26/08/2018
This Picture. has been shared far and wide. It was taken on the night of 8th Dhil Hijjah, when strong winds raised up the Ka'bah's cover known as al-Kiswah. This happened because the threads joining the four sides at the corners had been untied in preparation for the changing of Kiswah the next morning.
This incident uncovered the spot (bottom right, 2 to 3 bricks from the corner) where Abdullah ibn Zubair had built the second door for the Kab'ah.
Abdullah ibn Zubair became the Caliph at Yazeed's death in 64AH. He ruled over Hijaz, Iraq, Yemen, and parts of Sham, until he was killed in 73 AH by Abdul Malik ibn Marwan's forces led by Hajjaj ibn Yusuf.
lbn Zubair had heard from his Aunt, Aisha, that the Messenger of Allah SallallahuAlayhiWasallam had expressed his wish to build two doors for the Ka'bah at ground level, one from where people could enter and the second from where they could exit. The only reason he didn't do so after the conquest of Makkah was because it would have caused mistrust among the Makkans who were recent reverts to Islam.
So lbn Zubair fulfilled this wish of the Prophet went he took the reigns of the Ummah.
After defeating and killing lbn Zubair, Hajjaj ibn Yusuf undid the changes made by lbn Zubair, thus returning the Kab'ah to its previous state.
Later on, some Abbasid Caliph consulted Imam Malik (d. 179) on reintroducing the changes lbn Zubair made to the Ka'bah,
thus fulfilling the Prophet SallallahuAlayhiWasallam's wish. Imam Malik advised him to leave it as it is, lest it should become a play thing in the hands of kings and rulers, each reconstructing and redesigning it according to his whims.
As for the Kiswah it self, it has been used to drape the Ka'bah since pre-Islamic times. Some report that lsma'eel was the first one to do so. Other reports mention Tubba the pre-Islamic Himyarite King of Yemen, as the first one to dress the Ka'bah. He came from a polytheist background, but became a Muslim upon the Sharee'ah of Musa (Judaism). It is reported that he was commanded in a dream to cover the Ka'bah. He did so, but was commanded again in a dream to do so with some better fabric.
After this it became the practice of Kings to dress the Kab'ah with the best fabric they could provide.
After Islam, the Messenger of Allah SallallahuAlayhiWasallam continued this Sunnah.
When he entered Makkah upon its conquest, he said: "This day Allah will honour the Kab'ah, and the Ka'bah will be dressed with a Kiswah this day ' [Sahih al-Bukhari]
Draping the House of Allah with Kiswah is in fact an act of veneration to Allah, for this is His House which Allah has appointed as a place for His worship. Draping graves with sheaths and cloaks amounts to God-like veneration of The people inside those graves, and is, thus, totally forbidden in Islam.
