Ka'abas also spelt Ka'bas (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: الكعبات) are the plural term used to describe houses of worship mainly located in the

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

that are cubic in shape and resemble the

Kaaba The Kaaba (), also spelled Kaba, Kabah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaba al-Musharrafa (), is a stone building at the center of Islam's most important mosque and Holiest sites in Islam, holiest site, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Sa ...

structure from

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 ...

. They are mainly dedicated to various gods from the Arabian pantheon, although the term has been used to describe some Christian churches built in a similar style in the Arabian Peninsula.

Architectural style

A typical Kaaba building is shaped like a cube or block and functions as a place for the devotees of a particular god or goddess to worship in.al-Hout, Mahmoud Salim (1955). '' Fi Tariq al-Mithulujia 'aynd al-'Arabi: Bahth Mashab wa' Immaq fi al-Mu'itaqadat wa' al-'Asatir al-'Arabiyat Qabla al-Islam.'' Beirut, Lebanon: Dar an-Nahar Publishing.al-Hamdani (1940), ''Kitab al-Iklil; al-Juz' al-Thamin''. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. The name "Kaaba" was used by ancient Arabians to describe and label these sites because of their resemblance to the

and the purpose of doing pilgrimage to them. They were located throughout the

, although some of them even appeared in

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and the region of

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

List of Kaabas

Here is a list of some of these Kaaba structures that are mentioned in the writings of Muslim scholars and historians.

Arabian Peninsula

*Kaaba of

Dushara Dushara (Nabataean Arabic: 𐢅𐢈𐢝𐢛𐢀 ''dwšrʾ''), also transliterated as Dusares or Dhu Shara, is a pre-Islamic Arabian god worshipped by the Nabataeans at Petra and Madain Saleh (of which city he was the patron). Safaitic inscripti ...

, worshipped by the

Nabataeans The Nabataeans or Nabateans (; Nabataean Aramaic: , , vocalized as ) were an ancient Arabs, Arab people who inhabited northern Arabian Peninsula, Arabia and the southern Levant. Their settlements—most prominently the assumed capital city o ...

*Kaaba of Dhu-Ghabat, worshipped by the Banu Lihyan tribe *Kaaba of

al-Lat Al-Lat (, ), also spelled Allat, Allatu, and Alilat, is a pre-Islamic Arabian goddess, at one time worshipped under various associations throughout the entire Arabian Peninsula, including Mecca, where she was worshipped alongside Al-Uzza and ...

, worshipped by the

Thaqif The Banu Thaqif () is an Arab tribe which inhabited, and still inhabits, the city of Ta'if and its environs, in modern Saudi Arabia, and played a prominent role in early Islamic history. During the pre-Islamic period, the Thaqif rivaled and co ...

tribe * Kaaba of Dhu al-Khalasa, worshipped by the

Daws Daws may refer to: *Daws (name) *Daws Heath, woodland in Essex, England *Daws Road, Adelaide, Australia *Banu Daws, one of the tribes of Arabia during Muhammad's era See also * * Daw (disambiguation) * Dawes (disambiguation) * RAF Daws Hill, a ...

tribe *

Kaaba of Najran The Kaaba of Najran was a religious building of the Christian community of Najran and one of the Kaabas of pre-Islamic Arabia, located close to the river Nuhairdān. The building appears to have been converted from an earlier ''Kaʾbatān'' dedicat ...

, a site of worship of in the

Christian community of Najran The Christians of Najran were the most notable community of Christians in pre-Islamic Arabia. Christianity appears to have spread into the region by the fifth century, if not earlier. In some Islamic tradition, Najran is thought to have been the s ...

, converted from an earlier Kaaba dedicated to the god

Dhu Samawi Dhū Samuī ( Musnad: 𐩹𐩪𐩣𐩥𐩺, sometimes 𐩪𐩣𐩺), whose name literally means "He of the Heavenly", was a pre-Islamic deity that was worshipped in South Arabia. He was a kind of sky deity who resided in the heavens. He was also a ...

from the polytheistic era *Yemeni Kaaba, a church built by the

Aksumite The Kingdom of Aksum, or the Aksumite Empire, was a kingdom in East Africa and South Arabia from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, based in what is now northern Ethiopia and Eritrea, and spanning present-day Djibouti and Sudan. Emerging ...

garrison in

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

to rival the Kaaba of MeccaMubarakpuri, Saifur Rahman (2008). ''The Sealed Nectar: Biography of the Noble Prophet''. Dar-us-Salam Publications. *In the Wusab province of Yemen, almost all mosques have a cube-shaped, windowless, single-door architecture. The tombs of saints in the area also follow this pattern. Many of these mosques appear to have been converted from pre-Islamic cult buildings dating to the

late antique Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodization has since been wide ...

period of the Arabian peninsula, when this architectural style was common.

Mesopotamia

*Kaaba Sindad, used by the migrant Arabs as a place for celebrations to be held instead of a place of worship.

Persia

Kaaba of Zoroaster Ka'ba-ye Zartosht (), also called the Kaaba or Cube of Zoroaster, is a rectangular stepped stone structure in the Naqsh-e Rustam compound beside Zangiabad village in Marvdasht county in Fars, Iran. The Naqsh-e Rustam compound also incorporates ...

, a place of worship for Zoroastrians. It is unlikely to have been a temple; although it did reportedly contain statues of gods that were destroyed by

Bardiya Bardiya or Smerdis ( ; ; possibly died 522 BCE), also named as Tanyoxarces (; ) by Ctesias, was a son of Cyrus the Great and the younger brother of Cambyses II, both Persian kings. There are sharply divided views on his life. Bardiya eithe ...

according to inscriptions and texts from the

Achaemenid The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, it was the large ...

period.

Fate of the Kaabas

Most of the Kaabas dedicated to pagan gods in the Arabian Peninsula were destroyed after Islam. Among the destroyed Kaabas include that of the Kaaba of al-Lat that was worshipped by the Thaqif.

Conversion into mosques

Some said that the Kaaba of Najran in the ancient city of

Al-Okhdood Al-Okhdood (Arabic: الأخدود) or Al-Okhdood Archaeological Site, is an ancient South Arabian town located in Najran Province in Saudi Arabia, southeast of the present-day city of Najran. Currently in ruins, the town dates back to at least 5 ...

became a church after the Aksumites entered Najran as a relief for their Christian brethren who had been persecuted by

Dhu Nuwas Dhū Nuwās (), real name Yūsuf Asʾar Yathʾar ( Musnad: 𐩺𐩥𐩪𐩰 𐩱𐩪𐩱𐩧 𐩺𐩻𐩱𐩧, ''Yws¹f ʾs¹ʾr Yṯʾr''), Yosef Nu'as (), or Yūsuf ibn Sharhabil (), also known as Masruq in Syriac, and Dounaas () in Medieval G ...

. The Kaaba of Najran still survives today, although in ruins, and is part of an archaeological site. The traveller

Yaqut al-Hamawi Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) () was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th–13th centuries). He is known for his , an influential work on geography con ...

mentions that the Kaaba of Dhu al-Khalasa was converted into a mosque. The site of the Kaaba of al-Lat is also now where the Abd Allah ibn al-Abbas Mosque stands.

Notes

References

Sources

* * {{Cite book , last=Robin , first=Christian Julien , title=Juifs Et Chretiens En Arabie Aux Ve Et Vie Siecles: Regards Croises Sur Les Sources , date=2010 , publisher=Peeters , editor-last=Beaucamp , editor-first=Joelle , pages=39–106 , chapter=Nagrān vers l'époque du massacre : notes sur l'histoire politique, économique et institutionnelle et sur l'introduction du christianisme (avec un réexamen du Martyre d'Azqīr) , editor-last2=Briquel-Chatonnet , editor-first2=Francoise , editor-last3=Robin , editor-first3=Christian Julien , chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/27059122 Architecture Building Temples