—is it not authentically reported that “the Black Stone is from Paradise” 1?!

So did ʿUmar kiss it on the basis of some private reasoning of his own, the way certain people today argue about kissing the mushaf, saying: “This is the word of Allah, and we kiss it”?

Did ʿUmar say, “This stone is a relic from Paradise, the abode promised to the God-fearing, and therefore I shall kiss it—I have no need for a text from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to legitimise the act”?

Or did he deal with this specific issue in the manner we are calling people to adopt today, the method we describe as the Salafi method: pure devotion to following the Messenger ﷺ and everyone who follows his Sunnah until the Day of Resurrection?

Such was ʿUmar’s stance, and hence his words: “Had I not seen the Messenger of Allah ﷺ kiss you, I would never have kissed you.”

Therefore, the underlying rule for this act of kissing is that it must be performed on the strength of an established Sunnah, not on the basis of our own judgements—such as the claim, cited earlier, “This is good, so what harm is there?”

Remember, too, the reaction of Zayd ibn Thābit when Abū Bakr and ʿUmar proposed that the Qur’an be collected in order to preserve it from loss. He said, “How can you do something the Messenger of Allah ﷺ did not do?!”