KA'BAH

also spelled Kaaba, small shrine located near the centre of the Great Mosque in Mecca and considered by Muslims everywhere to be the most sacred spot on Earth. Muslims orient themselves toward this shrine during the five daily prayers, bury their dead facing its meridian, and cherish the ambition of visiting it on pilgrimage, in accord with the command of God in the Qur'an. The cube-shaped structure, constructed of gray stone and marble, is oriented so that its corners roughly correspond to the points of the compass. The interior contains nothing but the three pillars supporting the roof and a number of suspended silver and gold lamps. During most of the year the Ka'bah is covered with an enormous cloth of black brocade, the /a>kiswah (q.v.). Located in the eastern corner of the Ka'bah is the Black Stone of Mecca, whose now-broken pieces are surrounded by a ring of stone and held together by a heavy silver band. According to popular legend, this stone was given to Adam on his expulsion from paradise in order to obtain forgiveness of his sins. Legend has it that the stone was originally white but has become black by absorbing the sins of the countless thousands of pilgrims who have kissed and touched it. Every Muslim who makes the pilgrimage is required to walk around the Ka'bah seven times, during which process he kisses and touches the Black Stone. When the month of pilgrimages (Dhu al-Hijjah) is over, a ceremonial washing of the Ka'bah takes place; religious officials as well as pilgrims take part. The early history of the Ka'bah is not well known, but it is certain that in the period before the rise of Islam it was revered as a sacred sanctuary and was a site of pilgrimage. The Qur'an says of Abraham and Ishmael that they raised the foundations of the Ka'bah. The exact sense is ambiguous, but Muslim legend has interpreted the phrase to mean that they rebuilt a shrine first erected by Adam of which only the foundations still existed. The Ka'bah has been destroyed, damaged, and subsequently rebuilt several times. In 930 the Black Stone itself was carried away by the fanatics of the Qar amitah sect and held almost 20 years for ransom. Early in his prophetic ministry Muhammad seems to have disregarded the Ka'bah, but, after his emigration to Medina and his difficulties there with the Jews, he changed the direction toward which the prayer is recited from Jerusalem to the Ka'bah. When he took Mecca (630), he caused the pagan idols within and surrounding the sanctuary to be destroyed and had the building cleansed of the pagan pictures covering its interior. The Ka'bah has been the focal point of Muslim piety ever since.