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- Understanding prophetic biography
Significance of the word "house" in the noble ayah?
Dear brother, this is our new lesson on the Fiqh as-Sirah (Rulings drawn from the Biography of the Prophet).The subject for today is "Rebuilding the Ka'ba". Allah the Most High says:
“The first House (of worship) appointed for men was that at Bakka: Full of blessing and of guidance for all kinds of beings.”
Dear brother, Allah the Most High is everywhere. He says:“And He is with you where so ever you may be.”
What is the meaning of Allah having a house on earth? The commentators of the Qur'an say that it is the company of knowledge. Allah the Most High says:“Behold! He cried to his Lord in secret.”
Sayyidina Zachariah.If you call your Lord in your heart, He will hear you.
So what is the meaning of Allah having a house on earth? He says:
“The first House (of worship) appointed for men was that at Bakka: Full of blessing and of guidance for all kinds of beings: In it are Signs Manifest; (for example), the Station of Ibrahim; whoever enters it attains security.”
It means that owing to His wisdom and in consideration for the human being and his inclination toward the material, Allah the Most High established a house for Himself and said: "O servant! Come to My House!" Why does the pilgrim say: Labbaik Allahumma! Labbaik! (Here I am my Lord)? It means that "I have heard You call to me and here I am to be cleansed and relieved from miseries that burden me". So Allah calls upon His servants to make a pilgrimage in order to feel the taste of His love and of being close to Him. Therefore, Allah set up a house on earth as the symbol of tawheed and servanthood we owe Him.
Indeed, dear brother, you testify that there is no other deity but Allah; you pray, fast, and pay zakat in your country, in your mosque, in your room, in your place of residence, but for pilgrimage you have to travel to the House of Allah, which requires a more complete devotion: you leave your comfortable house, your children and family, position or job, and everything you value. Moreover, you go at your own expense and pilgrimage requires effort. Because you have left everything for His sake and incurred expenses, Allah will reward you accordingly to what you have given up in order to make a pilgrimage.
The position of Mecca at the geographical centre of the earth:
In this regard, there is a scientific research carried out at Cairo University which establishes that Mecca is the geometric mean for earth. Thus, there is the Ancient World: Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia; and the New World: America. Any city on the edges of the Ancient World is 8,500 km away from Mecca, which lies at the centre of this Ancient World. If we add the New World to the Ancient World, Mecca, as the geometric mean, is 13,500 km away from any point of the two worlds, and there is no other city which is opposite to it, as a matter of fact there is no land whatever, only the Pacific Ocean.History of construction of the Ka'ba:
Dear brother, some historians mentioned that Ka'ba, the Old House, was demolished twice after it had been constructed by Prophet Ibrahim, peace be upon him. The first time by the people of Qusai bin Kilab and the second time by the tribe of Jurhum as a result of floods. The historian al-Mawardi mentioned that the first to reconstruct the Ka'ba after Prophet Ibrahim was a man from the Quraish called Qusai bin Kilab –one of the great ancestors of Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, who built its ceiling from Byzantine wood and palm trees. The important thing here is the relationship between the Quraish reconstructing the Ka'ba for the third time and the Biography of the Prophet, and his receiving the Prophecy, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. This is all mentioned in the ahadith of Bukhari and Muslim.
The matter of reconstructing the Ka'ba, in spite of the outstanding contribution the Prophet made to it, might arouse the following question: What do we have to do with it bearing in mind that it took place before the Prophet’s mission, when he was 35 years of age?
The reasons for Quraish reconstructing the Ka'ba:
Dear brother, some of the reasons behind the reconstruction of the Ka'ba were as follows:
1- its height was that of an average person or slightly above it;
2- it had no roof;
3- it had two corners, as if a stretched out ring;
4- its covering used to be laid around its basis on the outside and then pulled into its inside –because it lacked roof;
5- the well that Ibrahim had made inside the Ka'ba as a safe for valuables and gifts was robbed many times.
Allah the Most High commands us to enjoin what is right and to withstand what is wrong.
Perhaps the main reason behind rebuilding the Ka'ba was that a Quraish woman intended to incense it. As you know incense needs firebrand; a spark from her incense container fell accidentally on the covers of the Ka'ba which were piled up –because they used to put the coverings one on top of another, therefore there were so many of them. The coverings caught fire which caused serious damage to the Ka'ba. Strong floods which followed made matters worse, contributing to the wreckage.
The Quraish were terrified that the Ka'ba could collapse. By their fitrah they were afraid of Allah’s punishment in case the Ka'ba would get destroyed. So they consulted with each another, considering the issue from all angles.
How do we understand this ayah?
Let us ask: Doesn't Allah the Most High say in the Qur'an:
“…whoever enters it attains security.”
How, then, the thieves managed to commit the robberies? How did it happen that the Ka'ba was assaulted 26 years ago? How, in 1400, military forces broke into it, killing thousands of people in the process? How do we reconcile His Words just quoted with these events?
“…whoever enters it attains security.”
Truly, thousands were killed. The important point, dear brother, is that this ayah means "you, my servants, should make it secure". The security of the Ka'ba is a matter of precept not a historical axiom. The meaning here is the same as that of Allah’s saying:
“… women of purity are for men of purity, and men of purity are for women of purity…”
Yet, don’t we find a good wife married to a wicked husband? Or a good man to a wicked woman? What, then, does this ayah mean? Some ayaat of the Qur'an assume an informative form for the sake of the style, and this style is the best. Another example is Allah’s saying:
“The msh3er shall give suck to their offspring”
It is a command from Allah for msh3er to breastfeed their children; it is for the sake of the style because every order can be disobeyed; it is rather as if it was said: It is really necessary for you. What al-Baqi (Allah) wants us to understand is that this is His Will, it is what we should do. That's why He constructs the sentence in the informative way:
“The msh3er shall give suck to their offspring”
It means that it is appropriate that msh3er should breastfeed their children and you will not find a mother on the surface of the earth who does not breastfeed. Thus, the Most High says:
“…whoever enters it attains security.”
It means: Make Mecca secure. The Most High says:
“… women of purity are for men of purity …”
It means: Good women are for good men. The form is informative for the sake of style, and this is the eloquent style of the Noble Qur'an.
A simple explanation the informative and axiomatic issues:
As we have seen we have the informative issue and the axiomatic issue. How can we understand the difference between the two? Here is the answer:Let us imagine that there is a sign indicating that you are not allowed to enter a certain road. This is an informative issue since any driver can disobey it and enter, but then he will be fined. On the other hand, if there were one meter high cement cubes at the entrance to this road no one could drive over them. This is an axiomatic issue, which means that no-one can elude it.
So the ineludible issues are Allah’s actions and the commandment issues are Allah’s orders to do something or not to do it. Thus, maintaining safety of the Ka'ba is a commandment issue. Allah the Most High says:
“…whoever enters it attains security.”
The informative form.Thus, Ibrahim made an underground deposit inside the Ka'ba for storing valuables and adornments given him as gifts for the House and those were often stolen by the thieves. Do you think, then, that it is a commandment or and ineludible issue? It is a commandment one. Allah the Most High says:
“But if it had been Allah’s Will, He could certainly have exacted retribution from them (Himself); but (He lets you fight) in order to test you...”
What does the Ka'aba symbolize?
Dear brother, verily, we should by no means think that the Ka'ba is an idol.
Human being is the supreme creature, then come the animals, then plants, and, lastly, inanimate objects, which occupy space, have length, width, height and weight. Similarly, plants occupy space, have length, width, height and weight but, unlike inanimate objects, they grow. Animals occupy space, have length, width, height, weight, they grow and move. As for man, he occupies space, has length, width, height, weight, and he grows, moves and thinks. Thus, Allah the Most High has distinguished him from all the other forms of life by means of conscience. Allah says:
“(Allah) Most Gracious! It is He Who has taught the Qur'an. He has created man: He has taught him speech (and intelligence).”
It is conscience that honours you. It is nourished by knowledge; the heart is nourished by love and the body by food and drink. Each of these is an entity in its own right. A balanced human being is the one who feeds these entities equally and the extremist is the one who feeds one of them at the expense of the sh3er.Once again, the Ka'ba is not an idol, it is a symbol. If one brings a green, white, and red fabric and treads on it, will anyone punish him? But if the same person brings a rectangular piece of fabric, divided into three patches –one third of it green, another third red, and the third one white, with two stars on it, and then treads on it, he will be sent to prison. Yet, isn’t it just a piece of fabric as well? No, the latter is the symbol of a country, of a nation.
Ka'ba is the symbol of tawheed. We do not worship stones. Umar put his hand on the Black Stone and when he kissed it, he said: "I know that you are a stone that cannot harm or benefit, and if I had not seen Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, kissing you, I would never have kissed you."
Some narrations say that it is the Right Hand of Allah on earth, and there is another hadith which says that
"He who argues against the Black Stone, argues against the Hand of the Merciful."
We do not adore stones. The Ka'ba is the symbol of tawheed and of servanthood.
“The first House (of worship) appointed for men was that at Bakka”
Therefore, the one who treads on a three-coloured rectangle, which is the symbol of a country, will be sent to prison, with a long sentence behind the bars, until he recovers the respect necessary for the symbol of a nation.
Donations of Quraish for the reconstruction of the Ka'ba:
Let us go back to the story. Eventually, the Quraish decided to rebuild the Ka'ba, it was before the Prophet’s mission, when he was 35 years old. Their lives were humble and hard at that time. Their chiefs heard of the wreckage of a Byzantine ship near the harbour of Shouibia and so Al-Waleed bin al-Mughira, accompanied by several other chiefs, went there and bought the wood for the roofing. A Byzantine carpenter named Baqum was hired to help. Money was raised and they all worked at the building site. However, there arose disagreement as regards the front of the House. Thus, Abu Umaia bin al-Mughira said: "Oh people of Quraish! Do not compete or hate each another so that sh3er may not covet what you have. Divide the Ka'ba into four parts, four walls, and divide them between the tribes; then draw lots at Hubal, at the heart and corners of the Ka'ba, so that each group can build a part." Therefore, the corners of the Ka'ba are called the Shami, the Yemeni, the Eastern and the Western.
Incidentally, drawing lots is from the Prophet’s Sunnah. Thus, if you have a problem concerning your children, wives or partners, it may work as a solution and work to the satisfaction of everybody.
The rank of building the Ka'ba is great, indeed. I heard about a renowned scholar from Egypt, a university professor, now deceased, may Allah admit him into His mercy, who carried soil with his bare hands during the expansion of the Sacred Ka'ba; and let it be mentioned that working efficiently indicates refinement. Thus, transporting earth during the works at the Haram is a great honour.
So, when all the tribes of the Quraish proceeded to demolish the Ka'ba, they took out the valuables and money and entrusted them to Abu Talha, Abd-Allah ibn Abd al-Uzza. They also took out the greatest idol of theirs, Hubal, and set it at the Maqam. When they were at the point of beginning to pull down the walls, there appeared a giant snake and they all got frightened. Al-Waleed bin al-Mughira said: "O you people! Don’t you want to pull down the Ka'ba so that you can rebuild it?" They answered: "Yes, we do." He said: "Then Allah will not harm the reformers."
Abd al-Uzza said to the Quraish: "The money collected for rebuilding the Ka'ba, the House of your Lord, should be pure. So no money gained by usury, lottery, illicit entertainment, gambling, or any other unlawful means should be used to rebuild the Ka'ba because Allah is pure and He does not accept but what is pure." What astonishes here is that this was said before the mission of Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, before the revelation or the Qur'an. Thus, one knows by fitrah whether the source of one's money is licit or illicit. This fact indicates that the deen is contained within the heart of every human being.
I was in Cairo once, at the pyramids, and there was this program there called Light and Sound, showing the history of the Pharaohs. I will never forget what one of them said as I heard it with my own ears: "You want and I want but Allah does what He wants."
A call for you, O Muslims:
Dear brother, when our mother Khadija, may Allah be pleased with her, saw the Prophet's disordered condition after his first meeting with Yibril, peace be upon him, she told him: "By Allah, He will not disgrace you because you give hospitality to the guest, help the weak and all those who are in trouble in this life." She could have come up with such ideas only due to her fitrah.
By Allah, dear brother, as long as human being obeys Allah, gives sadaqah, and walks on the Path of Allah; and as long as man does not build his life upon the misfortune of sh3er, his wealth upon their poverty, his peace at the expense of their fear, his honor upon their humiliation, or his life upon their death, he will never be disgraced even if he lacks the essentials. Allah the Most High says:
“What! Do those who seek after evil ways think that We shall hold them equal with those who believe and do righteous deeds; that equal will be their life and their death? “
Their life in this world. The Most High says:“Ill is the judgment that they make.”
It is absolutely and entirely impossible that a righteous person should be treated as a wrongdoer, a liar as an honest man, somebody obedient as somebody disobedient, or a loyal man as a traitor.
Allah the Most High also says:
“Is then the man who believes no better than the man who is rebellious and wicked? Not equal are they.”
“Shall We then treat the People of Faith like the People of Sin? What is the matter with you? How judge ye?”
“Are (these two) alike? One to whom We have made a goodly promise, and who is going to reach its (fulfillment), and one to whom We have given the good things of this life, but who, on the Day of Judgment, is to be among those brought up (for punishment)?”
The necessary conditions for a supplication to be accepted:
There is an important deduction to be made from this event: If, Allah forbids, you go astray, then get into a big trouble and call for Allah and supplicate Him, He will answer your prayers. The scholars of aqidah say that supplications should comply with certain conditions. Allah the Most High says:“When My servants ask you concerning Me, I am indeed close (to them): I listen to the prayer of every suppliant when he calls on Me: Let them also, with a will, Listen to My call, and believe in Me: That they may walk in the right way.”
Thus, you have to believe, obey and be loyal, the exception being the needy and the oppressed not really because they are worthy of it, but because of Allah’s mercy and justice. Therefore, Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:"Fear the supplications of the oppressed because there is no veil between it and Allah."
The second in command during Harun al-Rashid’s era named Al-Barmaki suddenly found himself behind the bars, where one of his relatives visited him wondering how it could have happened. Al-Barmaki explained:"It might have been a supplication of an oppressed person that has led me to prison."
So fear the supplication of the oppressed. Even the kafirun like the Quraish, who put their idol Hubal at the front of the Ka'ba, were rid by Allah from the terrifying snake because they were true in their prayers to Allah. They stood at the Maqam and prayed to Allah that this snake be gone and He sent them a big bird which snatched it and threw it into Ajyad. This was taken to mean an approval and Allah being satisfied with their task.The problems arose during the reconstruction of the Ka'ba:
A sort of a guinea pig, Al-Waleed ibn al-Mughira started demolishing the wall of the Ka'ba alone, using a mattock because the sh3er feared that Allah would destroy whoever destroys His House. They all waited anxiously during the night to see what would happen to him. But when Al-Waleed woke up in good health, they all participated in the task until they reached the stones which could not be moved –the very base of the building. When they counted all the money they had, they found it was insufficient to rebuild the whole of the House properly so they consulted each other again and decided to cover the base with stones and blocks only, and then build stone walls on top. Because of poverty and hard life they couldn’t collect enough money to complete the job more satisfactorily.As a matter of fact, Ismail’s Hijr was part of the Ka'ba and because money was scarce, it was left outside it, although contiguous, being the proof that the funds they had for reconstruction were not enough.
In a hadith transmitted by Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, in al-Bukhari, it is recorded that she asked Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, if the Hijr was part of the House, and he answered that it was.
Thus, if Allah in His generosity gives you the chance to visit the Ka'ba for Umra or Hajj, and you circumambulate the Ka'ba, you should go around the Hijr not within it, or your circumambulation will be rejected since, given that the Hijr is part of the Ka'ba, it ought to be circumambulated. Aisha's hadith runs as follows:
"Is the Hijr part of the Ka'ba? He said: Yes. I asked: Why didn’t they build it within the House? He said: Your people’s money was insufficient. I asked: Why is the door so high? He said: Your people did this to admit to the House or prevent from entering it whoever they wanted. Lest your people had still some remnants of kufur, and if I didn't fear that their hearts would deny, I would have considered the Hijr to be within the House and lower its door to the ground level."
If the door were on the ground level, the entrance would be easy. Now, there is a mobile staircase, like those we use to board planes; on top of that the Ka'ba is equipped with refrigerating systems.The qualities which should adorn a caller to Allah:
Dear brother, al-Mustafa, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:" Lest your people had still some remnants of kufur, and if I didn't fear that their hearts would deny, I would have considered the Hijr to be within the House and lower its door to the ground level."
What can we deduce from the Prophet's words? They clearly demonstrate his wisdom. As long as it does not concern halal and haram issues, one should consider the state of people’s minds and avoid aggravation and embarrassment, choosing the most proper words for the occasion. Allah the Most High says:“Who is better in speech than one who calls (men) to Allah, works righteousness, and says: "I am of those who bow in Islam"?
The Prophet's wisdom in dealing with the issue:
When the workers reached the point of putting back the Black Stone, they clashed over who should be the one to put it back in its place for every tribe wanted to have the honour of doing it. Dear brother, the difference in opinions is natural. For example, on the evening prior to the beginning of Ramadhan we heard cannon shots but some people thought they were blowing up the mountain for road works. However, when we heard the news, it made clear that the fast was to begin on the following day and there was no more arguing about the cannon shots. This difference of opinion, which is due to lack of information, is praiseworthy and we are excused for it. Allah the Most High says:“Mankind was one single nation, and Allah sent Messengers…”
Some people consider that the greatest thing is to write books to benefit sh3er; other people work towards bringing people’s hearts together to know Allah; some other people say that building mosques is the greatest thing of all. Such differences originate in the mercy of Allah, and they are praiseworthy. Allah the Most High says:“And for this let those aspire, who have aspirations…”
But sometimes you find undue disagreement because of envy, clash of opportunities, competition and arrogance, and it should be censured. Allah the Most High says:“Nor did the People of the Book dissent therefrom except through envy of each other, after knowledge had come to them.”
So the Quraish were about to fight over who would have the honour of putting the Black Stone in its place. Abu Umaia, Huzaifa ibn al-Mughira, suggested that the first man to appear at the door of the people of Shayba should judge and they all agreed. It was Muhammad ibn Abd Allah, before the prophecy, who appeared at that door. So they all said: "Here is the Honest One, we accept whatever he decides." When they told him what was going on, he ordered a piece of cloth to be brought there and he placed the Stone on it. Then, he asked for a representative from every Quraish tribe to be selected to hold one corner of the cloth. Then he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, picked up the Black Stone with his honorable hands and put it back in its place. Thus, the disagreement came to an end. Owing to his wisdom and humility all the parts of the conflict were reconciled and the solution to the problem was found. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:"He is not from us he who disunites."
Allah the Most High says:“And he to whom wisdom is granted receives indeed a benefit overflowing.”
Lessons derived from the event of reconstructing the Ka'ba:
Therefore, dear brother, we can draw much instruction from this lesson, namely that we should consider people’s state of mind and avoid being provocative when teaching sh3er about Allah so as not to be discouraging. For example, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, recommended as a cure in some illnesses camel's urine, and there is a 30-page-long research about its benefits in the English sources. Yet, to tell a man who newly entered Islam that the Prophet ordered to use urine as a cure is not acceptable at all. This man should be prepared by explanations rather then provoked by hearing the contents of this hadith point-blank.
