Interesting indeed.
Shaf, I hope you don't mind but I wanted to ask you about the Kaaba, the Holy building in Mecca which holds a piece of meteor. If the worship of idols is prohibited, could this not be constituted as an idol? After all it is an inanimate object! Or is it just one part of the entire pilgrimage?
This is one thing that has always confused me, and I'd like your thoughts.
We do not pray to the Kabaa, but towards it...
We do not pray to the rock...
So no idolatry there...
Kaaba ~ From Wikipedia @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabaa
Black Stone ~ From Wikipedia @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Stone
Significance of the Black Stone
There are various opinions as to the status and meaning of the Black Stone.
Many Muslims regard the Stone as 'just a stone'. When Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second Caliph, came to kiss the stone, he said, in front of all assembled: "No doubt, I know that you are a stone and can neither harm anyone nor benefit anyone. Had I not seen Allah's Messenger kissing you, I would not have kissed you." Many Muslims follow Umar: they pay their respects to the Black Stone in a spirit of trust in Muhammad, not with any belief in the Black Stone itself.
Some say that the stone is best considered as a 'marker', useful in keeping count of the ritual circumambulations one has performed (tawaf).
Other Muslims are more willing to believe that the Stone itself has some supernatural powers. They believe that this stone fell from the sky during the time of Adam and Eve, and that it has the power to cleanse worshippers of their sins by absorbing them into itself. They say that the Black Stone was once a pure and dazzling white; it has turned black because of the sins it has absorbed over the years.
Still others believe that the stone can only erase the believer's minor sins. On the Day of Judgement, the Stone will testify before God (Allah) in favor of those who kissed it.
These last could perhaps be regarded as folk beliefs, not necessarily shared by all Muslims. It is unclear how widely they are held.
The Stone was an object of veneration in pre-Islamic days. Early chroniclers say that the Kaaba was rebuilt during Muhammad's youth, and that there was some contention among the Quraysh, Mecca's ruling clan, as to who should have the honor of raising the Black Stone to its place in the new structure. Muhammad is said to have suggested that the Stone be placed on a cloak and that the various clan heads jointly lift the cloak and put the Stone into place. Secular historians see this tale as a later glorification of Muhammad, but agree that it accurately represents the pre-Islamic status of the Black Stone.
_____________
Regardless of what the stone is, or where it came from, I still do not understand how ISLAM can maintain that it is theirs alone since ADAM & EVE & Abraham do not belong solely to ISLAM.
Therefore, any person who desires to pray to God at this site should have access.
BTW, "Secular historians point to the history of stone worship, and especially meteorite worship, in pre-Islamic Arabia, and say that it is likely that the Stone is a meteorite."
I could say much more on this topic as well as others of a similar nature but, I will reserve those thought's for a future date.
