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Researchers have noted that the Ka'bah is accurately aligned on two heavenly phenomena - the cycles of the moon and the rising of Canopus, the brightest star after Sirius.
Researchers have noted that the Ka'bah is accurately aligned on two heavenly phenomena - the cycles of the moon and the rising of Canopus, the brightest star after Sirius.
In Indian Vedic literature, the star Canopus is associated with the sage Agastya, one of the ancient rishis (the others are associated with the stars of the Big Dipper). Agastya is said to be the 'cleanser of waters' and its rising coincides with the calming of the waters of the Indian Ocean.
Canopus was not visible to the Ancient Greeks and Romans; it was, however, visible to the Ancient Egyptians, as well as the Navajo, who named it Ma’ii Bizò‘. It is also referred to by its Arabic name: سهيل (Suhail), given by Islamic scientists in the 7th Century AD.
The Bedouin people of the Negev and Sinai also knew it as Suhail, and used it and Polaris as the two principal stars for navigation at night. Due to the fact that it disappears below the horizon, it became associated with a cowardly or changeable nature, as opposed to always-visible Polaris, which was circumpolar and hence 'steadfast'.
Suhail (also spelled Sohail or Suheyl; Arabic: سهيل) is an Arabic term meaning easy-going. It is commonly used as a male name and also refers to a number of stars:
It is a shortened version of the traditional names of three stars in the obsolete constellation Argo Navis:
λ Velorum, Al Suhail al Wazn
γ Velorum, Al Suhail al Muhlif or Regor
ζ Puppis, Suhail Hadar
The term has also sometimes been used in reference to Canopus (α Carinae), the second brightest star in the night sky
Argo Navis is the only one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy that is no longer officially recognized as a constellation. It was unwieldy due to its enormous size: were it still considered a single constellation, it would be the largest of all. In 1752, the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille subdivided it into Carina (the keel, or the hull, of the ship), Puppis (the poop deck, or stern), Vela (the sails), and, according to some, Pyxis (the compass, formerly the mast).
Etymology and cultural significance
The name "Canopus" is a Latinisation of the Ancient Greek name Κάνωβος/"Kanôbos", recorded in Claudius Ptolemy's Almagest (c150 AD). Eratosthenes used this spelling, however Hipparchos wrote it as Κάνωπος. John Flamsteed wrote Canobus. The name has two common derivations, both listed in Richard Hinckley Allen's seminal Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning; and one less so. All are matters of conjecture:
One from the legend of the Trojan War, where the constellation Carina was once part of the now-obsolete constellation of Argo Navis, which represented the ship used by Jason and the Argonauts. The brightest star in the constellation was given the name of a ship's pilot from another Greek legend: Canopus, pilot of Menelaus' ship on his quest to retrieve Helen of Troy after she was taken by Paris.
A second from the Egyptian Coptic Kahi Nub ("Golden Earth"), which refers how Canopus would have appeared near the horizon in ancient Egypt, reddened by atmospheric extinction from that position. A ruined ancient Egyptian port named Canopus lies near the mouth of the Nile, site of the Battle of the Nile.
A third is its possible origin from the Semitic root G(C)-N-B (Gimmel-Nun-Beth), from which the Arabic word for south, janūb ( جنوب ), is derived. The southeastern wall of the Muslim Ka'bah points to Canopus, and is named Janūb ("south") as well.
Middle East
Canopus was known to the ancient Mesopotamians and given the name NUN-ki and represented the city of Eridu in the Three Stars Each Babylonian star catalogues and later MUL.APIN around 1100 BC. Today, the star Sigma Sagittarii is known by the common name Nunki.
An occasional name seen in English is Sohel, or the feminine Soheila; in Turkish is Süheyl, or the feminine Süheyla, from the Arabic name for several bright stars, سهيل suhayl, and Canopus was known as Suhel in medieval times. Alternate spellings include Suhil, Suhilon, Suheyl, Sohayl, Suhayil, Shoel, Sohil, Soheil, Sahil, Suhayeel, Sohayil, Sihel, and Sihil. An alternate name was Wazn "weight" or Haḍar "ground", possibly related to its low position near the horizon. Hence comes its name in the Alphonsine Tables, Suhel ponderosus, a Latinization of Al Suhail al Wazn. Its Greek name was revived during the Renaissance.
Role in navigation
To anyone living in the northern hemisphere, but far enough south to see the star, it served as a southern pole star. This lasted only until magnetic compasses became common.
The stone was venerated at the Kaaba in pre-Islamic pagan times. It was set intact into the Kaaba's wall by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the year 605 A.D., five years before his first revelation. Since then it has been broken into a number of fragments and is now cemented into a silver frame in the side of the Kaaba. Its physical appearance is that of a fragmented dark rock, polished smooth by the hands of millions of pilgrims. Islamic tradition holds that it fell from Heaven to show Adam and Eve where to build an altar. Although it has often been described as a meteorite, this hypothesis is now uncertain.
originally posted by: markosity1973
I'm sure the rock is a sham - it has pagan origins but it's highly revered.
Society in pre-Islamic Central Arabia was organized around the tribe, and each tribe had it's principal deity, which was worshipped in a fixed sanctuary even by the wandering nomads. The deity resided in a stone and was not necessarily in human form. Sometimes the sacred stone was a statue or sometimes simply a big block of rock whose shape resembled a human. The heathen Arabs evidently imagined that the block of stone that served as a fetish was pervaded by a divine power and, in its turn, exercised a divine influence.
The names of the two hills As Safa and al-Marqa signify a stone, that is, an idol. Pagans ran between the two hills in order to touch and kiss Isaf and Naila, the idols, placed there as a means of acquiring luck and good fortune.
The Black Stone itself is evidently a meteorite and undoubtedly owes its reputation to the fact it 'fell from the 'heavens'. It is doubly ironic that Muslims venerate this piece of rock as that given to Ishmael by the angel Gabriel to build the Kaaba, as it is, to quote Margoliouth, 'of doubtful genuineness, since the Black Stone was removed by the ... Qarmatioans in the fourth (Muslim) century, and restored by them after many years: it may be doubted whether the stone which they returned was the same as the stone which they removed.
originally posted by: the owlbear
I also thought the meteorite was taken by Abraham who built the original Kaaba...
originally posted by: FlyersFan
originally posted by: the owlbear
I also thought the meteorite was taken by Abraham who built the original Kaaba...
That's how the myth goes .. that Abraham built the Kaaba. But there is no evidence whatsoever that Abraham was near Mecca let alone that he built the Kaaba. It looks more like those who invented Islam grabbed onto the coattails of the famous Old Testament prophet Abraham in order to give validity to their new religion. ATS Thread - Did Abraham Ever Really Exist?
Because Muslims kiss that stone, some observers hastily conclude that Muslims worship it. A kiss, however, is not an act of worship unless it is accompanied by an intention to worship. If you kiss your child, for instance, that does not mean you worship your child.
The Kaaba’s architecture is designed in the form of a ‘black cube’, which also symbolizes Saturn.
st station (Moon), the faculty of increase and decrease; at the 2nd (Mercury), malice and cunning; at the 3rd (Venus), the illusion of desire; at the 4th (Sun), the passion for command; at the 5th (Mars), audacity and temerity; at the 6th (Jupiter), the lust for wealth; at the 7th (Saturn), the falsehood that ensnares.
Saturn is the ruler of Capricorn, and is the planet of limitation and restriction. It brings structure and meaning to the world around us, and reminds us of our responsibilities and commitments.
originally posted by: stirling
This ability for us to become so deeply entrained (fanaticised) even temporarily through group activity, must be a vestigial hangover from our campfire dancing days.....
Perhaps it kept us alive through cold ice age nights, or fired us up to hunt the dinosuars or large game.....
An activity where prey could be either participant....
At any rate there are too many EXAMPLES OF REASON BEING OVERCME THROUGH SUCH A MECHANISM WED PERHAPS BE BETTER OFF WITHOUT IT................