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Great Kaaba
The Kaaba is a large masonry structure roughly the shape of a cube. (The name Kaaba comes from the Arabic word "muka'ab" meaning "cube".) It is made of granite from the hills near Makkah, and stands upon a 25 cm (10 in) marble base, which projects outwards about 30 cm (1 foot). Approximations for the structural dimensions are: 13.10 metres (43 feet) high, with sides measuring 11.03 metres by 12.62 metres. The four corners of the Kaaba roughly face the four points of the compass. In the eastern corner of the Kaaba is the "Rukn-al-Aswad" (the Black Stone or al-Hajaru l-Aswad), generally thought to be a meteorite remnant; at the northern corner is the "Rukn-al-Iraqi" ('The Iraqi corner'); at the west lies "Rukn-al-Shami" ('The Levantine corner') and at the south "Rukn-al-Yamani" ('The Yemeni corner').
The space between the hatim and the Kaaba was for a time belonging to the Kaaba itself, and so is generally not entered during the tawaf (ritual circumambulation) . It is also thought by some that this space bears the graves of prophet Ishmael and his mother Hagar.[1]Muslims throughout the world face the Kaaba during prayers, which are five times a day. For most places around the world, coordinates for Mecca suffice. In the Sacred Mosque, worshippers pray in concentric circles radiating outwards around the Kaaba. Therefore, the focus point is in the middle of the Kaaba.
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