The Black Stone

Pursuing my theme of the significance of stones, I was reminded of the famous Black Stone that is located at one corner of the Ka'ba in Mecca. Here is an excerpt from the Wikipedia article about this stone.

The Black Stone (called الحجر الأسود al-Hajar-ul-Aswad in Arabic) is a Muslim object of reverence, which according to Islamic tradition dates back to the time of Adam and Eve. It is the eastern cornerstone of the Kaaba, the ancient sacred stone building towards which Muslims pray, in the center of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The Stone is roughly 30 cm (12 in.) in diameter, and 1.5 meters (5 ft.) above the ground. When pilgrims circle the Kaaba as part of the Tawaf ritual of the Hajj, many of them try, if possible, to stop and kiss the Black Stone, emulating the kiss that it received from the Islamic prophet Muhammad. If they cannot reach it, they are to point to it on each of their seven circuits around the Kaaba. The Stone is broken into a number of pieces from damage which was inflicted during the Middle Ages. The pieces are held together by a silver frame, which is fastened by silver nails to the Stone.

While Muslims don't ascribe any healing powers to it, they do believe that it has an abundance of what is called Baraka. I hadn't heard of this term before but it translates as something like divine blessing. The LOOKLEX Encyclopedia has this to say about the term:

In Islam, divine blessing that is normally associated with holy men or women, waliy, either in life or in death. Baraka can be transferred from one person to another, or from a material item to a person. Common in Islam is baraka that comes from local shrines, but the strongest baraka is in Mecca, and then especially, at the Ka'ba.