The first-ever photograph of the holy Kaaba was taken by Muhammad Sadiq Bey, a military engineer from Egypt. He captured it in 1861 while performing Hajj in Mecca, using the wet-plate collodion technique, cutting-edge photography for that era.

He returned to Mecca for Hajj again in 1880 and photographed the Kaaba a second time. That 1880 photo is, as far as we can confirm today, the oldest surviving image of the Kaaba.

I dug through several sources trying to track down the 1861 photo, and came up empty. It's likely lost, or maybe it was never published anywhere. You will often see the 1880 photo floating around the internet, incorrectly labeled as the one from 1861.

However, I checked the facts. Reliable archives like the British Library and the Khalili Collections confirm that the widely shared image is definitively from 1880.

Muhammad Sadiq Bey is widely recognized as the first photographer of Mecca, Medina, and the Hajj itself.

Thanks to his work, we get a glimpse of what the holy Kaaba looked like nearly a hundred and fifty years ago.

As we look at this photo, let's make this prayer together:

O Allah, if I make a mistake, guide me. If others make a mistake, guide them too. O Allah, keep all of us firm on Your straight path.

May Allah grant every one of us the chance to see the holy Kaaba with our own eyes. Ameen.

- Saif Samir
July 24, 2026