Cleansing the Kaʿbah: Truth Has Come

Shaykh Yasir Qadhi explains:

Before dealing with the business of conquest, the Prophet ﷺ went straight to the Kaʿbah to worship Allāh, this was the priority. He circled it on his camel, a staff in his hand rather than a sword, and as he passed each of the some three hundred and sixty idols set around the House he pointed at it with the staff; Ibn Isḥāq records that each toppled, forward if it faced forward, back if it faced back, every one felled by his gesture, and he recited, جَاءَ الحَقُّ وَزَهَقَ البَاطِلُ إِنَّ البَاطِلَ كَانَ زَهُوقًا, "Truth has come and falsehood has vanished; falsehood is ever bound to vanish" (17:81). With the same staff he touched the Black Stone as he made his ṭawāf.

❧Inside the House

He called for the keys and unlocked the Kaʿbah with his own blessed hands. Inside he found the relics of paganism, carved images, and on one wall a picture of Ibrāhīm عليه السلام holding divination arrows. He said, قَاتَلَهُمُ اللَّه, "may Allāh ruin them; what has Ibrāhīm to do with these arrows?", and recited, مَا كَانَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ يَهُودِيًّا وَلَا نَصْرَانِيًّا وَلَٰكِن كَانَ حَنِيفًا مُسْلِمًا وَمَا كَانَ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ, "Ibrāhīm was neither Jew nor Christian, but an upright Muslim, and not of the idolaters" (3:67). Every image was wiped away and the House restored to the purity Ibrāhīm had built it upon.

❧Praying Inside

He prayed within the Kaʿbah, with Bilāl beside him. Years later Ibn ʿUmar asked Bilāl where the Prophet ﷺ had prayed, and Bilāl pointed out the spots, so Ibn ʿUmar would seek them too (Muslim). From this it is an established Sunnah to pray inside the Kaʿbah, facing any of its walls; the Prophet ﷺ began with the wall opposite the door, his back to the entrance.