Some Amazing Facts about the Holy Kaaba-The House of Allah

Muslims face the Holy Kaaba in Mecca Saudi Arabia for five daily prayers. Holy Kaaba is a cube-shaped stone structure that was built by Prophet Ibrahim (AS) and his son Hazrat Ismail (AS) on the same foundations where Prophet Adam (AS) is believed to have built a holy place for the worship of the One Lord. It is a misconception in Non- Muslims that Muslims worship the holy Kaaba but it’s not true Muslims do not worship the Holy Kaaba. The Kaaba serves as a focal point for Muslims around the world, unifying them in worship and symbolizing their common belief, spiritual focus, and direction.

Holy Kaaba is considered the most sacred place on earth as they go for offering Hajj according to the commands of Allah Almighty mentioned in Holy Quran. Every Muslim who makes the pilgrimage is required to walk around the Kaaba seven times, during which he/she kisses and touches the Black Stone. The Kaaba is a cube-shaped building which is roughly 50 feet high, and it is about 35 by 40 feet at its base. The Kaaba is constructed with gray stone and marble, its interior contains just three pillars that are supporting the roof and a number of suspended silver and gold lamps. The Holy Kaaba is covered with a black cloth known as Kiswah.

Facts about the Holy Kaaba

Most of the people know about the Kaaba below are some things that may not be known by many.

• It has been reconstructed many times: The Holy Kaaba has been constructed many times due to natural disasters or sometimes due to wars. Many of us don’t know that Kaaba is not in its original state from it was constructed by Prophet Ibrahim (AS) and his son Hazrat Ismail (AS). One of the major events of reconstruction took place during the life of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) before he became a Prophet. This is the occasion when the Prophet (SAW) avoided major bloodshed by His quick thinking on how to place the Black Stone using a cloth that every tribe could lift up.  After that time many renovations of holy Kaaba took place over the centuries and the last major one was held back in 1996.
• It had multiple doors and a window: The original Kaaba used to have a door for entrance and another for an exit. For a considerable period of time, it also had a window situated to one side. The present Kaaba only has one door and no window.
• Kaaba was of Multi-Colored: We are used to seeing the Kaaba being covered in the trademark black cloth Kiswah with gold banding that we can’t imagine it being any other color. The tradition of seeing Kaaba in black cloth that is Kiswah have started at the time of the Abbasids (whose household color was black) and before this, the Kaaba was covered in multiple colors including green, red and even white.
• There is only 1 Key bearer family of Holy Kaaba: When Mecca was conquered, the keys of the Kaaba were presented to the Holy Prophet (SAW) who in turn returned them to Hazrat UsmanibnTalha (RA) of the BaniShaiba tribe. They had been the keepers of the Kaaba for centuries and the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) gave them the glad tidings that their family would remain so until the end of time.
• Kaaba used to be open to everyone: The Holy Kaaba was opened twice a week for anyone to enter and pray. But now due to the rapid expansion in the number of pilgrims and other factors, the Kaaba is now opened only twice a year for dignitaries and exclusive guests only.
• The inside of the Holy Kaaba contains plaques commemorating the rulers who renovated it: The interior of the Holy Kaaba is lined with marble and a green cloth covering the upper walls. The walls of the Holy Kaaba are plaques each celebrating the rebuilding of the House of Allah by the ruler of the day.
• The Black Stone is broken: The black stone was most damaged in the middle ages by an extreme heretical Ismaili group from Bahrain called the Qarmatians who had declared that the Hajj was an act of superstition. They decided to make their point by killing tens of thousands of hajjis and dumping their bodies in the well of Zamzam. As if this act of betrayal was not enough, these devils took the Black Stone to the East of Arabia and then Kufa in Iraq where they held it payoff until they were forced to return it by the Abbasid Caliph. When they returned it, it was in pieces and the only way to keep them together was by encasing them in a silver casing.