Özet:

The Kaaba, located in the city of Mecca in the Arabian Peninsula, is not only a religious place for believers but also an architecturally important building. Although it looks like an ordinary building with its almost square plan with four corners and a covered space, it carries the experience of centuries with its history of at least four thousand years. The place, which the Quran describes as the earth's first home / place for worship, also contains the mystery of its past. Although it was dated to the first human being “Adam” in some of the sources of Islamic History, it is difficult to make a definite statement on the subject or to take a scientific stance, since the data here are rumours of Israeli origin, which cannot be verified. The history of the place, which is known to have been established with the divine order, is becoming clear with Abraham, descendant of Adam. Abraham, who settled his wife and son in the valley of Mecca, started to raise the walls of the Kaaba when his son reached the age to help him in the construction works. Although it is unlikely that Abraham, who is thought to have built the Kaaba on the previous foundation, was influenced by any structure while constructing the building, Iraqi researchers think that he was inspired by the Ziggurats. The relationship of Ziggurats with this building, which was built in the centre of the city and symbolizes simplicity and humility, cannot be established in terms of architecture, belief, worship, and ritual. This divine temple, which was not inspired by any existing building, affected the Arab Tribes with its imitable character and symbolic religious power. When the pagan Arabs sought living in the sacred, they built structures similar to the Kaaba in the regions they lived. Arabs, who preferred to live freely in different parts of the peninsula with members of their own linage instead of living under the rule of others, carried their political freedoms to the religious field. The tribes, who preferred to gather around a religious figure that was determined and shaped by their own preferences and was related to their history, instead of believing in a deity of the others and isolating from their own identities, found the environment they were looking for in paganism. The idolatry that gave the opportunity to acquire an unlimited number of deities allowed tribes to choose their own idols. The tribes, who determined the idols they would adopt, placed them in the regions where they lived or close to them, and after a while they thought of building a house for them. They took the Kaaba as model while building their own sacred places. As a result of the Kaaba-centred constructions, many structures whose names start with "Kaaba" or "Bayt" in Islamic sources have emerged. While they accepted the Kaaba as a prototype, they were not only influenced by architecture, but also borrowed elements of belief, worship and ritual. At first, the square structure was roughly imitated, and then it was copied down to the smallest details, down to the steps, doors, ceilings and covers in the outbuildings of the Kaaba. Religious services such as sacrifice, shaving, circumambulation, ihram, and gifts were imposed without compromise to those who went there for pilgrimage or umrah. Some of the most well-known examples of this are the altars with the idols of Lat, Bussa and Manât. As understood from the available information, the effect of the Kaaba on other structures reveals itself clearly. However, sufficient information about them did not reach today due to the demolition and destruction of pagan temples with Islamic rule or the construction of new buildings on them. With this deficiency, it is easily possible to say that the Kaaba is exemplary in producing a building.

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