relaxboy on why Muhammad's followers kiss the Quraish pagan's black stone idol

[PeteWaldo]

Now it's your turn to answer some of our questions. If you don't answer, your posts will go to spam until you do.

Would you please list for us all the reasons that Muhammad's followers kiss the Quraish pagan's black stone idol in Mecca?

The topic is on the Gospel, not on the Black Stone.

That did not answer my question. I broke the question out into its own thread so it can be moved to any appropriate forum section. Here's how it works from now on. You ask a question and we answer, then we ask a question and you answer. However we've answered so many more than you, we need to balance the ledger a little by reviewing the ones you didn't answer. Duck the question with a non-answer again and your post will be heading to spam.

Please list for us all the reasons that Muhammad's followers kiss the Quraish pagan's black stone idol in Mecca.

[relaxboy]

Please list for us all the reasons that Muhammad's followers kiss the Quraish pagan's black stone idol in Mecca.[/size]

There is no particular reason.

Narrated 'Abis bin Rabia: 'Umar came near the Black Stone and kissed it and said "No doubt, I know that you are a stone and can neither benefit anyone nor harm anyone. Had I not seen Allah's Apostle kissing you I would not have kissed you."
(Bukhari Hadith 1494)

This is not on the topic of the Gospels, the OP. I will only entertain questions related to the original post

[PeteWaldo]

Please list for us all the reasons that Muhammad's followers kiss the Quraish pagan's black stone idol in Mecca.[/size]

There is no particular reason.

No particular reason? So that's why Muhammad's followers squander their hard earned money, to finance a trip to Mecca to kiss (or at least point to) the black stone idol, while marching around the Quraish pagan's kaaba 7 times as the Arabian pagans did before Muhammad was ever born?
"no particular reason"?
But then you go on to post exactly the reason:

Narrated 'Abis bin Rabia: 'Umar came near the Black Stone and kissed it and said "No doubt, I know that you are a stone and can neither benefit anyone nor harm anyone. Had I not seen Allah's Apostle kissing you I would not have kissed you."
(Bukhari Hadith 1494)

So the reason Muhammadans kiss the black stone idol, is exactly the same reason they do everything else related to Islam (like slaughter innocents, rape captives and sexually enslave them while stealing their property, while engaged in imperialistic conquest). That reason being because Muhammad alone engaged in it, and/or prescribed his followers to do the same.

This is not on the topic of the Gospels, the OP. I will only entertain questions related to the original post[/size]

We understand why you would want to avoid the subject of Islamic rituals, which makes it obvious why this topic is imperative toward your spiritual well being. What does your reluctance to even discuss them communicate to you about the adopted, adapted and thinly veneered Quraish pagan rituals you engage in? Do you think you could man-up enough to reply to another related question?

Could you please list all the reasons that Muhammad's followers prostrate themselves toward the Quraish pagan's black stone idol 5 times a day. Why 5 times? Where did Muhammad come up with that?

[relaxboy]

Your knowledge of Islam is rather low. You would rather cover your lack of knowledge with errors and blatant lies.

First and foremost, Muslims are NOT required to kiss the black stone during their pilgrimage.
The Prophet did kiss the black stone, but he did not indicate that all Muslims must kiss the stone. It is not a directive.
Muslims do follow the Prophet in his way of life. For example, he taught Muslims how to pray, how to keep yourself clean etc. Some of these are the directives and order from God and his Prophet... and we Muslims follow and submit to the will of God.

As there is no directive on kissing of the stone, Muslims can kiss the stone if they want to, and to avoid kissing the stone... if they want to.

Even if Muslims kiss the stone, there is no connection to idolatry... if you are trying to insinuate that.

[PeteWaldo]

Your knowledge of Islam is rather low.

What we generally find is that it is Muhammad's followers knowledge of Islam that "is rather low". Particularly in regard to the origins of Islamic rituals. Like the pagan Arabian jinn-devil worship ritual of the Sa'ee:
http://www.petewaldo.com/hajj___umrah.htm#al_safa_al_marwah

Or the Sabian/Harannian moon worship tradition of Ramadan (which is of course why it begins and ends with the sighting of the crescent moon (the name "Allah" is derived from 'Hilal, the Crescent')):
http://www.falseprophetmuhammad.com/origin_of_ramadan.htm

You would rather cover your lack of knowledge with errors and blatant lies.

Always the empty accusation without specifics. Accusing someone of lying is a very serious matter, which is why specifics need to be given. Like when we accuse Muhammad of lying we point out specifics, like his denial that Christ was crucified, for example. But then your empty accusation is just as prophesied for these times:

2 Timothy 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be...boasters, proud, blasphemers...3 Without natural affection...false accusers...despisers of those that are good...8 ...so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. 13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

First and foremost, Muslims are NOT required to kiss the black stone during their pilgrimage.

If you reread my posts you will see that I never indicated that they are, if this is the subject of your false accusation. Muhammad's followers aren't required to rape captives either, they simply enjoy doing so, just as Muhammad and his boys did.
http://www.islamchristianforum.com/index.php?topic=4981.msg19175#msg19175
Sometimes it's too crowded for everyone to get a chance to kiss the Quraish pagan's black stone idol, so Muhammad's followers point to it on each trip around the pagan's kaaba.


Image caption: "Pilgrims jostle for a chance to kiss the Black Stone; if they are unable to kiss the stone, they can point towards the stone on each circuit with their right hand."

Don't you find it a little unsettling to learn, that Muhammad's followers and the pagans circumambulated the Kaaba shoulder to shoulder in pagan ritual, right up until the year before Muhammad's last Hajj?
http://www.petewaldo.com/hajj___umrah.htm#twaf

The Prophet did kiss the black stone, .......

Which made his veneration of the Quraish pagan's black stone idol, even greater than the Quraish's veneration of their black stone idol.
http://www.islamchristianforum.com/index.php?topic=1050.0

....... but he did not indicate that all Muslims must kiss the stone. It is not a directive.
Muslims do follow the Prophet in his way of life.

Which is of course the point of this post. Muhammad's followers believe what they do, and do as they do, solely because Muhammad ALONE did it and/or told his followers to engage in it. You follow THE 7th century false prophet Muhammad alone, who was and proclaimed the exact opposite of the revelation of the one true God of the scriptures through all of His prophets and witnesses, whose people have followed Him through two covenants for 3500 years.

For example, he taught Muslims how to pray, how to keep yourself clean etc.

This is what I meant by Muslims being the ones that are "lacking knowledge" as to the origins of what they do. Muhammad and his cousins were into the Sabians, so much so, that before Muhammad invented Islam the Quraish sometimes referred to him simply as "the Sabian". Do you think it a mere coincidence that the Sabians:

1. prayed five times a day
2. performed ablution
3. prostrated while praying
4. fasted for 30 days, beginning with observation of the moon, during the same month as Ramadan
5. wore long white robes
http://www.petewaldo.com/sabians_islam.htm#sabian_rituals

Some of these are the directives and order from God and his Prophet... and we Muslims follow and submit to the will of God.

I understand you do believe that, but in order to believe that, you also have to believe that Muhammad rode around on a flying donkey-mule from Mecca, then to Jerusalem to pray in a temple that had been torn down 500 years previously, then up to paradise and back to Mecca by morning. So the reason you pray 5 times a day is because you actually believe Muhammad rode around on a flying donkey mule, even though Aisha testified that he was by her side all night.
http://www.petewaldo.com/muhammads_night_journey.htm

So which seems more likely, that Muhammad told you to pray 5 times a day because he learned it while riding around on a flying donkey-mule one night, or that Muhammad learned it from the occult cult of the Sabians that Muhammad had been deeply involved with, who also prayed 5 times a day?

Do you really believe Muhammad rode around on a flying donkey-mule?
Even most of Muhammad's illiterate 7th century pagan followers had the good sense to abandon him after he came up with that whopper of a story. So what's your excuse in this 21st century information age?

As there is no directive on kissing of the stone, Muslims can kiss the stone if they want to, and to avoid kissing the stone... if they want to.

Even if Muslims kiss the stone, there is no connection to idolatry... if you are trying to insinuate that.[/size]

But your denial couldn't be more transparently and demonstrably false. Just because you say you don't engage in idolatry doesn't magically mean that you don't.
That big black pagan box is the biggest idol in the world. Muhammadans are even required to pray toward the pagan's kaaba and black stone 5 times a day. They travel to that kaaba and march around it just as the pagan idolaters did before Muhammad was ever born. Muhammadans venerate the black stone idol with greater zeal than the pagans who, to my knowledge, never went as far as to kiss it.

The reason Muhammad's followers believe they will find God through ritual acts of the flesh, is because the scriptures indicate the seed of Ishmael are the "children of the flesh" (which would include those that join them spiritually):
http://www.petewaldo.com/children_flesh.htm

[relaxboy]

I just want to inform you that the rituals that Muslims performed during pilgrimage can be traced back to the same rituals that early Jews (and maybe even current Jews) performed.

Similarly, the practice of placing a symbolic stone on a sacred place can be found in the OT, performed by early Jews.

I will provide you the details later but it really defeats your assumption that Muslims followed paganistic rituals, as even Jews followed the same rituals for centuries.

[PeteWaldo]

I just want to inform you that the rituals that Muslims performed during pilgrimage can be traced back to the same rituals that early Jews (and maybe even current Jews) performed.

You must be referring to back when they made golden calves to worship. Perhaps you aren't aware that Yahweh punished His people for that.

2Ki 17:16 And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.

You see? The Jews were worshiping the "host of heaven" which in this case is a reference to the sun, moon, stars and planets. The very same things that the Quraish pagans were worshiping along with jinn-devils and other divination, when they were engaging in the very same pagan rituals that are practiced by Muhammad's followers today.
This cannot be denied as it is a matter of historical fact. Even some of Muhammad's closest followers hated to do the Sa'ee because they knew it was a ritual of jinn-devil worship:

Narrated 'Asim: I asked Anas bin Malik: "Did you use to dislike to perform Tawaf between Safa and Marwa?" He said, "Yes, as it was of the ceremonies of the days of the Pre-lslamic period of ignorance, till Allah revealed: 'Verily! (The two mountains) As-Safa and Al-Marwa are among the symbols of Allah. It is therefore no sin for him who performs the pilgrimage to the Ka'ba, or performs 'Umra, to perform Tawaf between them.' " (2.158) (Sahih al-Bukhari 2 Book 26 710)

You see? Once again, just like kissing the Quraish pagan's black stone idol, the only reason Muhammad's followers engage in the pagan jinn-devil worship ritual of the Sa'ee as well as all the rest of the pagan rituals engaged in by his followers is because MUHAMMAD ALONE instructed them to continue to engage in those pagan rituals. In the case of the Sa'ee effectively saying: "Well gee, we all know it is a jinn-devil worship ritual, but I got a hot new "revelation" from my alter-ego "Allah" who said it's OK to engage in those idolatrous jinn-devil worship rituals now. All we have to do is remove the two idols from the two hills!"

You don't have to remain in abject ignorance to actual Islamic history my friend. We have a whole forum section dedicated to the actual origins of Mecca and Islamic so-called "tradition".
http://www.islamchristianforum.com/index.php?board=56.0

Similarly, the practice of placing a symbolic stone on a sacred place can be found in the OT, performed by early Jews.

Here is some actual history of Mecca. The Quraish pagans ran back and forth between two idols that were placed on the hills of  Safa and Marwa, which represented the most venerated priest and priestess of the Arabian jinn-devil religion, Asaf and Naelah. Arabian mythology claims they committed fornication together inside the Kaabah and the gods transformed them into stone statues. Though the idols were removed by Islam, to this day Muslims still run between Safa and Marwa seven times, just as the pagans did.
http://www.petewaldo.com/hajj___umrah.htm#al_safa_al_marwah

If you would quit running and hiding from the truth you would see it clearly. Why would you choose to continue to follow Satan to hell through his messenger Muhammad? What do you feel inside when you learn that fundamental, orthodox, Muslims are responsible for tens of thousands of deadly Islamic terror attacks just since 9-11? Wouldn't you agree that those that engage in such acts are followers of Satan? Do you really want to continue to follow those true, fundamental, orthodox followers of Muhammad, to hell?
http://www.islamchristianforum.com/index.php?topic=4981.0

I will provide you the details later but it really defeats your assumption ........

What I am relating are matters of historical, archaeological and geographical fact, not assumption. Much of it coming from Islam's own books.
http://www.islamchristianforum.com/index.php?topic=1133.0

........ that Muslims followed paganistic rituals, .........

No reasonable person that has bothered to check the historical, archaeological and geographical records would deny that is exactly what Muslims do.
http://www.islamchristianforum.com/index.php?topic=1132.0

...... as even Jews followed the same rituals for centuries.[/size]

The Jews built a temple to Yahweh, just as He commanded. They sacrificed animals on the alter in the temple to atone for sin, just as He commanded.
https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=bullock+atonement&t=KJV#s=s_primary_0_1

Leviticus 17:11 For the life of the flesh [is] in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it [is] the blood [that] maketh an atonement for the soul.
http://www.islamandthetruth.com/the_lamb_slain.htm

The actual historical and archaeological records show us that Abraham, Hagar or Ishmael were never within 1,000 kilometers of where Mecca was eventually settled in the 4th century AD.
No amount of vain wishing is going to make Islamic rituals anything other than Arabian pagan moon, sun, star and jinn-devil worship rituals that Muhammad adopted, adapted and thinly veneered to fit his invention.
No amount of vain wishing will ever move Mecca any closer than 1200 kilometers away from Abraham's home in Hebron (where Muslims visit Abraham's tomb today).
No amount of vain wishing will move Mecca's founding any earlier in time than the 4th century AD.

Yet look at the nonsensical tripe Muhammad's followers are expected to believe.
http://www.historyofmecca.com/geography_mecca_islam.htm#hebron
Here's a sample Islamic site regarding Islamic so-called "tradition":  "Abraham took Hagar and her son, Ishmael to a place near the Kabah; he left them under a tree at the site of Zamzam. No one lived in Makkah back then, yet Abraham made them sit there, leaving them with some dates, and a small water-skin. Thereafter he set out towards home."

So Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael are supposed to have wandered across 1400 kilometers of harsh barren desert, over 1,000 years before a caravan route was established along the Red Sea, then he supposedly abandoned Hagar and Ishmael in a place with no other people, no farming, no pasture, no food except some dates, and no water except that in a small water-skin he gave them - and thus obviously no chance for survival - and then after abandoning them is supposed to have simply wandered the 1400 kilometers back home!

Makes perfect sense, doesn't it? Can't even you suspect it is pure hogwash?

While the actual historical record contained in scripture is perfectly plausible in terms of physical geography and archaeology.

[relaxboy]

Ancient Jews have their own 'Kaaba' and 'hajar aswad' (special stone):

Jacob on his way to Padan-aram saw a vision and
built the next morning a pillar of stone which he called
Beth-El, i.e. the House of the Lord (Genesis 28:18-19).

Twenty years later the same Prophet, Jacob, was
ordered by God to go to Beth-El (Genesis 35:4,14,15).
Jacob removed all the strange Gods prior to going there.

A special stone was erected as a monument by
Jacob and his father-in-law upon a heap of stones
called Gal'ead in Hebrew, and Yaghar sahdutha by Laban
in his Aramaic language, which means "a heap of
witness." But the proper noun they gave to the erected
stone was Mizpah (Gen. 31: 45-55)

The Mizpah (See also http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=673&letter=M&search=mizpah) later on
became the most important place of worship, and a
center of the national assemblies in the history of the
people of Israel:

It was here that Naphthah - a Jewish hero -
made a vow "before the Lord," and after beating
the Ammonites, he is supposed to have offered
his only daughter as a burnt offering (Judges 11).

It was at Mizpah that four hundred thousand
swordsmen from the eleven tribes of Israel
assembled and "swore before the Lord" to
exterminate the tribe of Benjamin for an
abominable crime committed by the Benjamites of
Geba' and succeeded (Judges 41)

At Mizpah all the people were summoned by
the Prophet Samuel, where they "swore before
the Lord" to destroy all their idols and images,
and then were saved from the hands of the
Philistines (I Sam. 7).

It was here that the nation assembled and
Saul was appointed king over Israel (1 Sam. 10)

The real meaning of Mizpah is the locality or place in which a stone is set and fixed. It will be seen that
when this name, Mizpah, was first given to the stone erected upon a heap of stone blocks, there was no edifice built around it. It is the spot upon which the sacred stone rests, that is called Mizpha. From the Mizpah was built a building, an edifice.

The special stone is Mizpah to the Jews and hajar aswad to the Arabs. It was upon the locality, the point where the hajar aswad was set, that the cubic Ka'aba built. There were once many sacred stones but in the past was filled with idols. Only one special stone exists today after Muhamamd (pbuh) got rid of all the idols in the Ka'aba.

The stone (hajar aswad and Mizpah) was selected as the best suitable material upon which a traveling devotee could performed his religious services around it. The stone was erected to commemorate the vows and certain promises which a prophet or righteous man made to his Creator, and the revelation he received from God. Consequently, it was a sacred monument to perpetuate the memory and the sacred character of a great religious event.

Accusing Muslims of practising pagan ceremonies is like accusing Abraham, Jacob and other important prophets of God of doing teh same.

[PeteWaldo]

Ancient Jews have their own 'Kaaba' and 'hajar aswad' (special stone):

Jacob on his way to Padan-aram saw a vision and
built the next morning a pillar of stone which he called
Beth-El, i.e. the House of the Lord (Genesis 28:18-19).

Twenty years later the same Prophet, Jacob, was
ordered by God to go to Beth-El (Genesis 35:4,14,15).
Jacob removed all the strange Gods prior to going there.

A special stone was erected as a monument by
Jacob and his father-in-law upon a heap of stones
called Gal'ead in Hebrew, and Yaghar sahdutha by Laban
in his Aramaic language, which means "a heap of
witness." But the proper noun they gave to the erected
stone was Mizpah (Gen. 31: 45-55)

The Mizpah (See also http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=673&letter=M&search=mizpah) later on
became the most important place of worship, and a
center of the national assemblies in the history of the
people of Israel:

It was here that Naphthah - a Jewish hero -
made a vow "before the Lord," and after beating
the Ammonites, he is supposed to have offered
his only daughter as a burnt offering (Judges 11).

It was at Mizpah that four hundred thousand
swordsmen from the eleven tribes of Israel
assembled and "swore before the Lord" to
exterminate the tribe of Benjamin for an
abominable crime committed by the Benjamites of
Geba' and succeeded (Judges 41)

At Mizpah all the people were summoned by
the Prophet Samuel, where they "swore before
the Lord" to destroy all their idols and images,
and then were saved from the hands of the
Philistines (I Sam. 7).

It was here that the nation assembled and
Saul was appointed king over Israel (1 Sam. 10)

The real meaning of Mizpah is the locality or place in which a stone is set and fixed. It will be seen that
when this name, Mizpah, was first given to the stone erected upon a heap of stone blocks, there was no edifice built around it. It is the spot upon which the sacred stone rests, that is called Mizpha.

I don't accuse folks of idolatry for marking their loved one's graves with stones either. The Jews set up stones to mark a place they wanted to come back to, or to designate a meeting place, and to commemorate a place at which an event took place. The Mesha Stele, for example, is the earliest stone discovered to date (840 BC) that includes the name of the ONE true God Yahweh inscribed on it (that Muhammadans tried to destroy):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesha_Stele

From the Mizpah was built a building, an edifice. The special stone is Mizpah to the Jews and hajar aswad to the Arabs.

And there is where your post goes through a psychotic break, due to Islam-imposed abject ignorance to the undeniable reality of physical geography. Go back to the Jewish Encyclopedia article you linked to and you will see that all of those tribes and places mentioned are in THE Holy Land of the prophets and patriarchs - in the Land of Israel:





Please note where Jerusalem and Beersheba are on that map OF ISRAEL, then note that when Abraham sent his wife Sarah's bondwoman Hagar away.....
http://www.historyofmecca.com/geography_mecca_islam.htm#beersheba

Genesis 21:14 ..... she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.

Beersheba is about 28 miles south of Hebron, where Abraham lived and was entombed, but a whopping 1394 kilometers away from where Mecca was eventually established in the 4th century AD and Muhammad's grandfather dug the well of Zamzam to establish a Hajj of jinn-devil worship in the 6th century AD (Muhammadans call that jinn-devil worship ritual their "Umrah" today).
http://religionresearchinstitute.org/Mohammad/occultism.htm

"It was Abdel Mutaleb, the grandfather of Mohammed, who dedicated the well of Zamzam to the two venerated Jinn priests and their statues. We draw this conclusion for many reasons. First, Abdel Mutaleb dug the well of Zamzam.[ii][2]  Second, Abdel Mutaleb was one of the worshippers of the statues of the two Jinn priests. He was so consumed by occult worship that he wanted to sacrifice one of his own sons at the feet of the two statues at Zamzam. That son was Abdullah, the father of Mohammed. When Abdel Mutaleb was at the point of killing Abdullah with his knife, Abdel Mutaleb's brother rescued the boy.[iii][3]"
[ii][2] Ibn Hisham, I, pages 117 and 118
[iii][3] Ibn Hisham, I, page 126; Halabieh, I, page 58

http://www.islamchristianforum.com/index.php?topic=1133.0

It was upon the locality, the point where the hajar aswad was set, that the cubic Ka'aba built.

See what I mean? Because of your ignorance to geography, you tried to transport Yahweh's people and physical places in THE Holy Land, 1400 kilometers south to a place that time had left behind that pagan immigrants from Yemen settled in the 4th century AD and set up their crude unsymmetrical black box in the 5th century AD, to engage in pagan Arabian moon, sun, star and jinn-devil worship. Let alone the fact that according to the actual historical record we have in scripture, neither Abraham, Hagar nor Ishmael were ever within 1,000 kilometers of where Mecca was eventually established, and they lived over 1,000 years before a caravan route was established along the Red Sea in Arabia.

There were once many sacred stones but in the past was filled with idols. Only one special stone exists today after Muhamamd (pbuh) got rid of all the idols in the Ka'aba.

You say "one special stone exists today" and then in the same sentence amusingly say that "Muhamamd (pbuh) got rid of all the idols in the Ka'aba"! Muhammadans even kiss that black stone idol, going farther in their veneration of the idol, than the record suggests even the Quraish pagan's did. The fact is that Muhammadans venerate the same black stone idol that the Quraish pagan's venerated before Muhammad was ever born, which the evidence suggests represented their moon god.

The stone (hajar aswad and Mizpah) was selected as the best suitable material upon which a traveling devotee could performed his religious services around it. The stone was erected to commemorate the vows and certain promises which a prophet or righteous man made to his Creator, and the revelation he received from God. Consequently, it was a sacred monument to perpetuate the memory and the sacred character of a great religious event.[/size]

Accusing Muslims of practising pagan ceremonies is like accusing Abraham, Jacob and other important prophets of God of doing teh same.

Not at all. God made His covenant with the seed of Isaac and Jacob, in THE Holy Land of the prophets and patriarchs. They put their effort into loving and pleasing our great God and doing His service as He commanded of them. They put up stones to mark and commemorate places, events and vows they made.
http://www.israelinbibleprophecy.com/#everlasting_covenant

While the historical evidence of Mecca reveals that the Quraish pagan's, whose pagan idol Muhammad's followers continue to venerate today, worshiped the moon, sun, stars and jinn-devils in Satan inspired pagan Arabian ceremony, 1200 kilometers away from God's people and THE Holy Land. Muhammad adopted, adapted and thinly veneered the Quraish pagan's ceremonies to fit his specifically counter-gospel, antichrist, anti-religion of the opposer of the God of Jews and Christians. Even some of Muhammad's closest followers were loathe to engage in the pagan rituals as they knew they had pagan Arabian origins.
http://www.petewaldo.com/origins_of_islam.htm

"Narrated 'Asim: I asked Anas bin Malik: "Did you use to dislike to perform Tawaf between Safa and Marwa?" He said, "Yes, as it was of the ceremonies of the days of the Pre-lslamic period of ignorance....."
http://www.petewaldo.com/hajj___umrah.htm#al_safa_al_marwah

Muhammad's followers continue to engage in that jinn-devil worship ritual for the same reason they kiss the black stone idol. Because Muhammad ALONE did it and instructed his followers to in order to gain the power and prestige associated with that pagan place of worship.