the courtyard of the kaaba almost completely empty is definitely one of the most striking images i've seen come out of recent events
@Felthry it's SO WEIRD
@typhlosion it's surreal to look at
like, is this ever going to happen again in the history of ever?
@typhlosion this is very possibly the first time the courtyard has been this empty in over a millennium
re: lb: I wonder how this opportunity to photograph the kaaba is going to affect imagery of it. I can see world religion textbooks, encyclopedias, museums, etc preferring an image with an unobstructed view
presenting the *thing* of the kaaba rather than the… process? event? human-numinous-interaction? of kaaba
potentially shifting / creating a new public image of it (among non-muslims)
@Lioness im really curious too. someone pointed out this might be the emptiest this courtyard has been in a millennium
feels like a reckoning
@Lioness I hope not--the kaaba with all the people around it seems like the real essence of the thing, not the kaaba itself. we're not muslim though so i kinda wonder what actual muslims think of that idea
@Felthry avoiding the objectification of god is a pretty big deal in islam (broadly), so I can't imagine them being happy with anything that tends toward treating it as merely a monument or bit of architecture
@typhlosion holy fuck, the ka'aba without any people around it is such a weird sight