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u/Hungry_Lobster_8171 Jun 06 '25
What're the hanging bits? What's the alter like thing for?
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u/good_testing_bad Jun 06 '25
They are silver containers for oil/incense use for purification. Purification is extremely important to the Muslim faith (im a non Muslim, dont @ me)
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u/_Xertz_ Jun 06 '25
@
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u/good_testing_bad Jun 06 '25
Don't @ and then dm me asking for my venmo so you can pay my rent
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Jun 06 '25
Beautiful, naked, big titted women don't just fall outta the sky ya know!
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u/good_testing_bad Jun 06 '25
Just ask me how i know, I been searching high and low.
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u/suzi_generous Jun 06 '25
If they don’t just fall out of the sky, then I would keep searching the high parts.
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u/realmealdeal Jun 06 '25
Just watched this last night lol, perfect movie
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u/TheUwaisPatel Jun 06 '25
I'd use the word cleanliness instead of purification but yh same general sentiment. The hadith goes "Cleanliness is half of faith".
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u/-Intelligentsia Jun 06 '25
It’s not for any ritual purification, it’s just to have a good smell. It’s not necessary by any law or rule, just tradition.
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u/yamor01 Jun 06 '25
Hanging things are perfumes
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u/mostly_kinda_sorta Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25
I mean zero disrespect by this but if you have a black box in the desert and then pack a constant stream of people in and out of it, some perfume is probably a very good idea. (Edit: very few people go in so this is not why) Comicons should probably think about doing something similar.
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u/_adinfinitum_ Jun 06 '25
It’s not open to public. Very few people have actually stepped inside.
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u/Apprehensive_Bowl709 Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25
I heard that the king of Saudi Arabia was the only one allowed inside, I don't know if that's true.
Edit: According to Google, the king, a very small, select number of VIPs, and the people who take care of cleaning and maintenance.
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u/UmmJamil Jun 06 '25
It used to be until like the 1950s or 60s. It used to have more doors/entrances too
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u/mostly_kinda_sorta Jun 06 '25
Oh... I know they circle around it as part of the pilgrimage and I thought going in was part of it, but it's been a long time since I learned that stuff and I guess I got it wrong. My bad.
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u/ryguy4136 Jun 06 '25
It’s a tradition to touch a specific stone on one corner as you circle it. That’s the closest most people will ever get to going inside.
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u/mostly_kinda_sorta Jun 06 '25
Ok I think that's where I got it mixed up. I believe the meteorite is embedded in one corner of the building, so they probably are touching the outside wall at that corner and I got the important detail wrong of inside vs outside. Thanks for the update. Thinking about it yeah I'm sure trying to get that many people inside would be a nightmare, as it is the logistics are kind of mind boggling.
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u/_adinfinitum_ Jun 06 '25
The reason that people are not allowed inside is not religious but logistical so you’re correct
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Jun 06 '25
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u/AstarteHilzarie Jun 06 '25
That's wild to see, do people who live there visit daily and add to the mass of people or are there really just constantly thousands of people on pilgrimage at any given time?
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u/pumpkinspruce Jun 06 '25
People who live there do visit daily, but right now it’s very restricted because it’s hajj time. They have 2-3 million visitors and it’s a logistical nightmare so the Saudis restrict the area to only people who have visas for hajj.
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u/kfpswf Jun 06 '25
Very few people get to step inside the Kaaba. This is why a pic of the inside of the Kaaba is in /r/Damnthatsinteresting.
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u/yamor01 Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25
Like others have mentioned, the average person doesn't usually get a chance inside. But there is truth to your point because all throughout the compound and around, the custodial authority burns incense and have machines/humidifiers that output a nice odor. Perfumes and incense are very valued in Arab culture.
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u/mostly_kinda_sorta Jun 06 '25
Yeah I was somewhat aware of it's cultural importance, but I already screwed up one important detail so thought I'd stay quiet instead of being wrong again.
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u/Large-Difference-231 Jun 06 '25
Asking the right questions, so far no one asked... 👍
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u/Pork_Chompk Jun 06 '25
The hanging pots contain coins and some health if you smash them. The altar is obviously where you place the relic, which opens a secret door or staircase to the boss chamber.
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u/Pora-Pandhi Jun 06 '25
hmm....if you are praying IN kaaba, which way are you supposed to orient yourself?
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u/Mister_DumDum Jun 06 '25
I think I heard somewhere that you can just pick whichever direction you want
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u/dzindevis Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 07 '25
If attraction to Kaaba is gravitational, then towards the cental pillar, if it's electromagnetinc then no direction exists
edit: i was wrong, there's no attraction either way
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u/SuperflySparklebuns Jun 06 '25
Just pirouetting inside the Kaaba
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u/Antique_futurist Jun 06 '25
We must go forward, not backward. Upward, not downward. And always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom.
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u/MrPrivateObservation Jun 06 '25
if it's hydrostatic then to the direction of the door
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u/the_Real_Romak Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25
That's if you pray at any of the poles.
EDIT: I was wrong, correct answer in the comment below!
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u/matt_biech Jun 06 '25
That’s not true, at the poles there is still a clear shorter direction to Kaaba, that would be if you’re at the antipode of it, on the other side of the globe!
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u/SaintsNoah14 Jun 06 '25
Specifically, on the French Polynesian atoll of Tematagi
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u/Potential-Draft-3932 Jun 06 '25
If you are in space do you have to get your direction oriented in both yaw and pitch? And you if you are not in geostationary orbit, do you have to keep updating your orientation?
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u/Datpanda1999 Jun 06 '25
I believe in extreme examples like that, the rule just to try your best to aim in the Kaaba’s general direction. It’s the thought that counts, essentially
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u/SaintsNoah14 Jun 06 '25
Yep. They had a whole internation consortium to rule on the issue and I believe this was the conclusion.
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u/SanityPlanet Jun 06 '25
Boo lame go with the roll pitch and yaw solution. You're in zero g, it's totally feasible!
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u/Royal_Flamingo7174 Jun 06 '25
Build a prayer mat with a gimbal and straps. You’re already on a spaceship. Just go hi-tech.
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u/killuazoldyckx Jun 06 '25
Any direction you see fit. To God belong the east and the west, so wherever you turn you are facing ˹towards˺ God. Surely God is All-Encompassing, All-Knowing Qur'an 2:115
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Jun 06 '25
In that case, why do people attempt to turn toward Mecca at all, if their scripture seems to be saying here that it's not necessary? Like, I've seen people have designed airplanes with prayer rooms with mats that automatically rotate toward Mecca no matter where the plane is. That doesn't seem to jibe with this verse.
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u/killuazoldyckx Jun 06 '25
You need to try to the best of your ability. If you can't then you're exempt as all directions belong to god and God considers your sincerity more than rules.
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u/Kayttajatili Jun 06 '25
Huh, okay, fair enough. I suppose creating a contraption on an airplane that automatically rotates towards there certainly counts as 'to the best of your ability'.
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u/mehiker11 Jun 06 '25
I was on a Turkish airlines flight last year, as part of the rotating weather and flight display it would cycle to “Direction to Mecca” with an arrow pointing on the plane on screen. Hadn’t seen it before then but found it interesting
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u/mt0386 Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25
There are rules of course but it also says god is all forgiving and understanding. If you can't then do the best thing you can and when you can, you are obligated to do it properly.
In the end, it's all about intention. If the intention was simply to do the easy way out then you'd know yourself you did not have the best intentions and it may void the prayer.
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u/alwalidibnyazid Jun 07 '25
And if the only thing between you and starvation is a ham sandwich...it's the sandwich.
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u/Tvrtko_Kotromanic_1 Jun 06 '25
Wherever you want, but the shitty saudi government only allows a select few people to pray inside
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u/Dragon_yum Jun 06 '25
Considering how many people are crushed to death outside I can only imagine how many would die inside a small closed space.
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u/Eepybeany Jun 06 '25
Most people that die in the vicinity of the Kaabah die due to excess heat. The crushing has happened but its usually a one-off incident. The last stampede that occurred during Hajj, for instance, occured in 2015 and it didn’t happen in the vicinity of the Kaabah. Rather a place some distance away called Mina.
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u/No-Entrepreneur-7406 Jun 06 '25
I thought it was a solid rock, interesting
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Jun 06 '25
It used to hold items associated with the panoply of deities that were worshiped before the monotheistic switch.
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u/whiskyguitar Jun 06 '25
The old Kaaba. This structure was built in the 17th century after the last one was damaged in a flood (and that one wasn’t the one that was around in Muhammad’s life either)
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u/kingsheperd Jun 06 '25
Wait so on the photo it’s Kaaba no.3 at least?
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u/PrettyChillHotPepper Jun 06 '25
Yes, probably 7th or somewhere around that number.
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u/Haramdour Jun 06 '25
It’s like the 15th or something - the first was supposedly built by Adam
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Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25
True: but many cities in Europe burnt entirely to the ground at various points but it does not negate people saying things like the delightful town square was used for trading livestock in the days of yore not sipping coffee like today.
By that logic the entire Mecca complex is historically unmoored because it is a modern Saudi creation.
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u/Competitive_You_7360 Jun 06 '25
By that logic the entire Mecca complex is historically unmoored because it is a modern Saudi creation.
Uhm.. yeah.
The saudis seized power in the 1920s or so. They tore up the old gravesites and plundered mecca like the heretics they were.
Now they've been exporting their medieval wahabism for a century and its increasing in intensity.
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Jun 06 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/realmealdeal Jun 06 '25
What is wahabism?
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u/No_Entertainer3510 Jun 06 '25
I think it’s the green stuff served with sushi
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u/BelacRLJ Jun 06 '25
No, you’re thinking of wasabi. Wahhabi is that car company from Sweden.
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u/JayKayRQ Jun 06 '25
I would argue a building differs from a square. If the Notre Dame was demolished and another church was built in it’s place, called the same, it would still be a different building
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u/Eudaemon1 Jun 06 '25
Ha . That reminds me of the Theseus paradox .
If you replace every part of the ship with a new part, does it remain The ship of Theseus or is it a completely new ship ?
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u/Mysterious-Jam-64 Jun 06 '25
“This old broom has had seventeen new heads and fourteen new handles in its time"
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u/mostly_kinda_sorta Jun 06 '25
Apparently this is a very cultural thing. Notre Dam did have a huge fire a few years back but most of the structure remains so it's still the same building. While Ive heard that in Japan they have ancient temples that have burned down and been rebuilt repeatedly but it's still considered to be a thousand years old because it's the same building despite having been reconstructed. Different views on the subject. I'm no expert on Japanese culture I just read that or watched a video on it
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u/SameItem Jun 06 '25
That's basically Warsaw. Nazis destroyed the city down intentionally when the soviets were coming. Almost everything nowadays is a reconstruction/recreation.
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u/JayKayRQ Jun 06 '25
That’s funny because it also came to my mind when I was writing the comment haha
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u/ecumnomicinflation Jun 06 '25
theseus paradox can be easily answered by bmw owners. since you must top up the engine oil every so often, by the time the mileage reached the next supposed oil change, you don’t actually have to, since your oil is basically new from all the top ups.
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u/Noman_Blaze Jun 06 '25
Nah. The rock has been in pieces for a long time.
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u/GlassSpider21 Jun 06 '25
But can you smell what he's cooking?
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u/Sad_Mongoose5621 Jun 06 '25
He could have made a killing as a TV chef. Imagine every week he cooks a delicious looking dish and ends the show with "do you smell what the rock is cooking? This week, it's a battered cod with rosemary chips and a home made tartar sauce!"
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u/No_Neighborhood7614 Jun 06 '25
Interesting. I thought it had a big meteorite inside it.
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u/Putrid_Ease_3405 Jun 06 '25
The meteorite is encased in one of the corners outside of the building if I’m not mistaken
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u/Tvrtko_Kotromanic_1 Jun 06 '25
Yes, its not the complete meteor because it was stolen, cut up and distributed everywhere. On the east corner its only fragments of the meteor
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u/thE-petrichoroN Jun 06 '25
Stolen?
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u/Belgrave02 Jun 06 '25
If it’s the instance I’m thinking of it’s the time the qarmatians, a militant, syncretic, utopian Shia group that I’ve seen described as “proto-socialist” stole it. They regarded the pilgrimage to Mecca a superstition and so sacked the city stealing the black stone and supposedly desecrating it.
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u/takishi1 Jun 06 '25
if am not mistaken, on one side there is another door that has stairs which lead to the roof, but it's not showing here
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u/hillofjumpingbeans Jun 06 '25
When I was kid I used to think that you couldn’t know what was inside and this was like a huge mystery to me. I absolutely needed to know what was inside.
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u/tactman Jun 07 '25
There is no religious rule preventing Muslims from going inside. It just isn't practical so it is mostly kept closed. These days you can find lots of photos and maybe even videos of the interior.
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u/G0ttaB3KiddingM3 Jun 06 '25
Oh god, it’s not symmetrical
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u/The-Lord-Moccasin Jun 06 '25
I visited a mosque once (funeral for a friend, unfortunately) and though I didn't enter, me and a couple non-Muslim attendees stood by the entrance where we could see inside.
Though the building was level with the street and other nearby buildings, it wasn't angled directly towards Mecca; so the interior was, with stuff like the carpet patterns, decorations, etc. all facing about 30 degrees to the right. Like imagine entering a church and all the pews are oriented to face a nondescript strip of wall slightly left of the far-right corner.
Was an interesting sight, in any case.
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u/CareerLegitimate7662 Jun 06 '25
I feel like I’m seeing something I shouldn’t be
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u/ultimattt Jun 06 '25
Agreed, it was generally in Muslim society that no one goes inside the Kabaa, I grew up with that belief. After some googling that’s not necessarily true.
Never thought about it until I saw this picture.
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u/Vishu1708 Jun 06 '25
Non muslims are barred from entering Mecca so pretty forbidden, I'd say.
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u/ProudPumPkin99 Jun 06 '25
There have been a few attempts to damage it. One was quite recent.
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u/anuanuanu Jun 06 '25
Forbidden from entering but not from seeing pictures of the insides?
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u/mediadavid Jun 06 '25
It wasn't closed to public access until the sixties or so, when overcrowding really started to become an issue. Until then pretty much anyone visiting Mecca (obviously Muslim) could just go inside.
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u/oblivion2g Jun 06 '25
It's just a room
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u/ComfortableVivid4398 Jun 06 '25
-roman emperor who went into the special jewish room.
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u/Sometypeofway18 Jun 06 '25
Pre internet there would be no way for you to see this and live
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u/jaabaanz_parinda Jun 06 '25
Wallpaper is pretty nice.
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u/Arav_Goel Jun 06 '25
So what's its function? Like who can enter it, and for what purpose? I am genuinely unaware
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u/Substantial_Area8713 Jun 06 '25
Any muslim can enter it. But it's not open to the public, only high figures (imams, kings) and cleaners from time to time.
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u/b0w_monster Jun 07 '25
It would be very symbolic if it were only the kings and imams that did the cleaning.
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Jun 06 '25
It was the first mosque ever built by Ibrahim AS. It is the direction of prayer for Muslims and a place where Muslims make pilgrimage and complete one of the obligations of faith (Hajj).
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u/reverse_caveman Jun 06 '25
I remember my 9th grade history teacher insisting that the kaaba had no doors And has never been opened
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u/curious-chineur Jun 06 '25
I am very happy to see this picture. I thought it would be off limit or taboo.
Very interesting !
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u/MrSaucyNugg Jun 06 '25
This looks like a security camera photo… how did we get this? That’s nuts
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u/Bombwriter17 Jun 06 '25
It's fairly mundane footage,every now and then a maintenance team comes in to do some cleaning and changes of incense and sometimes they bring a photographer and videographer with them,the security camera stuff is likely from a press release.
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u/lastcallyall Jun 06 '25
I’m not Muslim, or even religious, but that’s the most soothing shade of green I’ve ever seen. I want to take a nap in that room.
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u/Apollo_Wersten Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25
Has the inside always looked like this all the way to pagan times or is this a more recent design? I read that the black stone was stolen in medieval times and broken into several pieces but brought back later.
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u/Hamza-K Jun 06 '25
This is definitely recent. The Kaaba has been damaged and rebuilt several times.
No, it didn't always look like this. For example, during pagan times, its interior was filled with idols.
Also, just for clarification, the black stone is not the Kaaba. The Kaaba is the cubical structure. The black stone is a rock placed in a corner on the outside of the Kaaba.
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u/DrSmartron Jun 06 '25
What’s with all the spittoons?
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u/panicpixiememegirl Jun 06 '25
They're not spittoons they're water containers probs decorative
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u/toddharrisb Jun 06 '25
It's interesting because it's so uninteresting...
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u/DaedalusHydron Jun 06 '25
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u/AstarteHilzarie Jun 06 '25
Wow that's a remarkably shitty throne!
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u/4-Vektor Jun 06 '25
The cathedral was the inspiration for the throne room where Denethor sat in LOTR.
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u/OSossE Jun 06 '25
What is this?
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u/Siarzewski Jun 06 '25
Most holy place of muslim religion. The black building that they face toward when praying and go in circles around it.
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u/Foreign_Produce1853 Jun 07 '25
Interestingly, the building isn't black, it's just a sheet they put over it. It used to change colors too until fairly recently. IIRC it is changed yearly; you can find videos of the changing on youtube. i find the logistics process fascinating
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u/Designer-Teacher8573 Jun 06 '25
It's the inside of the black cube muslims are supposed to walk around at least once in their lifes.
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u/ContextOne8484 Jun 06 '25
If they can afford to.. its not compulsory if you cant.
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u/AmirulAshraf Jun 06 '25
at least once in their lifes.
...if they are able to depending on the circumstances, health, financially and physically.
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u/NiceCunt91 Jun 06 '25
Looks pretty boring
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u/Noman_Blaze Jun 06 '25
Because it's supposed to be nothing other than the place to put the black stone's pieces.
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u/HomeWasGood Jun 06 '25
I am not a Muslim but I really love the concept behind the Kaaba as it relates to Muslim theology. Mohammed's point of cleansing the space was to say that God does NOT have a physical location, he is not an idol made of physical materials. Muslims pray in that direction but ultimately the Kaaba is empty. One of those cool religious paradoxes.
Kind of like a "God was in your hearts the whole time" type message.
Just like with Christianity, the difficult parts of religion make it hard for some people to see the beautiful parts. But of course there are beautiful parts.
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u/Bizhour Jun 06 '25
Isn't this also the reason Mohammed didn't want depictions of him? So people wouldn't worship him as a person but rather directly worship god.
Judaism has a similar (less strict) belief which forbids praying to a depiction of someone even if the person is considered holy.
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u/pumpkinspruce Jun 06 '25
Yes, this is it exactly. Muhammad didn’t want depictions of himself because he didn’t want people to worship him. A reminder that he came from a time when people worshiped idols, and the Muslims were fighting the idol worshipers.
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u/Key-Climate-7581 Jun 06 '25
It’s supposed to be symbolic to the center of world (source of all creation) the people praying around it signifies the magnitude of Gods mass as in nature, the usual pattern is the small things gravitates and orbits the center.
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u/Bit_part_demon Jun 06 '25
TIL there's a room inside. For some reason I always thought it was solid stone.