FEATURES OF THE HAJAR AL‐ASWAD, BLACK STONE OF MAKKAH, SAUDI ARABIA

Abstract

The Black Stone is composed of several dark‐coloured gravels (9.7‐27 mm) held together by a silver frame in the eastern wall of the Kaaba (Makkah). It contains long prismatic white crystal (0.64‐1.11 mm) and short prismatic black (0.33‐0.85 mm in length) crystal in an equigranular texture. Six and one additional pieces of the Black Stone are claimed to be in Istanbul and Edirne, Turkey. The stone of Edirne is composed of quartz (0.45‐6.57 mm, 47.02 %), white plagioclase (0.81‐2.97 mm, 38.49 %) and black amphibole (0.9‐2.43 mm, 14.49 %) crystals in a coarse‐grained texture, with the composition of tonalite. It is suggested that the stone could be from the Yemeni Corner of Kaaba originated from Makkah batholith, and different from those of İstanbul and Kaaba based on its colour and texture. In the whole world, the Black Stone is possibly the most respected rock believed to be as old as Adam and Eve, and an “Object from Heaven”. It is suggested to be glass, granite, agate, pseudometeorite or most popularly stony meteorite. But the origin of the black stone remains the subject of speculation due to a lack of analyses of modern scientific techniques.