The Terrifying Snake Sunbathing Atop the Kaʿba and Its Fate

There was a well inside the Kaʿba, into which donations made to the Kaʿba were placed. For some time, a snake had come and settled in this well.¹²⁵ This large and terrifying snake, which was very black, with a white belly,¹²⁶ and a head like that of a kid goat,¹²⁷ would come out every day and sun itself atop the wall of the Kaʿba; it would not allow anyone to approach the Kaʿba. Whenever someone tried to come near, it would immediately raise its head from beside its tail, open its mouth, and begin to emit terrifying sounds. Because of this, the Quraysh were afraid and trembled at the thought of approaching it. As it did every day, this snake was again sunbathing atop the walls of the Kaʿba.¹²⁹ The Quraysh gathered by the Maqām Ibrāhīm and said: “O Allah!

If You are pleased with the demolition and rebuilding of Your House, then allow it to be completed and remove this trouble of the snake from us!¹³⁰ O our Lord! We wish to honor and adorn Your House. If You are pleased with this, allow it to be done. If You are not pleased, then do as You will!” Thus they made dua (supplication). At that moment, they heard a cry from the sky.¹³¹ 1/234. By the command of Allah the Exalted;¹³² they saw a bird descending, black on its back, white on its belly, with yellow feet, and larger than an eagle.¹³³¹³⁴ This bird suddenly swooped down upon the snake, seized it with its talons driven into its head, and flew off! The snake, its tail writhing, was carried toward the area of Small Ajyād,¹³⁵ toward Ḥajūn,¹³⁶¹³⁷ and was dropped at Ḥajūn.

The earth swallowed it.¹³⁸ Upon this, the Quraysh said: “We hope that Allah is pleased with what we intend to do. We have a skilled workman whose help we can benefit from, and we have timber at hand! Allah the Exalted has also removed the calamity of the snake from us!” When the Quraysh decided to demolish and rebuild the portions of the Kaʿba assigned to them, Abū Wahb b. ʿAmr b. Āʾiz b. ʿImrān b. Maḫzūm stood up, reached out to take one of the stones atop the wall of the Kaʿba, but as soon as he took it, the stone leapt from his hand and returned to its original place in the wall! He said, “O assembly of Quraysh! Do not allow anything impure or unlawful from your earnings to enter into the construction of the Kaʿba!

Let neither the fee of a prostitute, nor money from usury, nor any wealth unjustly taken from anyone be put into it!”¹³⁹ The Quraysh were very afraid and hesitant about demolishing the Kaʿba.¹⁴⁰ Walīd b. al-Mughīra asked the Quraysh, “What is your intention in demolishing the Kaʿba? Is it for good or for evil?” Bidāya, 2/301. ʿAbd al-Razzāq, 5/13, al-Dhahabī, Tārīkh, p. 76, al-Haythamī, 3/289, Ibn Ḥajar, Maṭālib, 4/183, al-Diyār Bakrī, 1/112. al-Azraqī, 1/170. ʿAbd al-Razzāq, 5/103, al-Azraqī, 1/170, al-Dhahabī, Tārīkh, p. 76, al-Haythamī, 3/289, Ibn Ḥajar, Maṭālib, 4/184. The Marriage of Our Prophet (peace be upon him) to Khadīja 129 “Of course, it is for good!” they replied.¹⁴¹ Walīd b.

al-Mughīra said: “O my people! Is it not your intention to reform it by demolishing the Kaʿba?” They replied, “Yes! We wish to reform it!”¹⁴² Thereupon, Walīd b. al-Mughīra said: “Allah the Exalted does not destroy those who are reformers!¹⁴³ However, do not allow anything but what is pure and lawful from your wealth to enter into the repair of your Lord’s House! Do not put into it money obtained from usury, gambling, or the fee of a prostitute! Keep the House of Allah away from the bad part of your wealth! For Allah accepts nothing but what is pure and lawful!”

he said.¹⁴⁴ The Quraysh acted in accordance with this advice.¹⁴⁵ “Then, who will be the first to climb upon it to demolish it?¹⁴⁶ Who will be the first to begin its demolition?” they asked.¹⁴⁷ Walīd b. al-Mughīra said: “I will climb upon it and demolish it!¹⁴⁸ I will be the first among you to begin its demolition!¹⁴⁹ I am an old man. If something happens to me, so be it. My appointed time is already near!”¹⁵⁰ He took a pickaxe in his hand¹⁵¹ and climbed atop the House of Allah. As he was demolishing a stone, the stone beneath his foot shook violently,¹⁵² and Walīd b. al-Mughīra: ʿAbd al-Razzāq, 5/319, al-Azraqī, 1/158-159. al-Azraqī, 1/158-159, al-Diyār Bakrī, 1/112.

ʿAbd al-Razzāq, 5/100, 319, al-Azraqī, 1/161-162, al-Diyār Bakrī, 1/112. al-Azraqī, 1/162, al-Diyār Bakrī, 1/112. al-Azraqī, 1/162. ʿAbd al-Razzāq, 5/100, 319, al-Azraqī, 1/159. al-Azraqī, 1/162. ʿAbd al-Razzāq, 5/319, al-Azraqī, 1/159. al-Azraqī, 1/162. al-Azraqī, 1/162. “O Allah! We have not abandoned or deviated from Your religion!¹⁵³ Our only aim is to reform,¹⁵⁴ to do good,¹⁵⁵ and nothing else!” he said,¹⁵⁶ and continued to remove stone after stone with his pickaxe from the section between the two corners of the Kaʿba¹⁵⁷ until evening.¹⁵⁸ The people did not attempt further demolition that night, but waited.¹⁵⁹ “When evening comes, we fear that a punishment might descend!” they said. That evening, they saw that no punishment had come upon Walīd b.

al-Mughīra.¹⁶⁰ They waited through the night and said: “Let us see; if a calamity befalls Walīd, we will not demolish any more stones from the Kaʿba and will restore what we have demolished to its former state. But if nothing happens to him, we will understand that Allah is pleased with what we are doing and will immediately proceed with the demolition!”¹⁶¹ The people of Quraysh, when they saw the next morning that Walīd b. al-Mughīra had risen safe and sound and begun his work, also began to demolish the walls assigned to them together with him.

They demolished the walls until they reached the foundation that Abraham (Ibrāhīm, peace be upon him) had laid together with Ishmael (Ismāʿīl, peace be upon him). In the foundation, they encountered green stones, fused together like the humps of camels,¹⁶² each so heavy and large that even thirty men could not lift one.¹⁶³ When one of the Quraysh participating in the demolition¹⁶⁴ inserted the tip of his pickaxe between two of the stones to separate them, the stone moved and Mecca began to shake! Kāmil, 2/45. al-Azraqī, 1/162. al-Azraqī, 1/162. 1/232.

Sources

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14. 162. Ibn Isḥāq, Ibn Hishām, 1/207, al-Azraqī, 1/162, al-Ṭabarī, Tārīkh, 2/201, Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil, 2/45, al-Dhahabī, Tārīkh, p. 71, Ibn Kathīr, al-Bidāya, 2/302, al-Diyār Bakrī, 1/115. ʿAbd al-Razzāq, 5/95, al-Azraqī, 1/162, al-Bayhaqī, Dalāʾil, 2/61-62, al-Dhahabī, Tārīkh, p. 71, al-Diyār Bakrī, 1/115. According to al-Azraqī: Walīd b. al-Mughīra or Abū Wahb (al-Azraqī, 1/163, al-Bayhaqī, Dalāʾil, 2/61-62, al-Diyār Bakrī, 1/115.) According to al-Dhahabī: Walīd b. al-Mughīra, (al-Dhahabī, Tārīkh, p. 71).