Why is the sacred stone of Kaaba in Mecca black in colour?  

Most of you know that Masjid al-Haram in Saudi Arabia’s Mecca is the holiest Islamic Mosque. It encloses a cubic stone shrine called Kaaba, which, the Islamic community believes, is one of the most sacred places on earth. Interestingly, the wall of Kaaba houses a stone known as the Hajr-e-Aswad or the Black Stone, which, according to Islamic history, was initially milky white in colour. How did this stone, believed to be a gift of heaven, change colour? Also, it was stolen once. Want to know more about it? Keep reading.  

The story of the Black Stone  

According to the Islamic religion, Prophet Ibrahim is the first person on Earth and the first prophet (messenger) of God. It is said that while Prophet Ibrahim was constructing the holy Kaaba, in 605 CE, the stones required to complete the wall seemed insufficient. To complete the sacred wall of the Kaaba, he instructed his son, Prophet Ismail, to search for a suitable stone to fill the blank space on it. When Prophet Ismail returned empty-handed, he saw a bright, white-coloured stone set in that blank space. Prophet Ibrahim said that angel Jibreel had brought him the special stone. So, what turned Hajr-e-Aswad black? According to Islamic sources, ‘The stone that came down from Paradise was white as milk, but it turned black because of humans touching it and requesting forgiveness from God.’ 

The Black Stone was once stolen 

In January 930 CE, the Qarmatians, a militant Isma’ili Shia sect in Eastern Arabia, stole the Hajr-e-Aswad. They hid the stone in their base in Hajar (present-day Bahrain). However, 23 years later, in 952 CE, the Hajr-e-Aswad was brought back to the Holy Kaaba. The Qarmatians used the sacred stone as ransom, forcing the Abbasids, an Arab dynasty in Kufa (modern-day Iraq), to pay a large sum for the return of the Hajr-e-Aswad. As soon as the ransom was paid, the Qarmatians put the Black Stone in a bag and flung it into a mosque in Kufa. The Hajr-e-Aswad was later stored in its original position in Kaaba, where it may still be found today. Do you want to know what happened to the kidnapper? The kidnapper, Abu Tahir al-Qarmati, supposedly met a horrific end. According to legend, he suffered from a badly infected sore, had his flesh eaten away by worms, and died a horrifying death! 

Safeguarding the stone 

This heavenly stone has been severely damaged over time. Today’s Hajr-e-Aswad measures 7.9 inches (20 cm) by 6.3 inches (16 cm). The measurements have varied through time as the Black Stone needed to be rebuilt over and over again. Initially, the Hajr-e-Aswad was a single stone. But, with time and numerous historical events, it is now divided into eight parts of various sizes and attached to a large stone surrounded by a silver frame. The Hajr-e-Aswad was destroyed and shattered by a stone launched from a catapult during the Umayyad siege of Mecca in 683 CE. Later, Abdullah bin Zubair (the ruler of a Mecca-based empire during 683-692 CE) put the Black Stone’s fragments back together. But how? He created an encasement for the stone made of pure silver that held the pieces together. It acts as a shield for the Black Stone. Then, over the years, many rulers have replaced the encasement.