ahhh interesting topic.
First, something about the origin of Kaaba. It existed before Mohammad and served as polytheistic temple. All kinds of Gods and idols were worshipped
there, basicaly every tribe, every family, had one of its own. It is not only the moon that was worshipped, everything was. Everything had its own
idol to worship.
The legend goes that Kaaba was built by Abraham, as the first temple to worship one God, something that is very difficult to prove. However, since it
says so in Qur'an, Muslims simply believe it. With time the worship of one God turned into worship of many and the true nature of Kaaba was
forgotten. Until Mohammad came and destroyed all idols of false Gods.
Basicaly, just like Christianity incorporated some of the pagan practices, Islam did it too. They both changed the meaning of it. Christmas comes to
mind when speaking of christianity, for example, a day pagans already celebrated, only now it is celebrated as a christian holiday.
There are several mentions of Kaaba by various Greek historians, some jewish scriptures, the truth is somewhere outthere, where exactly, nobody
knows.
Here is a very good article about it:
www.submission.org...
The lunar calender was used long time before Muhammad, if I remember correctly. I think that the first lunar calender in that part of the world was
developed by Sumerians, and that tradition never died.
Ramadan is the lunar month in which Mohammad received the first words of Quran (notably the 27th night of Ramadan), that is the reason why it is so
special, and that whole month is devoted to fasting, charity, special aditional prayers and such. Also during that month years later, Muslims fought a
very important battle, so that is celebrated too.
When compared with solar calender, the start of Ramadan moves backwards through it, due to the fact that lunar months have 28/29 days.
Example, this year Ramadan started on october 15 of solar calender, next year it will be october 5th and so on.
So, I don't know about Leonids, and how they tie in with all that. I mean, if they do occur at the same time every year in solar calender, it is not
the same month of the lunar one.
The meteor rock in Kaaba, well its origins are a mystery. It was there before Mohammad and he didn't order it to be removed, so it is the only thing
that stayed from the old belief.
