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[[File:Blackstone.jpg|thumb|"''Its softness and moisture were such that the sinner would never remove his mouth from it, which phenomenon made the Prophet declare it to be the covenant of Allah on earth.''" - Ibn Jubayr|alt=|296x296px]]The '''Black Stone''' (ٱلْحَجَرُ ٱلْأَسْوَد, ''al-Hajr al-Aswad'') is a rock that was embedded into the east-facing corner of the [[Ka'bah]], which is located in [[Mecca]] and is the "house of God" towards which Muslims pray five times a day. According to historians, the Black Stone was one of many baetyls employed to [[Pagan Architecture and Art in Islamic Law|idolatrous]] ends by [[Pagan Origins of Islam|pre-Islamic Arab pagans]], who used the Ka'bah as a pagan shrine in which were housed some 360 idols. The hadith tradition agrees that the stone was already part of the Ka'bah before [[Muhammad ibn Abdullah|Muhammad]] was born during the time of the pagan Arabs. The hadith tradition, however, asserts that the stone descended from heaven along with Adam and Eve and was incorporated into the structure of the Ka'bah when it was supposedly built by the prophet [[Ibrahim (Abraham)|Ibrahim]] and his son [[Isma'il]].<ref>Sheikh Ahmad Kutty - [http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503543250 The Black Stone: History & Significance] - Islam Online, January 8, 2003</ref> Muhammad was said to have reset the stone into the Ka'bah when the Ka'bah had been destroyed and rebuilt by the Meccans prior to Muhammad's proclamation of prophethood. | [[File:Blackstone.jpg|thumb|"''Its softness and moisture were such that the sinner would never remove his mouth from it, which phenomenon made the Prophet declare it to be the covenant of Allah on earth.''" - Ibn Jubayr|alt=|296x296px]]The '''Black Stone''' (ٱلْحَجَرُ ٱلْأَسْوَد, ''al-Hajr al-Aswad'') is a rock that was embedded into the east-facing corner of the [[Ka'bah]], which is located in [[Mecca]] and is the "house of God" towards which Muslims pray five times a day. According to historians, the Black Stone was one of many baetyls employed to [[Pagan Architecture and Art in Islamic Law|idolatrous]] ends by [[Pagan Origins of Islam|pre-Islamic Arab pagans]], who used the Ka'bah as a pagan shrine in which were housed some 360 idols. The hadith tradition agrees that the stone was already part of the Ka'bah before [[Muhammad ibn Abdullah|Muhammad]] was born during the time of the pagan Arabs. The hadith tradition, however, asserts that the stone descended from heaven along with Adam and Eve and was incorporated into the structure of the Ka'bah when it was supposedly built by the prophet [[Ibrahim (Abraham)|Ibrahim]] and his son [[Isma'il]].<ref>Sheikh Ahmad Kutty - [http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503543250 The Black Stone: History & Significance] - Islam Online, January 8, 2003</ref> Muhammad was said to have reset the stone into the Ka'bah when the Ka'bah had been destroyed and rebuilt by the Meccans prior to Muhammad's proclamation of prophethood. | ||
During the ''[[Hajj]]'' pilgrimage, while circumambulating the Ka'bah (''tawaf''), Muslims are instructed by scripture to kiss, touch, or are least point to the black stone if possible in order to secure blessings. In addition to the wear from this practice by hundreds of million, the Black Stone has been victim to the structural fate of the Ka'bah, which, throughout history, was been demolished, bombarded, and reconstructed several times. At one point, the Black Stone was struck by a stone launched from a catapult and smashed to pieces.<ref>Hırka-i Saadet Dairesi; Hilmi Aydın(2004) - [http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?isbn=9781932099720 The sacred trusts: Pavilion of the Sacred Relics, Topkapı Palace Museum, Istanbul] - Tughra Books, ISBN 9781932099720</ref> On other occasions, the Black Stone is reported to have been defiled with excrement, robbed by the Qarmatians, and otherwise deliberately abused.<ref>Burton, Richard Francis (1856) - [http://www.archive.org/details/personalnarrati03burtgoog Personal narrative of a pilgrimage to El-Madinah and Meccah] - G. P. Putnam & Co., p. 394</ref><ref>Francis E. Peters (1994) - [http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?isbn=9780691032672 Mecca: a literary history of the Muslim Holy Land] - Princeton University Press, pp. 125–126, ISBN 9780691032672</ref><ref>Cyril Glasse - [http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?isbn=0759101906 New Encyclopedia of Islam: A Revised Edition of the Concise Encyclopedia of Islam (p. 245)] - Rowman Altamira, 2001, ISBN 0759101906</ref><ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/68328/Black-Stone-of-Mecca Black Stone of Mecca] - Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007</ref> Beyond the assertions of the Saudi government, the continued existence of the original Black Stone, its origins, and the historicity of whatever is currently contained in the silver protrusion on the side of the Ka'bah have not been independently verified. There is likewise no historical evidence to suggest Ibrahim and Isma'il were responsible for the construction of the Ka'bah or, therefore, the original placement of the Black Stone. | During the ''[[Hajj]]'' pilgrimage, while circumambulating the Ka'bah (''tawaf''), Muslims are instructed by scripture to kiss, touch, or are least point to the black stone if possible in order to secure blessings. In addition to the wear from this practice by hundreds of million, the Black Stone has been victim to the structural fate of the Ka'bah, which, throughout history, was been demolished, bombarded, and reconstructed several times. At one point, the Black Stone was struck by a stone launched from a catapult and smashed to pieces.<ref>Hırka-i Saadet Dairesi; Hilmi Aydın(2004) - [http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?isbn=9781932099720 The sacred trusts: Pavilion of the Sacred Relics, Topkapı Palace Museum, Istanbul] - Tughra Books, ISBN 9781932099720</ref> On other occasions, the Black Stone is reported to have been defiled with excrement, robbed by the Qarmatians, and otherwise deliberately abused.<ref>Burton, Richard Francis (1856) - [http://www.archive.org/details/personalnarrati03burtgoog Personal narrative of a pilgrimage to El-Madinah and Meccah] - G. P. Putnam & Co., p. 394</ref><ref>Francis E. Peters (1994) - [http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?isbn=9780691032672 Mecca: a literary history of the Muslim Holy Land] - Princeton University Press, pp. 125–126, ISBN 9780691032672</ref><ref>Cyril Glasse - [http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?isbn=0759101906 New Encyclopedia of Islam: A Revised Edition of the Concise Encyclopedia of Islam (p. 245)] - Rowman Altamira, 2001, ISBN 0759101906</ref><ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/68328/Black-Stone-of-Mecca Black Stone of Mecca] - Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007</ref> | ||
Beyond the assertions of the Saudi government, the continued existence of the original Black Stone, its origins, and the historicity of whatever is currently contained in the silver protrusion on the side of the Ka'bah have not been independently verified. Nonetheless, the Natural Museum of History in the United Kingdom has suggested the stone is likely a pseudometeorite, or a terrestrial rock mistaken for a meteorite, that was first sacralized by the pagan Arabs. There is likewise no historical evidence to suggest Ibrahim and Isma'il were responsible for the construction of the Ka'bah or, therefore, the original placement of the Black Stone. | |||
==Baetyl== | ==Baetyl== | ||