It is said that the Ark circled it for forty days or so; yet all of these reports are taken from Israelite narrations. We have already established that such accounts are neither affirmed nor denied and therefore cannot be used as proof—should the truth refute them, they must be rejected.

Allah says:
“Indeed, the very first House set up for humankind was the one at Bakkah—blessed and a guidance for all peoples” (Āl ʿImrān 96).

That is, the first House established for all people, as a source of blessing and guidance, is the House located at Bakkah. Some say Bakkah is Mecca as a whole; others say it is the specific site of the Kaʿbah.

He continues: “In it are clear signs” (Āl ʿImrān 97)—evidence that it was built by the Friend of Allah, the forefather of the later prophets and the leader of pure monotheists from among his descendants, who follow his example and hold fast to his way.

Hence His words: “the Station of Abraham” (Āl ʿImrān 97), meaning the stone on which he stood when the walls rose above his height. His son placed that well-known stone beneath him so he could climb upon it as the building grew higher and the courtyard wider, as related in the long report of Ibn ʿAbbās.

The stone remained attached to the wall of the Kaʿbah from ancient times until the days of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb—may Allah be pleased with him—who moved it slightly away from the House, saying that worshippers there should not obstruct those performing circumambulation. ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with him—was followed in this decision, for his Lord agreed with him in several matters, among them his remark to the Messenger ﷺ: “If only we took the Station of Abraham as a place of prayer.” Allah thereupon revealed, “And take the Station of Abraham as a place of prayer” (al-Baqarah 125).

The imprint of the Friend’s two feet remained visible in that rock until the earliest days of Islam. Abū Ṭālib alluded to it in his celebrated Lāmiyyah ode:

By Thawr—and by Him who anchored Thabīr in its place,
By him who climbs Ḥirāʾ and by the one descending;
By the House—by the right of the House—deep in Mecca’s valley,
By God—indeed, God is never unmindful;
By the Black Stone, when they touch it
as they encircle it at dawn and in the fading light;
And by Abraham’s footprint in the rock, still moist,
matching his bare foot, unshod and uncovered.

He meant that his noble foot sank into the rock so that it took on the exact shape of his bare—unsandaled—foot.

For this reason Allah says:
“And when Abraham and Ishmael were raising the foundations of the House [they prayed]” (al-Baqarah 127)—meaning, while they were saying, “Our Lord, accept this from us; You alone are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing” (al-Baqarah 127). At that moment they were in perfect sincerity and obedience to Allah, imploring the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing to accept from them this great act of worship and their praiseworthy effort:
“Our Lord, make us wholly devoted to You, and from our descendants raise a nation wholly devoted to You. Show us our rites and turn toward us. Truly, You are the Accepter of repentance, the Merciful” (al-Baqarah 128).