established Mecca to be an inviolable sanctuary and asylum;[1] in the time of Adam the spot was occupied by a tent sent down from heaven to serve as a place for man to render worship to his Creator, and to solicit the forgiveness of his sins, and the holy tent was often visited by Adam and Seth, till the latter built over it a temple of stone for the use of his posterity; this temple having been overthrown by the deluge, was rebuilt by Abraham and his son Ismael.[2] The Arabians had been long famed among profane and ecclesiastical writers for the worship of a stone;[3] it was this stone, placed in the most holy spot of the Kaaba, that attracted the homage of so many thousands; Muhammed encouraged the continuance of the same adoration, and declared that this holy stone came out of paradise, and was brought from heaven by Gabriel, who gave it to Abraham; the Christians, with more truth, declared it to be an
- ↑ Gagnier, tom. ii. p. 136.
- ↑ Herbelot, v. Caaba. The temple of the Kaaba is evidently referred to by Diodorus Siculus, who says that between the country of the Thamudites and the Sabæans ἱερον αγιοτατον ἱδρυται τιμωμενον ὑπο παντων Αραβων περιττοτερον. lib. iii. p. 2.
- ↑ Αραβιοι σεβουσι μεν, οντινα δε ουκ οιδα· το δε αγαλμα ὁ ειδον, λιθος ην τετραγωνος. Max. Tyr. Dissert, viii. § 8. Παλαι μεν οἱ Σκυθαι, την ακινακην· οἱ Αραβες, τον λιθον· οἱ Περσαι, τον ποταμον προσεκυνουν. Clem. Alex. Protrept. p. 29. Arnobius calls it informem lapidem, lib. vi. Suidas describes the Arabian deity — το δε αγαλμα λιθος εστι μελας, τετραγωνος, ατυπωτος, ὑψος ποδων δ’ ευρυς δυο, ανακειται δε επι βασεως χρυσηλατου. Suidas in Θευσαρης.
