The Kaaba, meaning cube in Arabic, is a square building elegantly draped in a silk and cotton veil. Located in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, it is the holiest shrine in Islam. Followers of Islam (Muslims) pray five times a day and these prayers were directed towards Mecca and the Kaaba rather than Jerusalem; this direction or qibla in Arabic-is making in all mosques and enables the faithful to know in which direction they should pray. Muslims from all around the world make a pilgrimage to Madina to perform hajj at least once in their life time, the number of pilgrims can get to million people during hajj.
Muhammad (peace be upon him) was driven out of Mecca in 620 CE to Yathrib, which is known as Madina. Upon his return to Mecca 629/30 CE, the shrine became the focal point for Muslims worship and pilgrimage.
During the civil war between the Caliph Abdul Malik and Ibn Zubayr, who controlled Mecca,
the Kaaba was set on fire in 683 CE. The Kaaba was set on fire in 683 CE. Ibn Zubayr, resembled it with silver. He rebuild the Kaaba in wood and stone, following Abraham's original dimensions and also paved the space around the Kaaba.
Abbasid Caliphs, who ruled from 50-1250 CE, the mosque around the KAABA was expanded and modified several times. From 1269-1517 CE, the Mamluks of Egypt controlled the Hajiz, the highlands in western Arbia where Mecca is located.
The last major modifications were carried out in the 1950s by the government of Saudi Arabia to accommodate the increasingly large number of pilgrims who come on the hajj. Today the mosque cover almost 40 acres.
The numerous changes to the Kaaba and its associated mosque serve as good reminder of how often buildings, even sacred ones, are renovated and remodeled either due to damage or to the changing needs of the community.
Source The Art and Architecture in the Islamic Tradition, by Mohammad Hamdouni Alami
:https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/.../the-kaaba
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