Hello and welcome to The Rest is History. Now we're in the middle of our great World Cup

marathon, a podcast for every country that's qualified for the finals in Katar. All kinds

of weird and wonderful stories. And Tom, I believe we are now venturing to the sands of Saudi

Arabia, is that right? We are. We're actually venturing to Mecca, the holiest place in the

holiest city in Islam, and the holiest mosque in Mecca, the Marjid Al-Haram, the inviolable

mosque, and the holiest spot within that mosque, which is the Kaba. So that is the theme of today's

episode. Brave choice Tom. Well, it's the most famous structure within the limits of Saudi Arabia,

it's the most famous structure within global Islam, and it's for Muslims probably the single most

holy structure in the whole world, basically for two reasons. The first is that it constitutes

the Kibla, which is the direction that Muslims turn to when they pray. So that's what they're

praying to. And the second is that it's the great object of Muslim pilgrimage. So you can get

any time, but there is a particular time. So it's a kind of, I think it's five, six day period in the

the last month of the Muslim calendar, which moves around because it's a lunar calendar. So you

can't absolutely pin it down. And this is the, the Hajj, very famous pilgrimage. And it is one of the

five pillars of Islam. So one of the things that's absolutely incumbent on Muslims, if they possibly

can, is at least once in their lives to undertake the pilgrimage to Mecca, and specifically to

to the Kaaba. And so, you know, in non-COVID periods, you get huge numbers of millions of people,

millions. I think in 2012, it was over three million, the Saudi authority said. So it's a huge,

huge thing. And so Tom, just before you go into the history and you explain, because I've always been

fascinated by what's in the Kaaba, and I'm hoping you're going to tell me, but just for people who

don't know. So I'm looking at a picture of it right now. And you have the mosque. I mean, you

often see it packed with people or wearing white, don't you? You have the mosque, and it's now,

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