Raising the House

Years later Ibrahim (peace be upon him) returned and told his grown son that Allah had commanded him to build a house on a small rise in the valley. Isma'il (peace be upon him) agreed to help. The son carried stones while the father built, and when the walls grew high Isma'il brought a stone for his father to stand on. Both prayed as they worked: ﴿رَبَّنَا تَقَبَّلْ مِنَّا إِنَّكَ أَنتَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ﴾ (“Our Lord, accept this from us; You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing”) (2:127; Sahih al-Bukhari 3364).

This was the Ka'bah, which the Qur'an calls the first house of worship set up for humanity (3:96). Ibrahim was then told to call people to pilgrimage, with the promise that they would come from every distant path (22:27).

Their prayer did not stop at the walls. They asked Allah to raise from among their descendants a messenger who would recite His verses, teach the Book and wisdom, and purify the people (2:129). Muslims see in the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ — a descendant of Isma'il — the answer to that prayer, made thousands of years before his birth.