Al Kaaba

This guide to Al Kaaba in Mecca centers on the year 605, when the Quraysh clans rebuilt the flood-and-fire-damaged shrine stone by stone and then found themselves at the edge of a sword fight over who would get to lift the sacred Black Stone back into place. With the city holding its breath, someone proposed a way out: let the next man through the gate decide. The guide follows what that ordinary morning set in motion, and traces how a single gesture at the Kaaba's corner still echoes in the prayers of over a billion and a half Muslims today.