Muslim Views . December 201724

SALIM PARKERTHE door of the Kaabah risesabove the ground level of theGrand Mosque in Makkah, withabout two metres and 20 centimetres separating it from thefloor.

The door is 3,18 metres highand 1,71 metres wide. This is ac-cording to the family entrusted tolook after the Kaabah, the al-Shaibi family who are the custodi-ans of the Kaabah.

Very little documentary evi-dence of the history of the door isavailable and some consider thisto be one of the unknown aspectsof the Kaabah. There is no docu-mentation of its initial shape, whatit was made of, who built it overthe ages or what its builderslooked like.

There is, however, one indis-putable historical fact: the Kaabahhad two doors for a long time.Some say that it even had a win-dow for a while.

The current door is the legacyof Shaikh Ahmad bin IbrahimBadr, the chief artist who recastthe golden door of the Kaabah. Hemade the door using 300 kilo-grams of pure gold at the orders ofKing Khaled, in October 1979.The work was carried out at aworkshop prepared exclusively forthe project.

He also refurbished the meezab(the spout on the roof of theKaabah) and the HajaratulAswad’s (Black Stone) silverframe. He learnt this art from hisfather, Shaikh Ibrahim Badr, whooriginally designed and built thedoor when King Abdul Aziz or-dered him to do so, in 1942. Hejoined his father’s workshop at theage of 15 to continue an art formthat the family was famous for.

In 1977, the then King Khalidnoticed scratches at the bottom ofthe door while he was praying in-side the Grand Mosque. He imme-diately ordered that the door beremade and for a Taubah (repen-tance) door to be installed andcoated with gold.

Ahmad and two relatives, Mah-moud and Ibrahim Badr, cast thedoor in pure gold, taking a fullyear to complete the work. The in-terior pillars and the meezab,made with 25 kilograms of 24-carat gold, were also completedduring that time.

The duah, ‘Ya Hayy YaQayyum’ (O the Living, O theLasting), verses of the Holy Quranare inscribed on the door. Thewords ‘Allah’ and ‘Muhammad’were also inscribed on the door.Ahmed died at the age of 89, inMakkah, in 2009.

It is generally believed thatwhen Prophet Ibrahim (AS) builtthe Kaabah, the two openingswere on ground level. Worshipperscould enter from the eastern open-ing and exited through the westernone. The current door is on theeastern side.

The door remained on the orig-inal eastern side until the Quraishrebuilt the Kaabah after it was

damaged. They raised it above theground during the reconstructionphase. It is not known whether orwhen the western door was re-moved.

Sayyida Aisha (RA) once askedthe Prophet (SAW) why theQuraish had raised the door abovethe ground. The Prophet (SAW)replied: ‘Your people did it so thatthey could permit into the Kaabahonly those people whom they ap-proved of and could prevent those

whom they pleased.‘Had your people not been re-

cently removed from ignoranceand had I not feared that theywould be averse to change, Iwould have included the Hateemwithin the Kaabah and broughtthe door level with the ground.’

The Syrian army destroyed theKaabah in the 64th year after Hi-jrah. Ibn az-Zubayr wanted tochange the Kaabah to howProphet Muhammad (SAW) had

wanted it, on the foundation builtby Prophet Ibrahim (AS). Accord-ing to reports, he built it with twodoors on ground level and addedthe Hateem area to it.

In the 74th year after Hijrah(693 AD), Al-Hajjaj bin Yusuf al-Thaqafi, demolished what Ibn az-Zubayr had added to it from theolder foundation. He restored theold Quraish structure, which re-sulted in an elevated, single easterndoor, and the Hateem area re-moved.

Abbasid Khalifa Harun alRasheed wanted to rebuild theKaabah the way Prophet Muham-mad (SAW) wanted and the wayAbdullah ibn az-Zubayr had builtit.

However, when he consultedImam Malik, the imam advisedhim not to proceed as the constantdemolition and rebuilding is notrespectful and each future rulerwould want to put his own per-sonal stamp on it. He acceptedImam Malik’s advice and the

structure has remained more orless the same since then.

Some sources claim that, in thepast, the Holy Kaabah was openedtwice a week, on Mondays andThursdays.

According to Abdul Aziz, theHoly Kaabah was kept open threetimes a month for people to enterand pray inside. However, whenthe number of people seeking toenter it increased, it was stopped.

Now, it is opened only twice ayear for cleaning, and it is done inan Islamic ceremony and in thepresence of a large number of of-ficials as well as the ambassadorsand consuls of Islamic countriesand other guests of the Custodianof the Two Holy Mosques.

The Kaabah is washed withZam-zam, rose water and oud.

The key of the Kaabah does notnecessarily change when the dooris changed. During the time ofKing Khaled, even though thedoor was changed, the key wasnot changed.

The history of the door to Allah’s House

In the past, pilgrims were allowed to enter the Kaabah, as can be seen in thisscene, where they are leaving Allah’s House.

Photo courtesy SAUDI DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

The current door is on the easternside of the Kaabah but pilgrims are nolonger allowed to enter. Nowadays,the inside of the Kaabah is only seenby dignitaries and guests when it isbeing cleaned, which happens twice ayear. Photo SALIM PARKER

The Kaabah door has been replaced a few times but the lock is relatively unchanged. Photo SALIM PARKER