Others Declare That Adam, Expelled From Paradise, And Lamenting That He
No Longer Heard The Prayers Of The Angels, Was Ordered By Allah To Take
The Stones Of Five Hills, Lebanon, Sinai, Tur Zayt (Olivet), Ararat,
And Hira, Which Afforded The First Stone.
Gabriel, smiting his wing
upon earth, opened a foundation to the seventh layer, and the position
of the building is exactly below the heavenly Bayt al-Ma’amur,—a Moslem
corruption of the legends concerning the heavenly and the earthly
Jerusalem.
Our First Father circumambulated it as he had seen the
angels do, and was by them taught the formula of prayer and the number
of circuits.
According to others, again, this second house was not erected till
after the “Angelic Foundation” was destroyed by time.
3. The history of the third house is also somewhat
[p.321] confused. When the Bayt al-Ma’amur, or, as others say, the
tabernacle, was removed to heaven after Adam’s death, a stone-and-mud
building was placed in its stead by his son Shays (Seth). For this
reason it is respected by the Sabaeans, or Christians of St. John, as
well as by the Moslems. This Ka’abah, according to some, was destroyed by
the deluge, which materially altered its site. Others believe that it
was raised to heaven. Others, again, declare that only the pillars
supporting the heavenly tabernacle were allowed to remain. Most
authorities agree in asserting that the Black Stone was stored up in
Abu Kubays, whence that “first created of mountains” is called Al-Amin, “the
Honest.”
4. Abraham and his son were ordered to build the fourth house upon the
old foundations: its materials, according to some, were taken from the
five hills which supplied the second; others give the names Ohod, Kuds,
Warka, Sinai, Hira, and a sixth, Abu Kubays. It was of irregular shape;
32 cubits from the Eastern to the Northern corner; 32 from North to
West; 31 from West to South; 20 from South to East; and only 9 cubits
high. There was no roof; two doors, level with the ground, were pierced
in the Eastern and Western walls; and inside, on the right hand, near
the present entrance, a hole for treasure was dug. Gabriel restored the
Black Stone, which Abraham, by his direction, placed in its present
corner, as a sign where circumambulation is to begin; and the patriarch
then learned all the complicated rites of pilgrimage. When this house
was completed, Abraham, by Allah’s order, ascended Jabal Sabir, and
called the world to visit the sanctified spot; and all earth’s sons heard
him, even those “in their father’s loins or in their mother’s womb, from that
day unto the day of resurrection.”
5. The Amalikah (descended from Imlik, great grandson of Sam, son of
Noah), who first settled near Meccah, founded the fifth house.
Al-Tabari and the Moslem
[p.322] historians generally made the erection of the Amalikah to
precede that of the Jurham; these, according to others, repaired the
house which Abraham built.
6. The sixth Ka’abah was built about the beginning of the Christian era
by the Benu Jurham, the children of Kahtan, fifth descendant from Noah.
Ismail married, according to the Moslems, a daughter of this tribe,
Da’alah bint Muzaz ([Arabic]) bin Omar, and abandoning Hebrew, he began
to speak Arabic (Ta arraba). Hence his descendants are called
Arabicized Arabs. After Ismail’s death, which happened when he was 130
years old, Sabit, the eldest of his twelve sons, became “lord of the
house.” He was succeeded by his maternal grandfather Muzaz, and
afterwards by his children. The Jurham inhabited the higher parts of
Meccah, especially Jabal Ka’aka’an, so called from their clashing arms;
whereas the Amalikah dwelt in the lower grounds, which obtained the
name of Jiyad, from their generous horses.
7. Kusay bin Kilab, governor of Meccah and fifth forefather of the
Prophet, built the seventh house, according to Abraham’s plan. He roofed
it over with palm leaves, stocked it with idols, and persuaded his
tribe to settle near the Harim.
8. Kusay’s house was burnt down by a woman’s censer, which accidentally set
fire to the Kiswah, or covering, and the walls were destroyed by a
torrent. A merchant-ship belonging to a Greek trader, called “Bakum”
([Arabic]), being wrecked at Jeddah, afforded material for the roof,
and the crew were employed as masons. The Kuraysh tribe, who rebuilt
the house, failing in funds of pure money, curtailed its proportions by
nearly seven cubits and called the omitted portion Al-Hatim. In digging
the foundation they came to a green stone, like a camel’s hunch, which,
struck with a pickaxe, sent forth blinding lightning, and prevented
further excavation. The Kuraysh, amongst other alterations, raised the
walls
[p.323] from nine to eighteen cubits, built a staircase in the northern
breadth, closed the western door and placed the eastern entrance above
the ground, to prevent men entering without their leave.
When the eighth house was being built Mohammed was in his twenty-fifth
year. His surname of Al-Amin, the Honest, probably induced the tribes
to make him their umpire for the decision of a dispute about the
position of the Black Stone, and who should have the honour of raising
it to its place.[FN#63] He decided for the corner chosen by Abraham,
and distributed the privilege amongst the clans. The Benu Zahrah and
Benu Abd Manaf took the front wall and the door; to the Benu Jama and
the Benu Sahm was allotted the back wall; the Benu Makhzum and their
Kuraysh relations stood at the southern wall; and at the “Stone” corner
were posted the Benu Abd al-Dar, the Benu As’ad, and the Benu Ada.
9. Abdullah bin Zubayr, nephew of Ayishah, rebuilt the Ka’abah in A.H.
64. It had been weakened by fire, which burnt the covering, besides
splitting the Black Stone into three pieces, and by the Manjanik
(catapults) of Hosayn ([Arabic]) bin Numayr, general of Yazid, who
obstinately besieged Meccah till he heard of his sovereign’s death.
Abdullah, hoping to fulfil a prophecy,[FN#64] and seeing that the
people of Meccah fled in alarm, pulled down the building by means of
“thin-calved Abyssinian slaves.” When they came to Abraham’s foundation he
saw that it included Al-Hijr, which part the Kuraysh had been unable to
build.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 105 of 170
Words from 106986 to 108068
of 175520
