The Black Stone of Kaaba or Mecca is called, in Arabic,
Al-hajar Al-aswad.
The word Kaaba - Ka'ba - Ka'bah - means Cube.
The spelling of the words looks like looks a lot like
Kabbalah
The Tree of Life - Creation.
There is no indication as to where this stone originated, but since it pre-dates the revelation of the Holy Qur'an and Muhammad's prophethood, and even kissed, it must stem from the time of Abraham since the Hajj traditions are traceable to the patriarch of monotheism.
The Ka'bah at Mecca describes the shape of the black stone structure on a marble base which stands in the centre court of the Great Mosque, Masjidul Haram, at the centre of Mecca. It stands about 50 feet high by about 35 feet wide. Set into the eastern corner is the sacred stone. This Ka'ba is a cubed shaped temple rebuilt by Abraham and his son Ishmael. Reverently draped in black cloth throughout the year, it beckons to every Muslim of the world to come to its sacred ground.
The Ka'ba - Kaaba - is the canonical center of the Islamic world and every pious act, particularly prayer, is directed toward it. Once a year it plays host to the greatest convention of religious believers and stands ready to sanctify the Umrah traveler through the balance of the year.
Perhaps the most exalted rock in every sense is the Black Stone of the Ka'ba, a dark meteorite set in gold in the outer wall of Islam's holiest shrine, the Kaaba, in Mecca. Muslim sites make it clear that the Black Stone is not worshipped and not considered holy in itself. It's merely a much-loved marker, the official starting point of the walk around the Kaaba that forms the core of the holy pilgrimage called the
hajj.
Placed into the Eastern corner of the Ka'ba rests the Hajar al-Aswad - literally the black stone. During the Tawaf (refer to performance of the Hajj) pilgrims kiss or touch the black stone as they circumambulate the Ka'ba.
The stone itself is a Muslim object of veneration, built into the eastern wall of the Ka'bah (small shrine within the Great Mosque of Mecca) and probably dating from the pre-Islamic religion of the Arabs. It now consists of three large pieces and some fragments, surrounded by a stone ring and held together with a silver band.
According to popular Islamic legend, the stone was given to Adam on his fall from paradise and was originally white but has become black by absorbing the sins of the thousands of pilgrims who have kissed and touched it.
It is remarkable, however, that even though the temple contained 360 idols worshipped before Muhammad's Prophethood, the black stone was never kissed or made an idol of worship. In fact, the Ka'ba was never worshipped by the idolaters prior to Muhammad's Prophethood. The building contained idols of worship but the building itself was never an object of worship.
The fact that the Ka'ba was rebuilt by Abraham is a historical fact. Since the stone has been there ever since, it stands to reason that Abraham placed the stone in the Ka'ba. The Black Stone is in fact the cornerstone of the Ka'ba and is there as an emblem of the progeny of Abraham which was rejected by the Israelites and became the corner stone of the Kingdom of God.
The Psalms contains a clear reference to it: The stone which the builders refused is become the head-stone of the corner. Ishmael was looked on as being rejected by God, or so the Israelites believed. Yet it was a progeny of Ishmael that the Last Prophet, the 'head-stone of the corner' was to arise.
While David referred to it as the stone which the builders refused, Jesus spoke of it more plainly in the parable of the husbandman, telling the Israelites that the vineyard, which in the parable stands for the Kingdom of God, would be taken away from them and given to other husbandmen.
That by the rejected stone in the prophecy (21:42) was meant a rejected nation (21:43) is made clear by Jesus Christ. That this rejected nation was none other than the Ishmaelites has been borne out by history.
The Black Stone, therefore, passes for the mithaq, the primordial covenant between the Creator and His created. And in the whole world there is only this unhewn stone, the stone, Cut out of the mountains without hands (Daniel 2:45), and that is the corner-stone of a building, which in point of importance, stands unique in the world.
Touching or kissing the stone has a profound impact on the faithful as it is suppose to count in their favor on judgment day. The great Muslim traveler from Valencia, Ibn Jubayr (1145-1217) describes the emotion he felt on touching the stone, The stone, when one kisses it, has a softness and freshness which delights the mouth; so much so that he who places his lips upon it wishes never to remove them. It suffices, moreover, that the Prophet said that it is the Right Hand of God on Earth.
The single most important reason for kissing the stone is that Prophet Muhammad did so. No devotional significance whatsoever is attached to the stone. Kissing or touching the Black Stone is a reverential act of acknowledgment that God's hand directed its placement and construction. That Abraham and Muhammad, God's blessing upon them, had touched and kissed the stone and an acknowledgment that God had entrusted the 'corner stone' of His religious central focus for man upon that hollowed and sacred place.
Researcher, Hawkins has argued that the Ka'bah is exceedingly accurately aligned on two heavenly phenomena. These are the cycles of the moon and the rising of Canopus, the brightest star after Sirius.
OTHER BLACK STONES
Deities of other cultures known to have been associated with stones include Aphrodite at Paphos, Cybele at Pessinus and later Rome, Astarte at Byblos and the famous Artemis/Diana of Ephesus. The latter's most ancient sculpture was, it is said, carved from a black meteorite.
The earliest form of Cybele's name may have been Kubaba or Kumbaba which suggests Humbaba, who was the guardian of the forest in the
Epic of Gilgamesh (the world's oldest recorded myth from Assyria of c.2500BCE and, as scholars reveal more of the text, increasingly the source of most of the major mythological themes of later civilizations. The origin of Kubaba may have been
kube or
kuba meaning 'cube'.
The earliest reference we have to a goddess worshipped as a cube-shaped stone is from neolithic Anatolia. Alternatively, 'Kubaba' may mean a hollow vessel or cave - which would still be a supreme image of the goddess. The ideograms for Kubaba in the Hittite alphabet are a lozenge or cube, a double-headed axe, a dove, a vase and a door or gate - all images of the goddess in neolithic Europe.
The stone associated with Cybele's worship was, originally, probably at Pessinus but perhaps at Pergamum or on Mount Ida. What is certain is that in 204 BCE it was taken to Rome, where Cybele became 'Mother' to the Romans. The ecstatic rites of her worship were alien to the Roman temperament, but nevertheless animated the streets of their city during the annual procession of the goddess's statue. Alongside Isis, Cybele retained prominence in the heart of the Empire until the fifth century CE; the stone was then lost. Her cult prospered throughout the Empire and it is said that every town or village remained true to the worship of Cybele.
The home of Aphrodite was at Paphos on Cyprus. Various Classical writers describe the rituals which went on her in her honour - these seem to include the practice which is now known by the disdainful term of 'sacred prostitution'. In any event, the tapering black stone which was the object of verneration at this Temple still survives, even if it now placed inside the site musuem.
Also on Cyprus is another highly venerated iIslamic site - the third most important after Mecca and Medina - the Hala
Sultan Tekke. This, too, has a black rock, said to have fallen as a meteorite as part of the tritholon over the shrine. The shrine is to a woman - the aunt and foster mother of Prophet Mohammed. Could this, like Mecca, have been originally a goddess shrine? Unfortunately no other clues are forthcoming.
There allegedly is a Black Stone at Petra. Numerous standing stones in the British Isles are reputed to have fallen from the stars. The now-lost Star Stone marked the meeting of Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire; an also-vanished stone at Grimston, Leicestershire, was also said to have such an origin.