In the name of Allāh,
the Beneficent, the Merciful.
Peace and Blessings of Allāh on Mohammad.
DEDICATED TO
Allāh–the Glorious and the High,
Lord of the worlds
AND TO
Mohammad–who brought the world
to our feet and eternity to our arms.
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       KA’BAH–HOUSE OF GOD’S GLORY
“Certainly the first house appointed for men is the one at Bakkah, blessed and a guidance for the nations. In it are clear signs: (It is) the Place of Abraham; and who-ever enters it is safe; and pilgrimage to the House is a duty which men owe to Allāh — whoever can find a way to it. And whoever disbelieves, surely Allāh is above need of the worlds”–(Qur’an 3:96-97).

“And when We pointed to Abraham the place of the House, saying: Associate naught with Me, and purify My House for those who make circuits and stand to pray and bow and prostrate themselves.  And proclaim to men the Pilgrimage they will come to thee on foot and on every lean camel, coming from every remote path:  That they may witness benefits (provided) for them, and mention the name of Allåh on appointed days over what He has given them of the cattle quadrupeds; then eat of them and feed the distressed one, the needy. Then let them accomplish their needful acts of cleansing, and let them fulfill their vows and go round the Ancient House”–(Qur’an 22:26-29).

 The Prophet David says:
“O Lord of hosts, my King, and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee…. Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well…. every one of them in Zion appeareth before God”–(Psalms 84:3-7).

This “house of God to which David refers was no other but the one at Bakka, for the holy temple in Jerusalem had not been built at that time and God lived in Zion (a tent).” David came to Bacca “to seek blessing from the house of God” that was built by Abraham. “‘Appearing before God in Zion’, refers to the annual pilgrimage at Mecca,” explains Abdul Haque Vidyarthi–(Muhammad in World Scriptures, pp. 224, 225).       

And the Book of Isaiah says: “All the flocks of Kedar” “shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory”–(Isaiah 60:7). Muhammad Ali says, “Christianity, in its present form, being opposed to the true teachings of Christ, is thus the only Antichrist known to the Qur’an.”–(Qur’anic comm. # 1478).

The Church “being opposed to the true teachings of Christ,” could not be the house of Christ. Much more, the house of God’s “glory.” Prof. Dawud (the former Rev. David Benjamin Keldani) says in his revealing book Muhammad in the Bible: “The flocks of Kedar…have never come to the Church of Christ; and it is a fact that the villages of Kedar and their inhabitants are the only people in the whole world who have remained impenetrable to any influence of the Church of Christ.” (p. 6). 

The Church could not be the “house” of God’s glory” when the “flocks of Kedar” “have never come to the Church of Christ,” and when the fulfillment of the prophecy necessitates the coming of the “flocks of Kedar” to this “house.” Neither could a mortal-appointed shrine be the house of God’s “glory.”

The house of God’s “glory” has to be a Divine designated sanctuary. Such is the house at Makkah–the Ka’bah. That the Ka’bah in Makkah is the “house of my glory” is borne out by the Qur’an and history: “Certainly the first house appointed for men is the one at Bakkah, blessed and a guidance for the nations”–(Qur’an 3:95).

“Bakkah is the same as Makkah…. The Jews and the Christians are told that the Temple at Jerusalem was erected long after Abraham, while the Holy House at Makkah was there even before Abraham, and was, in fact, the first House on earth for the worship of the Divine Being.” (M. Ali Qur’anic comm. # 467)

“And when We made the House a resort for men and a (place of) security. And: Take ye the place of Abraham for a place of prayer. And We enjoined Abraham and Ishmael, saying: Purify My House for those who visit (it) and those who abide (in it) for devotion and those who bow down (and) those who prostrate themselves”–(Qur’an 2:125).

“History bears out these three distinguishing characteristics of the Ka’bah. It exists from the remotest antiquity; it was visited annually by people from the most distant corners of Arabia; and its sacredness was respected by the whole of Arabia. Thus writes Muir: “A very high antiquity must be assigned to the main features of the religion of  Mecca.…Diodorus Siculus, writing about half a century before our era, says of Arabia washed by the Red Sea: ‘There is in this country a temple greatly revered by the Arabs’.  These words must refer to the Holy House of Mecca, for we know of no other which ever commanded such universal homage…Tradition represents the Ka’bah as from time immemorial the scene of pilgrimage from all quarters of Arabia: from Yemen and Hadramaut, from the shores of the Persian Gulf, the deserts of Syria, and the distant environs of Hira and Mesopotamia, men yearly flocked to Mecca.  So extensive a homage must have had its beginnings in an extremely remote age” (Life of Mahomet).” (M. Ali, comm. #168a)

The Ka’bah is “the place of Abraham….and pilgrimage to the House is a duty which men owe to Allah–whoever can find a way to it”–(Qur’an 3:96). The Qur’an is the only revealed Scripture to define a “first house” of worship and place of pilgrimage. Some five thousand years ago the prophet Abraham was instructed by Allāh God to purify this “house of my glory” –the Ka’bah– for the devotees of Allah–(Qur’an 2:125).

Some three thousand years after Abraham, Allāh God instructed the Prophet Mohammad to “proclaim to men the Pilgrimage: they will come to thee on foot and on every lean camel, coming from every remote path”–(Qur’an 22:27). Some 1400 years after this revelation to the Prophet Mohammad, the fulfillment of this mighty prophecy of the Qur’an is evident as males and females from all over the world journey by air, land, and sea to the Ka’bah in Makkah.

God says (in Deut. 33:2) that He “shined forth from mount Paran” with 10,000 saints. And as Prof. Abdul Ahad Dawud –the former Reverend David Benjamin Keldani– points out that in “the whole history of the wilderness of Paran” “you will find no other event but when Mecca was con-quered by the Prophet.  He comes with 10,000 followers from Medina and re-enters “the house of my glory.””¹

The Religion from God is Islam. The comprehensive law of God is the Qur’an. The Universal Prophet of God is Mohammad. The world language from God is Arabic. The House of Gods’ “glory” is the Ka’bah at Makkah. This gathering to the “house of my glory” at Makkah is, in the history of religion, the only Divinely ordained pilgrimage.
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                  NOTES

1. Prof. ‘Abdul Ahad Dawud –the former Reverend David Benjamin Keldani– Muhammad in the Bible, p. 6.