The Maqame Ebrahim refers to the stone on which Ebrahim stood on while he was building the Ka’bah. As Ismail passed stones to Ebrahim, and as Ebrahim continued laying them in place the Maqame Ebrahim miraculously continued rising higher and higher as the walls rose. Allah caused the trace of his footprints to remain on the stone as a reminder to the believers among his descendants. It has been reported from Sa’eed bin Jubair that the Prophet said: “The stone is the station of Ebrahim. Allah made it soft and made it a mercy. Ebrahim would stand on it and Ismail would hand the stones up to him.” [Muthir Al-Gharam]. Ebrahim and Ismail (upon them be peace) used to mention the following Quranic verse as they were constructing the Holy Ka’bah,“Our Lord! Accept (this service) from us: for you are the All-Hearing, The All-Knowing.” [2:127]. Ebrahim constructed the Ka’bah using rocks from five mountains; Hira, Thubayr, Labnaan, Toor and Jabalul Khayr. Toor Seena (Mount Sinai) is actually situated in the eastern desert of Egypt. At the time of Ebrahim the Maqam was attached to the Ka’bah. Umar , seeing that leaving it where it was would make the space too crowded for Tawaf or for prayers had it moved to the place it is in now to make it easier for people. There was consensus among the Sahabah for this action of Umar, for he was the one who had suggested it should be taken as a place of prayer. Juhm bin Hudhayfah, a Sahabi who was present when the Quraysh rebuilt the Ka’bah as well as when Abdullah bin Zubair rebuilt it says that the blessed footprints of the Prophet very closely matches those of Ebrahim. The Prophet also mentioned: “From all the children of Ebrahim it is I who resembles him the most.” [Bukhari] Although the Arabs worshipped stones during the Period of Ignorance, no one ever worshipped the Hajar al-Aswad or the Maqame Ebrahim even though the Arabs revered them. It appears that it was Allah’s explicit intention to protect the Maqame Ebrahim from Shirk and all types of worship. Note that the significance of the Maqame Ebrahim is that it is a place for the performance of salah and not for touching or kissing. When there are lots of people performing tawaf it is better to perform salah some distance away from the Maqame Ebrahim to avoid causing unnecessary inconvenience to others (Source: Islamic Landmarks).
The Kaaba: Holiest Sites of Islam, Mecca, Saudi Arabia
