The Kaaba stands at the centre of al-Masjid al-Haram and is the qibla, the direction Muslims face in prayer. The Quran calls it the first house established for humankind (3:96), relates that Abraham and Ishmael raised its foundations (2:127), and makes it a means of "standing" and order for people (al-Ma'idah 5:97). Al-Baqarah 2:125 describes the House as a place of return and of safety.
Al-Baqarah 2:144 records the change of the qibla from Jerusalem to al-Masjid al-Haram; according to the reports this took place in Medina in the second year after the Hijra. Al-Masjid al-Haram is the mosque surrounding the Kaaba; the hills of Safa and Marwah and the well of Zamzam now lie within its precincts.
The circumambulation (tawaf) of the Kaaba is at the heart of the Hajj and Umrah. The mosque has been enlarged many times over the centuries and is today the largest mosque in the world.