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The Ka’ba, a shrine located in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, is believed to have been built by Abraham and his son Ishmael. At the time Muhammad was born, the Ka’ba held many idols of all the various gods of the surrounding tribes. There would be pilgrimages to the shrine, where people from all over the Arabian Peninsula would come to worship there. However, after Muhammad captured Mecca in 629 CE, he cleared the inside of the Ka’ba of all its idols. However, it is said that he put a cloth over a picture of the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus and said something along the lines of “destroy all the others, but do not harm this one.”
Today the Ka’ba is still a pilgrimage destination. Each year, millions of Muslims from all over the world come to Mecca. All pilgrims wear the same white robes to signify that they are all equal before God. They circumambulate seven times around the shrine, in which is a stone reported to have fallen from heaven back in the time of Adam. Various people have told me that this rock is a reminder of God’s presence. It is kept in a corner of the Ka’ba.
The pilgrimage to Mecca is referred to as the Hajj. It is one of the five pillars of Islam, and if you have the financial ability to travel there at least once in your lifetime that is very good.
Lunde,Paul. Islam. New York: DK, 2002.
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