Black Stone (Kaʻbah, Mecca, Saudi Arabia)

found: Work cat.: Schneider, G. Cubes--art in the age of terrorism, c2006:p. 49 (The Black Stone is an oval-shaped stone, 18 cm diameter, installed over a meter above the ground, in the Kabʻa's outside eastern corner, left of the only, barred, entrance. The Stone's origins are uncertain; it is the Kabʻa's most venerated object)

found: Concise encyclopedia of Islam, 1989:Black Stone (Arabic; al-hạjar-al-aswad; stone set in southeast corner of the Ka'bah about 1.5 meters from the ground; ovoid, black with reddish tones and yellow particles, about 28 cm wide and 38 cm high, set in silver chasing. Tradition states Adam placed stone in the original Ka'bah, later it was hidden in Meccan mountain of Abū Qubays; when Abraham rebuilt the Ka'bah, Angel Gabriel brought stone to him)

found: Britannica online, July 18, 2006:Black Stone of Mecca (Arabic: Al-hajar Al-aswad, Muslim object of veneration, built into the eastern wall of the Kaʻbah; it now consists of three large pieces and some fragments, surrounded by a stone ring and held together with a silver band. According to Islamic legend, stone was given to Adam on his fall from Paradise and was originally white but has become black by absorbing the sins of pilgrims who have kissed and touched it)

found: Oxford dictionary of Islam, 2003:Hajar al-Aswad, al- (stone set within a silver ring in the outer east corner of the Kaaba in Mecca. According to legend, stone was brought to Abraham (Ibrahim) by Angel Gabriel while Abraham was building the Kaaba. During the hajj, pilgrims circumambulate the Kaaba and salute, touch or kiss the stone, considered a symbol of the hereafter and divine presence)

found: Deciphering the signs of God : a phenomenological approach to Islam, 1994: p. 103 (the pilgrims' attempt to kiss the black stone of the Kaaba to participate in its blessing power)