The lexical meaning of the word maqam is the place where a standing person places his feet. Maqam Ibrahim refers to the stone that Ismail brought during the construction of the Holy Ka‘bah so that his father Ibrahim could stand on it and build the Ka‘bah. Ismail (peace be upon him) would bring stones, and Ibrahim (peace be upon him) would place them on the wall of the Ka‘bah with his blessed hands. When it was necessary to go higher, the stone would miraculously rise upward.[1] In Tafsir al-Tabari, in the explanation of verse 97 of Surah Ali ‘Imran, it is stated—
يه علامات بينات من قدرة الله ، وآثار خليله ابراهيم ،منهن أثر قدم خليله ابراهيم في الحجر الذي قام عليه .
—In the House of Allah there are clear signs of Allah’s power and signs of Khalilullah Ibrahim (peace be upon him), one of which is the footprint of His Khalil, Ibrahim (peace be upon him), on the stone upon which he stood.[2]
One of the footprints of Ibrahim (peace be upon him) is 10 centimetres deep, and the other is 9 centimetres deep. Each foot is 22 centimetres long and 11 centimetres wide.
The enclosure of the Maqam has now been constructed at a cost of one million riyals. It is made of brass and 10-millimetre-thick glass. The inner grille is gold-plated. The distance from al-Hajar al-Aswad to Maqam Ibrahim is 14.5 metres.[3]
After completing tawaf, two rak‘ahs of salah are to be offered behind Maqam Ibrahim. If no space is available, the salah is valid if offered elsewhere.
[1] See Dr. Muhammad Ilyas Abdul Ghani: Tarikh Makkah Qadiman wa Hadithan, p. 71
[2] Tafsir al-Tabari: 4/11
[3] See Dr. Muhammad Ilyas Abdul Ghani: op. cit., pp. 75–76