Explores the Ka'ba as it has been conceptualised, represented and used by Muslims from the earliest period of Islam onwards. The most sacred site of Islam, the Ka'ba (the granite cuboid structure at the centre of the Great Mosque of Mecca) is here investigated by examining six of its predominantly spatial effects: as the qibla (the direction faced in prayer); as the axis and matrix mundi of the Islamic world; as an architectural principle in the bedrock of this world; as a circumambulated goal of pilgrimage and a site of spiritual union for mystics and Sufis; and as a dwelling that is imagined to shelter temporarily an animating force; but which otherwise, as a house, holds a void. Key Features, The first book-length exploration of the Ka'ba in a Western language, Explains what the Ka'ba is by examining how it functions architecturally and is represented culturally, Each chapter pursues a different aspect of the Ka'ba, presenting new findings and arguments, Extensively illustrated, including a number of rarely reproduced images.