Why Quraysh Rebuilt the Ka‘bah

Ibn Ishaq said: When the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, reached the age of thirty-five, Quraysh gathered to rebuild the Ka‘bah. They had wanted to roof it, but were afraid to demolish it.

[7] The Ka‘bah is said to have been built five times: first by Seth, son of Adam; second by Abraham; third by Quraysh in this rebuilding, five years before Islam; fourth after it burned during the time of Ibn al-Zubayr; and fifth when ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan later rebuilt it.

It had been a heap of stones taller than a person, so they wanted to raise it and roof it. Some men had stolen a treasure belonging to the Ka‘bah, which was kept in a well inside it. The treasure was found with Duwayk, a freedman of Banu Mulayh ibn ‘Amr of Khuza‘ah. Ibn Hisham said that Quraysh cut off his hand; Quraysh claimed that the thieves had placed the treasure with Duwayk. A Roman merchant’s ship had been cast ashore at Jeddah and wrecked. Quraysh took its timber and prepared it for the roof. A Coptic carpenter was in Makkah, and they arranged for him to undertake the work. A serpent used to emerge from the well inside the Ka‘bah, where offerings were placed each day, and bask on its wall. They feared it: whenever anyone approached, it raised its head, hissed, and opened its mouth. One day, as it basked on the wall as usual, Allah sent a bird that snatched it away. Quraysh said, “We hope Allah has approved what we intend. We have a skilled worker, we have timber, and Allah has spared us the serpent.”

[1] Radm means stones piled upon one another without mortar. [2] Another report says Quraysh rebuilt the Ka‘bah because a flood from above Makkah’s retaining wall damaged it, and they feared water would enter. Another says it had burned when a woman fumigated it and a spark caught her clothes. See Sharh al-Mawahib. [3] The note compares this account with an earlier report about a thief who entered the well of the Ka‘bah, was trapped when a stone fell on him, and was later removed with the treasure; Allah then sent a serpent with a head like a young goat’s. The editor brings the two differing versions together for the reader. [4] The carpenter was called Baqum, or Baqul. See al-Isabah, Sharh al-Mawahib, and al-Rawd al-Unuf. [5] Tatasharraq means to come out into the sun. [6] Ihza’allat means it raised its head; kashshat describes the hiss made as its scales rubbed together.