MAKKAH: When worshippers circumambulate the Kaaba, they are often mesmerized by Maqam Ibrahim, the footprints of Prophet Ibrahim, kept in an enclosed glass case.
Maqam Ibrahim is a stone on which the prophet stood when the Kaaba was being built.
The stone is 50 centimeters long on each side and has two footprints in the middle in the form of two oval pits.
(AN photo by Faisal Al-Fahad)
According to historians, when the Kaaba was being built, the walls became too high and Prophet Ibrahim stood on a stone that miraculously lifted him to build the walls and lowered him so he could collect stones from his son, Prophet Ismail.
Dr. Samir Ahmed Barqah, a researcher in the history of Makkah and the prophet’s biography, told Arab News: “It is a wet stone holding the footprints of Prophet Ibrahim. His footprints remain visible to the present day. The maqam and the Black Stone are the oldest and most sacred landmarks in Islam, dating back 4,000 years.
(AN photo by Faisal Al-Fahad)
It is located in front of the door of the Kaaba, around 10 to 11 meters east.”
Barqah said that historian Mohammed Tahir Al-Kurdi in 1367 stated the length of the footprints to be 22 centimeters long and 14 centimeters wide.
The stone is set in a gold and silver frame and kept in a glass case. During Omar Ibn Al-Khattab’s caliphate, Nahshal floods hit the city and dislodged the stone from its place. When the caliph came to Makkah, he fixed the stone in its current position.
(AN photo by Faisal Al-Fahad)
It was previously inside a compartment to protect it from damage and theft. But the compartment was later removed, with the stone placed inside glass casing so that every worshipper could see it.
History researcher Saad Al-Sharif said that, throughout time, the stone had always remained near the Kaaba.
When Prophet Muhammad conquered Makkah, he and his companions decided to shift the stone from its original location near the Kaaba to its current location at a distance of more than 10 meters to facilitate circumambulation.
