Main /
Hundred Questions - The Ka`bah = The House of God
The Ka`bah = The House of God:
Q87 In what sense is the Ka`bah regarded as the House of God, while it is a material building and God is above and free from space and spacelessness? What is the ta'wil of the turning of the face towards the Qiblah, i.e., the direction of the Ka`bah?
A87
- The Ka`bah is the House of God in the sense that in the Qur'an God Himself has said about it: "My House" (2:125; 22:26). Therefore, there is no doubt in its being the House of God.
- Certainly God as such is above and free from space and spacelessness, however, the wisdoms of God's recognition, which are hidden in the example of "the House of God", are so great and lofty that in knowing them a mu'min finds God. To know these secrets of God's recognition is to truly enter the House of God. Therefore, in this sense, this holy place is the House of God.
- The greatest secret, the main symbol and the fundamental beauty of the Ka`bah is that it is the symbol of God's real and prosperous House, which is living and is the fountainhead of knowledge and wisdom and the centre of rectitude and guidance, in which the divine light actually kindles. It is from here that God's recognition and all those things related to God's House are available. Such a House of God during the time of the holy Prophet was the Prophet himself and after him the Imam of the time in every age.
- It is said in a sacred Tradition: "I am not contained by the heaven or by the earth, I am contained only by the heart of a mu'min". This tradition presents two realities to us: clearly one is that since the heaven and the earth cannot contain God, then the Throne and the Ka`bah cannot contain Him either. The second is, if a true mu'min's heart can contain Him then first of all, He must necessarily and certainly be contained by the pure and purified heart of the Commander of the faithful and the Perfect Man, i.e. the true Imam. This means that in the true sense it is the Perfect Man who is the House of God that contains everything which belongs to God.
- When the Ka`bah, in this sense, is the ta'wili symbol of the Imam and the Imam is its symbolised (mamthul), this means that in the shari`at the House of God is the physical qiblah, in the haqiqat the House of God is the spiritual qiblah. Thus the ta'wil of facing the Ka`bah in the matters of shari`at is to face the spiritual qiblah in the matters of haqiqat. The spiritual qiblah is the Imam of the time, salawatu'llahi `alayhi.
| Chapter Index | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter |