This time...

This time, the engineers dismantled the old building little by little gradually building in its place the new structure which was completed in 1277/1861. The Ka’bah `It is the first temple ever to be built for men, a blessed place a beacon for the nations' (3:96) and the most ancient of them in the Middle East.

(2:127) Isma'il gathered the stones and Ibrahim put them on one another until the walls were raised to the height of a man. Then the Black Stone was put in its place. According to tradition, the Ka'bah (al‑Bayt al‑Atiq) was nine cubits high and had an area of twenty by thirty cubits when Ibrahim (`a) built it. It had two doors, but was without a roof. As to the Black Stone, it is said to have been brought by Gabriel from heaven.

It is also said that Adam brought it along with him on his descent from Paradise, that at first it was snow‑white and was blackened by the deeds of men, and so on. There is no harm in not believing any of these stories and the like, nor are we obliged to establish their verity, nor to know the origin of the Stone. All we are obliged to do is to revere it because the Prophet (s) considered it sacred and revered it.

If someone asks the secret behind the Prophet's regarding this stone as sacred, all we can say is that only God and His Apostle know best. According to some traditions the Ka'bah stood as Ibrahim and Isma`il had built it until it was rebuilt by Qusayy ibn Kilab, the fifth ancestor of the Prophet (s). The structure built by Qusayy stood until the time when the Prophet was 35 years old, when a great flood demolished its walls. The Quraysh rebuilt it.

When the walls were raised to a man's height the clans disputed as to who should receive the honour of lifting the Black Stone into its place. They almost came to war with one another, if it was not for their making Muhammad the arbiter amongst themselves. The Prophet's solution was to spread a cloak on the ground. Then taking up the Black Stone he laid it on the middle of the garment.