Ibn ‘Abbaas narrates that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:
نَزَلَ الْحَجَرُ الأَسْوَدُ مِنَ الْجَنَّةِ وَهُوَ أَشَدُّ بَيَاضًا مِنَ اللَّبَنِ فَسَوَّدَتْهُ خَطَايَا بَنِي آدَمَ
“The Black Stone descended from the Paradise, and it was whiter than milk, then it was blackened by the sins of the children of Adam.”
[al-Tirmidhi #877 Hasan]
Imam al-Mubaarakfoori, in his commentary on Jaami’ al-Tirmidhi, comments of this hadeeth with the following words:
قوله : ( وهو أشد بياضا من اللبن ) جملة حالية ( فسودته خطايا بني آدم ) قال في المرقاة : أي صارت ذنوب بني آدم الذين يمسحون الحجر سببا لسواده ، والأظهر حمل الحديث على حقيقته إذ لا مانع نقلا ولا عقلا . .
His statement, “and it was whiter than milk” – this is an ‘adverb of manner’ – “then it was blackened by the sins of the children of Adam” he said in al-Marqaah: Meaning, the sins of the sons of Adam who touched the stone, caused it’s blackness. The hadeeth should be taken at face value, because there is no reason – neither by virtue of a text or common sense – to do otherwise.
وقال بعض الشراح من علمائنا يعني الحنفية : هذا الحديث يحتمل أن يراد به المبالغة في تعظيم شأن الحجر وتفظيع أمر الخطايا والذنوب ، والمعنى أن الحجر لما فيه من الشرف والكرامة واليمن والبركة شارك جواهر الجنة فكأنه نزل منها ، وأن خطايا بني آدم تكاد تؤثر في الجماد فتجعل المبيض منه أسود فكيف بقلوبهم ، أو لأنه من حيث إنه مكفر للخطايا محاء للذنوب كأنه من الجنة ، ومن كثرة تحمله أوزار بني آدم صار كأنه ذو بياض شديد فسودته الخطايا ومما يؤيد هذا أنه كان فيه نقط بيض ثم لا زال السواد فتراكم عليها حتى عمها
And some of the explanation of our scholars – meaning the Hanafiyyah – said: this hadeeth is intended to amplify the great significance of the stone and point out the abomination of sins, and the meaning is that the stone holds honor, nobility, rightness and blessing like the jewels of al-Jannah from whence it was sent down, and that the sins of the children of Adam leave their mark on virtually everything so that they make the whiteness of a thing black – so then what about their own hearts? Or because it is an expiator of sins and a remover of wrong deeds since it is from al-Jannah, and from the abundant bearing of the burdens (i.e. sins) of the Children of Adam, it was a strong white and then it was blackened by the sins. And from what supports this is that in the white was a (black) spot, then it remained black so it accumulated until it subsumes it.
وفي الحديث : إذا أذنب العبد نكتت في قلبه نكتة سوداء فإذا أذنب نكتت فيه نكتة أخرى وهكذا حتى يسود قلبه جميعه ويصير ممن قال فيهم كلا بل ران على قلوبهم ما كانوا يكسبون والحاصل أن الحجر بمنزلة المرآة البيضاء في غاية من الصفاء ويتغير بملاقاة ما لا يناسبه من الأشياء حتى يسود لها جميع الأجزاء وفي الجملة الصحبة لها تأثير بإجماع العقلاء ، انتهى كلام القاري .
And in the hadeeth: when the slave sins, then a black dot is dotted in his heart, and if he sins (again) then another dot is dotted in it, and so on until his entire heart is blackened and he becomes like those about whom He said, “Nay! rather, what they used to do has become like rust upon their hearts” [83:14]. And the point is that the stone is like a white mirror of extreme purity and it is altered by whatever it encounters of those things which do not suit it until it blackens every part of it.
قال الحافظ ابن حجر : واعترض بعض الملحدين على هذا الحديث فقال كيف سودته خطايا المشركين ولم تبيضه طاعات أهل التوحيد؟ وأجيب بما قال ابن قتيبة : لو شاء الله لكان ذلك وإنما أجرى الله العادة بأن السواد يصبغ ولا ينصبغ على العكس من البياض . .
al-Haafidh ibn Hajar said: Some heretics objected to this hadeeth by saying, “How do the sins of the mushrikeen turned it black while the obedience of the people of al-tawheed did not make it white?” I reply with what Ibn Qutaybah said, “If Allah had willed, that would have happened. But Allah has caused it to be the case that black usually changes other colors and its not changed itself, which is the opposite to what happens with white.”
وقال المحب الطبري : في بقائه أسود عبرة لمن له بصيرة . فإن الخطايا إذا أثرت في الحجر الصلد فتأثيرها في القلب أشد ،
And al-Muhibb al-Tabari said: The persistence of black is a lesson for those who have insight. For if sins can have this effect on an inanimate rock, then their effect on the heart is greater.
[Tuhfat al-Ahwadhi 3/525]
See also: A Clarification on Kissing the Black Stone
Tulayhah 