Building Up A Civilization

“And when Abraham was raising up (the construction) on the foundations of the House (the Ka’bah), along with Ismail, (they prayed:) O Our Lord! Accept this (service) from us: for, verily, You are the all-Hearing, the all-Knowing. O Our Lord, make us both submissive to You, and (make) of our progeny as well, a people submissive to You and show us our holy rites, and accept our repentance, as indeed, You- and You alone – are the most Relenting, the very Merciful!” (2:127-128).

Let us contemplate together those two verses of the Qur’an recounting the performance done by the great Prophet Abraham and his son Ismail while building up the Ka’bah on the strong foundations they established in the middle of the Arabian Peninsula.

God not only registered this event in the Holy Book, but also enjoined the believers to do they prayers facing this Holy Building five times a day, wherever they are. God also made the pilgrimage to this House an obligation once in every person’s life, if he or she has the means to do so.

The verb “raising up” in Arabic is “rafa’a” (past tense) and “yarfa’u” (present tense). In this story the Qur’an used the present tense “yarfa’u”, surely for a specific purpose. That purpose is to let the readers of this story perceive the action of constructing.

It seems that this Qur’an verse, with its special terminology incites every Muslim to be ware in all of his actions and not to stray from the straight path leading to the same goal as Abraham’s.

Every believer should be candid in sharing and continuing to build a great civilization, enriching and elevating humans’ life according to the ambition of Abraham, Ismail as well as Muhammad (God’s blessings upon all of them).

And what was their ambition? To construct and develop all what is good for humanity, using the right means according to God’s ordinances.

God recounted in the Qur’an Abraham’s statement as follows:

“I have, indeed, turned my face straight towards the One who created the heavens and the earth, and I am not one of those who associate partners with God” (6:79).

And God ordered Prophet Muhammad (God’s blessings upon him) as follows: “Say: Verily, my Lord has guided me to a straight way through an ever-true faith – the way of Abraham who turned away from all that is false, and was not of those who ascribe divinity to anything beside Him. Say: Truly, my prayer and my rituals, and my living, and my dying, are all for God the Lord of the worlds” (6:161-162).

Dr. Ahmad Khairi Al-Umari (in his book “Guide for the pilgrim to ritual places of construction”) has an excellent perception on this issue. He said that all rituals connected with the Ka’bah (prayers, hajj and tawaf) symbolize the acts of constructing and building, which the faithful believers should apply to all their livelihood activities. Tawaf (turning around the Ka’bah) corresponds to the rotation of every cell of each being in the earth and in the heavens. This rotation around the Ka’bah indicates the necessity of harmony between all of God’s creations.

Those rituals are a very important means for inciting them to participate actively in building human civilization in the right direction and with fair means.