Short answer
No. Muslims pray to God (﷾) alone, and ask nothing of the Kaaba or the Stone. Umar, the second caliph, kissed the Stone and said it was only a stone that could neither harm nor help. He kissed it only because he had seen the Prophet (ﷺ) kiss it. The Kaaba is the direction of prayer, not the one prayed to. For sixteen or seventeen months in Medina the Prophet (ﷺ) prayed toward Jerusalem, until God (﷾) changed the direction. The Qur'an says that wherever you turn, there is the presence of God (﷾). It tells the people of Mecca to worship "the Lord of this House". Some say the Stone is a Shiva linga, the pillar-shaped emblem of Shiva. Its best-known champion, P. N. Oak, rests this on a British officer's report of 1795. Neither man cited a scripture that says so. Islam's answer is worship of the One God (﷾) alone.
Full explanation
The Hindu reply: you have a sacred stone too
When a Muslim questions the worship of images, many Hindus answer with the Kaaba. Swami Vivekananda spoke for Hinduism at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. He made the case in his lectures. A Hindu, he said, knows that the image is not God. He uses it to keep his mind on the One he prays to. Muslims, he said, call images idolatry, yet they picture the Kaaba and turn toward it when they pray. On pilgrimage they kiss the Black Stone. He said they believe the kisses will bear witness for them on the Day of Judgement. Others add that pilgrims walk round the Kaaba as Hindus walk round a temple. Before Islam, they say, the Arabs worshipped stones and walked round them, and Islam kept this one.
“My brethren, we can no more think about anything without a mental image than we can live without breathing. By the law of association the material image calls up the mental idea and vice versa. This is why the Hindu uses an external symbol when he worships. He will tell you it helps to keep his mind fixed on the Being to whom he prays. He knows as well as you do that the image is not God, is not omnipresent.”
“The Mahommedans think that when they pray, if they try to form a mental image of the Temple with the Kaba, the black stone, in it, and turn towards the west, it is all right, but if you form the image in the shape of a church it is idolatry. This is the defect of image-worship. Yet all these seem to be necessary stages.”
Argues that reformers who reject all symbols never succeed, because most people need something concrete, and the masses only exchange one symbol for another. One of his examples is the Muslim, who counts every image, form and ceremony of others as sinful but not his own shrine, the Kaaba. Wherever he prays, Vivekananda says, he must imagine himself standing before it; on pilgrimage he must kiss the Black Stone; and the kisses of millions of pilgrims will bear witness for the faithful on the Day of Judgement.
Abu Raja al-Utaridi recalls that before Islam his people worshipped stones. When they found a better stone, they threw the first away and took the other; when they could find no stone, they heaped up earth, milked a sheep over it and walked round it. He adds that he was a boy herding his family's camels when the Prophet (ﷺ) was sent. These are Abu Raja's own words about the time before Islam, not a saying of the Prophet.
What Umar said to the Stone
Umar was the Prophet's (ﷺ) companion and the second caliph, the leader of the Muslims after Abu Bakr. He gave the answer himself. He kissed the Black Stone and told it that he knew it was a stone that could neither harm nor benefit. Had he not seen the Prophet (ﷺ) kiss it, he said, he would not have kissed it. Another witness reports the same words, with an oath by Allah (﷾). In a third report he swears that he knows it is a stone and gives the same reason, without the words on harm and benefit. In a fourth, he kissed the Stone and clung to it, saying he had seen the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) show it great care. In each of these reports, the reason Umar gives is what the Prophet (ﷺ) did. The scholar al-Tabari, as quoted by Ibn Hajar, explained why Umar spoke as he did. People had only lately left the worship of idols. Umar did not want the ignorant to think that touching the Stone was the veneration of stones practised before Islam. Kissing it is following the Prophet (ﷺ), not asking the Stone for anything. Nor is it required. The Prophet (ﷺ) once went round the Kaaba on his camel and pointed to the Stone's corner, saying Allahu Akbar, Allah (﷾) is the Greatest. Vivekananda says Muslims believe the kisses given to the Stone will bear witness for them on the Day of Judgement. Even so, a witness is not a god. The Qur'an says the skins of those brought to the Fire will testify against them, given speech by the God (﷾) who gives speech to everything.
Abis ibn Rabi'a reports that Umar came to the Black Stone and kissed it. Umar said that he knew it was a stone that could neither harm nor benefit, and that had he not seen the Prophet (ﷺ) kiss it, he would not have kissed it.
Abdullah ibn Sarjis reports that he saw Umar kiss the Stone and say, swearing by Allah, that he kissed it knowing that it was a stone that could neither harm nor benefit, and that had he not seen the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) kiss it, he would not have kissed it.
Salim reports from his father, Abdullah ibn Umar, that Umar kissed the Black Stone and said, swearing by Allah, that he knew it was a stone, and that had he not seen the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) kiss it, he would not have kissed it.
Suwaid ibn Ghafala reports that he saw Umar kiss the Black Stone and cling to it, saying that he had seen the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) show it great care. The next report (1271b) gives the same words, with the Prophet (ﷺ) called Abu'l-Qasim, and does not mention the clinging.
On Umar's words to the Black Stone, Ibn Hajar quotes al-Tabari: Umar said this because the people had only lately left the worship of idols. He feared that the ignorant would think touching the Stone was the veneration of certain stones that the Arabs practised before Islam. He wanted people to know that he touched it to follow the Prophet (ﷺ), not because the Stone benefits or harms by itself, as the pagans believed of their idols. The commentary adds that Umar's words refute the idea, held by some ignorant people, that the Black Stone has a special property of its own.
Ibn Abbas reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) went round the Kaaba riding a camel. Each time he came to the corner of the Black Stone, he pointed to it with something he was holding and said Allahu Akbar (Allah is the Greatest).
“At length, when they reach the (Fire), their hearing, their sight, and their skins will bear witness against them, as to (all) their deeds. They will say to their skins: "Why bear ye witness against us?" They will say: "Allah hath given us speech,- (He) Who giveth speech to everything: He created you for the first time, and unto Him were ye to return.”
A direction, not a deity
The Qur'an asks Muslims to turn their faces toward the Sacred Mosque in Mecca. It does not ask them to picture it. In every prayer they tell God (﷾) that Him alone they worship, and Him alone they ask for help. For sixteen or seventeen months after reaching Medina, the Prophet (ﷺ) and his followers prayed toward Jerusalem. Then the direction was changed by revelation. God (﷾) said He had appointed the earlier direction only to test who would follow the Messenger (ﷺ). One congregation heard the news in the middle of a prayer and turned round where they stood. Travelling from Mecca to Medina, the Prophet (ﷺ) said voluntary prayers on his camel, facing wherever it went. Ibn Umar, who reported it, said that the verse on God's (﷾) presence wherever one turns was revealed about this. A worshipper can turn from one direction to another, but not from the One he worships. To God (﷾) belong the east and the west, and wherever one turns, there is His presence.
“We see the turning of thy face (for guidance to the heavens: now Shall We turn thee to a Qibla that shall please thee. Turn then Thy face in the direction of the sacred Mosque: Wherever ye are, turn your faces in that direction. The people of the Book know well that that is the truth from their Lord. Nor is Allah unmindful of what they do.”
“Thee do we worship, and Thine aid we seek.”
Ubada ibn al-Samit reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said that a prayer in which al-Fatiha is not recited is not valid.
Al-Bara ibn Azib reports that after arriving in Madinah the Prophet (ﷺ) prayed facing Jerusalem for sixteen or seventeen months, until the direction of prayer was turned to the Kaaba.
Abdullah ibn Umar reports that while people at Quba were praying the dawn prayer, someone came and told them that Qur'an had been revealed to the Prophet (ﷺ) that night and that he had been commanded to face the Kaaba. They had been facing al-Sham, toward Jerusalem, and they turned round to face the Kaaba.
“The fools among the people will say: "What hath turned them from the Qibla to which they were used?" Say: To Allah belong both east and West: He guideth whom He will to a Way that is straight.”
“Thus, have We made of you an Ummat justly balanced, that ye might be witnesses over the nations, and the Messenger a witness over yourselves; and We appointed the Qibla to which thou wast used, only to test those who followed the Messenger from those who would turn on their heels (From the Faith). Indeed it was (A change) momentous, except to those guided by Allah. And never would Allah Make your faith of no effect. For Allah is to all people Most surely full of kindness, Most Merciful.”
Ibn Umar reports that when travelling from Mecca to Medina the Prophet (ﷺ) would pray on his camel facing whichever way it faced, and says that the verse "Whithersoever ye turn, there is the presence of Allah" (2:115) was revealed about this. Muslim places it in the chapter on voluntary prayers on a mount while travelling, whatever direction it faces.
“To Allah belong the east and the West: Whithersoever ye turn, there is the presence of Allah. For Allah is all-Pervading, all-Knowing.”
Prayer toward a house of God (﷾) in the Bible
Facing a holy place in prayer is found in the Bible too, and there it does not mean worshipping the building. Solomon, the king of Israel, dedicated the Temple in Jerusalem. He said that heaven itself cannot contain God (﷾), much less the house he had built. He asked God (﷾) to hear from heaven those who pray toward it. Daniel, a Jewish exile in Babylon, prayed three times a day with his windows open toward Jerusalem. Jews and Christians do not read this as worship of a building.
“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?”
“And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place: and when thou hearest, forgive.”
“Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.”
| Who | Faced | Prayed to |
|---|---|---|
| Muslims today | The Kaaba in Mecca | God (﷾) alone |
| The first Muslims in Medina, for 16 or 17 months | Jerusalem | God (﷾) alone |
| Solomon, at the Temple's dedication | The Temple | God (﷾) in heaven |
| Daniel in Babylon | Jerusalem | His God (﷾) |
The Lord of the House, not the House
Some reply that the Qur'an itself calls the Kaaba God's (﷾) House, as a Hindu temple is the house of the deity installed in it. But the Qur'an tells the people of Mecca to worship the Lord of this House, who feeds them and keeps them safe. Two verses call the Kaaba My House. Both command that it be kept pure for those who go round it, bow and prostrate in prayer. In one of them, God's (﷾) first command to Abraham is to associate nothing with Him. Going round the House belongs with the bowing and the prostration, and all of them are for God (﷾). The Qur'an says every place of worship belongs to God (﷾), so no one may be called on beside Him. In a Hindu temple the devotee walks round the shrine where the deity is installed in its image, the murti. The Kaaba has no image inside it and no deity installed in it. Vivekananda said there is no polytheism in India. To show it, he said that in every temple the worshippers apply all the attributes of God (﷾) to the images. Islam gives the Kaaba and the Stone no attribute of God (﷾). It offers them no prayer, food or flowers, and it asks nothing of them. Some add that Muslims cover the Kaaba with a cloth and wash it, as Hindus dress and bathe the murti. They do, as a house of worship is kept clean and honoured. The care is for the worshippers, as both verses say, not an offering to the building.
“Let them adore the Lord of this House, Who provides them with food against hunger, and with security against fear (of danger).”
“Remember We made the House a place of assembly for men and a place of safety; and take ye the station of Abraham as a place of prayer; and We covenanted with Abraham and Isma'il, that they should sanctify My House for those who compass it round, or use it as a retreat, or bow, or prostrate themselves (therein in prayer).”
“Behold! We gave the site, to Abraham, of the (Sacred) House, (saying): "Associate not anything (in worship) with Me; and sanctify My House for those who compass it round, or stand up, or bow, or prostrate themselves (therein in prayer).”
“"And the places of worship are for Allah (alone): So invoke not any one along with Allah;”
Ibn Abbas reports that when the Prophet (ﷺ) arrived in Mecca he would not enter the Ka'ba while there were idols in it, and he ordered them to be taken out. Only then did he go in and proclaim God's greatness in every direction.
“At the very outset, I may tell you that there is no polytheism in India. In every temple, if one stands by and listens, one will find the worshippers applying all the attributes of God, including omnipresence, to the images.”
The claim that the Kaaba was a Shiva temple
Some go further. They say the Kaaba was once a temple of Shiva and the Black Stone a Shiva linga. Muslims who walk round it, they say, are still circling a Shivling. The Indian writer P. N. Oak (1917-2007) set this out in World Vedic Heritage (1984). He founded an Institute for Rewriting Indian History. He wrote that it is well known that the Kaaba is an ancient Shiva temple. Pilgrims, he wrote, go round the Shivling seven times in the Hindu way. In his account, the Kaaba was a temple complex centred on Vishnu, in which the Stone was Shiva's emblem. Others cite a verse of the Bhavishya Purana, a Hindu scripture of ancient tales and prophecies. In it King Bhoja praises Shiva as the dweller in the desert (marusthala-nivasin). In the same praise he calls Shiva guarded by the mlecchas, the foreigners (mlecchair-guptaya). The chapter also names a foreign teacher, Mahamada.
Argues that from the beginning of time the whole world practised Vedic culture and spoke Sanskrit. It calls the Black Stone a Shivling, quoting for it a British travel memoir first published in 1850, and says that pilgrims walk round it seven times in the Hindu way (p. 110). It says it is well known that the Kaaba is an ancient Shiva temple (p. 171). It quotes a couplet from what it calls the Harihareshwar Mahatmya, which it reads as putting Vishnu's footprint at Mecca. From this and the 360 idols of the Muslim reports it infers that the Kaaba was a Vishnu temple complex whose deities included Shiva, and that the Muslims kept Shiva's emblem, the Stone (pp. 121-122, 669-670). It calls Vishnu the central deity and the Kaaba a Vishnu shrine (pp. 642, 648). It quotes three Arabic poems from an anthology it calls Sair-ul-Okul, compiled, it says, in 1742 from an earlier collection made for Harun al-Rashid, and says they once hung on gold plates inside the Kaaba. In its own translation one praises King Vikramaditya, one the worship of Mahadeva and pilgrimage to India, and one the Vedas (pp. 686-689, 693-697).
King Bhoja crosses the Indus with his army and defeats the peoples of Gandhara and Kashmir (vv. 3-4). Meanwhile, the chapter says, a foreign (mleccha) teacher called Mahamada appears with his disciples (v. 5). The king bathes Mahadeva (Shiva), the dweller in the desert (marusthala-nivasin), with Ganges water and the five products of the cow. He praises him as lord of Girija, destroyer of the demon Tripura, and guarded, or hidden, by the mlecchas (mlecchair-guptaya) (vv. 6-8). Shiva tells him to go to the shrine of Mahakaleshvara (Shiva's temple at Ujjain). The land called Vahika, he says, has been corrupted by mlecchas and has no Aryan dharma; Mahamada has come there, and the king must not go to that demonic land (vv. 9-13). The king returns home (v. 14). Mahamada later tells the king that his people will be circumcised, without the topknot, bearded and calling aloud (v. 25). The chapter names no Mecca, no Kaaba and no stone. A later chapter of the same part (3.4.22.72-78) tells of traders from a western island, of the faith of the Son of God (ishaputra), whose king ruled from the city of Kalikata (Calcutta), with his queen Vikatavati in the western island.
The sources behind the Shiva claim
For the Black Stone, Oak quotes a British travel memoir of 1850. Its sentence repeats, almost word for word, a report printed in 1795 by Francis Wilford, a British officer in India. The Hindus, Wilford wrote, insisted that the Stone was the linga of Mahadeva. They added that when Muhammad (ﷺ) rebuilt the Kaaba, "as they affirm it to have been", it was placed in the wall out of contempt. The authentic reports say otherwise. The Quraysh rebuilt the Kaaba in his lifetime, and he helped carry the stones. After Islam he chose not to rebuild it, because his people were new to Islam. Wilford also reported that Brahmins of western India identified Mecca with a holy place in Purana legends. He cited no text that calls the Stone a linga. The Arabic and Persian writers he cited linked the Kaaba and its Stone with Saturn. Ten years later he admitted that his chief pandit, his Hindu scholar, had forged Purana extracts for him. They included two long sections passed off as parts of the Skanda and Brahmanda Puranas. He named the Semiramis legend of his 1795 essay as one the pandit had "most shamefully disfigured". He also wrote that the essay's story of two doves, which he had linked to Mecca, was unknown to the Purana scholars. He still thought the Hindus of western India claimed the Black Stone "plausibly enough" as theirs. But their legends, he wrote, purported to be grounded on the Puranas, "though, perhaps, not expressly found there". So even Wilford, who thought the claim plausible, named no scripture for it.
A British woman's memoir of her years in India. In a passage on the pilgrimage to Mecca it prints, in quotation marks and without naming its source, the statement that the Hindus insist the Black Stone in the wall of the Kaaba is a form of Mahadeo (Shiva), placed there by Muhammad (ﷺ) out of contempt, and that the new converts would not give up its worship.
An essay by a British officer in India on Hindu legends. It reports that the Brahmins of western India insisted that Mocsha-sthan, a holy place where in Purana legends Mahadeva was worshipped as Mocsheswara, was the town of Mecca. It adds that the Hindus insisted that the Black Stone in the wall of the Kaaba was the linga of Mahadeva (Shiva), put there out of contempt when, as they affirmed, Muhammad (ﷺ) rebuilt the Kaaba, and that the new converts would not give up its worship. It gives the legends as taken from the Skanda Purana and the Visva-sara-prakasa. It also cites an Arabic and a Persian writer who linked the temple at Mecca and the Stone with Saturn, and suggests that Saturn was Mahadeva. It adds that Arabian authors say stones were worshipped all over Arabia, especially at Mecca, and concludes that the Black Stone had been an object of idolatrous worship from the most remote times.
Aisha reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) told her that when her people, the Quraysh, built the Kaaba, they fell short of Abraham's foundations. She asked why he did not restore it on those foundations. He said that he would have done so, were her people not so recently out of disbelief.
Jabir ibn Abdullah reports that when the Kaaba was built, the Prophet (ﷺ) and al-Abbas went to carry stones for it. Al-Bukhari places it in the chapter on the building of the Kaaba.
Wilford admits that his chief pandit deceived him. To avoid consulting the books, the pandit framed legends from what he remembered of the Puranas and from what he had picked up in conversation with Wilford. He altered names in the manuscripts, and he wrote two long sections, some 12,000 lines, passed off as parts of the Skanda and Brahmanda Puranas (pp. 249-253). Many of the legends, Wilford says, were very correct except in the name of the country. The extracts are still of use to him because they always contain much truth, though it would be dangerous to use detached passages for any particular purpose (pp. 251, 253). He names the legend of Semiramis, the subject of his 1795 essay, as one the pandit had most shamefully disfigured (p. 256). He adds that the story of the two doves in that essay is unknown to the Purana scholars. He suggests that the legends about the doves in western India may have been framed from the doves Muhammad (ﷺ) found in the Kaaba, though he still thought the Hindus there had some reason to claim the Kaaba as originally theirs (p. 257). Later he says the Hindus of western India claim the black stone in the Kaaba, the two pigeons and a footprint on a stone there, plausibly enough, as their own. Their legends, he says, purport to be grounded on the Puranas, though perhaps not expressly found there (pp. 304-305).
The other texts cited for the Shiva claim
The Sanskrit text Oak quotes for the Kaaba is a couplet from what he calls the Harihareshwar Mahatmya. It places one of three footprints, which he takes to be Vishnu's, at "Maka". It says nothing of Shiva or of a stone. Oak inferred that the Stone was Shiva's emblem from that couplet and from the 360 idols of the Muslim reports. He also quotes three Arabic poems from an anthology he says was compiled in 1742. They praise King Vikramaditya, the worship of Mahadeva and the Vedas. Even in his own translation, none calls the Kaaba a Shiva temple. He says they once hung on gold plates inside the Kaaba. Yet in his translation the poem to Mahadeva longs for a pilgrimage to India. The Bhavishya verse names no Mecca, no Kaaba and no stone. In it King Bhoja has crossed the Indus and defeated the peoples of Gandhara and Kashmir. Shiva then says the foreigners have corrupted the land called Vahika, and tells the king not to go there. He sends him instead to his shrine of Mahakaleshvara at Ujjain, and the king returns home. In the same chapter the foreign teacher, Mahamada, says his people will be circumcised and bearded, calling aloud. Its own words place Shiva's shrine at Ujjain in India, and name no Mecca and no stone.
Argues that from the beginning of time the whole world practised Vedic culture and spoke Sanskrit. It calls the Black Stone a Shivling, quoting for it a British travel memoir first published in 1850, and says that pilgrims walk round it seven times in the Hindu way (p. 110). It says it is well known that the Kaaba is an ancient Shiva temple (p. 171). It quotes a couplet from what it calls the Harihareshwar Mahatmya, which it reads as putting Vishnu's footprint at Mecca. From this and the 360 idols of the Muslim reports it infers that the Kaaba was a Vishnu temple complex whose deities included Shiva, and that the Muslims kept Shiva's emblem, the Stone (pp. 121-122, 669-670). It calls Vishnu the central deity and the Kaaba a Vishnu shrine (pp. 642, 648). It quotes three Arabic poems from an anthology it calls Sair-ul-Okul, compiled, it says, in 1742 from an earlier collection made for Harun al-Rashid, and says they once hung on gold plates inside the Kaaba. In its own translation one praises King Vikramaditya, one the worship of Mahadeva and pilgrimage to India, and one the Vedas (pp. 686-689, 693-697).
King Bhoja crosses the Indus with his army and defeats the peoples of Gandhara and Kashmir (vv. 3-4). Meanwhile, the chapter says, a foreign (mleccha) teacher called Mahamada appears with his disciples (v. 5). The king bathes Mahadeva (Shiva), the dweller in the desert (marusthala-nivasin), with Ganges water and the five products of the cow. He praises him as lord of Girija, destroyer of the demon Tripura, and guarded, or hidden, by the mlecchas (mlecchair-guptaya) (vv. 6-8). Shiva tells him to go to the shrine of Mahakaleshvara (Shiva's temple at Ujjain). The land called Vahika, he says, has been corrupted by mlecchas and has no Aryan dharma; Mahamada has come there, and the king must not go to that demonic land (vv. 9-13). The king returns home (v. 14). Mahamada later tells the king that his people will be circumcised, without the topknot, bearded and calling aloud (v. 25). The chapter names no Mecca, no Kaaba and no stone. A later chapter of the same part (3.4.22.72-78) tells of traders from a western island, of the faith of the Son of God (ishaputra), whose king ruled from the city of Kalikata (Calcutta), with his queen Vikatavati in the western island.
The idols of Mecca, and what became of them
The Qur'an says Abraham and Ishmael raised the foundations of the House, asking God (﷾) to accept their work. By the Prophet's (ﷺ) time the Meccans had set up idols around it and inside it. The Qur'an names the goddesses they served: al-Lat, al-Uzza and Manat. Their chief idol was Hubal. Some Arabs worshipped stones too. Abu Raja al-Utaridi was a boy when the Prophet (ﷺ) was sent. He recalled that his people worshipped a stone and threw it away when they found a better one. The Qur'an calls the dedication of stones an abomination, Satan's work. Its verses on the pilgrimage tell pilgrims to shun idols and never to give God (﷾) partners. When the Prophet (ﷺ) entered Mecca, 360 idols stood around the Kaaba. He struck them with a stick, saying that truth had come and falsehood would not return. He would not go inside until the idols there had been carried out, among them pictures of Abraham and Ishmael. Then he went in and proclaimed God's (﷾) greatness in every direction. The House was given back to the worship of the One God (﷾), for which, the Qur'an says, Abraham and Ishmael had raised it.
“And remember Abraham and Isma'il raised the foundations of the House (With this prayer): "Our Lord! Accept (this service) from us: For Thou art the All-Hearing, the All-knowing.”
“Have ye seen Lat. and 'Uzza, And another, the third (goddess), Manat?”
States that in ancient South Arabia each people worshipped its own moon god: Wadd among the Minaeans, 'Amm among the Qatabanians, Sin in Hadramawt and Almaqah (Ilumquh) among the Sabaeans. It calls Hubal the most important deity of Mecca and describes him in legend as a god of rain and a warrior god.
Abu Raja al-Utaridi recalls that before Islam his people worshipped stones. When they found a better stone, they threw the first away and took the other; when they could find no stone, they heaped up earth, milked a sheep over it and walked round it. He adds that he was a boy herding his family's camels when the Prophet (ﷺ) was sent. These are Abu Raja's own words about the time before Islam, not a saying of the Prophet.
“O ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination,- of Satan's handwork: eschew such (abomination), that ye may prosper.”
“Such (is the Pilgrimage): whoever honours the sacred rites of Allah, for him it is good in the Sight of his Lord. Lawful to you (for food in Pilgrimage) are cattle, except those mentioned to you (as exception): but shun the abomination of idols, and shun the word that is false,- Being true in faith to Allah, and never assigning partners to Him: if anyone assigns partners to Allah, is as if he had fallen from heaven and been snatched up by birds, or the wind had swooped (like a bird on its prey) and thrown him into a far-distant place.”
Abdullah (ibn Mas'ud) reports that when the Prophet (ﷺ) entered Mecca on the day of the conquest, 360 idols stood around the Ka'ba. He struck them with a stick in his hand, saying that truth had come and falsehood would neither begin again nor return.
Ibn Abbas reports that when the Prophet (ﷺ) came to Mecca he would not enter the Ka'ba while idols were in it, and ordered them taken out. Pictures of Abraham and Ishmael were among the things removed.
Ibn Abbas reports that when the Prophet (ﷺ) arrived in Mecca he would not enter the Ka'ba while there were idols in it, and he ordered them to be taken out. Only then did he go in and proclaim God's greatness in every direction.
Reply by reply
Swami Vivekananda, Addresses on Bhakti-Yoga, The Chief Symbols
“The Mahommedans think that when they pray, if they try to form a mental image of the Temple with the Kaba, the black stone, in it, and turn towards the west, it is all right, but if you form the image in the shape of a church it is idolatry. This is the defect of image-worship. Yet all these seem to be necessary stages.”
Cited for
Muslims turn toward the Kaaba five times a day and picture it as they pray. That is image worship, with a building in place of a statue.
The response
The Qur'an asks Muslims to turn their faces toward the Sacred Mosque. It does not ask them to picture it, and in every prayer they say to God (﷾), "Thee do we worship, and Thine aid we seek". The direction itself was set by command. For sixteen or seventeen months in Medina the Prophet (ﷺ) prayed toward Jerusalem. God (﷾) says He appointed that earlier direction only to test who would follow the Messenger (ﷺ). When the change was announced, one congregation turned round in the middle of its prayer. Daniel, too, prayed toward Jerusalem, and Jews and Christians do not say he worshipped a building. Travelling from Mecca to Medina, the Prophet (ﷺ) said voluntary prayers on his camel, facing wherever it went. Ibn Umar, who reported it, said that the verse "Whithersoever ye turn, there is the presence of Allah" was revealed about this. A Muslim faces the Kaaba because God (﷾) said so, and he prays to God (﷾). Wherever he turns, there is the presence of Allah (﷾).
Where it lands — Facing the Kaaba is obedience about direction. The prayer itself is worship of God (﷾) alone.
Swami Vivekananda, Paper on Hinduism, World's Parliament of Religions, Chicago, 19 September 1893
“My brethren, we can no more think about anything without a mental image than we can live without breathing. By the law of association the material image calls up the mental idea and vice versa. This is why the Hindu uses an external symbol when he worships. He will tell you it helps to keep his mind fixed on the Being to whom he prays. He knows as well as you do that the image is not God, is not omnipresent.”
Cited for
A Hindu also knows that the image is not God. He uses it to keep his mind on God, just as Umar knew the Stone was only a stone. So the two practices are the same.
The response
The difference is not in what the worshipper knows but in what he does before the object. Vivekananda said there is no polytheism in India. To show it, he said that in every temple the worshippers apply all the attributes of God (﷾), even omnipresence, to the images. Islam gives the Kaaba and the Black Stone no attribute of God (﷾). It offers them no prayer, food or flowers, and asks nothing of them, for the places of worship are for God (﷾) alone. Umar told the Stone that it could neither harm nor benefit, and that he kissed it only because the Prophet (ﷺ) had. At its corner the Prophet (ﷺ) said Allahu Akbar, Allah (﷾) is the Greatest.
Where it lands — An image addressed with the attributes of God (﷾) receives worship. A stone told that it can neither harm nor benefit does not.
Vivekananda, Bhakti or Devotion
Argues that reformers who reject all symbols never succeed, because most people need something concrete, and the masses only exchange one symbol for another. One of his examples is the Muslim, who counts every image, form and ceremony of others as sinful but not his own shrine, the Kaaba. Wherever he prays, Vivekananda says, he must imagine himself standing before it; on pilgrimage he must kiss the Black Stone; and the kisses of millions of pilgrims will bear witness for the faithful on the Day of Judgement.
Cited for
Muslims walk round the Kaaba and kiss the Black Stone, as Hindus walk round a temple and touch the murti. Vivekananda adds that they believe the kisses will bear witness for them on the Day of Judgement. Some Muslims also say the Stone came down from Paradise. That gives the Stone a power of its own.
The response
The outward acts look alike, so the question is what receives them. In a temple the devotee walks round the shrine where the deity is installed in its image. There the deity receives the offerings and the prayers. The Kaaba has no image inside it and no deity installed in it. The Prophet (ﷺ) had its idols carried out, and when he went in, he proclaimed God's (﷾) greatness in every direction. At the Stone's corner he said Allahu Akbar, Allah (﷾) is the Greatest. Once he only pointed to it from his camel, so kissing it is not even required. Umar kissed it only because the Prophet (ﷺ) did, and told it that it could neither harm nor benefit. Some reports do say the Stone came down from Paradise. Even so, it is a created stone, and Umar's words still stand. As for bearing witness, a witness is not a god. The Qur'an says that on that Day the skins of those brought to the Fire will bear witness against them. Allah (﷾) gives them speech, "(He) Who giveth speech to everything". Things that testify by God's (﷾) leave are His witnesses, not His partners.
Where it lands — The pilgrim goes round a house with no image and no deity in it, and his words there are addressed to God (﷾). Kissing the Stone follows the Prophet (ﷺ) and is not a duty, and a witness that speaks by God's (﷾) leave is not a god.
Sahih al-Bukhari 4376 — Kitab al-Maghazi (Military Expeditions), hadith 4376
Abu Raja al-Utaridi recalls that before Islam his people worshipped stones. When they found a better stone, they threw the first away and took the other; when they could find no stone, they heaped up earth, milked a sheep over it and walked round it. He adds that he was a boy herding his family's camels when the Prophet (ﷺ) was sent. These are Abu Raja's own words about the time before Islam, not a saying of the Prophet.
Cited for
Before Islam the Arabs worshipped stones and walked round them, as a report in al-Bukhari itself records. The Black Stone was one of their sacred stones, and Islam kept it, and the walking round. The old stone worship goes on under a new name.
The response
The report is the memory of Abu Raja al-Utaridi, who was a boy when the Prophet (ﷺ) was sent. His people, he says, worshipped a stone and threw it away when they found a better one. Islam ended that. The Qur'an calls the dedication of stones an abomination, Satan's work, and it tells pilgrims to shun idols and never to give God (﷾) partners. Muslim scholars faced this question long ago. Al-Tabari, quoted by Ibn Hajar, explains why Umar spoke to the Stone as he did: people had only lately left the worship of idols. Umar did not want the ignorant to think that touching it was the old veneration of stones. He touched it to follow the Prophet (ﷺ), not because it could harm or benefit by itself, as the pagans believed of their idols. The walking round belongs to the House, not to the Stone. The Qur'an says Abraham and Ishmael raised the House. It tells Abraham to keep it pure for those who go round it and pray there. The Prophet (ﷺ) cleared out the idols that had been set up around it and inside it.
Where it lands — Islam ended the worship of stones. It kept Abraham's House for the worship of God (﷾) alone. It kept the Stone only as the corner the Prophet (ﷺ) touched, a stone that can neither harm nor benefit.
Qur'an 22:26 — Surat al-Hajj (The Pilgrimage), verse 26
“Behold! We gave the site, to Abraham, of the (Sacred) House, (saying): "Associate not anything (in worship) with Me; and sanctify My House for those who compass it round, or stand up, or bow, or prostrate themselves (therein in prayer).”
Cited for
The Qur'an itself calls the Kaaba God's House. So Muslims believe God lives there, as Hindus believe God is present in a consecrated image. They even cover it with a cloth and wash it, as Hindus dress and bathe the murti.
The response
Two verses call the Kaaba My House. Both say it is to be kept pure for those who go round it, bow and prostrate in prayer. Where God (﷾) calls it My House in Surat al-Hajj, His first command to Abraham is: "Associate not anything (in worship) with Me". The Qur'an says every place of worship belongs to God (﷾), so no one may be called on beside Him. A house of God (﷾) is a house built for His worship. Solomon said the same of his Temple: the heaven of heavens cannot contain God (﷾), "how much less this house that I have builded?" Muslims do cover the Kaaba and wash it, as a house of worship is kept clean and honoured. The care is for the worshippers, as both verses say, not an offering to the building. When the Prophet (ﷺ) went inside the Kaaba, after its idols had been carried out, he proclaimed God's (﷾) greatness in every direction.
Where it lands — In Surat al-Hajj the Qur'an calls the Kaaba God's (﷾) House in the same verse that forbids associating anything with Him. It is a house for His worship, not His dwelling.
P. N. Oak, World Vedic Heritage (1984)
Argues that from the beginning of time the whole world practised Vedic culture and spoke Sanskrit. It calls the Black Stone a Shivling, quoting for it a British travel memoir first published in 1850, and says that pilgrims walk round it seven times in the Hindu way (p. 110). It says it is well known that the Kaaba is an ancient Shiva temple (p. 171). It quotes a couplet from what it calls the Harihareshwar Mahatmya, which it reads as putting Vishnu's footprint at Mecca. From this and the 360 idols of the Muslim reports it infers that the Kaaba was a Vishnu temple complex whose deities included Shiva, and that the Muslims kept Shiva's emblem, the Stone (pp. 121-122, 669-670). It calls Vishnu the central deity and the Kaaba a Vishnu shrine (pp. 642, 648). It quotes three Arabic poems from an anthology it calls Sair-ul-Okul, compiled, it says, in 1742 from an earlier collection made for Harun al-Rashid, and says they once hung on gold plates inside the Kaaba. In its own translation one praises King Vikramaditya, one the worship of Mahadeva and pilgrimage to India, and one the Vedas (pp. 686-689, 693-697).
Cited for
The Kaaba was an ancient Shiva temple, and the Black Stone is a Shiva linga. Muslims still walk round it seven times, as Hindus walk round a Shivling. A verse of the Bhavishya Purana even praises Shiva as the dweller in the desert, guarded by the foreigners.
The response
Followed back through P. N. Oak's own sources, the claim that the Black Stone is a Shiva linga goes back no further than 1795. For the Stone, Oak quotes a British travel memoir of 1850. It repeats almost word for word a report printed in 1795 by Francis Wilford, a British officer in India. The Hindus, Wilford wrote, insisted that the Stone was Mahadeva's linga; he cited no text that says so. Ten years later he admitted that his chief pandit had forged Purana passages for him. He named the Semiramis legend of his 1795 essay as one the pandit had "most shamefully disfigured". He still thought the claim plausible, but wrote that the Hindus' legends about the Stone were "perhaps, not expressly found" in the Puranas. The Sanskrit couplet Oak quotes places a footprint, which he takes to be Vishnu's, at "Maka". It says nothing of Shiva or of a stone. None of the three Arabic poems he quotes calls the Kaaba a Shiva temple, even in his own translation. The Bhavishya verse names no Mecca, no Kaaba and no stone. In that chapter Shiva tells the king not to go to the land the foreigners have corrupted. The chapter's foreign teacher, Mahamada, says his people will be circumcised and bearded. Yet it sends the king to Shiva's shrine at Ujjain in India. The Qur'an, recited in Mecca, names the goddesses the Meccans served: al-Lat, al-Uzza and Manat. Their chief idol was Hubal. Whatever stood there before, the Prophet (ﷺ) struck the idols around the Kaaba with a stick, declaring that truth had come. He had those inside it carried out, and Muslims pray there to God (﷾) alone.
Where it lands — Oak's trail for the Shiva claim goes back no further than a report of 1795. The Qur'an names the goddesses of pagan Mecca, and the Prophet (ﷺ) put an end to the worship of idols there.
Perspectives
Vivekananda: every religion has its symbols
Swami Vivekananda held that no one can think without a mental image, so every religion uses symbols. The Hindu, he said, knows that the image is not God and uses it to keep his mind fixed on God. He counted the Kaaba and the Black Stone as the Muslim's symbols of the same kind.
A Hindu uses an image to keep his mind fixed on God, and knows that the image is not God.
Rebuttal
Many Hindus do say this, but the difference is what is done before the object. Vivekananda says temple worshippers apply all the attributes of God (﷾) to the images. Islam gives the Kaaba and the Stone none, and Umar told the Stone it could neither harm nor benefit.
Muslims, who call images idolatry, picture the Kaaba and turn toward it when they pray.
Rebuttal
The Qur'an asks Muslims to turn toward the Sacred Mosque, not to picture it. The direction was set by command, for they first prayed toward Jerusalem, and in prayer they say to God (﷾), "Thee do we worship". Jews and Christians do not say Daniel worshipped a building when he prayed toward Jerusalem.
Muslims kiss the Black Stone on pilgrimage. They believe the kisses will bear witness for them on the Day of Judgement.
Rebuttal
A witness is not a god. The Qur'an says that on that Day the skins of those brought to the Fire will testify, by God's (﷾) gift of speech. Kissing the Stone follows the Prophet (ﷺ) and is not required.
The Shiva-temple claim
Some Hindu writers, notably P. N. Oak, claim that the Kaaba was once a Hindu temple. They say the Black Stone is a Shiva linga which Muslims still walk round.
The Kaaba was an ancient temple of Shiva, and the Black Stone is a Shivling.
Rebuttal
Oak's trail for the Stone ends in a report of 1795 that cites no text for it. None of the Sanskrit or Arabic passages he quotes calls the Kaaba a Shiva temple. The Qur'an names the goddesses of pagan Mecca, and the Prophet (ﷺ) put an end to its idols.
A British officer recorded in 1795 that Hindus insisted the Black Stone was the linga of Mahadeva.
Rebuttal
He did record what Hindus insisted, but he cited no text that calls the Stone a linga. Ten years later he admitted that his chief pandit had forged Purana passages. He named a legend in this same 1795 essay as one the pandit had "most shamefully disfigured".
A verse of the Bhavishya Purana praises Shiva as the dweller in the desert, guarded by the foreigners. Some read this as Shiva at Mecca.
Rebuttal
The verse names no Mecca, no Kaaba and no stone. In it Shiva tells the king not to go to the land the foreigners have corrupted. He sends him instead to his own shrine at Ujjain, so the verse places Shiva's shrine in India.
The Islamic perspective
Muslims worship God (﷾) alone. The Kaaba is the direction of prayer that God (﷾) appointed and a house built for His worship. The Black Stone is kissed only because the Prophet (ﷺ) kissed it. Neither is prayed to, asked for help or given offerings.
Umar kissed the Black Stone and told it that it could neither harm nor benefit. He kissed it only because he had seen the Prophet (ﷺ) kiss it.
There are reports of Umar at the Stone, and in some he clung to it. Even there, his reason is what he saw the Prophet (ﷺ) do.
On his camel, the Prophet (ﷺ) went round the Kaaba and pointed to the corner of the Black Stone. He said Allahu Akbar, Allah (﷾) is the Greatest.
The Qur'an commands the worship of the Lord of the House. In 22:26, where God (﷾) calls the Kaaba My House, He first forbids associating anything with Him.
The Prophet (ﷺ) and his followers prayed toward Jerusalem for sixteen or seventeen months before the Qur'an turned them to Mecca. The Qur'an says the earlier direction was appointed as a test.
Facing the Kaaba is obedience to a command about direction, not worship of a building. Wherever one turns, there is the presence of Allah (2:115).
The Prophet (ﷺ) struck the 360 idols around the Kaaba with a stick, declaring that truth had come. He had the idols inside it carried out.
Traced through P. N. Oak's sources, the claim that the Black Stone is a Shiva linga goes back to 1795. A British officer then reported that Hindus insisted on it, but he cited no scripture that says so. He later admitted that his pandit had forged Purana passages for him.