Tafsir Ibn Kathir -> Surah Al-Baqarah -> The Story of rebuilding the House by Quraysh before the Messenger of Allah was sent as Prophet

In his Sirah, Muhammad bin Ishaq bin Yasar said, "When the Messenger of Allah reached thirty-five years of age, the Quraysh gathered to rebuild the Ka`bah, this included covering it with a roof. However, they were weary of demolishing it. During that time, the Ka`bah was barely above a man's shoulder, so they wanted to raise its height and build a ceiling on top. Some people had stolen the Ka`bah's treasure beforehand, which used to be in a well in the middle of the Ka`bah. The treasure was later found with a man called, Duwayk, a freed servant of Bani Mulayh bin `Amr, from the tribe of Khuza`ah. The Quraysh cut off his hand as punishment. Some people claimed that those who actually stole the treasure left it with Duwayk. Afterwards, the sea brought a ship that belonged to a Roman merchant to the shores of Jeddah, where it washed-up. So they collected the ship's wood to use it for the Ka`bah's ceiling; a Coptic carpenter in Makkah prepared what they needed for the job. When they decided to begin the demolition process to rebuild the House, Abu Wahb bin `Amr bin `A'idh bin `Abd bin `Imran bin Makhzum took a stone from the Ka`bah; the stone slipped from his hand and went back to where it had been. He said, `O people of Quraysh! Do not spend on rebuilding the House, except from what was earned from pure sources. No money earned from a prostitute, usury or injustice should be included.''' Ibn Ishaq commented here that the people also attribute these words to Al-Walid bin Al-Mughirah bin `Abdullah bin `Amr bin Makhzum.

Ibn Ishaq continued, "The Quraysh began to organize their efforts to rebuild the Ka`bah, each subtribe taking the responsibility of rebuilding a designated part of it.

However, they were still weary about bringing down the Ka`bah. Al-Walid bin Al-Mughirah said, `I will start to bring it down.' He held an ax and stood by the Ka`bah and said, `O Allah! No harm is meant. O Allah! We only seek to do a good service.' He then started to chop the House's stones. The people waited that night and said, `We will wait and see. If something strikes him, we will not bring it down and instead rebuid it the way it was. If nothing happens to him, then Allah will have agreed to what we are doing.' The next morning, Al-Walid went to work on the Ka`bah, and the people started bringing the Ka`bah down with him. When they reached the foundations that Ibrahim built, they uncovered green stones that were above each other, just like a pile of spears.'' Ibn Ishaq then said that some people told him, "A man from Quraysh, who was helping rebuild the Ka`bah, placed the shovel between two of these stones to pull them up; when one of the stones was moved, all of Makkah shook, so they did not dig up these stones.''