Ep. 09: Prophet’s Connection | History of The Ka’bah

n this episode, we will look at the central role played by the Ka’bah in the life of the prophet (SAW) after his prophethood in Makkah. Let’s take a few steps back. We know that the Ka’bah was the most important monument and place for the people of Quraysh. The people of Quraysh saw themselves as the upholders and protectors and those who maintained the sanctity of the Ka’bah. This is why they felt that they were the authority to lay down the rules for what happens once people enter into the limits of the Haram. They had called themselves the passionate upholders of faith, and protectors of the sanctity of the Ka’bah. Some of the rules that they had laid down were that anyone coming from outside the limits of the Haram could not bring food from beyond the limits of the Haram into the Haram; and in fact, were only allowed to consume food produced and provided by the Quraysh. Similarly, they were not allowed to come to the Ka’bah with clothes that they had brought from the outside of the limits, which meant that they either had to acquire clothing from inside the Haram, again, provided by the Quraysh, or, in the absence of such clothing, they would be required to do Tawaf of the Ka’bah without wearing any clothes, because the clothing that was outside of the Haram was not worthy of being inside the Haram, especially during tawaf. If, in some cases, a person had no choice but to use clothes from outside, then they would have to dispose of that clothing after tawaf, and they could never wear that clothing again.

Now, the Quraysh also gave themselves certain privileges; for example, they were allowed to enter into the Ka’bah itself and could be selective about anyone else entering, they also felt that it was beneath them and below their honor and distinction to leave the Haram for anything, especially any kind of worship because they thought since they had the Ka’bah, they should not go anywhere else to worship. This was the reason why they would not go to Arafah on the 9th of Dhul Hijja. While all the other Hujjaj from the Arabs would go to Arafat, the Quraysh would stay within. The exception to this, of course, was the prophet (SAW), who, even prior to receiving prophethood, when he performed Hajj, he did go to Arafat. In fact, one of the Sahaba narrates that he saw the prophet (SAW) before receiving divine revelation there at Arafat with everyone else; of course, the prophet (SAW) was concerned with completing the rights of Hajj as laid down by Ibrahim (AS). Nevertheless, the Quraysh had this very strong attachment to the Ka’bah. If a woman was having difficulty in her childbirth, for example, if her children were stillborn, she would make a vow that the next child that they have would be named Abdul Ka’bah. This was the case of Abu Bakr (AS) whose mother frequently lost her children, so she made a vow that the next child she has, if he survives, would be named “Abdul Ka’bah (The slave of the Ka’bah)”. This was because of their strong belief and commitment to Baitullah. Of course, the child was born, and he survived, and this name, Abdul Ka’bah, actually stayed along with another title he had, Ateeq, which means “the one who was freed from the payings of death”. The prophet (SAW) had a very strong connection with the Ka’bah from the time of his birth. Abdul Muttalib used to have a special seat that was laid out for him right in front of the Ka’bah; all ten of his sons would come there, and nobody but Abdul Muttalib was allowed to sit in that special place. However, the prophet (SAW) would come to visit his grandfather, and when he would come to that place, his uncles would try to stop him, but Abdul Muttalib would prevent them from doing so and he would sit the prophet (SAW) beside him and pat him on his head and back to show his great affection for him.

After the prophet (SAW) gained prophethood, his devotions around Baitullah became even stronger. Prior to becoming prophethood, we know that he used to go for seclusion at the cave of Hira, and there, at the cave of Hira, the prophet (SAW) would worship. One of the reasons, the Ulama have mentioned, was that even though the Ka’bah was the central place of worship, it was difficult for the prophet to worship Allah (SWT) due to the number of distractions around it, and Ulama have also said that the position of the cave of Hira is such that a person has direct view of the Ka’bah, with the absence of the other structures that we see today, so he was actually able to see the Ka’bah itself and worship Allah (SWT). Whenever the prophet (SAW) would come back from those seclusions, he would first come to the Ka’bah and make tawaf, usually in the month of Ramadan. Upon his return, he would spend much wealth on the poor and needy people and he would come back in very good spirits. We know that when the prophet (SAW) first began to invite his relatives, as per the instruction of Allah (SWT), he gathered his family members at Mount Safa, and there he conveyed the message of Allah (SWT), and there Abu Lahab expressed his anger, frustration and disdain to the prophet (SAW) and his message. He would frequently worship at the Ka’bah, and he would normally pray between Al Rukn Al Yamani and Al Hajr Al Aswad, facing that wall, and this would enable him to face both the Ka’bah and Bayt Al-Maqdis. It happened there, at that spot, where the people of Quraysh, who would see him worshipping, would carry out various attacks there.

Abu Jahl once saw the prophet (SAW) worshipping and he asked for someone to give him the innards and intestines of a camel and had those laid on the prophet (SAW)’s neck. This put an immense weight and burden on the prophet (SAW) as he went into sujood until his daughter, Fatima (RA) came and removed them. Similarly, once the prophet (SAW) was worshipping in another area, and Utba IBN Rabi’ah came with a sheet or cloth behind the prophet (SAW) and began to strangle him from behind his back and Abu Bakr (RA) intervened. There was an occasion when a group of the people of Quraysh, amongst them were Utba and Shaybah ibn Rabi’ah, Umayyah ibn Khalaf, Abu Jahl ibn Hisham, and al Nadr ibn Harith, asked the prophet (SAW) to come see them. The prophet (SAW) came with the hope that maybe they had a change of heart and they were ready to listen to his message; but when he arrived there, they had a completely different message for him. They said, “You have insulted our idols, ridiculed our forefathers and found flaws in our religion. No one has brought more trouble to a community than you to ours. We want to know what your motive is. If your intention is to become our leader in the process, then we are ready to make you our leader, but stop this message. If you want wealth then we will gather our wealth and make you the wealthiest person amongst us, and if there is some kind of sickness that ails you, then we will find you the best treatment to get you treated, but you must stop this invitation of yours.” The prophet (SAW) said, “I am not conveying this message for any of the reasons that you have mentioned. I am a prophet who has been selected by Allah, and I have been commanded to convey this message and invite mankind towards him, and I have received his book. This is my only mandate. If you accept this, then this is going to be enough for you in this world and the next; and if you reject it, then the consequences will be on your shoulders.” They said, “If you are truly the messenger of God, and he has sent you, then He must have empowered you or given you the keys to his treasures, so why don’t you ask him to change the landscape of Makkah? We are surrounded by mountains and trapped; why don’t you push the mountains away and open up the lands for us, and make rivers like the rivers in Iraq and Sham flow? Ask him to open up these treasures that you have access to.” The prophet (SAW) said, “This is not my mandate. This is not why I have been sent. If you accept my message, then believe me; this will be enough for you in this world and the next.” They continued making these kinds of offers and demands and when the prophet (SAW) replied that he was not sent for their demands, they said, “Fine, then bring us that punishment that you warn upon us. Why don’t you make the sky fall and crash on our heads?” The prophet (SAW) said, “That is not in my control. That is in the hands of Allah (SWT). Again, I am just here to convey His message.”

This built up a lot of frustration. The Quraysh made all of these demands and tried to get the prophet (SAW) to change his position, and after this, when the prophet (SAW) left, Abu Jahl was very angry and frustrated, and he said, “Watch what I am going to do to him tomorrow. I am going to take a boulder and crush his head while he is praying.” So, while the prophet (SAW) was praying the next day, Abu Jahl came with this massive boulder, and as he was about to approach the prophet (SAW), suddenly, he threw the boulder and ran away. The people asked, “What happened?” He said, “Something came at me. It was like a giant ferocious camel or something, and it was going to eat me alive. I don’t know where it came from.” They said, “We didn’t see anything like that. You must be seeing things.” Abu Jahl knew that this was a warning from Allah (SWT). When the prophet (SAW) was told what Abu Jahl was trying to do and what happened to him, the prophet (SAW) said, “That was Jibreel. Allah (SWT) had sent him to save me from him.” There were many incidents of this sort, many skirmishes and fights. Hamza (RA) who was a great hunter; whenever he would come back, he would first perform tawaf, meet all the people that were there, and the Quraysh and the various clans had specific areas around the Ka’bah where they would congregate, so he would go and meet them all, so once, when he came back from a hunting trip, as he was greeting people, the slave girl of one of the people told him, “You should have seen what Abu Jahl just did with Muhammad (SAW). Abu Jahl had come and insulted him and said all sorts of nasty things.” Hamza (RA) was very upset and walked over to Abu Jahl and struck him with the bow he used to hunt on the head, injuring him, and saying, “What are you going to do now? I, too, am his follower. I believe in what he believes in. Do something if you can.” This was a major boost for the Muslims, as nobody had the courage to stand up to Hamza (RA). The Muslims became strong and courageous after this, and the Quraysh stepped back in their efforts of trying to hurt the prophet (SAW).

The Ka’bah was also the place where the prophet (SAW) would sit with people and have conversations about deen with them. A delegation of some 20 Christians; educated, religious Christians came to the prophet (SAW), hearing news from Abyssinia about the Muslims, their practices and their prophet, and the reaction of Najashi to the prophet (SAW)’s message. The prophet (SAW) spoke with them, gave them da’wah, and they accepted Islam. Abu Jahl was extremely upset that these people just came to ask questions and they walked away accepting the religion of Muhammad (SAW). Similarly, you would have heard of the story of Tufayl ibn Amr ad Dawsi who came for Hajj and people had warned him about a man named Muhammad who leads people astray by saying all kinds of things and who is a magician and to make sure not to listen to him. Tufayl was, initially, very scared of this and did not want to be exposed to such a message, so he plugged his ears with cotton; then, when he came to the Ka’bah, he saw the prophet (SAW) standing there reciting the Qur’an in his salah, he asked himself, as a poet, if he could not differentiate between poetry, the words of a magician, and the words of a prophet. He thought to just listen to what he is saying and decide for himself, and after listening to the words the prophet (SAW) recited in his salah, he came to the conclusion that the words he heard were not the words of a poet or magician, but rather, they came from God. He spent a few days with the prophet (SAW) before inviting his own tribe of Daws towards Islam.