Hateem

What Does Hateem Mean in Detail?

The Hateem is a semicircular white marble wall approximately 1.3 meters high, located about 2 meters from the northwestern wall of the Kaaba. The area between the wall and the Kaaba is known as Hijr Ismail, as Islamic tradition associates it with the place where Prophet Ismail (Ishmael) and his mother Hajar (Hagar) were sheltered. When the Quraysh rebuilt the Kaaba before Islam, they lacked sufficient legitimate funds to include the full original foundation laid by Prophet Ibrahim, so they excluded this portion and marked it with the low wall. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) told Aisha that had his people not been recent converts from polytheism, he would have rebuilt the Kaaba on Ibrahim's original foundation, incorporating the Hijr. Because the Hateem area is considered part of the original Kaaba, pilgrims performing Tawaf must circumambulate around the outside of the Hateem wall — walking through it would invalidate that circuit. Prayer within the Hijr is considered as prayer inside the Kaaba itself.