Transcript The Kaba in Makkah - Islamic Unit Studies

The Kabah in Mecca
The Kabah can be found in
Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
The Kabah is situated in the Masjid
Al-Haram, the most important
masjid in Islam.
The Kabah
The Kabah is the holiest
place in Islam. The qibla, the
direction Muslims face
during prayer, is the direction
from their location on Earth
towards the Kabah. Some of
the worship during the Hajj
and the Umrah takes place
around the Kabah.
Names of the Kabah
The Kabah is also called
Baitullah – House of Allah,
Baitul Ateeq – Ancient
House, and Baitul Haram –
Sacred House. It is roughly
in the shape of a cube and
made of thick stone walls.
On the outside it is quite
simple rough stone, with the
Hajre Aswad (Black Stone)
in one corner.
The Kiswa
The Kabah is
covered with a black
cloth called the
Kiswa, which is
changed every year
on 10th Dhul Hijjah.
If you look at a picture of the Kabah, you will see a short one
meter high wall in the shape of a semi-circle, which is called Hijr
Isma’il or Hatim. Inside there is a marble floor. There are cloths
with verses form the Quran hanging on the walls. Apart from that
it is empty. It is kept clean and caretakers use perfume on the
marble so it smells nice.
Muslims worship Allah, not the Kabah. It is a
great symbol for Muslims, as we have been
praying Salat in the direction of the Kabah for
the last 1400 years. This direction is called
the Qiblah. Before that, we prayed towards
Al-Quds (Jerusalem), but one day, Allah
revealed a verse to Prophet Muhammad
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
that He had changed the Qiblah to the
Kabah. So it may only be a simple building
shaped like a cube and made of stone but it
is very important to us.
First Building
Muslims believe that the
Kabah is the first building on
Earth and the first masjid
ever built by our father Adam
(as). The angels in Jannah
make tawaf around a house
called Baitul Mamur and we
believe that this is above the
Kabah.
Rebuilding the Kabah
Many years after the Kabah
was first built, Allah ordered
Ibrahim (as) and his son
Isma’il (as) to rebuild it. Hijr
Isma’il was also part of the
Kabah when they built it, so
it wasn’t in the shape of a
cube. Allah sent the Black
Stone (Hajre Aswad) with
the angel Jibril (as) to
Prophet Ibrahim (as) to put in
the corner. This is where
Muslims begin their tawaf
from.
The Flood
At one time, when the
Prophet (pbuh) was a young
man, before he knew he was
a Prophet of Allah, the
Kabah had to be rebuilt after
a flood. The Makkan tribes
started fighting about who
should have the honor of
replacing the Black Stone.
Flood 1941
They asked the Prophet (pbuh) what to do, as
he was known as Al-Amin ‘The Trustworthy
One’, and they knew he would be fair and just.
He asked them to put the Stone in the middle of
his robe, and the chiefs of each tribe to hold
onto the edges of the cloth, and carry it to the
place where it belonged. Then the Prophet
(pbuh) put it in place with his own hands. They
had to make the building smaller into a cube
because they ran out of money, so the Hatim
had to be left with no roof.
Color the Kabah
THE END
Text
In part taken from Baitullah - The House of Allah, The Muslim Weekly
Pictures
www.kabahinfo.net
Channel4 Micro Site Hajj
http://islamicunitstudies.wordpress.com