Recordings › A Reply to Dan Gibson: "Why The Early Qiblas Faced Petra?" | Mufti Abu Layth · 17 Dec 2019 › Segment 4 of 6
Why do early Islamic books call the Ka'bah 'the Shami Ka'bah'?
al-bukhari imam bukhari sahih al-bukhari sahih bukhari saheeh al-bukhari saheeh bukhari imam al-bukhari ka'ba kaabah muftis hijrah hijra hijrat hijri makka mekkaQusayy takes Makkah: the keys of the Ka'bah, Quraysh settled around it, and the 'Shami Ka'bah'
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This segment10:31 to 14:26 · 3 min 55 sGeneral teaching
What this part covers
machinesummary, machine-writtenMufti Abu Layth suggests Qusayy, raised in Petra, rebuilt the Ka'bah and settled Quraysh around it in a Shami style, which is why early books call it the Shami Ka'bah. It does not mean the Ka'bah was in Sham.
In more detail
Mufti Abu Layth says that on his return Qusayy, described as handsome, charming and a warrior, married the daughter of the high priest of Khuza'a [?], the tribe that held the keys of the Ka'bah; when the priest died the daughter inherited the keys and Qusayy, as her husband, took them. He then expelled Khuza'a from Makkah, leading to a small civil war in which he called on all Quraysh, scattered as they were, and on his Shami step-siblings and cousins, whom Mufti believes were in Petra; after an arbitration he gained the upper hand and control of Makkah. He describes how Qusayy fashioned Makkah: he called all Quraysh to migrate there and offered them allotments, in the centre or the outlying valleys, rebuilt the Ka'bah with changes to its design, built houses in rings around it for the notables, dug wells, fought battles in defence of Quraysh, and became the most powerful leader Quraysh had before Islam. Mufti suggests these changes, such as the settlement encircling the Ka'bah, may have been influenced by his upbringing in Petra, and that this is why early books, perhaps including Bukhari [?], call the Ka'bah 'the Shami Ka'bah': not because the Ka'bah was in Sham, as some concluded, but because it was fashioned in a Shami way, Sham being the region of Damascus, Petra and Jordan.
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Position stated
Mufti Abu Layth says Qusayy's reorganisation of Makkah and the Ka'bah's surroundings may reflect his upbringing in Petra, which is why early books call the Ka'bah 'the Shami Ka'bah', rather than because the Ka'bah was in Sham.
“maybe the way he fashioned the houses around the Kaaba the settlements the encirclement this may have been influenced by his upbringing in petra”
Category: historical claim
Kind: general teachingTranscript
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the important thing is they be they definitely were noble now in Kosice eyes so Jose has this longing for this sense of identity and belonging he wants to so as he becomes a grown man he leaves sham and returns to Makkah when he returns to Makkah he's he's they say you know he's very handsome he was charming he was a strong man they say he was a warrior he was a very good fighter and he charms his way or he's is seen as attractive he marries the daughter of the high priest
in Makkah who's from this tribe called Xhosa when the high priest who holds the keys to the Kaaba dies the daughter inherits it and he's the husband so he gets it so he becomes the owner of the keys he then expelled huzzah this tribe from Mecca this leads to a like a mini civil war so what he does is he makes a cry for all Quraish people close or far crash wherever you are to come to Makkah and to join in this fight he also calls his chamois cousins you
know the like his step siblings and his cousins those that from which would I believe would have been in Petra he calls them now they come from sham and they join in the fight and eventually he wins he I mean there is a kind of like an arbitration that takes place but he kind of gets the upper hand after that he's in control of Makkah Jiri fashions how Makkah is established he actually calls for a migration of all Croatia's because they never used to live in Makkah wherever they are scattered to come back to Makkah and he will offer
them allotments and settlements so he says if you're close to chorus you can live within the mucker thing if not you can live in the valley outskirts he will give you land so he actually called so there's this mass migration of hora she's that move towards mccann settle he builds certain he rebuilds the Kaaba and changes some of the design now he also builds houses as settlements close to the Kaaba then a layer out encircling the Kaaba then encircling the Kaaba he gives these to certain notary people of
grace he's also known for several kind of battles defending Croatia against many tribes he was the most powerful leader that Koresh ever had before Islam obviously the Prophet is the most powerful leaders operation ever had that's with Islam but pre Islam per se is the ultimate this I feel is the reason that because maybe some of the changes he made he also dug up a lot of the welds in and kind of set up Makkah as a much more powerful kind of place this is I feel that the influences he brought me may have been from where he
was brought up so maybe the way he fashioned the houses around the Kaaba the settlements the encirclement this may have been influenced by his upbringing in petra this may be the reason why many historians in our books have referred to have referred to Makkah the kaaba's cabochons ian you see they in our own books i believe it may be in Buhari as well they've referred to the Kaaba as the kibosh a mere the Kappa from sham this led some people to believe maybe
the Kaaba was in sham but I believe that this was because it was the Shah mised Kaaba that the P because of the influence in fashioning it was so Shami it was referred to as the Shamy kaaba sham is the middle-eastern region like Damascus and Petra and these places Jordan and so on so okay so that's now with that understanding let's go back to the damn Gibson thing now I feel that you see we have to understand that historic civilizations and I mean
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Cite this segment
Stable id, transcript version and tier are part of the citation. Every change to a transcript is logged.Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 2019-12-17-S04, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/-jytkj9z1cw/s/4/ (accessed 1 November 2026)
- APA 7
Mufti Abu Layth. (2019, December 17). Why do early Islamic books call the Ka'bah 'the Shami Ka'bah'? [Video, segment 2019-12-17-S04, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/-jytkj9z1cw/s/4/
- Chicago author-date
Mufti Abu Layth. 2019. "Why do early Islamic books call the Ka'bah 'the Shami Ka'bah'?" Video, segment 2019-12-17-S04, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded December 17, 2019. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/-jytkj9z1cw/s/4/
- BibTeX
@misc{abulayth-2019-12-17-S04, author = {Mufti Abu Layth}, title = {{Why do early Islamic books call the Ka'bah 'the Shami Ka'bah'?}}, year = {2019}, month = {12}, date = {2019-12-17}, howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/-jytkj9z1cw/s/4/}}, url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/-jytkj9z1cw/s/4/}, organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive}, urldate = {2026-11-01}, note = {Segment 2019-12-17-S04, auto-transcribed, may contain errors} }
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