Today’s Jesus and Mo strip, called “rock2“, comes with a note that says this: “An oldie from 2006 today. Next week’s will also be a resurrection.” The artist must be on hols.
Is Mo right about the black silk and the meteorite? Well, at least half right. The Kaaba is indeed covered with a cloth made of silk, but the meteorite is questionable. Here’s what Wikipedia says, along with a picture. (The stone is called Ajar al-Aswad.)
The Black Stone (Arabic: الحجر الأسود, romanized: al-Ḥajar al-Aswad) is a rock set into the eastern corner of the Kaaba, the ancient building in the center of the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is revered by most Muslims as an Islamic relic which, according to tradition, dates back to the time of Adam and Eve.
The stone was venerated at the Kaaba in pre-Islamic Arabia. It is sometimes considered a baetyl. According to tradition, it was set intact into the Kaaba’s wall by Muhammad in 605, five years before his first revelation. Since then, it has been broken into fragments and is now encased in a silver frame on the side of the Kaaba. Its physical appearance is that of a fragmented, dark rock, polished smooth by the hands of pilgrims. It has often been described as a meteorite, but it has never been analysed with modern techniques, so its scientific origins remain the subject of speculation.
Muslim pilgrims circle the Kaaba as a part of the tawaf ritual during the Hajj and many try to stop to kiss the Black Stone, emulating the kiss that Islamic tradition records that it received from Muhammad.While the Black Stone is revered, theologians emphasize that it has no divine significance and that its importance is historical in nature.
I tend to memorize parts of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, so I get an extra kick out of the punchline.
The Kaaba itself is the hollow building, made of unremarkable, dull stone. Non-Muslims think the entire structure is black, but that’s just the cover (it has been white and even green in centuries past.) That the “cube”.
Big shot visitors to KSA can be taken inside it on the biannual cleaning. Before Islam it was a repository for various idols.
D.A.
NYC
I’ve never understood the importance of the Kaaba.
I’ve never understood why so many believe in replacement religions, religions that pop up hundreds of years later and claim links to Jerusalem.