He reinforced the structure, strengthened its walls, and enlarged its doors, without extending the precinct in any other respect. When ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān later held undisputed authority, he raised the walls still higher and ordered that the Kaʿbah be draped in silk brocade; the one who carried out his command was al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf.

We have already recounted the story of the House’s construction, together with the ḥadiths pertaining to it, in our commentary on Sūrat al-Baqarah at the verse, “And when Abraham and Ishmael were raising the foundations of the House” (2:127). There we treated the matter fully and in detail; whoever wishes may consult it there—and to Allah belong all praise and grace.

Ibn Isḥāq said: When they had completed the building and erected it as they intended, al-Zubayr ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib composed the following lines about the snake whose presence had made Quraysh wary of rebuilding the Kaʿbah:

I marveled when the eagle swooped in flight
Upon the writhing serpent, racked with fear.
The creature hissed at times with savage spite,
And sometimes sprang as though to lunge and sear.
Whenever we approached to lay the base,
It reared, to daunt our hands—while we, too, quailed.
But when we feared a lasting stay or chase,
An eagle came, in plunging arc it sailed.
It seized the snake and bore it off; released,
The Building lay before us, veil removed.
We gathered, eager, to the work—at least
The soil and firm foundations there we proved.
At dawn the rising walls took shape and grew,
Our shoulders bare, no garments to be seen.
The Sovereign thus ennobled Luʾayy’s crew;
Their lineage shall never lose its sheen.
There, Banu ʿAdiyy mustered, shoulder-tight,
And Murrah came—Kilāb already in their sight.