Sunday Special--The Black Stone of Kaaba!

The Black Stone of Kaaba !

I was mused to read the news claiming that Kaaba was a Hindu Temple stolen by Muslims,and that the Black Stone was a Shiva Linga worshiped by Muslims.

This is a Fake news being circulated on Social media.

The Truth:

The Black Stone (Arabic: ٱلْحَجَرُ ٱلْأَسْوَد‎, al-Ḥajaru al-Aswad,) is a rock set into the eastern corner of the Kaaba, the ancient building located in the center of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is revered by Muslims as an Islamic relic which, according to Muslim tradition, dates back to the time of Adam and Eve.

The Black Stone of Kaaba is a stone located in the center of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is revered as an Islamic relic.

Muhammad, five years before his prophet hood. He asked the elders of the clans to bring him a cloth and put the Black Stone in its centre. Each of the clan leaders held the corners of the cloth and carried the Black Stone to the right spot. Then, Muhammad set the stone in place, satisfying the honour of all of the clans. After his Conquest of Mecca in 630, Muhammad is said to have ridden round the Kaaba seven times on his camel, touching the Black Stone with his stick in a gesture of reverence.

A 1315 illustration from the Jami al-Tawarikh, inspired by the Sirah Rasul Allah story of Muhammad and the Meccan clan elders lifting the Black Stone into place.(University of Southern California. "The Prophet of Islam—His Biography". Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 3 December 2010).

Muslim worship the Kaaba Black Stone.

The stone is believed to be as old as Adam and Eve – Islamic tradition tells us that it has fallen out of the sky to serve as the world’s first temple. Before the Prophet Muhammad has placed the stone where it currently serves as a holy relic to thousands of Islam followers every day, it was worshiped by the pagans. Back then, the stone was said to be pure white, but the sins of the people have blackened it over time. Some theories say that the stone was given to Adam when he was banished from the Garden of Eden to absolve him of his sins, and it turned black as a result. According to other theories, archangel Gabriel gave it to him.
However, those who don’t follow Islam, have different theories about where the Black Stone came from. Like with any other artefact whose origin is uncertain, theories about aliens surround the Black Stone. While it’s tempting to think that extra-terrestrial beings dropped it out of the sky, we’re unlikely to find out whether or not that’s the truth.

The nature of the relic, as you can see, has been debated for years. Some believe that the Black Stone isn’t a piece of rock, but rather a large glass sculpture created by the pagans. Others claim to have proof that it’s an agate, or a basalt stone. A few years ago a theory emerged, claiming that the stone couldn’t be agate because it could float in the water.
However, none of the claims above have held much merit over the years, which brings me to the most popular theory about the stone’s origins that circulates outside the Muslim community:

The Black Stone was described by European travellers to Arabia in the 19th and early 20th centuries, who visited the Kaaba disguised as pilgrims. Swiss traveler Johann Ludwig Burckhardt visited Mecca in 1814, and provided a detailed description in his 1829 book Travels in Arabia:
It is an irregular oval, about seven inches [18 cm] in diameter, with an undulated surface, composed of about a dozen smaller stones of different sizes and shapes, well joined together with a small quantity of cement, and perfectly well smoothed.

Visiting the Kaaba in 1853, Richard Francis Burton also noted that:

The colour appeared to me black and metallic, and the center of the stone was sunk about two inches below the metallic circle. Round the sides was a reddish-brown cement, almost level with the metal, and sloping down to the middle of the stone. The band is now a massive arch of gold or silver gilt. I found the aperture in which the stone is, one span and three fingers broad.(Burton, Sir Richard Francis (1856). Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah. Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts. p. 161)

Ritter von Laurin, the Austrian consul-general in Egypt, was able to inspect a fragment of the Stone removed by Muhammad Ali in 1817 and reported that it had a pitch-black exterior and a silver-grey, fine-grained interior in which tiny cubes of a bottle-green material were embedded. There are reportedly a few white or yellow spots on the face of the Stone, and it is officially described as being white with the exception of the face.(Burke, John G. (1991). Cosmic Debris: Meteorites in History. University of California Press. pp. 221–223. ISBN 978-0-520-07396-8.)

Meteor Theory

Example of a meteor stone that could be made of the similar material as the Kaaba Black Stone;

The theory that the Black Stone of Kaaba could be a meteorite first emerged in the 1850s. Over time, it gained more momentum and remains the most popular science-based theory to this day. Most supporters of that theory believe that it’s a fragment of a meteorite that fell on earth some 6,000 years ago into a crate at Wabar. Those crates are said to be rich with black silica glass, which would explain the stone’s exterior.
The meteor theory corresponds with the assumption that the stone has previously been worshiped by the pagans. However, there is no conclusive evidence that the stone is of an extra-terrestrial origin, or supernatural for that matter. This particular relic is very significant to the Muslim community that has its own theories about the stone’s origins, and it’s unlikely that the rest of the world’s population will know its true origins anytime soon.
Bonus