Maqām Ibrāhīm - 'Station of Abraham'

The Maqām Ibrāhīm -  'Station of Abraham' is a small square stone associated with Ibrahim (Abraham), Ismail (Ishmael) and their building of the Kaaba in what is now the Great Mosque of Mecca in the Hejazi region of Saudi Arabia. According to Islamic tradition, the imprint on the stone came from Abraham's feet. It had appeared when Ibrahim stood on the stone while building the Kaaba; when the walls became too high, Ibrahim stood on the maqām, which miraculously rose up to let him continue building and also miraculously went down in order to allow Ismail to hand him stones. Other traditions held that the footprint appeared when the wife of Ismail washed Ibrahim's head, or alternatively when Ibrahim stood atop it in order to summon the people to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca.

The stone inside the casing is square shaped and measures 40 cm in length and width, and 20 cm in height.It used to be enclosed by a structure called the Maqsurat Ibrahim which was covered by a sitara: an ornamental, embroidered curtain that was replaced annually. it is now placed inside a golden-metal enclosure. The outer casing has changed several times over the years.

According to Islamic history, while Prophet Ismail passed the stones to his father, Prophet Ibrahim, to lay them in place, the stone on which Prophet Ibrahim (AS) was standing started rising miraculously as high as the wall rose. Allah SWT then imprinted the footprints of Prophet Ibrahim as a reminder for his descendants.

Prophet Ibrahim (AS) and his son Prophet Ismail (AS) started building the foundation of the Ka’bah following the divine order of Allah. Prophet Ibrahim uses rocks from different mountains in Makkah: Labnaan, Jabalul Khayr, Thubayr, Hira, and Toor Seena to build the Holy Ka’bah. There came a time when the height of the walls of the Ka’bah became unreachable for Prophet Ibrahim (AS). That is when the stone on which Prophet Ibrahim (AS) was standing rose until he finished constructing the walls. It is also believed that the rock became soft as the feet of Prophet Ibrahim (AS) pressed into the stone, thereby creating an imprint of his feet. After the construction of Ka’bah was completed, the sacred stone was left at the eastern side of the Holy Ka’bah.