The day Makkah was opened, the Prophet ﷺ said: Allah made this town sacred the day He created the heavens and the earth.
And it stays sacred, by the decree of Allah, until the Day of Resurrection.
Its thorn bushes are not cut, its game is not chased, and a lost thing there is picked up only to find its owner.
Even a bush and a bird are safe there. The sanctity covers everything in the valley.
Standing at al-Hazwara, he ﷺ said to Makkah: “You are the best land of Allah, and the most beloved to Allah.”
“Had I not been driven out of you, I would not have left.”
The first House set up for people is the one at Bakka,
blessed, and a guidance for the worlds.
Bakka is another name of Makkah, the commentators say.
Abû Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) asked which mosque came first. “The Sacred Mosque.” Then? “Al-Aqsâ.”
And between the two? “Forty years.”
The Qur'an names its builders: Ibrâhîm (peace be upon him) raising the foundations, with Ismâ'îl (peace be upon him).
Was there a building before them? Some reports say angels, or Âdam. None is confirmed, so we stop here.
Their story is told in the books “Hajar, a Valley Without Water” and “Ibrahim, the Friend of Allah”.
In one corner is the Black Stone. The Prophet ﷺ said it came down from Paradise, whiter than milk.
“Then the sins of the children of Âdam turned it black.”
In it are clear signs: the Station of Ibrâhîm.
'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “If only we took the Station of Ibrâhîm as a place of prayer!”
Then the verse came down (2:125). And 'Umar said: “My Lord agreed with me in three things.”
And whoever intends in it deviation by wrongdoing, We will make him taste a painful punishment.
The verse says “whoever intends”. In this valley, even the will to do wrong is serious.
And the good is multiplied: one prayer in the Sacred Mosque is better than a hundred thousand elsewhere.
Before Quraysh, before the pilgrims, before the first stone,
Allah had already chosen this valley. Since the day He created the heavens and the earth.
You may live far from it. You still turn toward it five times a day.
Tonight, as you face the qibla, ask Allah to let you pray one day inside His House.