Saudi Arabia is preparing to host nearly a million pilgrims. Al-Haram Mosque, July 1, 2022. – / AFP
Every day, Muslims around the world bow down to pray in his direction. The Kaaba is the holiest place in Islam. Being able to go there at least once in a lifetime, kiss the black stone that is on one of its walls, or even enter this sanctuary is a blessing for every believer. As the pilgrimage to Mecca begins this Thursday, July 7th (until July 12th), one of the five pillars of Islam is the dot on this high place of Islam.
The house of God on earth
Kaaba means “the cube” in Arabic. 14 meters high, this structure is considered by Muslims to be the “House of God” on earth. It is openly mentioned twice in the Koran, in verses 95 and 97 of Sura 5 (The Table). For example, we read in verse 97, “God instituted the Kaaba, the Holy House, built for men.” Located in the center of Mecca, it is considered to be connected to the “Kaaba of Heaven.” Tradition also traces its founding back to the Prophet Abraham.
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“Various biblical themes, such as the idea of a Last Judgment, a creative and beneficent God, as well as stories linked to various figures from the Torah and the Old Testament, had fueled the first Qur’an discourse. After the Hegirah (a term denoting the departure of Muhammad and some of his companions from Mecca to Medina), Abraham, accompanied by his son Ishmael, is depicted by the Qur’an as the founder of the edifice in response to hostility from the local Jewish tribes,” explains the Historian Jacqueline Chabbi, specialist in the origins of Islam and author of Le Coran décrypté, biblical figures in Arabia (Cerf, 2014).
A page from the pre-Islamic period
Historically, there is no doubt that the Kaaba was the focus of a tribal ritual before Islamic times. “The cult was associated with the unexpected discovery of the Meccan waterhole, located in a lowland, at the mouth of several small valleys, and in a completely arid environment. At the time, that could only be taken as a sign of a divine presence to be honored,” Jacqueline Chabbi explains.
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Since the place was regularly flooded, the Kaaba was built on a small hill in the middle of the lowlands. Originally it was just a simple cardinal wall inlaid with sacred stones, of which the black stone now stands at the east corner of the building and another stone at the south corner.
During the circumambulation, the pilgrim must contemplate himself as an “angel surrounding the divine throne”.
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