Who Built the Kabah ?

Questions:

What I understand from the Qur’an and tafsir (Arabic for: exegesis of the Qur’an) is that Prophet Ibrahim and his son Isma`il (peace and blessings be upon them) raised the foundations of the Kabah that were beneath the sand. I wonder who initially laid its foundations; was it Prophet Adam (peace and blessings be upon him)

Answer:

In response to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:

We have no clear evidence in the sources about this, although there are some reports that indicate that the Kabah was built by Prophet Adam (peace and blessings be upon him) and it had been a site of pilgrimage from ancient times; as such, it had been visited by various prophets.

These reports, however, do not pass the rigorous standards of scientific verification established by the scholars of Hadith. It is certainly possible, however, to infer from the Qur’an that Prophet Ibrahim and his son Isma`il (peace and blessings be upon them) only rebuilt the Kabah, and that Prophet Ibrahim (peace and blessings be upon him) was guided to the site.

The Hadith reports indicate that it had been in ruins and buried by a heap of sand. We cannot go any farther than this to elaborate the details for lack of clear evidences in the sources.

It is better to leave the issue of building the Kabah at this point and stop speculating on such matters, leaving them to the knowledge of Allah.

Almighty Allah knows best.