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Maqam Ibrahim مقام إبراهيم

In review — pending scholar verification

A stone said to bear the footprints of the Prophet Ibrahim, located near the Kaaba.

Overview

The Maqam Ibrahim (مقام إبراهيم), the Station of Ibrahim, is a stone bearing two indentations traditionally identified as the footprints of the prophet Ibrahim. It is encased in a domed glass-and-metal enclosure a few meters east of the Kaaba in Al-Masjid al-Haram. Classical sources report that Ibrahim stood upon this stone while raising the walls of the Kaaba with his son Ismail, and that the stone softened beneath his feet by divine permission.

Etymology

The Arabic word مقام (maqam) means "place of standing" or "station," from the root q-w-m, to stand or to establish. Thus مقام إبراهيم denotes the very spot where Ibrahim stood. al-Tabari records that early authorities including Ibn Abbas understood the term in this restricted sense, even though some applied it more broadly to all the rites of Hajj.

Quranic references

The Maqam is explicitly named in the Quran:

  • Surah Al-Baqarah 2:125 — "And take, [O believers], from the standing place of Ibrahim a place of prayer."
  • Surah Aal-i-Imran 3:97 — "In it are clear signs [such as] the standing place of Ibrahim. And whoever enters it shall be safe."
  • Surah Al-Baqarah 2:127 — "And [mention] when Ibrahim was raising the foundations of the House and [with him] Ismail."
  • Surah Al-Hajj 22:26 — "And purify My House for those who perform tawaf and those who stand [in prayer] and those who bow and prostrate."
وَاتَّخِذُوا مِن مَّقَامِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ مُصَلًّى

Hadith and tradition

The verse "And take from the standing place of Ibrahim a place of prayer" was occasioned, according to Sahih al-Bukhari, by a request of Umar ibn al-Khattab:

Umar said: "I agreed with my Lord in three things... I said, 'O Messenger of Allah, may we take the standing place of Ibrahim as a place of prayer?' Then was revealed: 'And take from the standing place of Ibrahim a place of prayer.'" — Sahih al-Bukhari 402

It is also established in Sahih Muslim (1218), in the famous narration of Jabir on the Prophet's ﷺ Hajj, that after completing the seven circuits of tawaf, he ﷺ approached the Maqam and recited, "And take from the standing place of Ibrahim a place of prayer," then prayed two units of prayer behind it. A narration in Sunan an-Nasai (2962), graded sahih by al-Albani, confirms the same.

Significance

The Maqam is a living relic of Ibrahim's founding of pure monotheism at Mecca. The two-rakah prayer behind it is part of the Sunnah of every Hajj and Umrah. Ibn Kathir notes that the stone's preservation through every period — pagan, Islamic, and modern — is one of the "clear signs" alluded to in Surah Aal-i-Imran 3:97.

See also

References

  1. Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Quran al-Azim, on Surah Al-Baqarah 2:125 and Aal-i-Imran 3:97.
  2. al-Tabari, Jami al-Bayan an Ta'wil Ay al-Quran, exegesis of "maqam Ibrahim".
  3. al-Qurtubi, al-Jami li-Ahkam al-Quran, on the rites of the Sacred House.
  4. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Fath al-Bari Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari, on hadith 402.
  5. Ibn al-Qayyim, Zad al-Ma'ad fi Hady Khayr al-Ibad, description of the Prophet's ﷺ Hajj.