This is considered normal and appreciable, but no one would think that the patriot or the soldier worships the ground or deifies his fellow compatriots or attributes some Divine qualities to the landmarks. The behavior of the pilgrims should be interpreted in a similar way. The Ka’ bah at Mecca is the spiritual center of Islam and the spiritual homeland of every Muslim. When the pilgrim reaches Mecca his feelings would be like those of a patriot coming home from exile or a triumphant soldier returning from a decisive battle. This is not a figurative interpretation. It corresponds with the facts of history. The early Muslims were expelled out of their home and forced to live in exile for years. They were denied the right to worship in the Ka’ bah, the most sacred house of God in existence. When they returned from exile, the Ka’ bah was their main destination. They joyfully entered the Sacred Shrine, destroyed all the idols and images that were there, and completed the rites of pilgrimage This interpretation is enlightened by some unusual experiences of extraordinary people. For example, a famous Hungarian writer fled his invaded country and took with him a handful of earth. Literary annals tell that the writer found his greatest comfort and deepest joy in that handful of earth. It was his source of inspiration and symbol of hope that he would return to a free homeland at last. (I read this account during the fifties and very much to my regret, cannot locate the exact source or remember the writer’s name) Similarly, a documentary called “The Palestinians” was prepared by CBS and televized on Saturday June 15, 1974. In it, a wealthy businessman, who fled the Zionist terror in Palestine, was interviewed at his extremely fashionable home in Beirut. When he was reminded of his good fortune in exile he smiled, pointing to a small bottle half-full of earth. To make his point, he added that he brought it with him from Jerusalem when he fled; that it is more valuable to him than anything he possesses; and that he would give up all his possessions to return to Palestine, his homeland. What is more significant about this interview is that the man’s family was more emphatic and expressed stronger feelings. It will not be at all surprising if it turns out that this man represents many others like him and if that small “earth treasure” becomes a very special, even a sacred, thing in the years to come In a more tangible sense, the Associated Press reported on October 14, 1973, that “the Last Israeli strong points on the eastern bank of the Suez Canal surrendered... and 37 tired and bedraggled Israeli troops were paddled in dinghies across the waterway to captivity.... Some of the Egyptian troops, carried away with the emotion of finally liberating this last stronghold (the Bar-Lev line), grabbed handfuls of sand and put it in their mouths. Others kissed the ground.” (Dispatch Observer, p. 2A) More recently, the same news agency, reporting on the returning Syrian prisoners of war, said that the first man off the plane “sat upright on a stretcher on the stumps of his amputated legs... ‘Legs are nothing. We are ready to give our soul...’ he shouted. He then insisted on being lifted from his stretcher and placed on the ground so that he could bend down to kiss the soil.” ( Dispatch Observer, June 2, 1974, p. 3A) It is in this human perspective that the Black Stone story should be viewed. And it is in the light of such human experiences under extraordinary circumstances that it is best understood.