Saudi Arabia: The Mystery of the Kaaba (TRIH ep 265)
630 · Resource
Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss the Kaaba’s religious significance, its rites (kiswah, tawaf, the Black Stone and Maqam Ibrahim) and the traditional Islamic narrative linking the shrine to Adam and Abraham. Holland outlines Muslim scriptural and aural traditions — miraculous heavenly prototypes, the Isra and Mi'raj vision, and the institutionalization of the Hajj — then traces the Kaaba’s contested material history: pre-Islamic idolatry, Muhammad’s cleansing of idols, subsequent des...
On these timelines: The Rest Is History (podcast), Resources: Combined
Around 630
- Muhammad (570)
- Hijra (622)
- Tang dynasty (618)
- Arab conquest of the Maghreb (647)
- Muhammad's first revelation (610)
- Death of Muhammad (632)
- Battle of Yarmouk (636)
- Hagia Sophia (532)
- Srivijaya Empire (650)
- Fall of the Sasanian Empire (651)