Majma al-Zawaid — Hadith 5733

Urwah narrates: When the Ka'bah was burned, it became weakened (that is, its building became weak). Sayyiduna Abdullah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: "If the dwelling of any one of you were in this condition, he would not be content until he repaired it. I have firmly resolved that it should be pulled down and rebuilt." He also consulted the people about this. Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: "Leave it in the state in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) left it." Sayyiduna Abdullah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: "You are being miserly with regard to spending; I will spend on it from my own wealth." The narrator says: Then he made up his mind and pulled it down. Some people left Makkah. Sayyiduna Abdullah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both) climbed onto the Ka'bah, and with him was a black Abyssinian slave of his. They began to pull it down, and some people helped the two of them, and before the sun had risen high they had levelled it with the ground. Then he asked: "From where were its stones brought in the time of Jahiliyyah?" He was told which mountain they had been brought from. He had the stones brought from that same mountain. Then he said: "I bear witness, stating that I heard Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) say that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'O Aishah! Were your people not close to the time of Jahiliyyah, I would have had the Ka'bah pulled down and made it level with the ground. Your people raised it only so that they could let in whomever they wished. And I would have made a western door for it as well.'" After this he mentioned something else which I do not remember; in it are these words: "'A person would enter through this door and go out through that door. And I would have joined it to the foundations of Sayyiduna Ibrahim (peace be upon him), for your people cut short those foundations and left out the portion of the Hatim from it.'" The narrator says: Then he dug the foundations until he reached the foundations of Sayyiduna Ibrahim (peace be upon him). He would insert a crowbar on one of its sides, and all of its sides would shake. Then he built it, adding the portion of the Hatim, and he raised it as well. On the day it was demolished its height was eighteen cubits; when he enlarged it, it seemed too short. His son said to him: "Add nine cubits to it", and he added three pillars to it. When Abd al-Malik had Sayyiduna Abdullah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both) killed, al-Hajjaj wrote to him that he should block the door which Ibn al-Zubayr had added, restore it to how it was before, and remove the addition which Ibn al-Zubayr had made from the side of the Hatim. So he did that. Its building as it stands today is the building of Sayyiduna Abdullah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both), except for what al-Hajjaj changed on the side of the Hatim, and its covering is the one with which al-Hajjaj clothed it.
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir, and its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).