or KAABA, properly signifies a square stone building, but is particularly applied to the temple of Mecca, built, as the Mahomedans pretend, by Abraham and his son Ishmael. This temple enjoys the privilege of an asylum for all sorts of criminals; but it is most remarkable for the pilgrimages made to it by the devout Moslemins, who pay it so great a veneration that they account the mere sight of its sacred walls, without any particular act of devotion, as meritorious in the sight of God as the most careful discharge of their duty for the space of a whole year in any other temple. See MEKKA.