Kamal F. Ishak

MAQAM Ibrāhīm, where Muslim pilgrims pray.

 

 

MAQAM Ibrāhīm is a stone of small dimensions, roughly 60 x 60 x h 90 cm, of gloomy color, in the middle of the top of which there are 2 stretched semi-oval shaped cavities, having  a depth of about 14 cm. It is located near the southern corner of the Ka’ba. Muslims believed that these 2 concavities has been imprinted by the feet of Ibrāhīm (Abraham), when he climbed on that stone to complete the construction of the higher bonds of the Ka’ba!

 

We confuted previously the myth of the arrival of Abraham from Palestine to Mecca, and the fantastic stories concerning the building the Kaaba. It must be a fossilized imprint which backs to pre-Islamic era, in relationship to pagan worship of the Arabs.

A smart researcher suggested that the stone can be a fetish statue base, as the two deep semi-oval cavities are completely adequate to install the feet of the statue of stone or bronze. So the MAQAM is probably is a relic of fetishes and monuments destroyed by Muhammad when he conquested Mecca.

 

The historian Fakihy noticed that the stone bears a variety of lines and geometric shapes on the stone and an inscription.

… There is an inscription on the stone in Hebrew, but some say it is in Himyari script. It is the inscription which the People of Mecca found since the pre-Islamic Age. (Chronicles of Mecca).

R. Dozy reproduced the inscription and tried to decipher it (Die Israeliten zu Mekka, Leipzig 1864, 155-61).

 

It must be Omar ibn al-Khattab who attributed the stone to Abraham, few months before Muhammad’s death. In spite of being banned by the Prophet to quote passages from the Torah, Omar suggested to insert the alleged stone of Ibrahim into the ritual of Islam, and Allah of Muhammad agreed, as Islam is a practice of the unknown faith of Abraham, which is not the Jewish religion !

(JABIR) After circumambulating the Ka’ba, Omar said to the Prophet: This is the station of our Father Abraham! The Prophet said: Yes. Then Omar said: Would not we take a chapel? After a short interval, Allah revealed to the Prophet a verse (Sura II, v.125) with the same wordings of Omar. It was in Mecca in the Farewell Pilgrimage. (ITQAN, type II).

(Sura II, v. 125) “

Muslim scholars disagree about the significance of the expression “MAQAM Ibrāhīm”. 

1- the whole place of the pilgrimage.

2- Arafa, Muzdalifa and the Jimār sites.

3- Arafa hill only.

4- the Sacred zone (Ḥaram) of Mecca. 

5- the stone in the sanctuary of Mecca which commonly bears this name.

The great majority of the scholars accept this last hypothesis. 

(SA’ID ibn JUBAYR) Ibn Abbas said that Abraham was building the Ka’ba, while Ismail was handling stones to him. When the structure became higher than his reach, Abraham climbed on a stone [to continue building], and that is MAQAM Ibrahim.

(Baghawi) One scholar said that MAQAM Ibrahim is the whole mosque of Mecca, other scholar said that the whole the Sacred zone (Ḥaram) of Mecca, a third said that all the spots of Hajj are meant, another scholar reported that it is only Arafa. But It is true that the MAQAM Ibrahim is the stone in the Mosque of Mecca, upon which Abraham stood when building the House of Allah. It is said that the shapes of Abraham’s toes were previously imprinted too, but were wiped off due to rubbing hands of visitors. (Interpretation).

 

In fact, the word MAQAM is borrowed from Hebrew:

Abraham rose early and went to the place where he had stood (MAQOM) in the presence of the Lord. (Genesis 19:17). The Talmud recommends that each believer should have a personal MAQAM for prayer. (Berakhot 6b).

In the year 161 of Hijra (778 C.E.), the MAQAM was raised carelessly by one of its keepers, it fell down and cracked; it was repaired at the order of the Caliph Mahdī and its upper and lower parts were braced with gold.

The MAQAM was shifted to the rear by the Saudi government in order to widen the path for the circumambulation of the Ka’ba.

 

In the year 256 of Hijra (873 C.E.), some guardians of the Ka'ba came to the governor and informed him that the stones of the MAQAM had become loose. The governor ordered to restore it.  Striping the layers of gold and silver which were present, it was seen that the stone was broken into seven pieces. The governor called the goldsmiths and ordered them to prepare two golden bands which would brace the upper and the lower part of the MAQAM. (FAKIHY, an eye-witness).