Sirah
The Rebuilding of the Ka'ba
Quraysh raise the Ka'ba and the arbitration of the Black Stone, c. 605 CE
c. 605 CE
Educational historical reconstructionWhere
The Ka'ba, Makkah
21.4225, 39.8262 · View on OpenStreetMap
Background
About five years before the call to prophethood, by the conventional dating around 605 CE, the Quraysh rebuilt the Ka'ba at Makkah, which a flood, and by some reports a fire, had weakened. Ibn Ishaq relates that they resolved to use in the building only lawful and good money, free of usury, bribery and wrong, and when the pure funds ran short they shortened the structure, leaving part of the Hijr (the semicircular area, the Hatim) outside the rebuilt walls, and they raised the doorway high above the ground so that they might admit only whom they wished. The work was divided among the clans, the walls raised in courses of the dark local stone and roofed. When it came to lifting the Black Stone back into its corner, the clans contended for the honour and the dispute grew so bitter that blood was nearly shed; at length they agreed to abide by the judgement of the next person to enter the gate of the sanctuary, and the one who entered was Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), already known among them as al-Amin, the trustworthy. He called for a cloak, set the Black Stone in its middle, and bade a chief of each clan take hold of a corner and raise it together; then with his own hand he set the stone in its place, so that every clan shared the honour and the quarrel was stilled. Long after, in Islam, he told 'A'isha (radiyallahu 'anha) that were it not that her people were so recently come from disbelief, he would have rebuilt the Ka'ba on the foundations of Ibrahim (peace be upon him), restoring the Hijr within it, a wish that lay behind the later rebuilding by Ibn al-Zubayr (a separate scene). This scene depicts the half-rebuilt Ka'ba with its scaffolding and the cloak bearing the Black Stone with its four corners; in keeping with the Sirah tier no person is shown.
What you see
The Ka'ba stands half-rebuilt: its walls part-raised in courses of dark Makkan stone, open to the sky, with timber scaffolding and beams around it as the clans work on the courses, an ancient cube under reconstruction, not a finished draped shrine.
Quraysh are rebuilding the Ka'ba after a flood and fire weakened it; resolving to use only lawful money they fell short, so they left part of the Hijr outside the new walls and raised the doorway high above the ground, and they divided the courses among the clans.
A cloak is spread on the ground with the Black Stone (al-Hajar al-Aswad) set upon it, its four corners ready to be lifted; this is the device by which the dispute over setting the stone was resolved.
The clans had nearly come to blows over who should have the honour of replacing the Black Stone, until they agreed to accept the judgement of the next man to enter the sanctuary gate, and it was Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), whom they called al-Amin, the trustworthy; he had each clan lift a corner of the cloak together and set the stone himself. The scene shows the device and the building, not his face.
The bare Makkan valley presses close around the open sanctuary precinct, the clan houses of the town rising on the slopes, placing this at Makkah in the years before the call to prophethood.
The rebuilding and the arbitration are recorded by Ibn Ishaq; the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) later told 'A'isha (RA) that but for the recent disbelief of her people he would have rebuilt the Ka'ba on the foundations of Ibrahim (Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim). In the Sirah tier no person is depicted.
Primary sources
Ibn Ishaq via Ibn Hisham, al-Sira al-Nabawiyya: The principal narrative of the rebuilding by Quraysh, the lawful-money resolve, the shortening of the structure, and the arbitration of the Black Stone.
Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim (the foundations of Ibrahim): The Prophet's saying to 'A'isha (RA) that he would have rebuilt the Ka'ba on the foundations of Ibrahim but for the recent disbelief of Quraysh; the basis for the Hijr being left out.
Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra (9th c.): Sunni record of the rebuilding and the Prophet's role in the arbitration in his pre-mission years.
Further reading & cross-references
al-Azraqi, Akhbar Makka (9th c.): The standard early Sunni topography of Makkah and the Ka'ba; the structure, the Hijr and the raised door.
The Ka'ba as a standing structure (material): The present Ka'ba, its kiswa, the silver-framed Black Stone and the raised gold door are of much later periods; the scene must show the bare cube under reconstruction, not the modern shrine.
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