The report affirms the legitimacy of kissing the Black Stone during ṭawāf, but this merit is conditional upon avoiding any prohibited conduct—such as crowding, pushing, or harming other pilgrims in order to reach it. When such wrongdoing would occur, it is preferable to leave off touching or kissing the Stone, and this is especially true for women.

Al-Khattābī—may Allah have mercy on him—observed: The narration indicates that following the sunnah is obligatory even when we do not grasp its discernible reasons or intelligible causes. Allah has favored certain places and lands just as He has favored particular nights, days, and months.

From ʿUmar’s words, “You are only a stone,” we learn that they sometimes treat an individual specimen as representative of its whole class by highlighting a distinctive trait. His statement “You are only a stone” attests that it belongs to that class, and he reinforced this by adding that a stone can neither harm nor benefit. His further remark, “Had I not seen the Messenger of Allah ﷺ kiss you…,” then exempts this particular stone from the general rule in respect to kissing, solely because of the Prophet’s ﷺ action.