Placing Black Stone: Prophet's First Test of Leadership - Our Prophet 2 - 20/24

What other significant events happened in the Prophet's life before his marriage? We see that when it comes to the Ka'bah. The Ka'bah had a very special status in Makkahn society, in the Arabian Peninsula and in the world at the time the Ka'bah was first built by who? Who was the first to build the Ka'bah? Adam, alayhi as-salam. He was the first to build it. Then it was rebuilt by Ibrahim. "Wa idh yarfa'u Ibrahimu al-qawa'ida min al-Bayt" (2:127). The Qur'an tells us how Ibrahim alayhi as-salam, he built the Ka'bah. The first one to build it was Adam. Then it was destroyed for many centuries or a number of years. Then Ibrahim alayhi as-salam, was commanded by God to rebuild the Ka'bah.

Now, throughout the ages, the Ka'bah would commonly get destroye. Either by floods, by wars, by maybe erosion, by fires, by natural disasters, earthquakes maybe. So it would be common for the Ka'bah to be destroyed and rebuilt. This happened during the Prophet's life. When he was young, in his youth. The Ka'bah, according to historical report, was destroyed. How was it destroyed? We've got two sources that tell us how. One says there was a flood, a heavy thunder shower occurred in Makkah and it's in the vicinity of Makkah. And Makkah, if you've been to it, it's very hilly, it's mountainous, rugged terrain.

And the Ka'bah is actually in a low lying area. And there's no vegetation on the mountains, it's just barren mountains. So when you've got a heavy rain, immediately you get a flash flood. So the flood came, and it destroyed the Ka'bah, or it did severe damage to its foundation. So that's one historical account. Another one says, no, actually there was a woman who was doing bukhur around the Ka'bah.

What's bukhur? You have seen those aromatic, I don't know, what do you call them? It's a type of perfume, that you put the charcoal on, to get the nice aroma out. Right. What would you call that in English? Incense. A type of incense. So she was burning incense around the Ka'bah when that incense sparked a fire to the Ka'bah, because the Ka'bah was clothed. Right. Even today, the Ka'bah is not just the bare building. You have that clothing on it, that piece of cloth. So that incense, incense caused a fire around the Ka'bah and it burnt.

So now the tribes who were in Makkah, they wanted to rebuild the Ka'bah. So they said, hey, no tribe should have this honour to themselves only. Let's all participate. So all the major tribes, they decided, okay, let's go and get the building material. And each tribe should be assigned a corner, one of the corners of the Ka'bah. Let's all build it together so that we all collectively have this honour. They agreed, no problems. Everything went smoothly here. Then the time came to attach and fix the Black Stone, the Hajar Al-Aswad to the Ka'bah. The Black Stone is a very holy stone. We have hadith that this stone was actually delivered by Allah through an angel, Jibra'il, he brought it down to earth.

It comes from paradise. It has a heavenly origin. And the hadith says initially it was white like snow, but because of the sins of people, throughout history, it became black. There's an angel that is constantly standing by the Hajar Al-Aswad, witnessing for those who do the tawaf around the Ka'bah, they circle around the Ka'bah, and they do their Hajj or their 'Umrah. And this angel will witness for you on the Day of Judgment that you came and worshipped Allah in this place.

Yes. That's why if you see for those who've gone to the Hajj, or if you've seen any documentaries about the tawaf, you see people when they finish one full round, because the round starts where? At Hajar Al-Aswad. It's adjacent to Hajar Al-Aswad, right? That's where the round starts. That's how you count seven rounds. You start at Hajar Al-Aswad. You end at the Black Stone. So when you finish the first round, you see the pilgrims, they turn their face to the Stone and they talk to the stone. They give their salam. "Allahu Akbar". You say your salam to the stone, and then you talk to the stone. "Amanati Addaytuha", the covenant that Allah has placed on me, I have now conveyed it, by worshiping God. "Wa mithaqi tahahattuhu fashad li bi 'l-muafat". You actually talk to the stone and say, witness for me that I have done my Hajj.

So now, they wanted to erect the Black Stone, and attach it, and fix it to the Ka'bah. There was an argument, which tribe was going to do that? Because now each tribe wants that honour to them. Because when you take the Black Stone and you put it on the Ka'bah, that gives you superiority. In Makkahn society, that means you are in charge of Masjid al-Haram. You are closer to the house of God.

So they started squarreling, fighting amongst themselves, until they were about to erupt into a full fledged war. They wanted to fight and kill each other. In fact, some of them dipped their hands in blood and they said, we'll not settle this. We will kill and fight until we get the honour of mounting the Hajar Al-Aswad. Now, what happened at that point?

At that point, right before the war erupted, we see that Abu Umayah, Ibn al-Mughirah. Abu Umayah, was the father of Umm Salamah. Who's Umm Salamah? Anyone know? Wife of the Prophet. She was one of the wives of the Prophet, one of the best wives of the Prophet. The best wife was Khadijah, then Umm Salamah. Umm Salamah, her father was present. When he saw them about to fight, he is like, look, let's not fight. Whoever enters the Grand Mosque, the first person to enter the Masjid, let him be the judge. Whatever he decides, we will accept. They are like, okay, we agree to your suggestion. Who was the first person who entered? The Holy Prophet Muhammad, salla Allahu alayhi wa alih.

He was the first person to enter. Remember, he was a young man at the time, just a youth. He entered. They told him, okay, Muhammad, come in to solve this crisis for us. The Prophet said, okay, you accept me as the judge? They are like, yes, we accept you as the judge. So he's like, Get me a big piece of cloth. A sheet, a big sheet. They are like, Why? He's like, Bring it. I'll tell you why they bring a sheet. He takes the Black Stone, he puts it in the middle. Now, the sheet has four corners, right? Four sides. He says, you are the four main tribes. Each tribe, take, lift one corner of that, one side of that cloth, together, let's carry it to the Ka'bah, and we'll put it on the Ka'bah.

They are like, brilliant idea. That way, we can all say we put the Black Stone, and no one is going to act superior to the others, and we will end this controversy right here. So they love the idea of the Prophet. So they all carried it and they went to the Ka'bah. And the Prophet, salla Allahu alayhi wa alih, once they raised the piece of cloth, and the Black Stone was at the level of where it should be fixed, on the Ka'bah, mounted on the Ka'bah. The Prophet, he himself, he took the Black Stone and he put it on the Ka'bah.

And everyone just agreed. No one said, hey, why are you the last person to take the Black Stone and put it on the Ka'bah? And this actually shows and reveals the status of the Prophet. Even though he was the boy, a young man, a teenager, probably, not more than 20, probably. Yet they had so much respect for him, that everybody loved his idea, and everybody was okay, that he was the one who, in the end, he put it, on the Ka'bah. So that's very interesting that we see, he really had a lot of respect.