English
TürkçeAlthough God revealed that His face is everywhere, in all the directions and He encompassed everything, He definitely explained that "kıble-the direction to which a Muslim turns in worship -" was "the Kaaba" for the Muslims to stand in an attitude of respect with joined hands in the presence of God during worship and prayer, as it was told the Prophet Muhammad in the verse:
"Ve akim vecheke şetrel mescidil haram -Turn your face towards the Kaaba in Mecca (Mescid - i Haram)."(Al-Baqarah, 144).
The reason why it is "kıble" and "the House of God" is hidden in the mystery of its appearance as a dot (point), when the Kaaba is seen downwards from above and so every side of it is accepted as Kıble and in the secrecy of its black color. It is also related to the heart of man, because the Kaaba is nearly in the centre of the world same as the heart is in the centre of the body. This place is light during 12 months of the year and it is a holy dot, a sacred circle just like the heart of the Perfect Man. God manifested this circle as He manifested into the heart of the Perfect Man with His person. The Divine Light of the Face of God was shown to the Prophets and the Friends of God in this holy circle.
The walls of the Kaaba are covered with a large piece of black cloth. Although green was accepted as the sacred colour by the Muslims, it is especially covered by a piece of black cloth because black has the mystery of curtain. When a man shuts his eyes, he sees that his heart and the inner world is veiled by a black covering. It is the same for the Kaaba. The darkness of a night is a veil to light. So, there is a great light and reality under this veil but it is covered with a black cloth. It is veiled for the unbelievers. It looks like the heart of the Perfect Man. "I can fit neither into the Earth nor the Heaven; I am in the heart of the true believer." (137) The secrecy of this statement and the secrecy of both the Kaaba and the heart of the Perfect man are the same. The Kaaba and the Divine Light of the Kaaba is hidden with a black covering same as the body hides the heart (the matter of the body symbolizes darkness) because the divine light is hidden from the unbelievers. This is the meaning of the black cloth. Those who understand it can understand it and those who are Gnostics know it.
Circling the Kaaba by turning around it is based on the reality that God is everywhere and He does not look like any images or forms. When an unbeliever closes his eyes, he cannot see his heart and the divine light in it (there is no divine light in the heart of the unbeliever anyway). When he looks at the Kaaba, he can only see the black curtain of mystery but he cannot see the manifestation of God there because the mystery of the Kaaba is hidden and unknown for the unbelievers. It is known and understood only by the Perfect Men whose hearts have been improved and purified. These great people are able to comprehend the holiness and divinity in the Kaaba.
How happy are those who understand it and how happy are the pilgrims - hadjis - who visit it being aware of the manifestation of God there. If a person visits it for thousands of times, and looks at it for hundreds of years unconsciously, and for fame and for the title of pilgrim without knowing the reality, he neither understands anything nor he gets any benefit from it.
The reasons why the Kaaba is called "the House of God" have thoroughly been explained so far. It is said that one who visits the Kaaba, visits The Most High Allah, who is the Lord of the Universe. The heart of the Perfect man is also the Kaaba -the purified house - and this is confirmed with the statement "I can fit into neither the Earth nor the Heavens; I am in the heart of the true believer". For this reason, it is also said that the sins of the person who visits the Kaaba are forgiven.
May God enable us to live and die with the love of Muhammad and His Family (Ahl-al Bayt) as the People of Kıble, the People of Islam and the People of the Koran!
KAZIM YARDIMCI/ADIYAMAN