When Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) was thirty-five years old, the Quraish decided to rebuild the Ka’bah. This was five years before Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) became the prophet of Allah Ta‘ala.
When Nabi Ebrahim (‘alaihis salaam) had built the Ka’bah, it did not have a roof. Also, the walls were not very high. They were just a little taller than the height of a normal person. Because the Ka’bah was very old, and whenever it would rain, the water would flow into the Ka’bah and fill it, the Ka’bah was becoming damaged and needed to be rebuilt. That is why the Quraish decided to rebuild the Ka’bah.
After deciding to rebuild the Ka’bah, Abu Wahab said to the Quraish, “Remember that the money used to build the Ka’bah must be halaal money. It must not be money from sins, stealing and other haraam things. Allah Ta‘ala will only accept our building and be happy with us if we use halaal money.”
All the different families of the Quraish wanted to build the Ka’bah, so the building was shared between them. Each family was given a section of the Ka’bah to build. In this way, everyone could get a chance to build the Ka’bah.
Before rebuilding the Ka’bah, the Quraish first broke the old Ka’bah and dug into the ground until they saw the original, old foundation that Nabi Ebrahim (‘alaihis salaam) had built. Then the Quraish began to build the Ka’bah on that foundation.
After the Quraish finished building the Ka’bah, the only thing that was left was to place the Hajar Aswad into the wall of the Ka’bah. The Hajar Aswad is a stone that Allah Ta‘ala sent down to the earth from Jannah. All the different families of the Quraish wanted the honour of placing the Hajar Aswad in its place, so they all started to argue with one another, until they even took out their swords and wanted to fight!
In this way, four or five days passed and the Quraish were still fighting. Finally, one old man in the Quraish said that they should make someone choose and decide as to who will place the Hajar Aswad in its place. The person who will choose will be the first person to enter the Haram the next morning. The Quraish agreed and they all waited to see who would enter the next morning.
The next morning, as everyone was waiting, they saw that the first person to enter the Haram was Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam). When the Quraish saw that he would choose, they were very happy, because they knew that he was honest and trustworthy.
Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) made the Quraish bring a sheet and place the Hajar Aswad in the sheet. Then, the leader of each family held one part of the sheet, and all together they lifted the sheet carrying the Hajar Aswad. After lifting it, Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) took the Hajar Aswad with his own hands and placed it into its place, in the wall of the Ka’bah.
In this way, all the families took part in placing the Hajar Aswad and nobody was left out. All the people were happy, and Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) saved the Quraish from a big fight.
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