I think I have spoken on this subject many times before. It intrigues so many people in so many ways, its origin, how it came about, why is it so highly respected, why to kiss a stone and all that, you know. But reverence is attached to this. There is a tradition of our Prophet ﷺ regarding this stone, that when Baitullah was made, this stone was sent from heaven and it was white like marble, but as it entered the air, due to the sins of earth, it got blackened and charred.
This tradition is to be studied very carefully and interpreted. So, I have looked at it from many angles. I believe that it is just possible that in the first instance, when the house of God was built, in the remote past, we don’t know the history, there is no annals which have kept record of this, but we know that this was the first house of God built for the people, that is from the statement of the Holy Quran.
So, I believe that when it was first built, it is just possible that as a sign from God, some meteors may have been showered in that area and the stones provided for that building was provided from heaven, in that sense. That is literally possible, not only possible, but according to the traditions of our Prophet ﷺ, this is what must have happened. And we know that as the foreign bodies enter the earth’s atmosphere, because of very high friction, the stones which enter, they burn, and this is how you see the shooting stars.
So, that burning, due to the thick atmosphere of the earth, might have charred it and it is possible that in the beginning, if we had seen it in the space, it was white. So that might actually have happened exactly as it is. And I believe this is what happened. But also I believe that it is a symbolic language. It is a symbolic language that the first time the mosques are built, they are built of white stones, pure and simple, because of the pure intentions of the builders. They are built for the sake of Allah, for the worship of Allah and for nothing else.
But later on, the same stones are charred by the sins of those people who go to worship apparently in those mosques, but not with the same sincerity of purpose. They call partners by the side of Allah, they indulge in sinful thoughts and this and that. So, originally that stone, or the stones which build that mosque, might have been white, but ultimately due to the sins they turn into black. So this is the effect of sins in metaphoric terms, not in real terms. But both are parallel threads of reasoning. In the metaphoric language we can understand this message.
In the literal sense it is not only possible, but I believe it just might have happened exactly like this. Why do you kiss that stone, the second part, and what’s the relevance attached to it? Anything which has a significance of love, through which you can reach a certain event, some certain momentous event in one’s life, or which reminds you of a beloved one, or a very dear event, that thing becomes dear to you. And kissing a thing is not revering it, kissing a thing is not worshipping it. Even if a friend of yours has sent you some present, sometimes you’re overwhelmed with emotions and you kiss that present, not because you begin to worship it, but because it reminds you of a dear one.
So, number one, the reason why you kiss the stone, may be because it was actually sent from heaven for the purpose of building that mosque, by God. So, it’s the greatest possible emotional event that might have happened in the lifetime of any worshipper. That Allah sent stones from heaven, they were not there accidentally, but intentionally with the design sent down from heaven, for the building of the first mosque, for the first place of worship of Allah.
So, that makes those stones very dear, and if you kiss them out of love for Allah, out of reverence for God, out of deference for His very kind treatment, a very special favour He’s shown to human beings, that is just normal. There’s nothing abnormal. This is exactly, if you had not, knowing this, that this had happened with the stone, not liking to kiss you, that would have been abnormal.
