Epigraphic research, which focuses on the study of ancient inscriptions, engraved or sometimes painted on durable supports, reveals the Jadhr (root) (ب) (ت) (ي), appears in a South Arabian inscription dating from the first half of the year 1000 before the Christ Jesus –peace be upon him–, this is before the advent of Islam. In this epigraphy, the root (ت) (ي) (ب) which could mean Maʿbad (temple), Qaṣr (castle), Manzil (house, building serving as a home, dwelling, residence), Dār (hearth, home of a family), Āʾilah (family), an ʿAshīrah (clan), refers to a temple. Furthermore, the same root (ت) (ي) (ب) appears in a North Arabian Safaitic inscription referring to a house in a group of people united by a common characteristics [12].

After the advent of Islam, the word Bayt refers to the Maskan (dwelling) and the Maʾwah (refuge); Hay (quarter) and Qabīlah (tribe); Imraʾat al-Rajul (woman of the man); Kalam Mawzūn min Shiʿr (minimum metric unit of a poem); Qabr (grave); Sharīf (noble, honorable); Farsh (bedding or set of pieces that cover the bed) and Matā' (personal effects); ʿIyāl al-Rajul (the children of the man); al-Kaʿaba al-Musharafah (The Holy Kaʿaba, may Allah increase its honor); al-Bayt al-Ḥaram (the honorable house); al-Bayt al-ʿAtiq (the ancient house, Kaʿaba); al-Bayt al-Maʿmūr (frequented house, exact replica of the Kaʿaba located directly above it in the seventh heaven); Bayt al-Maqdis (the holy house); Ahl al-Bayt (people, neighbors, of the House of Allah); Bayt al-Māl (house for money, used as an equivalent for the treasury house where public fund is kept); Bayt al-Qaṣid (which is aimed at) [12].

These meanings give an idea of the richness of the Arabic language which, much more than a simple means of communication, embodies an inestimable spiritual, moral, principial, cultural, historical, and scientific heritage which is not appropriately valued. This is why Allah Has done through the Qurʾān the Arabic language the vehicle for the expression of His meanings of inestimable value. But we still need to be aware of the invaluable importance of this meanings by deepening our knowledge of Arabic. Hence the importance of exploring expressions based on the word Bayt referring to the Kaʿaba.

In the Qurʾān, six words have been mentioned to refer to the Kaʿaba, as compiled in the Table 1. The question then is: What is the secret of the existence of several names for the same thing? The multiplicity of names indicates the honor of the one who is named. Due to the greatness, status, and sanctity of the House of Allah, it has been called by many names. If we refer to the order of the surah listed in the Qurʾān, we get the following: al-Bayt (the House), al-Bayt al-Ḥarām (the Sacred House), al-Kaʿaba (Cube-Shaped Building), al-Bayt al-Muḥaram (the Forbidden House), al-Bayt al-ʿAtīq (the Earliest House), al-Bayt al-Maʿmūr (the Much-Frequented House).

In terms of frequency, the word Bayt appears five times, the words Kaʿaba, Baytī, and al-Bayt al-Ḥarām twice, and the words Baytika, al-Bayt al-Muḥaram, al-Bayt al-ʿAtīq, al-Bayt al-Maʿamūr once, as illustrated in Figure 3. This shows the importance of the word Bayt given that it implicitly refers to Allah the Eternal and the Majestic.

In terms of the subjects concerned, five categories appear: Human, Jinn, Believers, Ibrāhīm -peace be upon him-, his descendants, and Angels. This explains why the House of Allah has existed since Ādam -peace be upon him-and shows that Tawḥid, which states that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah alone, is intended for the entire humanity.

There is a reason why the word Bayt is used more frequently than the word Kaʿaba in the Qurʾān and Sunnah. In his Ṣaḥīḥ, al-Bukhārī [8] relates that the Prophet –peace and blessings of Allah be upon him– said to ʿĀʾishah –may Allah be pleased with her–: "Do not you see that when your folk built the Kaʿaba, they did not build it on all the foundations built by Abraham?".

The Quraysh rebuilt the Bayt, partly destroyed by a torrential rain, five years before the coming of Islam [15], by making the building smaller with regard to its original foundations. This gave it a parallelepiped shape similar to a cube. Hence the name Kaʿaba, which literally means cube in Arabic, as illustrated in Figure 4. The Prophet –peace and blessings of Allah be upon him– wished to rebuild the Bayt on the foundations of Ibrāhīm –peace be upon him–by integrating the part that the Quraysh had left outside, and adding two doors attached to the ground.

This historical exploration over a long period reveals that the name Bayt is the original name dating from the time of Ādam -peace be upon him-, the name Kaʿaba came much later at the time of Quraysh, but the question is more far-reaching than that if we continue to deepen it through reading by meaning.

The word Bayt encompasses meanings not found, at first sight at least, in the word Kaʿaba:

● The word Bayt refers to a place where believers celebrate the worship of Allah as the One and Only God. This fundamental link between the original House of God and Monotheism bears witness to the universal value of the Kaʿaba and its place in the common heritage of humanity [16].

● The word Bayt refers to a building that was built by order of Allah. This speaks to something fundamental in the lives of creatures, this is Angels, Jinns, Humans, as well as all creatures on earth and in heaven. Allah says: (The seven heavens, the earth, and whosoever in them, exalt Him. There is nothing that does not exalt with His praise, but you do not understand their exaltation) (Qurʿān 17, 44).

● The word Bayt refers to the fact that Kaʿaba is the first place of worship built on earth for the Prophets. This means that the Kaʿaba in particular and the mosques in general are awqāf in essence. As Ibn Taymiyah [17] wrote: "It known that the Kaʿaba is the best waqf that exists on earth".

The word "it known" explains why the primary sources on the Ahkām al-Awqāf (Shariʿah injunctions regarding awqāf) did not explicitly mention the Kaʿaba and the mosques as awqāf because this is what is known to scholars who are firmly grounded in knowledge [18] [19] [20]. But the one who reads by the meaning in a serious manner can deduce from their writings what indicates this [21]. Contrary to what is occurring today where the works on the Aḥkām al-Awqāf explicitly refer to the Kaʿaba and the mosques as awqāf, first and foremost the Qubāʿ mosque and the Prophet's mosque [22] [23] [24].

This means that in human history over a long period dating back to Ādam –peace be upon him–, waqf arose before the emergence of private property, and public property. In other words, before the emergence of the market and the nation-state. It should not be forgotten that the word market became a notion of political economy founding a general conception of society in the 18th century under the influence of the writings of Etienne de Condillac and Adam Smith [25]. The theory of the nation-state emerged in the 15th century in Europe and was consecrated by the French Revolution in 1789 [26].

● The word Bayt refers to a building that was established by order of Allah for mankind, as the following verse of the Qurʾān (3, 96) indicates: (Surely the first House [of worship] established for mankind is the one at Bakkah [now known as Makkah as the place where believers rush to fulfill the worship]—a blessed sanctuary and a guide for [all] people).

The Bayt, as the first house of God on earth, reminds us that the right of collective enjoyment preceded the right of private property, often presented as obvious, this is as something natural. But, as the historian Fabien Locher [27] reminds us, "private property has absolutely nothing natural". It is a social construct that arose following the enclosure movement in England in the 13th century [28]. The French Revolution established private property as an inviolable and sacred right, as attested by article 544 of the civil code of 1804 [29].

The word "established", used in the style of the majhūl (unknown), implies that the House of Allah existed before the advent of mankind on earth, first of all, Ādam and Ḥawāʿ –peace be upon them–. Moreover, the word "established" confirms the hypothesis that the Bayt was built not by a specific Angel, like Jibrīl –peace be upon him–, but by Angels. This hypothesis deserves to be confronted with more facts, although that would not be an easy task, with regard to the data compiled to date.

● The word Bayt refers to the importance for humans to organize their lives around the houses of Allah in order to enjoy the rizq and barakah in what Allah provides them resources, whether tangible and intangible, material and immaterial, visible and invisible, to fulfill the rights of Allah and the rights of creatures. Allah said in a qudsī ḥadīth: "We have brought down al-māl [what it is beneficial] for establishing ṣalāt and acquitting zakāt" [30].

This is evidenced by the invocation of Ibrāhīm –peace be upon him–: (And when Ibrāhīm supplicated: "O my Lord, make this town a place of security, and provide its people with fruits who believe in God and the Last Day) (Qurʾān 2, 126), as well as his invocation in favor of his son Ismāʿīl –peace be upon him– and his wife reported in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī [13]: "Our Lord! Bless their meat and their water". Thus, in the beginning was the Rizq, which generated the building of the Bayt, then came the Maʿash to provide for those who visit it to worship Allah, and the ʿUmrān following the human grouping to dwell around the Bayt, as illustrated in Figure 5.

In this regard, from the point of view of taʾsīl al-maʿarifah (foundation of knowledge), the word rizq is more convenient than those of māl, kasb, maʿāsh, tadbīr al-manzil (household management), iqtiṣād (economy) [31] [32], because it allows to link things that other words do not allow. With the word Rizq there is no need to add the 'Islamic' adjective because Rizq comes from God, and (Allah gives abundant or limited Rizq to whoever He wills) (Qurʾān 13, 26).