“I was present when Ibn al-Zubayr demolished the Kaaba, rebuilt it, and incorporated the Ḥijr into it. I actually saw Abraham’s foundation—stones tightly interlocked, fitting together like the closely joined humps of camels.”
(Reported from ʿĀʾishah.)
Al-Bukhārī narrated it (1/44, 491; 3/197; 4/412); Muslim (4/99-100); Abū Nuʿaym in al-Mustakhraj (folio 174/2); al-Nasāʾī (2/34-35); al-Tirmidhī (1/166), who declared it sound; al-Dāramī (1/53-54); Ibn Mājah (2955); Mālik (1/363); al-Azraqī in Akhbār Makkah (pp. 114-115, 218-219); and Aḥmad (6/57, 67, 92, 102, 113, 136, 176, 179, 239, 247, 253, 262) through multiple chains from her.
Legal insights drawn from the ḥadith:
-
When pursuing a reform will create a greater harm, it must be postponed. From this the jurists derived their well-known maxim: “Preventing harm takes precedence over procuring benefit.”
-
The noble Kaaba now stands in need of the very alterations mentioned in the ḥadith, for the reason that deterred the Messenger of Allah ﷺ—namely, the fear that those newly departed from polytheism would recoil—no longer exists. Ibn Baṭṭāl cited some scholars who said, “What he ﷺ feared was that they might accuse him of seeking distinction for himself alone.”
Those reforms can be summarized as follows:
- Expanding the Kaaba and rebuilding it upon Abraham’s foundation by adding roughly six cubits from the Ḥijr.
- Lowering its floor so that it is level with the ground of the Sacred Precinct.
- Opening an additional door on the western side.