627 – Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: “I never saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ touch any part of the House except the two Yemeni corners.” Reported by Muslim (1).

Vocabulary of the ḥadīth
– yastalimu: from istalama – yastalimu – istilāman. Al-Muḥīṭ states: “He istalama the Black Stone,” meaning that he touched it and wiped it with his hand.
– al-Yamāniyyayn (the two Yemeni corners): a dual form created by taghlib (predominance). It designates both the corner that faces Yemen (the Yemeni corner) and the eastern corner in which the Black Stone is set. Such usage is common in Arabic: al-Qamarayn for the sun and the moon, al-Abawayn for father and mother, and so on, as noted by al-Nawawī. The well-known pronunciation lightens the yā’; another reading doubles it. When the yā’ is lightened, the word is treated as a nisba to Yemen, with the alif replacing one of the two nisba yā’s, leaving the other in its softened state; doubling it would join the substitute and what it substitutes for.

Lessons drawn from the ḥadīth
1 – The Ancient House has four corners: the Shāmī (north-eastern), the Gharbī (north-western), the Yamānī (south-western), and the eastern corner that holds the Black Stone.
2 – It is prescribed to wipe the Yemeni corner and the Black Stone; these two spots are the ones identified in the revealed texts.
3 – Only the two Yemeni corners are to be touched.
4 – Acts of worship are tawqīfī; one may worship Allah only in the manner legislated by Him or by His Messenger ﷺ.