Ibrahim and Ismail Raise the Ka'ba

A bare valley of dressed dark stone in the western Arabian highlands, ringed by sandstone and granite mountains. No vegetation, no settlement; only the broken floor of the valley and the standing column of the Bi'r Zamzam, the well of Zamzam, to one side, a recent miracle from the time of Hajar (peace be upon her).

On the bedrock floor of the valley, a small cubic structure rising course by course in dressed dark stone, the Ka'ba in its foundational construction. The walls are not yet to roof height; the corners are aligned to the cardinal directions; the maqam Ibrahim (the standing-stone on which Ibrahim peace be upon him stood to raise the upper courses) is in place beside the rising structure.

Tools of dressed stone-work on the ground: chisels, mallets, ropes, water-skins. No figures depicted at work, the prophets Ibrahim (peace be upon him) and his son Ismail (peace be upon him) are not in the scene. The Qur'anic narrative is told through the structure itself.

The Qur'an records the moment in Q 2:127, wa-idh yarfa'u Ibrahimu al-qawa'ida min al-bayti wa-Isma'ilu rabbana taqabbal minna innaka anta al-sami'u al-'alim, 'And when Ibrahim was raising the foundations of the House, and Ismail (too): Our Lord, accept from us; You are the Hearing, the Knowing.' The Sunni tafsir (al-Tabari, Ibn Kathir, al-Qurtubi) treats this verse as the foundational moment of the Sacred House.

The Sunni tradition holds that the Ka'ba was first built in earlier prophetic generations and rebuilt on its existing foundations by Ibrahim and Ismail (peace be upon them); the structure depicted is the Ibrahimi rebuilding. The Quraysh would rebuild it again in the lifetime of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), before his prophethood; he himself participated in setting the Black Stone (Sahih al-Bukhari 1583).

The light is the high light of central Arabian noon. The dating is by anchor: the time of Ibrahim and Ismail (peace be upon them), the Sunni qisas tradition does not fix a year. The valley is bare; the city of Makkah will grow around the Ka'ba over generations after.

The narrative: Q 2:125-129. The Sunni qisas: Ibn Kathir, Qisas al-Anbiya'; al-Tha'labi; al-Azraqi's Akhbar Makka (Sunni topographical work on Makkah and the shrines).

The Qur'an, Surat al-Baqara 2:125-129: The principal Qur'anic passage on the construction of the Ka'ba by Ibrahim and Ismail (peace be upon them).

Sahih al-Bukhari 1583, Sahih Muslim 1781: The hadith on the Quraysh rebuilding of the Ka'ba and the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) setting of the Black Stone, preserves the standing Sunni tradition on the architectural history of the Sacred House.

Ibn Kathir, Qisas al-Anbiya' (14th c.): Standard Sunni stories of the prophets; the chapter on Ibrahim (peace be upon him) and Ismail (peace be upon him).

al-Tabari, Jami' al-Bayan (early 10th c.) and Tarikh: Standard Sunni tafsir and history.