آلِ عِمْرَان : ٩٦

  • إِنَّ Indeed
  • أَوَّلَ (the) first
  • بَيۡتٖ House
  • وُضِعَ set up
  • لِلنَّاسِ for the mankind
  • لَلَّذِي (is) the one which
  • بِبَكَّةَ (is) at Bakkah
  • مُبَارَكٗا blessed
  • وَهُدٗى and a guidance
  • لِّلۡعَٰلَمِينَ for the worlds
Indeed, the first House [of worship] established for mankind was that at Bakkah [i.e., Makkah] - blessed and a guidance for the worlds.
When they said, 'Our direction of prayer (qibla) came before yours', the following was revealed: The first house, for worship, established for the people, on earth, was that at Bakka (a variant of Makka [Mecca], so called because it 'crushes' [tabukku] the necks of tyrants); it was built by the angels before the creation of Adam, and after it the Aqsaa [in Jerusalem] was built, a period of forty years separating them, as reported in the hadeeth of the two Saheehs [sc. of al-Bukhaaree and Muslim], and in the hadeeth [that states]: 'The first thing to appear on the surface of the water, at the creation of the skies and the earth, was a white foam, underneath which the earth was unrolled'; a blessed place (mubaarakan, a circumstantial qualifier referring to la'lladhee, 'that') meaning a place of blessings, and a guidance to all worlds, because it is their qibla.