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‘We were not ordered with entering it but only with circumambulating it.’ Ḥadīth and fiqh on entering the Ka'ba1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

Extract

Works of fiqh often have chapters or sections concerned with various questions related to the topic of entering the Ka'ba, usually signalled by headings such as Fī dukhūl al-Ka'ba or Al-ṣalāt fī (jawfi) 'l-Ka'ba. In them a number of ḥadīths are referred to, many of which are to be found in the classical collections and some of which occur as well in ‘historical’ literature such as sīra and ta'rīkh. This paper discusses the way in which this material is presented and developed, both in fiqh and in ḥadīth and ‘historical’ literature, what sort of questions it is concerned with, and what reasons there may be for its existence. This last question is taken up at the end of the paper but here it may be said that I think that the fiqh and ḥadīth material is relevant to an understanding of the development of the Muslim sanctuary and that it illustrates a tension, which is also observable in other traditional material, between two concepts of the sanctuary: is it ‘open’, comparable to a temple or church, or is it ‘closed’, like an ark or sacred stone? Both concepts exist within Muslim tradition, and it seems to me likely that the material discussed in the following two sections has been generated, originally, by the tension between them.

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Articles
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Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1984

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References

2 See Gaudefroy-Demombynes, M., Le pèlerinage à la Mekke, Paris, 1923, 62 ff.Google Scholar; Lazarus-Yafeh, H., Some religious aspects of Islam, Leiden, 1981, p. 139, n. 30, also draws attention to the dispute about prayer in the Ka'ba.Google Scholar

3 Mālik, , Muwaṭṭa', riwāya of al-Laythī, Beirut, 1971, 275Google Scholar (in the Kitāb al-Ḥajj) (=Bukhārī, ṣalāt, no. 96, 2; Nasā'i, Qibla, no. 6; Shafi'ī, , Kitāb al-Umm, Cairo, 1321, I, 85Google Scholar; Akhbār makka, Azraqī apud. Wüstenfeld, F., Die Chroniken der Stadt Mekka, I, Leipzig, 1858, 190–1Google Scholar; Fāsi, , Shifā' al-gharām, Cairo, 1956, 138–9)Google Scholar; Azraqi, 187, 188–90, 190, 190–1; al-Razzāq, 'Abd, Muṣannaf, Beirut, 1970 ff., no. 9064Google Scholar; Bukhārī, Ḥajj, no. 51, alāt, no. 96; Wāqidī, , Maghāzī, London, 1966, 835, 1100Google Scholar; Hishām, Ibn, Sīra. second ed., Cairo, 1375 /1955, n, 413Google Scholar; Sa'd, Ibn, Ṭabaqāt, Leiden 1904–21, II/1, 128Google Scholar

4 e.g., 'Abd al-Razzāq, Muṣannaf, nos. 9064, 9065, 9071

5 Mālik, Muwatta', loc. cit., and those who cite it from him (Mālik—Nāfi'—Ibn 'Umar); Bukhāri, Ḥajj, 51, ṣalāt, 96, 1

6 Hishām, Ibn, Sīra, II, 413Google Scholar; Wāqidi, Maghāzi, 835; Azraqī, , Akhbīr Makka, 187, II. 314Google Scholar

7 Wāqidī, 1100; Ibn Sa'd, II/1, 128

8 Wāqidī, 623, 737–8; Ibn Sa'd, II/1, 88

9 For elaboration of this, see my ‘The Muslim takeover of the sanctuary ’ in the proceedings of the second conference ‘ From Jahiliyya to Islam ’ held in Jerusalem, July 1982, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (forthcoming)

10 Azraqī, 191, 1. 18; Ibn Sa'd, II/1, 124

11 Schacht, J., Origins of Muhammadan jurisprudence, Oxford, 1950, 176 ffGoogle Scholar; idem, Ada Orientalia, XXI, 1953, 292 fGoogle Scholar

12 e.g., 'Abd al-Razzāq, no. 9062 (‘Atā’ made Ṣalāt in the bayt, Ibn Jurayj and 'Amr b. Dīnār transmit the report of the Prophet's Ṣalāt in the bayt). Azraqī, 192 (having missed the ẓuhr with the imām, ‘Atā’ entered the Ka'ba and prayed it in its jawf). Ibn 'Abbās is credited with the dictum: ‘ whoever enters the bayt enters into ṥasana and departs from sayyi'a, and he leaves it with his sins forgiven ’ (Bayhaqī, , Sunan, Haidarabad, 1344, v, 158Google Scholar; Ṭabarī, Muṥibb al-Dīn, Al-Qirā li-qāṣid Umm al-Qurā, Cairo, 1970, 494, who classes it as ṥasan gharib)Google Scholar

13 Azraqi, 191, 11. 3–5 ('Alī bḤusayn); cf. 'Abd al-Razzāq, Muṣannaf, no. 9056 at the end

14 Schacht, Jurisprudence, 263, 268

15 For example of the discussion of this varient, see Bayhaqī, , sunan, II 326–7Google Scholar; Muṥibb al-Din Ṭabarī, 497–8

16 Wāqidī, Maghāzi, 835; Mālik, MuwaṠṠa', loc. cit., and those who cite it from him; Sa'd, Ibn, ṣabaqāt, II/1, 128Google Scholar

17 Wāqidī, 1100; Ibn, Sa'd, II / 1, 128Google Scholar; Bukhāri, Ḥajj, no. 51

18 Hishām, Ibn, Sīra, II, 413Google Scholar; Azraqī, 185; 187, 11. 3–14; 188, 1. 3–190, 1. 7; 190, 11. 8–12; Bukharī, Ṣalāt, no. 96, 1

19 Wāqidī, 1100; Ibn Sa'd, II / 1, 128

20 Hishām, Ibn, Sīra, II, 413; Azraqi, 187, 11. 3–14Google Scholar

21 Wāqidī, 835 (= Azraqī, 185); Mālik, MuwaṠṠa', loc. cit., and citations of it; Bukhārī, Ḥajj, no. 51, Ṣalāt, no. 91, 1

22 ‘What did the Prophet do ? ’: Muivatta', loc. cit. and citations of it; Wāqidါ, 835. ‘ Where did the Prophet make Ṣalāt ? ’: Ibn Hishām, Sīra, 413; Azraqī, 185, which, apart from this one variant, is the same as Wāqidī, 835, and cites Wāqidi as the source for the report

23 To wipe off the pictures inside the Ka'ba, or to cast out the wooden dove which was inside, or to order the destruction of the ram's horns which were there

24 Hishām, Ibn, Sīra, II, 413Google Scholar; Azraqī, 187, 1. 14 ff. ( = Bukhārī, Hajj, no. 52; Fāsi, Shifā', 139; Bayhaqī, , Sunan, II, 327, v, 157; Muṥibb al-Dīn Ṭabarī, Qirā, 496)Google Scholar

25 Muṥibb al-Dīn Ṭabarī, Qirā, 494 ( I bn 'Umar never entered the bayt in his many ṥijjdt)

26 Wāqidī, Maghāzi, 1100; 'Abd al-Razzāq, Muṣannaf, no. 9058; Bayhaqī, Sunan, v, 158.

27 e.g., 'Abd al-Razzāq, no. 9057; presumably the introduction of al-Fḍal into the tradition results from the tendency to associate t h e tradition of t h e Prophet's prayer in the bayt with that of his entry to purify it of t h e images of prophets and angels which were there. In this latter tradition al-Faḍl is sometimes named as a participant, perhaps part of t h e attempt to associate the 'Abbāsids with the siqāya (al-Faḍl is sent by the Prophet to get Zamzam water to wash away t h e pictures), and it may be that he has been borrowed from it to serve as his brother's informant regarding the Prophet's failure to make ṣalāt in the bayt.

28 Denials such as that by Ibn Abī Awfā (Muṥibb al-Dīn Ṭabarī, 494–5; Bayhaqī, V, 159) apply only to specific occasions, they are not claims t h a t he never entered it

29 Wāqidī, 1100

30 On Simak see Ḥajar, Ibn, Tahdhīb, Haidarabad, 1325, IV, 235–6 (no. 399)Google Scholar

31 Azraqါ, 191; 'Abd al-Razzāq, MuḶannaf, no. 9066; Bayhaqī, , Sunan, II, 328Google Scholar; Muṥibb al-Din Ṭabarī, Qirā, 495

32 'Abd al-Razzāq, no. 9059

33 'Abd al-Razzāq, no. 9056 (=Ibn Ḥanbal, Musnad, v, 208); Bayhaqī, , Sunan, II, 328.Google Scholar

34 References as in the preceding note

35 Azraqī, 191; Muṥibb al-Din Ṭabarī, Qirā, 495

36 Shāfi'i, , Umm, II, 144–5Google Scholar (Ṣalāt is only to take precedence over the Ṡawāf of arrival if one's arrival in Mecca coincides with one of the obligatory times of prayer). Muṥibb al-Din Ṭabarī, 197, notes that the Ibn 'Umar-Bilāl tradition implies that the Prophet did not make the Ṡawāf of arrival, but he excuses it by saying that the tradition refers to the time of al-fatṥ, and not to a pilgrimage, so the Ṡawāf of arrival would not be absolutely obligatory

37 Azraqī, 191, II. 11–13

38 ibid., 11. 8–10

39 Azraqī, 191, II. 18 ff.; Muṥibb al-Din Ṭabari, Qirā, 495

40 Bayhaqī, , Sunan, v, 159 (bāb mā yustadallu bihi 'alā an dukhūlahu laysa bi-wājib)Google Scholar

41 Wāqidī, Maghāzi, 1100; Ibn Sa'd, II/1, 128–9

42 Saṥnūn, , Mudawwana, Cairo, 1323, I, 90–1 (Kit–b al-ṣalāt)Google Scholar

43 Mālik, MuivaṠṠa', loc. cit

44 Note that in the Mudawwana the discussion is in the Kitāb al-Ṣalāt while in the MuwaṠṠa' the tradition is given in the Kitāb al-Ḥajj

45 Ḥazm, Ibn, Muṥallā, Cairo, 1348, IV, 80 (question 435)Google Scholar; Sarakhsī, , Mabsūt, Cairo, 1906–13, II, 87Google Scholar

46 Muṥallā, loc. cit

47 Ibn Qudāma, Mughnī, n.p., n.d., II (in the Kitāb al-Ṣalāt)

48 Shāfi'i, , Umm, I, 85 {Kitāb al-Ṣalāt)Google Scholar; Ikhtilāf Mālik wa'l-Shāfi'i, ibid., at bottom of page

49 Ṭabarī, Muṥibb al-Din, Qirā, Cairo, 1970, 498Google Scholar

50 Shāfi'ī, , Umm, I, 85Google Scholar; Bayhaqī, , Sunan, II, 326–9 (Kitāb al-Ṣalāt), v, 157–9 (Kitāb al-Ḥajj)Google Scholar; Ḥazm, Ibn, Muṥallā, IV, 80Google Scholar; Sarakhsī, , Mabsūt, II, 87Google Scholar; Muṥibb al-Din Ṭabarī, Qirā, 495–6; Shawkānī, , Nayl al-awṠār, Cairo, 1938, II, 140–2Google Scholar In general, the Shāfi'i and Ḥanafī authors seem less concerned with rebutting the Mālikī position than with attempting to reconcile the diverse ṥadīths, or, when reconciliation is impossible, with saying why the Ibn 'Umar-Bilāl tradition is to be preferred to Ibn 'Abbās-Usāma

51 Ibn Qudāma, Mughnī, loc. cit. Ibn Qudāma does base his opposition to the performance of the obligatory ṣalāt inside the Ka'ba on the difficulty of observing the qibla there, arguing that qibla is not so important in the case of voluntary Ṣalāt. As proof of the fact that one has to have all of the Ka'ba in front for obligatory Ṣalāt he refers to Q. 2: 150 (‘ wherever you are turn your face to al-masjid al-ṥarām ’), thereby implying the equivalence of al-masjid al-ṥarām with the Ka'ba or al-bayt. One of the most obviously relevant Qur'ānic verses (wa-man dakhalahu—soil, the bayt—kāna āminan) does not seem to be referred to in these discussions

52 Ṭūsi, , Istibṣār, I, 298–9 (Kitāb al-ṣalāt)Google Scholar; idem, Tahdhīb, Kitāb al-Hajj, bāb 93; Kulīnī, , Kāfī, Tehran, 1315/1898, II, 108–9 (Kitāb al-ṣalāt)Google Scholar: Hillī, Shard'ī', Najaf 1969, I, 65 (Kitāb al- ṣalāt)—discussion in terms similar to Ibn Qudāma. The Zaydi Majmū' al-fiqh seems not to discuss the question, while the Manāsik attributed to Zayd b. 'Alī (MS Berlin 10360, fol. 7a) accepts the desirability of entering the Ka'ba and making ṣalāt there at the end of the ṥajj, although indicating that it is not necessary to do so

53 Shawkānī, ;, Nayl, II, 141, describes it as mashrū/Google Scholar

54 Gaudefrov-Demombynes, Peèlerinage, 66–8; El, article ‘ Ka'ba ’, first ed. II, 588a; second ed., IV, 320a

55 Burton, R. F., Personal narrative of a pilgrimage to al-Madinah and Meccah, London, 1893, 206 ffGoogle Scholar; Gaudefroy-Demombynes, Pèlerinage, 62. Both note too that some worshippers are reluctant, for fear or reverence, to enter the Ka'ba

56 Muṥibb al-Din Ṭabarī, Qirā, 502; Gaudefroy-Demombynes, Pèlerinage, 68

57 See the paper cited above, n. 9

58 e.g., Azraqi's chapter, 118 ff., on the opening (fatṥ) of the Ka'ba in the Jāhiliyya, with its story of the woman who gave birth inside. There is a tradition that 'Alī was born inside the Ka'ba (Mas'ūdī, Murūj al-dhahab, Beirut 1970, III, 93). The idols Isāf and Nā'ila were said to have been a man and a woman who fornicated inside the bayt and were turned to stone (Azraqī, 48)

59 Ibn al-Zubayr is described as rebuilding the Ka'ba with two doors, an entrance and an exit, at ground level, basing himself on a tradition from ‘Ā’isha that the Prophet would have done go, had conditions been right. When Ḥajjāj built or rebuilt the Ka'ba after defeating Ibn al-Zubayr, he is said to have restored it to its earlier state, with the one door raised about 6 feet above ground level so that entrance has to be obtained by means of movable steps. It is remarkable that the Ka'ba is said to have been in this latter condition in the life of the Prophet but the reports about his entrance into it never refer to the steps

60 Sourdel-Thomine, J., ‘Clefs et serrures de la Ka'ba’, REI, XXXIX, 1971, 2986.Google Scholar

61 At the colloquium Dr. John Burton argued in favour of this explanation

62 The origins of the Muslim sanctuary at Mecca’, in Juynboll, G. H. A. (ed.), Studies on the first century of Islamic society, Southern Illinois University Press, 1982, 2347Google Scholar; ‘The disappearance and rediscovery of Zamzam and the ' well of the Ka'ba- ’, BSOAS, XLIII, 1 1980, 4454Google Scholar

63 e. g., Eliade, Mircea, Patterns in comparative religion, London, 1958, 227Google Scholar

64 Azraqī, Akhbār Makka, 10

65 Wāqidī, Maghāzi, 832

66 cf. Q. 2: 125 and 22: 26 with Q. 3: 97 and 48: 27. One should note, however, that Qur'anic references to Ṡawāf may not necessarily refer to Ṡawāf of the Ka'ba or to circumambulation in the sense with which it is now used at the sanctuary at Mecca: Q. 2: 158 refers to the Ṡawāf of Ṣafā, and Marwa