http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oc ... ajj-spirit
I was on Cbox one night and I think I vaguely remember one of the other users mentioning that he was either a Muslim or spent time studying Islam. Then again, I have this bad tendency to either hear things wrong, or commit them to memory wrong, so I may have completely misunderstood what that guy was talking about. Still, if I understood correctly, he might be interested in this.

According to the article, a hotel is being constructed in Mecca, overshadowing the Black Stone, part of the pilgrimage that Muslims are expected to take once in their lives to commemorate the conquest of Mecca. This hotel offers special amenities specifically to wealthy Muslims, including offering butlers on-call, spas, and a special dining room staffed by chocolatiers. I just have to say, I'm an agnostic person who tries to avoid religion as a whole, but I still have a sense of respect for the trappings of major religions, and this looks flat-out blasphemous to me.

Hmm... Interesting. I'm a moslem who lived in Indonesia (most moslems in here are modern democrate Moslems), so iwant to give some reply...

Indeed it's kinda wrong in some ways. For us moslems, the Black Stone (known as Hajjar Aswad *Hajjar Aswad = Black Stone in Arabian language, d'uh ^^;*) are a "representation" of God's existence. We pray & do our "sholat/salat" ritual towards the Black Stone (i'm in Indonesia, so i pray while facing to the west & a lil' bit to north direction). Of course, back to topic, erecting a big@$$ hotel & OVERSHADOWING the Black Stone is m00t. This kind of action is like... Babel Tower ^^;

My point is, why they must build a hotel on such a ridiculous location?? The hotel's concepts itself is A - Okay, but the location where it stands... =_=;;