to his wife, “Where is your husband?” She replied, “He has gone hunting, and he will be back shortly, Allah willing. Please dismount—may Allah have mercy on you.” He asked, “Do you have anything with which to receive a guest?” She said, “Yes,” and brought milk and meat. He asked her about their circumstances, and she said, “We are well and living in abundance.” So he prayed for blessing for them both. Had she brought wheat bread, barley bread, or dates that day, it would have become the most abundant of Allah’s lands in wheat, barley, or dates.

She said to him, “Dismount so that I may wash your head.” But he did not dismount. So she brought him the Standing Place and set it by his right side. He placed his foot upon it, and she washed the right side of his head. Then she moved it to his left side and washed the left side of his head. The imprint of his feet remained upon it. He said to her, “When your husband returns, convey my greetings to him and tell him: ‘The threshold of your door has been set aright.’”

When Ishmael came back, he detected his father’s scent and said to his wife, “Did anyone come to you?” She replied, “Yes, an old man came—the finest-looking and sweetest-smelling of people. He said such-and-such to me, and I said such-and-such to him. I washed his head, and this is the place where he set his feet.” Ishmael said, “That was Abraham the Prophet, my father. You are the threshold; he commanded me to keep you.” (1)

It is also related from Sa‘id ibn Jubayr ⦗18/b⦘, from Ibn ‘Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both, that he said: Abraham then remained away from them for as long as Allah willed. Afterwards he came again and found Ishmael shaping arrow shafts beneath a doum palm near Zamzam. When Ishmael saw him, he rose to greet him, and they exchanged the affection customary between father and son. Then Abraham said, “O Ishmael, Allah Most High has commanded me to do something. Will you help me with it?” He replied, “I will help you.” Abraham said, “Allah has commanded me to build a House here.”

Thereupon, they raised the foundations of the House. Ishmael brought stones while Abraham built, until the structure grew high. Ishmael then brought him this stone and set it in place for him. Abraham stood upon the stone—the Standing Place—as he built, while Ishmael handed him stones, and they said: “Our Lord, accept this from us. Indeed, You alone are the All-Hearing, All-Knowing.”

It is reported: “The Corner and the Standing Place are two rubies from among the rubies of Paradise. Had the hands of the polytheists not touched them, they would have illuminated all that lies between east and west.” (2)

His words, exalted is He, “And We charged Abraham and Ishmael,” mean: We commanded them and revealed to them. It is said that Ishmael was so named because Abraham used to pray to Allah to grant him a child, saying, “Hear, O El”—and El means Allah. When he was granted a child, Allah gave him this name.

“Purify My House,” meaning the Ka‘bah. He ascribed it to Himself in order to single it out and honor it; that is, build it upon purity and the oneness of God. Sa‘id ibn Jubayr and ‘Ata’ said: “Purify it of idols, doubt, and false speech.” It was also said: “Fumigate it with incense and perfume it with khaluq, a scented substance.”

The people of Medina and Hafs recited “My House” here and in Surah al-Hajj with the final ya’ pronounced with a fatḥah; Hafs additionally did so in Surah Nuh. “For those who circle it,” meaning those who go around it; “and those who remain there,” meaning those who reside beside it; “and those who bow,” the plural of one who bows; “and those who prostrate,” the plural of one who prostrates—these are those who pray. Al-Kalbi and Muqatil said: