Posted at Oct 11/2007 01:56AM:
aviad: The ka'aba is a large, black cube building in Mecca. The ka'aba itself is considered the House of God and is the holiest place for Muslims in the world. For this reason, Muslims face the direction of the ka'aba in Mecca when they pray.

Inside the ka'aba is an ancient black stone that is thought of as holy. Muslims engaged in the ritual of pilgrimage to Mecca will circumambulate the ka'aba and point to the stone at the start of each rotation.

The ka'aba is significant as it is the spiritual center of the Muslim world. In its transformation into a mosque, the ka'aba was also important because it housed the various Arab tribes' idols. This union of tribal idols into one building, the house of God, symbollicaly unified the Arab tribes under Islam.

Posted at Oct 15/2007 09:45AM:
Ian: Keep in mind as well its role as very simple structure when we compare it to something like the Umayyad mosque. It has this quality of being both unique and ubiquitous that many have argued captures the thrust of Islamic spirituality, namely, the unity of all things in Allah. Agian this gets back to Aviad's point that its significance lies in unifying power. Consider also its relation to the notion of the haram. In many ways it is the model haram.

Posted at Oct 18/2007 02:30AM:
Sebastian Gallese: Other minor points:

• Destroyed and rebuilt multiple times.
• Restricted access.