they were in awe of it. One day, while the serpent was stretched out on the wall of the Kaʿbah as it usually did, Allah sent a bird that swooped down, seized it (1), and carried it away.
Quraysh exclaimed, “We trust that Allah, Exalted be He, has approved what we intend. We now have a skilled craftsman and ample timber, and Allah has spared us the serpent.”
Al-Suhaylī relates from Razīn (2) that a thief once entered the Kaʿbah in the days of Jurhum to steal its treasure. The well collapsed on him (3); the people arrived, pulled him out, and reclaimed what he had taken. A serpent then settled in that well (4) —its head like that of a young goat, its belly white, its back black—and it remained there for five hundred years. This, says Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, is the very serpent he mentioned.
Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq (5) continues: When they agreed to demolish the Kaʿbah and rebuild it, Abū Wahb ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿĀʾidh ibn ʿAbd ibn ʿImrān ibn Makhzūm—
Ibn Hishām adds: ʿĀʾidh ibn ʿImrān ibn Makhzūm (6)—picked up a stone from the Kaʿbah, but it sprang from his hand and returned to its place. He then said:
“O people of Quraysh, let nothing go into its construction except what is lawful. Do not include the fee of a prostitute, the proceeds of usury, or anything gained by injustice toward anyone.”
The people ascribed these words to al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīra ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar (7) ibn Makhzūm, yet Ibn Isḥāq holds that the speaker was Abū Wahb ibn ʿAmr. He adds: “He was the maternal uncle of the Prophet’s father ﷺ, a man of nobility and praise.”
Ibn Isḥāq (8) further states: Quraysh divided the Kaʿbah among themselves. The portion containing the door went to Banū ʿAbd Manāf and Zuhrah; the stretch between the Black Stone and the Yemeni Corner to Banū Makhzūm together with other Quraysh clans allied to them; the rear wall to Banū Jumāḥ and Sahm; and the section of the Ḥijr—al-Ḥaṭīm—to Banū ʿAbd al-Dār ibn Quṣayy, Banū Asad ibn ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā, and Banū ʿAdī ibn Kaʿb.
The people were still hesitant and fearful about tearing it down, so al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīra said, “I will begin the demolition,” and he took up the pickaxe