Nov 2, 2010, 6:34 PM

Facts on the Kaba’s golden rainspout

TEHRAN, Nov. 2 (MNA) -- A golden rain gutter has been installed on the roof at the northern side of the Kaba to carry away rainwater to the Hijr Ismael, where the house of Prophet Ishmael (AS) is located and wherein he and his mother, Hagar, are buried.

The gutter is also known as the rainspout of blessing and Muslims believe that prayers under the gutter are granted by God.

* Kaba had no gutter until five years before Be’that, the appointment of Hazrat Muhammad (S) to prophethood.

* Quraysh, the ruling tribe of Mecca at the time of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad (S), installed the first gutter made of wood during the reconstruction of the Kaba.

* In 684 CE, Abdullah bin Zubair was the first Muslim to install a new wooden rainspout, which was later replaced with another wooden rainspout in 694 by Hajjaj ibn Yusuf.

* The first golden gutter was fitted by Kufa and Basra governor Khalid ibn Abdullah Qasri (reigned 724-728 CE). However, some historians believe that it had been made of silver plated with gold.

* Iranian merchant Sheikh Abolqasem Ramesht Farsi replaced the golden gutter with another one in 1143.

* The Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad Abu Abdullah Mohammad Moqtafi ordered the installation of a new gutter for the Kaba in 1147.

* The Abbasid caliph of Baghdad Abul-Abbas Ahmad Nasser (reigned 1180-1225) fixed a wooden gutter with a coating of lead.

* New decorations were added to the gutter in 1380 and shortly thereafter, it was replaced with a gutter made of copper.

* In 1548, the copper gutter was replaced with a silver one by Suleyman I, the Ottoman sultan.

* In 1556, the silver gutter was replaced with a golden one made in Egypt.

* Ahmed I, the Ottoman sultan (1603-1617), ordered a gutter made of gold, gems and lapis lazuli in 1604.

* Murad IV, the Ottoman sultan (1623-1640), ordered a gutter made of wood and silver in 1631.

That brings us to the present when in 1854, Abdulmecid I, the Ottoman sultan (1839-1861), ordered a golden gutter, which is still on the Kaba roof.

MMS/YAW
END
MNA

News ID 42812

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