1. How to measure the exact direction of Kaaba?

2. Because many of its rooms directly overlook the Kaaba, the cubical building that houses the Black Stone, and towards which 1.5 billion Muslims turn in prayer, the complex can charge sizzling prices.

3. " The first mosque built was the " Kaaba , " in Mecca, which resides inside of the the Masjid al-Haram.

4. Muslim pilgrims go around the Kaaba in the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Mecca after morning prayers before the start of the hajj pilgrimage November 24, 2009.

5. Courtyard west side is Queen Hatshepsut a small Kaaba .

6. According to tradition, the Kaaba was originally a temple constructed by the prophet Abraham and his son, Ishmael.

7. Muslim worshippers circle the Kaaba at Mecca's Grand Mosque during Ramadan.

8. In this mosque is the Kaaba (the black building in the picture) which Muslims turn toward when praying.

9. In a normal year, many of those desperate to come before they die are pushed in wheelchairs or carried around the Kaaba and through the other rituals.

10. Another showed the sun setting on Mecca, with its Kaaba (the big black box focus of pilgrim worship), in real time.

11. This made him extremely unpopular with his fellow townsmen because the pilgrimages to the Kaaba were the chief source of such prosperity as Mecca enjoyed.

12. Built for Sultan Ahmet I in the early 1600s, the mosque was the first, aside from Mecca's Kaaba shrine, with six minarets .

13. Then each of the four would lift a corner, and all four would equally receive the honor of carrying it back to the Kaaba.

14. Pilgrims perform a series of rituals including walking around the Kaaba, standing vigil on Mount Arafat and a ritual Stoning of the Devil.

15. They must gather at the plain of Arafat... perform a symbolic rejection of the devil at the Jamraat...and circle Islam's holiest site, the Kaaba.