Umrah is one of the essential pilgrimages of Muslims that is often termed as-Sunnah of…
What is Hajre Aswad (black stone) in Islam?
Mecca (a city in Saudi Arabia) is the holy sacred place of Muslims and is often believed to offer one of the most significant pilgrimages of Islam i.e, Hajj. Hajre Aswad (black stone) is a black-coloured stone embellished at the southern corner of Ka’bah. There are several narrations made by popular scholars regarding the rituals of touching and kissing this stone. However, irrespective of the different narrations, the stone has its own significance and is considered as the ‘stone of paradise’. According to the Hadith of Tirmidhi, Hajre Aswad was a pure white-coloured stone when it arrived from paradise but the then turned out to be black as the result of the advancement in sins made by humankind in the earth.
Besides the utmost fact stating that Hajre Aswad is a stone of paradise, Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) narrated diverse Hadith on its essentiality. One of his hadith mentions that “Hajre Aswad is not a common stone and touching or kissing the same is not an ordinary act instead, the value of this deed would be revealed by Allah to you on the Day of Judgment”. Another Hadith of Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) conveys the message that the position of Hajre Aswad and Ibrahim is the Jewels of Heaven and both of them are luminous in nature but the Lord has concealed this radiance in order to let the world live a normal life.
During the Hajj and Umrah pilgrimage of Muslims, it is an essentiality to either kiss or touch the stone to seek blessings of Allah. However, this act is not that easy as a huge crowd gathers every year in the sacred place to touch the stone. That is why for the pilgrims who can’t reach the spot of stone can raise their hand in the direction of Hajre Aswad and utter “Allahu Akbar”.