri ly! Yo u arc the AII-

heari ng, the A ll -Knowi ng." ) (Soorah AI-Baqaroh 2: 127) They.

were at the hi g hest leve ls of sincere dcvotion and obed ience

to A llah, the A lmi g hty, the All-Powerfu l when they asked

A llah, the All -Hearing, the A ll -Knowin g to acce pt from thcm

this great act o f obedi ence and prai seworth y endeavor. ( "Our

Lo rd ! And make us submi ss ive m llO Vou <l nd o f o ur o ffspring

a nalion submi ssive unlo You, and show liS our Mallasik (all

the cercmon ies of pi lgrimage - /-Iajj <lnd 'Umrah, e lc.), and

accept our repentance. Trul y. YOli arc the One Who acccpts

repentance, the Most MercifuL" ) (Soomh AI.·Baqamh 2: 128)

What is meant by thi s is that AI-Khaleel ~ built Ihe nobl est

of mosques in the nob lest of loca tions, in an uncultivated valley

and he supplicated on beha lf of his fam il y that they be blessed

and given sustenance from the fruits, even Ihough th ere was

little water and no trees, culti va tion or fruits. They asked Him to

make it a Sacred Place, a Sanctuary and a place of safety for nil

time . Allah accepted thei r supplication - a ll praise and thanks

be to Him - He gave AI-Khaleel ~ what he had reques ted.

Allah , Most Hi gh, says, ( Have they not seen that We havc made

(Makkah) a san ctuary secure, and that men arc be in g snatched

away from all arollnd them? ) (Soomh A /- 'A Ilkaboof 29:67) I-Ie

says, ( Have We not establi shed for th clll a secure sanctuary

(Mak kah). to w hich are brou ght frui ts of a ll kinds, a prov ision

from Ourse lves? ) (Soorah AI-Qasas 28:57) lbraheem ~

asked Allah to send to them Messengers from among them.

Tha t is, fro l11 th eir race and speaking their e loquent language,

full of since re advice and admoni shment, in order to co mplete

upon them the two blessings of the life of thi s world and the

Hereaft er. A llah accepted thi s suppl ication from him and sent

from among them a Messenger - and what a Messenger it was

that was the Seal of His Prophets and Hi s Messenge rs! He

granted him a complete Re ligion that had never been given

to anyone before him. His preaching was di rected to all of the

people of the eart h, including peop le from all races, languages

and descriptions and from all countries, c ities and times, until

th c Day of Resurrection! Thi s was one of th e spec ial attributes

an d privi leges granted to him alone among the Prop hets, due

to his innate nobil ity, the comp leteness of the Message wi th

which he was sent, the nobility of his location (i.e. Makkah),

the eloquence of his speech, th e complete solicitude that he

displayed toward his people, his kindness, his compassion, his

gene rous nature, his great birth and his fi ne beginning and end.

This is why Ibraheem, AI·K/wleel itJ.I" as th e builder of the

Ka 'bah fo r the inhabitants of th e Eart h, dese rved to ha ve

an exalted position in the highest hea ve n, ncar AI·Baifltl·

Ma'lI1oof, wh ich is the Ka'bah fo r the inhabitants of the

seventh heaven and that is a blessed house, wh ich is entered

by sevent y thousand angels every day; therein they worship,

neve r to return to it until the Day of Resurrection. We have

already mentioned in the TaJseer of SOOl'ali AI-Baqarall the

description of his buildin g of the House (of Allah) and the

stories and tradit ions wh ich contai n plenty of information, so

whoever wishes to know more should refer to the Tafseer, all

praise and thanks be to Allah.

The edifice erected by A/·Klw/eel ~ remai ned for a long

ti me, then after that, it was rebuilt by Quraish, who shorte ned

the foundations of lbraheem ~ on the northern aspect, which

faces As h·Sham (Sy ria), as it is today, In th e Sahee/will, it is

reported on the authority of' A' ishah that the MessengerofAl lah