البيت
al-Bayt
Place
A name of the Kaʿba, the first house built for the worship of God, raised by Ibrahim and his son Ismaʿil (peace be upon them).
What it means
Al-Bayt means “the House”. It is a name of the Kaʿba in Makkah, which Faruqi describes as the first house built for devotion to God, raised by Ibrahim and his son Ismaʿil (peace be upon them). Muslims face it in prayer and walk around it in the rites of ḥajj and ʿumra. The Quran says that the first house established for people was the one at Bakkah (3:96), and that Ibrahim and Ismaʿil raised its foundations (2:127). It calls the Kaʿba the Sacred House (5:97) and the Ancient House (22:29). The names stress both its sanctity and its great age, going back to the first worship of the one God.
Often misunderstood as
That the Kaʿba is itself worshipped, when it is the house to which Muslims turn in worship of God alone.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 25, listed as AL BAYT. The definition is restated here.