‘Kaaba’ is cube in Arabic. The Kaaba provides the direction for ritual prayer for Muslims all over the world. It is a large stone structure constituting a single room with a marble floor that lies at the centre of Masjid Al-Haram, built by both Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) and his son, Prophet Ismail (peace be upon him). It now stands approximately 15.24 m high, 10.67 m wide, and 12.19 m long. The Kaaba is the focal point around which Masjid Al-Haram is built. The Masjid Al-Haram, undergoing expansion projects, has over 400,000 m2 of floor space capable of allowing up to 4 million people to pray at any one time. The whole process of expansion, introduces creative plans, designs and most up-to-date building technology and engineering. It is the largest and holiest mosque in the world, located in Mecca, the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Muslims make pilgrimage to Mecca every year, known as Umrah and Hajj. The Hajj is obligatory for all able-bodied adult Muslims once in their lifetime, for those who can afford it. Records show 24,000 Hajj pilgrims in 1941, it rose to 1.325 million in 2016, and almost 2 million in 2019. However, the Covid-19 pandemic may put the millions number of pilgrims recorded throughout the history to zero in 2020, showing the impact of a tiny virus, called Corona. It is time to reflect, indeed!
