We don't worship the Kaaba nor is it a shiv lingam

There are many myths and a lot of misinformation on the internet that is being passed around by our brothers who adhere to hinduism regarding the Kaaba, the black stone and its significance in a muslims life

Essentially there are two points that those people point out

1. Muslims worship the kaaba  - i.e. Islam is against idol worship then why do they kiss the black stone and bow to the kaaba ? People who ask this question try to accuse is that either muslims are hypocritical in their beliefs
2. The black stone is a shiv ling – baah (Yes and manmohan singh is a closet rapper)

I am writing this post to refute the two assertions mentioned above.

 Muslims do not worship the kaaba.

      

      First I would like to point out with a simple illustration how idol worship works.

      

          If the idol were to be placed behind the wall ? How would the worshipper perform his/her worship

•          By going to the idol behind the wall

•         By bringing the idol back to where it was

      As far as the Kaaba (which literally means the cube)  is concerned there exists numerous walls , buildings , mountains etc and other physical barriers between a Muslim and the Kaaba.

The idea is not to venerate it because it grants as wishes, but we venerate it – by facing it when we pray - because we are asked to do so in the quran by Allah, the most beneficent and the most merciful. The Kaaba serves as a source of unity and a spiritual bond between all Muslims across all ages ,eras and nationalities. 

It  does’nt matter if you are taxi driver in byculla(Mumbai) or a king in the 10^th century or an astronaut,a pauper or a prince. You may hate each other because of nationality, but as long as you are a Muslim you will remain a part of brotherhood till the end of time by the virtue of praying in the same direction.

Hence the Kaaba is different from your regular man made idol. No Muslim has a miniature Kaaba at home, which they turn to while worshipping (even if they do it serves the purpose of a show piece)

The idea of facing one direction signifies the belief in one God, the creator – Allah without any partners.

        The black stone is not a shiv ling

The world of Internet is probably one of the most ubiquitous source of information these days. However, there also exists a lot of miss-information as well. If one were to search “kaaba shiv linga” on google , one would hundreds if not thousands of websites that proclaim that the black stone in the kaaba at mecca is a shiv linga or the kaaba was actually a shiv temple and that muslims actually worship it. The above conclusions could not have been further from the truth. 

                                               

                   The fragmented black stone, front and side illustrations                                                                     

Shiv lingam

The above images clearly depicts difference between the two. Moreover several people who have themselvess seen the blackstone have provided description that (indirectly) clearly indicate that the black stone is very much unlike the shiv lingam.

 Visiting the Kaaba in 1853, Sir Richard Francis Burton noted that:

The colour appeared to me black and metallic, and the centre of the stone was sunk about two inches below the metallic circle. Round the sides was a reddish brown cement, almost level with the metal, and sloping down to the middle of the stone. The band is now a massive arch of gold or silver gilt. I found the aperture in which the stone is, one span and three fingers broad   Ritter von Laurin, the Austrian consul-general in Egypt, was able to inspect a fragment of the Stone removed by Muhammad Ali in 1817 and reported that it had a pitch-black exterior and a silver-grey, fine-grained interior in which tiny cubes of a bottle-green material were embedded. There are reportedly a few white or yellow spots on the face of the Stone, and it is officially described as being white with the exception of the face.

Shiv linga appears to be stone that is immovable and cannot be stolen. However, the black stone at kaaba  has suffered desecrations and significant damage over the centuries. It is said to have been struck and smashed to pieces by a stone fired from a catapult during the Umayyad siege of Mecca in 683. The fragments were rejoined by Abd Allah ibn Zubayr using a silver ligament.  In January 930 it was stolen by the Qarmatians, who carried the Black Stone away to their base in Hajar (modern Bahrain). According to Ottoman historian Qutb al-Din, writing in 1857, Qarmatian leader Abu Tahir al-Qarmati set the Black Stone up in his own mosque, the Masjid al-Dirar, with the intention of redirecting the Hajj away from Mecca.However, this failed, and pilgrims continued to venerate the spot where the Black Stone had been.

According to historian Al-Juwayni, the Stone was returned twenty-three years later, in 952. The Qarmatians held the Black Stone for ransom, and forced the Abbasids to pay a huge sum for its return. It was wrapped in a sack and thrown into the Friday Mosque of Kufa, accompanied by a note saying "By command we took it, and by command we have brought it back." Its abduction and removal caused further damage, breaking the stone into seven pieces. Its abductor, Abu Tahir, is said to have met a terrible fate; according to Qutb al-Din, "the filthy Abu Tahir was afflicted with a gangrenous sore, his flesh was eaten away by worms, and he died a most terrible death."

In the 11th century, a man allegedly sent by the Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah attempted to smash the Black Stone, but was killed on the spot, having caused only slight damage. In 1674, according to Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, someone smeared the Black Stone with excrement so that "every one who kissed it retired with a sullied beard". The Shi'ite Persians were suspected of being responsible and were the target of curses from other Muslims for centuries afterwards, though explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton doubted that they were the culprits; he attributed the act to "some Jew or Greek, who risked his life to gratify a furious bigotry.

It is therefore obvious from the above historical and theological responses that all claims related to kaaba being a shiv temple and the black stone being a shiv ling are false.