www.unc.edu/courses/2003fall/anth/023/001/images/conti.htm
Conti (The Ka'aba at Mecca, Saudi Arabia) Some monuments are prized for their beauty, others for their importanc e in the life of a people. The Ka'aba, the sanctuary t Mecca, belongs t o the second category. The Ka'aba is considered by Moslems to be the mo st sacred spot on earth, so sacred that nonMoslems are forbidden to set eyes on it. Only a few Christians, perhaps the most famous being the n ineteenth-century English explorer Sir Richard Burton, have successfully violated this prohibition. The accounts of these daring travelers tend to confirm the wisdom of excluding nonbelievers, for the glories of the Ka'aba cannot be measured by the aesthetic standards of the infidel. The Ka'aba at M ecca is not a perfectly geometric cube, but the name aptly describes thi s plain, boxlike structure of mortared stone. Inside, the Ka'aba is emp ty except for three pillars which support the roof and hundreds of gold and silver lamps hanging from the ceiling. Outside the sanctuary, worsh ipers focus their attention on the sacred Black Stone, which is mounted in silver at the eastern corner of the Ka'aba. This relic, most likely a meteorite, is said by the sages to symbolize the human soul shining un der the throne of God although it was long ago worn dull under the hands and lips of countless pilgrims. One of the most striking features of t he Ka'aba, although perhaps more strange than beautiful, is the immense black cloth in which the entire building is swathed. Woven into the fab ric in gold thread is the Moslem credo, "There is no God but Allah and M ohammed is his Prophet." Every day, devout Moslems bow five times toward this unprepossessing m onument, and for fourteen centuries, believers of all social classes hav e traveled thousands of miles and faced untold hardships for the privile ge of praying outside its walls. Spiritually and historically, the Ka'a ba is the center of Islam, but many centuries before the birth of the Pr ophet Mohammed, it was already venerated as the mythical point of origin of the Arab race. The early Arabs, whose name recalls their origins as a "people of the desert," worshiped hundreds of deities, although one g od, Allah, has apparently always reigned supreme. According to Arab leg end, the Ka'aba was the first temple to Allah and the original house of God, constructed by Adam himself. After being cast out from the presenc e of God, Adam wandered in despair until, in the bleak valleys of the He jaz region of Arabia, he received a sign of forgiveness. Under a ruby c anopy supported by four emerald columns shone a pearly stone so radiant that it illuminated the entire valley. Adam walked seven times around t his vision, establishing a tradition still followed by pilgrims today. He then gathered rocks from nearby Mount Hira to erect a wall around the site. This was the beginning of the Ka'aba, which according to legend is the world's first work of architecture. The temple was also the firs t monument to be pillaged in favor of a later one when, upon Adam's deat h, the shining stone was removed to his tomb on Mount Qubais. Tradition links the Ka'aba with the other patriarch, Abraham, who disc overed the foundations of Adam's temple, which had been destroyed by the Flood. He scrupulously reconstructed the original floor plan of the tem ple, an irregular quadrilateral whose four walls are 32, 22, 37, and 20 ells (a fortyfiveinch length of measurement) long. Abraham was assisted in his labor by his s on, Ishmael, who did the heavy work, carrying boulders "as big as camels ." Although he ventured deep into the surrounding hills, Ishmael could find no stone special enough to mark the corner where the ritual circuma mbulation of the shrine was to begin. One day Ishmael returned emptyha nded from the search to discover that the pearly stone of Adam's vision had been miraculously transported from Mount Qubais to the eastern corne r of the rebuilt temple. The Ka'aba was now complete, and Abraham issue d the call to worship which is still answered by pilgrims today. Other than traditional accounts, few facts can be substantiated about the origin of the Ka'aba. But over the c enturies, the shrine that Abraham had built to the one God had become a house of idols. As many as 360 images of tribal deities were arranged a long the Kaaba's walls, including representations of Abraham and Ishmael . The concept of monotheism was not entirely lost in the Hejaz, bu t for hundreds of years it was preserved only by Hebrew tribes who settl ed among the Arabs, adopted their customs, and converted many of the desert people to Judaism. One influential convert was As' ad Abu Kari, a king of the Himyar dynasty which traced its lineage back to the queen of Sheba. Kari, who had come to Mecca for plunder, was inspi red by a dream to "clothe" the Ka'aba, first with a covering of palm leaves and, later, wit h striped cloth from Yemen. The custom is still honored today, although the coveri ng is now a rich brocade manufactured in Egypt and replaced annually with great ceremony. During the period of greatest Jewish influence, Christianity too reached Mecca and was assimilated into Arab polytheism. Pictures o f the Madonna and Child were added to the Kaaba's pantheon, and Christia n Arabs joined Jews and pagans in worship at the sanctuary. By this tim e, the building attributed to Abraham had undergone several reconstructi ons, and the city of Mecca had grown up around the monument. Mecca was organized according to a rigid class system, its founder and his descend ants lived around the Kaaba's courtyard. Allied tribes were settled aro und them in concentric circles. The lowliest classes slaves, mercenarie s, and foreigners were relegated to the fringes of the city. In AD 57 0, Mecca was invaded by an Ethiopian governor of southern Arabia who had vowed to convert the city to Christianity. It is said that, just as th e governor was about to raze the Ka'aba itself, his elephant suddenly kn elt in front of the shrine and refused to advance. Fiftyfive days afte r this dramatic sign of God's protection, Mohammed, the future Prophet o f Islam, was born. Thirtyfive years later, the citizens of Mecca rebui lt the Ka'aba once again. When the renovation was nearly finished, the story is told of an argument that arose over who was to have the honor o f replacing the shrine's sacred stone. It was finally agreed to let the next man who chanced to enter the courtyard make the decision. He pacified the disputing tribesmen by placing the ston e on a cloth and asking a representative of each faction to hold the cor ners while he lifted the stone into its niche. At the time of Mohammed's fortuitous involvement with the Ka'aba, he w as simply a respectable local merchant. Within a few years, his positio n in the community had radically altered. A succession of revelations l ed Mohammed to believe that he had been chosen for a divine mission, and at the age of forty, he declared himself the Messenger of Allah. The P rophet initially inspired more hostility than support and was forced to flee his enemies in Mecca for the safety of Medina. In 630, he returned to his home city after an eightyear exile. His first act in Mecca was to pay the traditional homage at the Ka'aba; the second was to call for the keys to the sanctuary and remove the idols within, le aving only the images of Abraham, Jesus, and ones, and the portico's nin eteen doors the Virgin. Thus purified, the Ka'aba became the spiritual center of the rapidly e xpanding Moslem empire. After Mohammed's death, his followers quarreled over who should succeed him, and, in the ensuing civil war, stones from catapults were fired into the temple courtyard, cracking the Black Ston e The temple was soon divided into sections, each reserved for one of the numerous Islamic sects. One of these sects, the Karmathians, even s ucceeded in carrying off the Black Stone. Twentytwo years later, it was ransomed and returned to Mecca, but by then it had been broken into sev eral pieces. Despite these depredations, the Kaaba's spiritual signific ance continued to grow. Pilgrims, obeying the Prophet's exhortation to visit Mecca at least onc...
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