Hajar Aswad - The Idol of Hager or Shiva Linga

The so called pre-Islamic religion that existed in Arabia before the advent of Islam is none other than Hinduism. The numerous striking similarity between Islamic rituals and Hinduism is proof of the Hindu origins of Islam.

Hagar (her child is Ishamel) is thought to be the mother of all Arab people and Sarah (her child is issac) is believed to be the mother of all Jewish people. Hagar being the slave mistress of Abraham and Sarah being his legal wife, who took the slave mistress because Sarah did not conceinve initially. Hagar is believed to be buried in the Ka'bah that Abraham built.

According to Islamic legend, Abraham had left Mecca on God’s command, leaving Hagar and Ishmael with only some water and dates. Hagar nursed her son and they drank the remaining water. Hagar ran back and forth between the hills of Safa and Marwa looking for water. Then Ishmael came and rubbed his heel through the sand. When he did this a well sprung up at Zamzam. Abraham returned and built the house of Ka'bah as a monument to God for providing water.

Hajar aswad then became the black stone idol of Hager.

The pilgrims of pre-Islamic times visited not only the house of Abraham and the sacred stone of Gabriel but also the collection of stone idols (representing different deities) housed in and around the Ka’ba. There were said to be 360 different deities including Awf, the great bird, Hubal the Nabatean god, the three celestial goddesses Manat, al-Uzza and al-Lat.

The most important of all these deities, and chief of the Meccan pantheon, was known as Allah (meaning “the god”). Worshipped throughout southern Syria and northern Arabia, and the only deity not represented by an idol in the Ka’ba, Allah would later become the sole god of the Muslims.

In 630 Muhammad took control of Mecca and destroyed the 360 pagan idols.

Following his destruction of the pagan idols, Muhammad declared the city a center of Muslim pilgrimage and dedicated it to the worship of Allah alone. Muhammad did not, however, destroy the Ka’ba and the sacred stone it housed. Rather, he made them the centerpiece of the Muslim religion based on his belief that he was a prophetic reformer who had been sent by god to restore the rites first established by Abraham that had been corrupted over the centuries by the pagan influences. Thus, he gained both religious and political control over Mecca.

The pre-islamic religion that existed there is invariably Hinduism. Islam still practices many pre-islamic rituals even today.

The black stone is an ancient Shivalinga during the pre-islamic times. The story of Hager was later merged to contemporary mythology during Mohammads reign.

The Hindu rituals practiced even today in Mecca are:

Mriga Bali –Bakr’id (animal sacrifice)

Thirtha Jalam – Zam zam (holy water well)Vritham - Ramzan (fasting)Pradakshinam – Tavaf (circumambulation)Panchamahayagnam - 5 Namaz (daily 5 prayers)White Vedic dhothi - (ihram clothing for Haj without undergarments).Ekadashi (Gyrah in arabic) is (Gyrahwi Sharif)Shiva Vrat -ShabibaratShareer Shydhyartham Panchanga Nyasah (cleaning five parts of body before namaz)Pitr-Paksha - Eed-ul-Fitr’ (worship of forefathers)Prayer to Rama on Ramayana month (Ram-aazan or Ram-aadan) is done in the same month..