The Building of Kalba Ibrahim and his son Ismail...

The Building of Kalba Ibrahim and his son Ismail, following divine instructions, built the Ka'ba in Makkah as a House of worship for Allah. On completion of the Holy structure, both of them prayed to Allah for acceptance of their service. They called upon the people to come for pilgrimage (Hajj). Since then, the tradition of the two prophets has continued to be performed through the centuries. The black stone (Hajre Aswad) was placed in one comer of the building by the Prophet Ibrahim.

According to some traditions, this stone had descended from the heaven! For the muslim pilgrim, one of the center points of the rituals of Hajj is to go round the Ka'ba seven times and to kiss Hajre Aswad. This is done in remembrance to the act of devotion by the patriarch of our prophets. It is one of the essential obligations of the faithful to go to Makkah and perform the ritual Hajj at least once during his life time.

Ismail had many sons and daughters who migrated to several parts of the Arabian peninsula and they imparted the teachings of Ibrahim wherever they settled. However Makkah remained the central place of congregation throughout the ages, and Ka'ba continued to be the most revered house of worship. Ismail is also known as Abul Arab, the patriarch of the Arabs.

The last of the messengers of Allah, the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, was bom in the clan of Quraish who descended from Ismail and were amongst the most powerful people of Arabia. References : al Qur'an: Sura Baqara, Anam, Maryam, An'mbiya'. Sa ffat, Jinn. Prophet Ishaq Ishaq was bom to Sarah the first wife of Ibrahim nine years after the birth of Ismail to Hajirah.

In fact the news of the birth of the second son was given to Ibrahim after passing the trial of the sacrifice of his son Ismail in Mina'. Ishaq lived in Kin'an and was appointed prophet towards his people by Allah. He had two sons, who were twins. They were named Issau and Ya'qub (Jacob). Banu Israil are named after Ya'qub who was also known as Israil. References : al Qur'an: Sura Baqarah, An'am, Yusuf, Amubiya', Sa'ffat, Jinn. Prophet Ya'qub Ya'qub was one of the twin sons of Ishaq.

He was appointed prophet towards his people after the death of his father. His popular name was Israil, and his progeny is called Banu Israil (the children of Israil). He had twelve sons and one daughter. The twelve tribes of the children of Israil are named after his twelve sons. Yusuf was one of his sons.