What is the significance of the Ka’bah?

QUESTION: What is the significance of the Ka’bah?
BAWA MUHAIYADDEEN: We in Islam still do not understand this. The Prophet Abraham built a mosque on earth as an example and called it the Ka’bah. The Rasûl came later and repaired this same mosque which had been destroyed after the time of Abraham. This is the Ka’bah. What you asked about is a big question. This is a very important matter that Islam has not fully understood.

During the time of the Rasûl, the Ka’bah was rebuilt. The Rasûl proclaimed, “Come! Gather together here.” It is said that the Ka’bah is the central point for the world. Whatever a man considers as the focal point of his life is his Ka’bah. If with his îmān (unshakable faith) and certitude he sees Allāhu as the Complete One, then wherever he sees that Completeness, that is the Ka’bah. Wherever he prays to Him, that is the Ka’bah. Whenever he has this îmān and this connection, that is the Ka’bah.

Abraham constructed this building and revealed it as a place for remembrance of Allah. But it is only an outward example. Wherever those who are in Īmān-Islām, in purity, congregate—that is the Ka’bah. Wherever everyone gathers in unity as one—that is the Ka’bah. Any place that satan cannot approach—that is the Ka’bah. Where Allah and purity and His qudrat (power) are together in one place—that is the Ka’bah. That place which is formed with Allah’s three thousand gracious attributes and His ninety-nine beautiful qualities (wilāyāt) is the Ka’bah. When there is unity in the three worlds (awwal, dunyā, and ākhirah)—that is Islam. Then there will be Islam in the beginning (awawl), Islam in this world (dunyā), and Islam in the diving kingdom (ākhirah). That is Islam. The place where you join in unity with Allah in all three worlds is the Ka’bah. That is the throne of God (‘arsh). It is a place of worship and prayer. It is paradise (firdaus). Such a place is called the Ka’bah.

No matter where you are, the place where you unite with Allah is Ka’bah. When you focus upon the place of union between you and Allah within your heart, that place of purity is the Ka’bah. That will be the West. We were born in one place and must travel to the other. One place is where the light was sent to us, and the other is where it disappears. Allah sent this light, this soul to us. We must take it back, give it into His responsibility, and disappear within Him. The place where our soul and our îmān are taken back and absorbed into Allah is the Ka’bah. The place where our prayer unites with His is the Ka’bah. That is the place of worship for Īmān-Islām, and that place is within the qalb (innermost heart).

Within the qalb is the station of îmān where we recite the kalimah: Lā ilāha ill-Allāh, Muhammadur-Rasûlullāh, sallallāhu ‘alaihi wa sallam. (There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God. May the peace and blessings of God be upon him). That is where we speak to Allah with this kalimah and with our love for the Rasûl. This is the Mi’rāj (Muhammad’s mystical journey to meet God). That place where the Prophet conversed with Allah is called the Ka’bah, and the place where we converse with Allah is also called the Ka’bah. Where our soul, our îmān, and our purity converse with Allah, that place is called the Ka’bah. The pure qalb is called the Ka’bah. Perfectly pure places are called the Ka’bah. The place where you perform perfectly pure worship and prayer is the Ka’bah.

There are many meanings to this. It is Allah’s secret (sirr). In Islam, the place where everything unites as one is the Ka’bah. This is a place where there is no separation in all three worlds, in the beginning (awwal), this world (dunyā), or in the divine kingdom (ākhirah). That is where there are no differences and where we meet Allah and the Rasûl. There are three stations: the qalb, the ‘arsh, and the kursî. The qalb one-pointedly focuses upon the ‘arsh, and then the kursî bows down and prostrates (rukû’ and sajdah) within Allah. The kursî glorifies Allah (tasbîh) and surrenders. With love in the heart and knowing Allah, one’s wisdom and îmān surrender to Him. The place where the kursî touches Allah, that is the Ka’bah.

When one has this one-pointedness and performs every prayer (waqt) in this manner, then the Ka’bah is within him. This is the Ka’bah on the inside. On the outside, when you face the qiblah, in a mosque, the mihrāb is in front of you. Mihrāb means the battlefield, a place where you fight. When true prayer is done, the Ka’bah is the qiblah. The outer places of worship are the battlefields where we must join together to fight the things within us. We have to fight the evil qualities within us. We must conquer them all, cut them away, be victorious, and glorify Allah (tasbîh). We must be victorious, conquering all these. This is what is done in the mosques when we face the mihrāb, the battlefield. First, we must fight and gain victory here and then go to the Ka’bah to pray. That is where we all unite as one, in Islam, in that place where there are no differences. That is the Ka’bah.

The ones who pray in that Ka’bah will never see hell. They will not be questioned on Judgment Day. They will not be questioned. They have communed with Allah. With every breath, the bow down (rukû’) to His wealth (daulat). In this world and the hereafter, they are Allah’s witnesses, testifying that Allah exists. They are the ones who prove the existence of Allah. The place where they worship is the Ka’bah.

The Ka’bah is where you surrender to Him with your îmān. Once you have become victorious in the battles against your evil qualities, having cut away everything else, and you realize that Allah alone exists—then that is Islam. When you pray in that state, that is the Ka’bah. Then there is no battlefield, no mihrāb. It is a place of worship. Then it is truly the Ka’bah. All praise is to God (al-hamdu lillāh). Do you understand?

QUESTIONER: Yes.


From Discourse on September 5, 1983 by M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.)
Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship Family Newsletter Apr - May 1998

“M.R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen- a Sufi mystic, can best be remembered for his efforts to bring unity through understanding to the faithful of all religions.”

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