Kaʿba(h)

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Kaʿba(h) (Arab., ‘cube’). The building, deeply revered by Muslims, in the centre of the great mosque at Mecca, in the eastern corner of which, about 5 feet from the ground, is embedded the Black Stone. The Kaʿba, about 35 feet by 40 feet and 50 feet high, is called ‘the house of Allāh’, and is the focus of the daily ṣalāt (ritual worship) of Muslims throughout the world, (see QIBLA; ṢALĀT), and of the annual ḥajj (pilgrimage).