Section: Quraysh’s Reconstruction of the Kaʿbah Five Years before the Prophetic Mission
Al-Bayhaqī (1) states that the Kaʿbah was rebuilt before the Prophet’s—peace and blessings be upon him—marriage to Khadījah. The prevalent view, however, is that Quraysh undertook the rebuilding ten years after that marriage, as we have already noted.
Al-Bayhaqī then turns to the Kaʿbah’s construction in Abraham’s time, as mentioned earlier in his story, and cites the previously quoted ḥadīth of Ibn ʿAbbās in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (2). He also transmits Israelite reports claiming the House was first built in Adam’s era, but these are unsound. The plain sense of the Qurʾān shows that Abraham was the first to raise it from its foundations. The site itself had been held in reverence, cared for, and honored in every age and season before that.
Allah, Exalted is He, says:
“Indeed, the first House established for mankind was that at Bakkah, blessed and a guidance for all peoples. In it are clear signs—among them the Station of Abraham; and whoever enters it is safe. Pilgrimage to the House is a duty owed to Allah by all people who are able to find a way to it.” (Āl ʿImrān, 3:96–97)
It is authentically reported in the two Ṣaḥīḥs (3) from Abū Dharr who said: I asked, “O Messenger of Allah, which mosque was built first?” He replied, “Al-Masjid al-Harām.” I asked, “Then which?” He said, “Al-Masjid al-Aqṣā.” I asked, “How long was the interval between the two?” He said, “Forty years.”
We have already discussed this earlier (4), and that al-Masjid al-Aqṣā was founded by Israel—that is, Jacob, peace be upon him.
The two Ṣaḥīḥs likewise record (5): “Indeed, Allah declared this town sacred on the day He created the heavens and the earth; it remains sacred by Allah’s sanctity until the Day of Resurrection.”
Al-Bayhaqī further relates (6): Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥāfiẓ informed us, saying: Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ṣaffār narrated to us; Aḥmad ibn Mihrān narrated to us; ʿUbayd Allāh narrated to us; Israʾīl narrated from Abū Yaḥyā, from Mujāhid, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr who said: “The House existed two thousand years before the earth: ‘And when the earth is stretched out’ (al-Inshiqāq, 84:3)—that is, it was spread out from beneath it.” (7)