Why is the Kaaba considered Islamic if it belonged to Arab animistic tribes and was used for meetings?

Question

It was used by Bedouins seeking direction and a meeting place with a marker as well as worshippers of stone Kaabas (animists and pagans). The Quraysh tribe acquired it and controlled it for trade and religious purposes before they were conquered by early Muslims. Why is this old symbol of paganism considered Islamic if it was created by early animists?

Answer 1

Because Religion will always seek to co-opt anything that will make it dominant.  

Aztec ruins found under the Mexican National Cathedral.

The Parthenon - (Greek temple to Athene) turned into christian church in 600ADs and then a mosque in 1400's.  

Look at almost any of the churches in Europe -- it's a pagan site, then a catholic church or maybe Jewish synagogue, then a protestant church and on and on.....

The Kaaba had a powerful aura of sacredness that the earliest Islamists decide to co-opt as opposed to attempt to destroy or get rid of.  It's always easier to try and make something "Yours",

Answer 2

I'm glad you have done a lot of research on this.  One reason why it is so revered in Islam is that it was the house of all the pagan idols.  It had been taken over by the worship of all of the gods of the many peoples who traveled through those crossroads.  The Kaaba had become something of a pilgrimage site in itself.  Muhammad was actually of the tribe of people who had the hereditary duty to care for the shrine.  Muhammad and his followers insisted that the idols be cleared out of the building and destroyed.  This was very upsetting to the locals, who saw the shrine as a money-maker and a way of keeping peace between rival tribes. The Black Stone was kept, as it was believed that it was put there by the prophet Abraham.  Since the days of Muhammad, people have continued to go to the Kaaba as a shrine of the one God.  

Answer 3

Now, you'll have the majority of the Muslims deny this and claim that it was built by Adam, and was the legendary Altar of Abraham and son and so forth.

Although many things are known facts, it's in vogue for the Muslims to deny everything and think, like the proverbial ostrich, that it's disappeared if it buries it's head.

You might be surprised to know, by the way, that the Muslims believe that the Zam Zam well is the miraculous spring that God gave Ishmael, even though the Torah records that this event happened somewhere in modern day Beersheba in the Negev Desert of modern day Israel. Muslims going on the Haj pay very good money for collecting a little sample of the Zam Zam water, not knowing that the water they're really getting is the piped desalinated water that now feeds the whole of Mecca.

The Koran, itself, records that Mohammad sang praise of the three daughters of al Lah, aka Hubal, aka the Moon God in the verse "Have you not seen al Lat, al-Uzza, and al Manat, the other, the third? These are the exalted Swans, and truly their intercession may be hoped for." However, they have now "edited" Surah 53:19-23, which was already, anyway abrogated by Mohammad, as was his usual fashion, in later ahadiths.

It is also an established Historical fact that the Ka'aba, aka Bait'ullah, aka the House of al Lah, was a pagan Temple built by the beni al Quraish faction which separated itself from the original Jewish tribe when they collected the pieces of meteorite called al Hajarul Aswad, [after which the pilgrimage, which is the revival of the pagan practice including the tawa'af  or walking widdershins seven times around the Ka'aba, which Mohammad brought back into his Islam] which they called the Sign of the God and set up the new Cult of al Lah, aka Hubal, which made Mecca very rich.

Mohammad had always had his eyes on that wealth of the Cult and he even changed the qiblah [direction of prayers] from the original Jerusalem to the Ka'aba.

Muslims will say that they don't worship the stone, but then, the Koran itself says that Mohammad knelt and kissed it. Also, Muslims are unable to answer why, if the stone is not the direction of the prayers, was it that the direction of the prayers changed from Mecca to Medina for the interregnum when the stone was taken to Medina when the Ummayad Caliph Yazid ibn Mouvaiyya  attacked and destroyed most of Mecca and the Ka'aba. When ibn Zubay'r paid for his trying to rebuild the Ka'aba with his life having his dead body hang to rot at the gates of the Ka'aba as an Ummayad warning for all to see. That was when the stone was enshrined in the Medina Mosque which is still called Masjid al Qiblain, or the Mosque of the Second Qiblah. Incidentally, the original Ka'aba was a rectangular building, but, due to lack of funds, it was re-built as a square one.

Let us examine the facts and we'll find that the whole fabrication of Mohammad falls apart.

The prayer ritual is a mixture of Judaic and Pagan customs which he told the credulous "followers" was taught to him by the Archangel Gabriel, whom only he could see and speak with!?

Mohammad can offer no proofs for the alleged "corruptions" in the Torah and Bible, except for the word of the fictitious "Gabriel".

And these words are certainly questionable because the Koran says that Mary was the sister of Aaron [and, therefore, Moses!?].

Surah Maryum 13 "Then she brought it to her people, carrying it; said they, ‘O Mary! thou hast done an extraordinary thing! O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a bad man, nor was thy mother a harlot!’ "

Here's another sample of the "Beauty" of Islam. Mohammad had "Divine Sanction" to marry the beautiful bride of his own adoptive son - Za'id, who immediately divorced Zainab binti Jash to let the old man [then in his 50's] have her.

“And there you (Muhammad) said to him, to whom Allah had shown grace and to whom you had shown grace: ‘Keep your wife (Zainab) for yourself and fear Allah.’ And you (Muhammad) concealed that (desire for Zainab), which you bore in yourself, that which Allah wanted to reveal, and you feared human beings, while Allah is the one who, in reality, you ought to fear” (Koran 33:37).

Mohammad's Allah was so very beneficial to him that he even had a "Revelation" of why he could marry the 6 year old Aisha binti Abu Bak'r and conummate it when she was just 9! Here are the words right from the horse's mouth :

“‘Is the woman not ashamed to give herself to a man!’ When the Koran verse was revealed: You (Muhammad) may release those from them (the women) that you wish (to release), and you may keep those that you wish (to keep); and if you want to receive again one who you have released, then the reproach does not concern you , I (Aisha) said: ‘Oh, Allah’s Prophet! Your God amazes me. His instructions always correspond to your wishes.’” Koran (3:51)

Now, tell me, is it wrong for us to question the veracity of this mans words and the legitimacy of this so called "Religion"?

Peace.

ST