Black stones have been repeatedly mentioned in the history of man. We have seen them in the transition of Aglauros, in the Buddhistic devotion, and in the Biblical narratives. These Matsebah have been found engraved with the twelve signs of the Zodiac, sometimes symbolized as the twelve Gods of Assyria. Gramaldi in “Zodiacs and Planispheres” mentions a black stone which exhibited ten out of the twelve zodiacal signs and ten decans out of the thirty-six. It was found near the Tigris in Bagdad, and is perhaps the oldest zodiacal monument extant, its date being set down at 1320 years before the Christian era. But the most famous of all black stones is the HAJER-ALASVAD which is now set into the south-east corner of the KA’BAH. The story of this sacred relic is told very completely by Hadji Khan and Wilfred Sparrey in “With the Pilgrims to Mecca”: Having determined to form man in his own image, the Creator called the angels Gabriel, Michael and Israfil, each at a different time, requesting that they should bring for his purpose seven handfuls of earth from seven earth strata, and seven colours. But the Earth cried out that the anger of God would one day fall on her through the wickedness and folly of man, and so the angel departed without accomplishing the work. God then sent the Angel Azrail who, listening to no appeal, remorselessly carried out his divinely appointed task. God then made Azrail the Angel of Death, who ever after separated the souls of men from their useless bodies. The Earth was then set down between Mecca and Tayef where, having been pressed to a proper degree by the angels, it was shaped as a man by the Creator. The mass was then left for 40 years, being visited only by the Angels. But the angel Edris who, “from being of those that are nearest to God, became the Devil,” grew furious because he knew that man was designed to be his master. So with a vow that he would always oppose him, Edris kicked the image of earth which responded with an empty sound. Then the Creator breathed into the image His own Spirit and Man arose. He was given Paradise to inhabit, and out of his left side Eve was taken. When Man fell and was found no longer worthy of Eden, a peculiar stone fell too and, says the narrative, “this stone became the most cherished possession of the Muhammadan world.” The story continues: "It (the stone) was restored to Paradise at the Deluge, after which it was brought back to earth by Gabriel and given to Abraham who set it in the south-eastern corner of the Ka’bah which he is said to have built. There it remained till the Karmatians overturned the fundamental points of Islam, bearing it away in triumph to their capital. The citizens of Mecca sought to redeem the stone by offering no less than 5000 pieces of gold for it. The ransom was scornfully rejected by the impious sectaries. Some 22 years later, however, they sent back the stone voluntarily, covering their discomfiture by declaring it to be a counterfeit.