This talk concerns the Internet-based outcry that occurred on 11.10.06, when it was reported by the U.S.-based Middle East Media Research Institute, that an Islamist website had, the day before, alleged that Apple Inc.’s under-construction flagship storefront in New York resembled the Kaaba of Mecca and was thus intended to provoke Muslims. The talk examines this long-lived but ultimately muted outcry, explores the history of Kaaba copies, touches upon the Kaaba as omphalos, and finally reflects on the origin of the world. All in 50 minutes!
Simon O’Meara is Lecturer in the History of Architecture & Archaeology of the Islamic Middle East at SOAS, University of London. Prior to this appointment in 2014, he was the postdoctoral research fellow on the University of Utrecht’s ERC-funded project, “The Here and Hereafter in Islamic Traditions.”