Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah Al-Azraqi () was a 9th-century Islamic commentator and historian, and author of the '' Book of Reports about Mecca'' (''Kitab Akhbar Makka''). Al-Azraqi was from a family who lived in

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

for hundreds of years. He gave information on the design and layout of the pre-Islamic Ka'aba at Mecca after its rebuilding following a fire in 603 AD until its possession by

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

in 630 AD. The contents included a statue of Hubal, the principal male deity of Mecca, and a number of other pagan items, which were destroyed in 630 as idolatrous. They also included a pair of ram’s horns said to have belonged to the ram sacrificed by

Abraham Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...

in place of his son, Ismail, and a painting (probably a fresco) of

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

and Mary. According to al-Azraqi, Muhammad spared these items, which survived until the destruction by the Umayyads in 683. Al-Azraqi is silent on the fate of the images of trees that are known also to have decorated the interior of the Ka'aba, pictures of which formed part of the mosaic decoration on the walls of al-Qalis Church, Sanaa, and were later to emerge in the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...

mosaics in the Dome of the Rock, the

Prophet's Mosque The Prophet's Mosque () is the List of the oldest mosques, second mosque built by the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad in Medina, after the Quba Mosque, as well as the second List of large mosques, la ...

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

, and the Great Mosque of Damascus.King, G. R. D. 2004. The Paintings of the Pre-Islamic Ka'ba. In Muqarnas: An Annual on the Visual Culture of the Islamic World, XXI, 219-230 The key manuscript of ''Akhbar Makka'' is Leiden, University Library, Or.424. The only printed edition is volume one of ''Die Chroniken der Stadt Mekka'', ed. by Ferdinand Wüstenfeld, 4 vols (Leipzig 1858-61)
vol. 1vol. 2vol. 3vol. 4

References

9th-century Arab people 9th-century historians from the Abbasid Caliphate {{Asia-historian-stub