Mecca IS Islam, in a way it is difficult for Westerners to comprehend. Two of the "five pillars of Islam" are based on worshipping that black moon-god rock called Al-Hajarul Aswad in Arabic. (5x daily prayer to the moon-rock, and the Haj or pilgrimage to visit and worship the moon-rock in person.) Muslims see the black stone not as symbolic, but as a physical manifestation of Allah on earth, a chunk of Allah fallen to earth. The black stone has the power to suck all of the sins and evil out of men performing the Hajj pilgrimage. It is interesting to note that Islam’s holy of holies is packed with all of the sins of all of the Muslims who ever made the Hajj. The black stone will tell Allah on judgement day all of the sins of all of the Muslims, for Allah to judge. The black stone is the one and only “hard drive” of Islam.
Devout Muslims believe that the black stone represents all of Allah's power and glory. They believe, sincerely, that if the USA launched rockets at Mecca, Allah would swat them away like flies, or turn them around to hit New York or Washington.
If Allah could not stop the”infidel” bombs, and Mecca was turned into a crater, this would constitute absolute proof that Muhammed was a fraud and a liar, and that the moon-god rock had no power after all.
This would mean the end of the entire cult of Islam. Their cult could not adapt to or respond to or overcome complete, visible proof that Allah was powerless to stop the infidel weapons. It is critical to note (and this is also one of the 5 pillars of Islam) that “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammed is his LAST prophet.” You see, the religion is perfect, complete, finished. Allah gave the 5 pillars to Muhammed. These 5 pillars of Islam CANNOT BE CHANGED, EVER, and there still be Islam. No Mecca, no Kaaba, no black stone = no Hajj, no 5X daily prayer = no Islam.
Now, I'm not calling for or predicting Mecca will ever be bombed. Not unless American cities were destroyed by Islamofascist nuclear bombs first. Our insane enemies don't care if we threaten Cairo or Damascus. They would welcome such attacks, as providing mega-martyrs for Allah! Polls conducted in many Islamic nations have asked, "Would it be worth it to wipe Israel off the map with atomic bombs, if it meant millions of Muslims would die in the counterstrike?" The poll is answered YES! by high numbers. So targeting cities means nothing to our fanatical enemies.
Mecca, on the other hand, means everything to our enemies. Some of our semi-rational enemies must understand that if they nuke our cities, they may finally get a test of Allah's power to smite incoming missiles before they can hit and destroy Mecca and AllahÂ’s black moon-god rock. These semi-rational enemies must understand this, so that they can influence the complete maniacs, and keep them from ever getting the nuclear weapons they would surely use against America, given the chance.
The semi-rational Islamists must understand that Mecca and Allah's all-powerful black moon-god rock are on the table, as a retaliatory target, if our cities are attacked with nukes.
Putting Mecca on the counterstrike target option list, even hypothetically, means far, far more to them than threats to change Arab regimes or bomb Muslim capitols.
I want the insane and semi-sane Islamofascists to understand this: nuke America, and Mecca is on the retaliation list. This is the only meaningful deterrent threat, to insane and semi-sane Islamofascists. If you wish the sane Muslims and semi-sane Islamists to influence the Islamofascists away from WMD attacks on the USA, let it be known that the very existence of Mecca, (and therefore their entire religion), is on the table.
(And don't bother with the trite comparison of Mecca and say, the Vatican. The Vatican is just the place the Pope hangs his miter. Catholics don't literally lay down and worship some idol in St. Peters 5 X a day, for 20 minutes. If Rome was nuked, it would not destroy Christianity. Christianity lies in the heart of each believer, in the concept of Jesus the Savior on the Cross, not in worshipping some physical idol or totem like Allah's black rock.)
Islam: Meteorite Worship of the black stone
Mecca or Makkah (in full: Makkah al-Mukarramah; Arabic: مكة المكرمة) is the capital city of Saudi Arabia's Makkah province, in the historic Hijaz region. It is located at 21°25′ N 39°49′ E, 73 kilometers inland from Jaddah, in the narrow sandy Valley of Abraham, 277 meters (909 feet) above sea level.
The city is revered as the holiest site of Islam, and a pilgrimage to it is required of all Muslims who can afford to go. The term 'Mecca' has come into common usage metaphorically to mean any all-important site for any particular group of people.
The importance of Mecca
For Muslims, a pilgrimage to Mecca is required as one of the Five Pillars of the faith. In recent years, about two to three million have gathered for the major pilgrimage or 'Hajj', during the Muslim month of Dhu'l-Hijjah, and many more perform the minor pilgrimage or 'Umrah', which may be performed at any time of year. Few non-Muslims have ever seen the rites and rituals of the Hajj as non-Muslims are strictly prohibited from entering Mecca and Madinah.
The focal point of Mecca is the Ka'bah, the "House of God" believed by Muslims to have been built by Abraham and his son Ishmael, and is covered in a gold-embroidered black fabric. The Pilgrims circle the Ka'bah seven times and may also try to touch or kiss its cornerstone, the Black Stone. Pilgrims then drink from the well of Zamzam. The water of Zamzam is believed to have special properties. Few pilgrims return from the Hajj without a large plastic bottle of the Zamzam water.
During the Hajj the pilgrims travel to Mina, a small village, where the Devil, symbolised by stone columns, is ritually stoned. In some years the crowds have crushed people to death during this ritual. They then proceed to the Hill of Arafat (sometimes called the Mountain, but it is only 70 meters high), a site for prayers, where the Prophet Muhammad is believed to have delivered his final Sermon.
The importance of Mecca for Muslims is inestimable. All Muslims, wherever they are on the earth, are required to pray five times a day in the direction of the Ka'bah in Mecca (located at 21° 25′ 24″ N 39° 49′ 24″ E). The direction of prayer is known as the qiblah.
Muslims regard the al-Masjid al-Haram (or 'The Sacred Mosque') as the holiest place on Earth. Both the mosque and the city itself are strictly off-limits to non-Muslims.
While a revered holy site to Muslims, Mecca is sometimes viewed as a target by others. For example, in July 2005, during a radio interview, US Congressman Tom Tancredo said that the U.S. could "take out" Islamic holy sites such as Mecca if Muslim fundamentalist terrorists attacked the United States with nuclear weapons [[1]] [[2]].
The Black Stone (called Al-Hajarul Aswad in Arabic) is one of the most sacred holy relics in Islam. It is roughly 50 cm in diameter. It is found in the Kaaba, a sacred site in Islam. It is the cornerstone of one of the four corners of the religious construction. It can be recognized instantly because it is surrounded by a silver band.
The Stone is actually broken into several pieces, damage which occurred when the stone was stolen in 930 C.E. Ismaili (Qarmatian) warriors sacked Mecca and carried the Black Stone away. It was returned twenty-two years later. In the process, the Black Stone was cracked. It is now held together by a silver band, which is fastened by silver nails to the Stone.
Some Muslims would regard the Stone as "just a stone". When Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second Caliph, came to kiss the stone, he said, in front of all assembled: "No doubt, I know that you are a stone and can neither harm anyone nor benefit anyone. Had I not seen AllahÂ’s Messenger kissing you, I would not have kissed you."
Other Muslims believe that this stone fell from the sky during the time of Adam, and that it has the power to cleanse worshippers of their sins by absorbing them into itself. They say that the Black Stone was once a pure and dazzling white; it has turned black because of the sins it has absorbed over the years.
Still others will say only that the stone can erase the believer's minor sins. On the Day of Judgement, the Stone will testify before God (Allah) in favor of those who kissed it.
The stone is said to have been found by Abraham (Ibrahim) and his son Ishmael (Ismail), who were searching for stones with which to build the Kabaa. They recognized its worth and made it one of the building's cornerstones.
Physical attributes of the Kaaba
The Kaaba is a large masonry building in the shape of a cube (in fact, the name Kaaba comes from the Arabic word meaning cube). It is made of granite from the hills near Mecca. The structure is 50 ft. high (15.24 m), 35 ft. (10.67 m) wide, and 40 ft. long (12.19 m) long. It is covered by a black silk cloth decorated with gold-embroidered calligraphy. This cloth is known as the kiswa; it is replaced yearly. e of the cornerstones of the Kaaba is the Hajar el Aswad (the sacred "Black Stone"), which is presumed by most sources to be a meteorite remnant.
Inside the Kaaba, there is a marble floor. The interior walls are clad with marble half-way to the roof; tablets with Quranic inscriptions are inset in the marble. The top part of the walls is covered with a green cloth decorated with gold embroidered Quranic verses. Lamps hang from a cross beam; there is also a small table for incense burners. The building is otherwise empty. The caretakers perfume the marble cladding with scented oil, the same oil used to anoint the Black Stone outside.
History of the Kaaba
At the time of Muhammad, his tribe, the Quraysh was in charge of the Kaaba, which was at that time a shrine to numerous Arabian tribal gods. Desert tribesmen, the Bedouin, and inhabitants of other cities would join the annual pilgimage, to worship and to trade. Caravan-raiding, common during the rest of the year, was suspended during the pilgrimage; this was a good time, then, for travel and trade.
Muhammad, preaching the doctrines of one God (in Arabic, Allah) and the threat of the Day of Judgment, did not at first have much success in the city of Mecca. The Quraysh persecuted and harassed him continuously, and he and his followers eventually fled to Medina, in 622 C.E. After this pivotal flight, or Hijra, the Muslim community became a political and military force. In 630 C.E., Muhammad and his followers returned to Mecca as conquerors, and the Kaaba was re-dedicated as an Islamic house of worship. Henceforth the annual pilgrimage was to be a Muslim rite, the Hajj.
According to the Qur'an, the Kaaba was built by the prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) and his son Ishmael [3]. Academic scholars will only say that it is a pre-Islamic house of native Arab worship. According to some counts, the Kaabah has been reconstructed or undergone major repairs twelve times. The last reconstruction was done in 1996.
At the lower southeast corner of the Kaaba at a height of about five feet is "The Black Stone." As Muslim worshippers circumambulate the Kaaba, they will touch and/or kiss the Black Stone. Likely a portion of an ancient meteorite, it is revered as a symbol of that line of Abraham's progeny (Ishmael) that was rejected by Israel. To support this belief, Muslims will offer a compelling interpretation of Psalm 118.22-23 in the Hebrew scriptures: "The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner; this is the LORD'S doing. . ." (the traditional Judeo-Christian interpretation of this is that the "stone" is Israel herself).
When Muhammad returned victorious to Mecca in 630 CE, he destroyed the idols in the Kaaba, proclaiming Allah as the one God. He sanctioned the kissing of the Black Stone, declared Mecca the Holy City of Islam, and decreed that no unbeliever should ever be allowed to set foot on its soil. Hence, only Muslims are allowed at the Great Mosque of Mecca during the pilgrimage of the month of Dhu al-Hijah.