And when We appointed the House the Ka‘ba to be a place of visitation to which they flock from every direction for the people and a sanctuary of safety for them from the injustice and attacks that befall other places a person could come across his father’s killer there and yet not act violently against him; and ‘Take ittakhidhū is also read ittakhadhū making it a predicate O people to yourselves Abraham’s station the founding stone he used when building the House for a place of prayer’ so that you perform two units of prayer for the circumambulation; And We made a covenant with Abraham and Ishmael We commanded them ‘Purify My House of graven images for those that shall go round it and those that cleave to it in ritual residence to those who bow and prostrate themselves’ that is those who pray al-rukka‘ and al-sujūd are the plurals of rāki‘ ‘one bowing’ and sājid ‘one prostrated’ respectively.
