white, but it turned black from the touch of menstruating women during the pre-Islamic period. Adam then set out on foot from the land of India to Mecca. Allah appointed an angel to guide him to the House, so he performed pilgrimage to the House and carried out the rites. When he had finished, the angels received him and said, “May your pilgrimage be blessed, O Adam! We performed pilgrimage to this House two thousand years before you.”

Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “Adam performed forty pilgrimages on foot from India to Mecca.” This continued until the days of the Flood, when Allah Most High raised it to the fourth heaven. Every day, seventy thousand angels enter it and never return to it. He sent Gabriel, peace be upon him, to conceal the Black Stone in Mount Abu Qubays, preserving it from the flood. Thus, the site of the House remained vacant until the time of Abraham.

Then, after Ishmael and Isaac had been born to Abraham, Allah Most High commanded him to build a house in which He would be remembered. Abraham asked Allah, exalted is He, to show him its location. So Allah sent the Sakinah to direct him to the site of the House. It was a powerful wind with two heads resembling those of a serpent. Abraham was commanded to build wherever the Sakinah came to rest. Abraham followed it until they reached Mecca, where the Sakinah coiled around the site of the House like a shield. This is the view of Ali and al-Hasan.

Ibn Abbas said: “Allah Most High sent a cloud of the same dimensions as the Kaabah. It moved along while Abraham walked in its shade, until he reached Mecca. Then it stopped over the site of the House, and a voice called to Abraham from it: ‘Build according to its shadow, neither adding nor diminishing.’”

It is also said that Allah sent Gabriel to direct him to the site of the House, as Allah Most High says: “And when We showed Abraham the site of the House.” Abraham and Ishmael then built the House: Abraham built it while Ishmael handed him the stones. This is the meaning of His saying, exalted is He: “And when Abraham and Ishmael were raising the foundations of the House”—that is, its foundations; the singular is qaidah (foundation). Al-Kisai said: “The walls of the House.”

Ibn Abbas said: “The House was built from five mountains: Mount Sinai, Mount Zayta, Lebanon—a mountain in Syria—and al-Judi—a mountain in Upper Mesopotamia; and its foundations were made from Hira, a mountain in Mecca.” When Abraham reached the place of the Black Stone, he said to Ishmael, “Bring me a fine stone that will serve as a marker for the people.” Ishmael brought him a stone, but he said, “Bring me one finer than this.” Ishmael went off to look for one, whereupon Abu Qubays cried out, “O Abraham, I have a trust belonging to you; take it!” So he took the Black Stone and placed it in its position.

It is also said that Allah Most High built a House in heaven—the Oft-Frequented House—which is called al-Durah, and commanded the angels to build the Kaabah on earth directly beneath it, matching its dimensions and form. It is also said that Adam was the first to build the Kaabah, but it disappeared during the Flood. Then Allah disclosed it to Abraham, and he rebuilt it. (1)

Concerning His saying, “Our Lord, accept this from us”: there is an ellipsis here; that is, they were saying, “Our Lord, accept from us the building we have made. Indeed, You are the All-Hearing,” of our supplication, “the All-Knowing,” of our intentions.

“Our Lord, make us both submissive to You, and from our descendants a community submissive to You. Show us our rites and accept our repentance. Indeed, You are the Ever-Accepting of repentance, the Most Merciful.” (128)

Concerning His saying, “Our Lord, make us both submissive to You”: that is, affirming Your oneness, obedient, sincere, and humble before You.