Bowing

When Muslims bow down, what are they bowing to?

Hi and Salam,

Hello Caring heart,

Kabah was the first house of worship. We muslims believe so, as it is mentioned in Qur'an :

Verily, the first House (of worship) appointed for mankind was that at Bakkah (Makkah), full of blessing, and a guidance for Al-'Alamin (the mankind and jinns)"

Prophet Adam {AS} was first to construct holy Kabah. Scholars say that it was reconstructed 5 - 12 times. Prophet Ibrahim {Abraham} along with his son Ismaeel, also reconstructed Kabah { as mentioned in holy Qur'an

Now about the so called meteorite - the black stone. We muslims believe that, as a saying of Prophet Muhammad is the black stone came down from paradise.

Here's the holy saying

It was narrated that Ibn �Abbaas said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: �When the Black Stone came down from Paradise, it was whiter than milk, but the sins of the sons of Adam made it black.�
Al-Muhibb al-Tabari said: The fact that it is black is a lesson for those who have insight. If sins can have this effect on an inanimate rock, then the effect they have on the heart is greater.

Kindly note that we don't worship the stone.

Caringheart wrote: seekshidayath wrote: Thank you, Seekshidavath, for your reply. So Muslims believe that Muhammad had information about Adam that was never given by God before, in all the thousands of years before Muhammad?  If I may interject... There could be a number of possibilities: 1. The information was given, but was lost on the way due to textual corruption 2.  The information was not given and was meant to be revealed over time. Just like Jesus (a.s) came after Abraham (a.s) and Moses (a.s) - and revealed some information that people did not know before, its possible that Muhammad (s.a.w) did the same. We can't say for sure which information was known by previous Prophets and which was not. The Prophets would often be told by God of coming Messengers and Prophets and given prophecies. There is no way for us to know what they knew and what they didn't. [Quote] And no mention ever, before Muhammad, in any source, of Abraham having been to Mecca?  Doesn't this seem like something that would have been known of well before Muhammad came along?

I came across an article that talks about how the desert of 'Paran'' in the bible is modern-day Meccah. The article talks about how Ishmael and Hagar were actually in modern-day Saudia Arabia and not Egypt - when Abraham (a.s) left them in the desert.

The article is pretty long, so I didn't copy-paste it. Let me know if you want it.

Anyway, you may find it interesting that the story of Ishmael and Hajar is also in the Qur�n :) (incase you didn't know).

Perhaps the first time I am pasting a Wiki link, but what the heck, its 3.00am and I'm sleepy... lol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_of_Paran

"The Arabic form of Paran is Faran (also transliterated Pharan). This name is used by Eastern geographers to refer to three different locales: the wilderness and mountains where Mecca is situated, mountains and a village in Eastern Egypt, and a province in Samarkand.^[2] Arab and Islamic tradition holds that the wilderness of Paran is broadly speaking the Hijaz, and that the site where Ishmael settled is that of Mecca. An 1851 Arabic translation of the Samaritan Pentateuch includes a footnote also equating Paran with the Hijaz.^[2] Yaqut al-Hamawi, the 12th century Syrian geographer, writes that Faran is "an arabized Hebrew word. One of the names of Mecca mentioned in the Torah."^[3] There is a Tal Faran ("Hill of Faran") on the outskirts of Mecca.^{[3] "'}








Edited by Chrysalis - 31 May 2012 at 2:52am