Kaabas
Ka'abas also spelt Ka'bas are the plural term used to describe houses of worship mainly located in the Arabian Peninsula that are cubic in shape and resemble the Kaaba structure in Mecca. They are mainly dedicated to various gods from the Arabian pantheon, although the term has been used to describe some Christian churches built in a similar style in the Arabian Peninsula.
Architectural style
A typical Kaaba building is shaped like a cube or block and functions as a place for the devotees of a particular god or goddess to worship in. The name "Kaaba" was used by ancient Arabians to describe and label these sites because of their resemblance to the Kaaba at Mecca and the purpose of doing pilgrimage to them.The Kaaba architecture is found in temples throughout the Arabian Peninsula, in mosques across the Wusab province of Yemen that were converted into mosques from earlier cult pre-Islamic buildings, in the Jinn Blocks of Petra and Hegra, and in kaaba-like tombs of both Jews and Arabs found across the Arabian Peninsula and the Fertile Crescent.
List of Kaabas
Here is a list of some of these Kaaba structures that are mentioned in the writings of Muslim scholars and historians.Arabian Peninsula
- Kaaba of Najran, a site of worship of in the Christian community of Najran, converted from an earlier Kaaba dedicated to the god Dhu Samawi from the polytheistic era
- Kaaba of Dhu al-Khalasa, worshipped by the Daws tribe
- Kaaba of Dushara, worshipped by the Nabataeans
- Kaaba of Dhu-Ghabat, worshipped by the Banu Lihyan tribe
- Kaaba of al-Lat, worshipped by the Thaqif tribe
- The Kaaba of the Ghatafan tribe
- The Yemeni Kaaba, a church built by the Aksumite garrison in Yemen to rival the Kaaba of Mecca
- In the Wusab province of Yemen, almost all mosques have a cube-shaped, windowless, single-door architecture. The tombs of saints in the area also follow this pattern. Many of these mosques appear to have been converted from pre-Islamic cult buildings dating to the late antique period of the Arabian peninsula, when this architectural style was common.
- A Kaaba attested for the god Yād
- A Kaaba attested to have been present in the Ukaz sanctuary
Mesopotamia
- Kaaba Sindad, used by the migrant Arabs as a place for celebrations to be held instead of a place of worship.
- A Kaaba for the god Dushara
Persia
- Kaaba of Zoroaster, a place of worship for Zoroastrians. It is unlikely to have been a temple; although it did reportedly contain statues of gods that were destroyed by Bardiya according to inscriptions and texts from the Achaemenid period.
Fate of the Kaabas
Most of the Kaabas dedicated to pagan gods in the Arabian Peninsula were destroyed after Islam. Among the destroyed Kaabas include that of the Kaaba of al-Lat that was worshipped by the Thaqif.Conversion into mosques
Some said that the Kaaba of Najran in the ancient city of Al-Okhdood became a church after the Aksumites entered Najran as a relief for their Christian brethren who had been persecuted by Dhu Nuwas. The Kaaba of Najran still survives today, although in ruins, and is part of an archaeological site.The traveller Yaqut al-Hamawi mentions that the Kaaba of Dhu al-Khalasa was converted into a mosque. The site of the Kaaba of al-Lat is also now where the Abd Allah ibn al-Abbas Mosque stands.