MECCA

The Kaaba in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, is considered by Muslims to be the most sacred and holy place in the world. It is said to have been built by Adam and became the first structure on earth. It is believed to have been commissioned by Allah in the shape of the House in Heaven called Baitul Ma’amoor around which the angels perform Tawaaf. The structure incorporates a black stone into one corner that is believed to have been sent down by Allah. So important is this site that Muslims from all over the world prostrate themselves toward the Ka'aba when they repeat their prayers to Allah five times a day. Muslims are also required to perform the "Hajj" at least once in their lifetime, which consists of traveling to Makka, and circumambulating the Ka'aba. Crowd size permitting, each round is to begin by rubbing, or kissing the black stone as Muhammad did, or at least pointing to the stone on each of the seven circuits one walks around it. The Kaaba is said to be situated at the center of the world with the gate of heaven located directly above it.

According to the Quran, the Ka'aba was re-built by Abraham and Ishmael, and has presumably been the center of worship for Allah's people, ever since. However in the 7th century AD in which Mohammed lived, the Ka'aba was a center of pagan worship, of some 360 rock idols that resided in and around the Ka'aba. Mohammed took issue with the polytheists and eventually gained the power to have all of the rock idols removed ..... except for the black stone - a meteorite - that still resides at the Ka'aba today.

So the question begs, that if Allah commissioned the above described building to be constructed at the center of the world, and below the gate to heaven, why then did God give Moses specific instruction to build a taberna cle on Mount Moriah, that was completed almost 3,000 years ago, that stood a thousand miles from Mecca?

One of the most obvious difficulties with Mohammed's view is that there is no record - outside of Islamic tradition - of Abraham ever having been in Mecca. An even greater - indeed insurmountable - difficulty is that there is no historical or archaeological record of Mecca ever having existed, prior to the 4th century AD. While there is plenty of such evidence that confirms that Arabian cities like Qedar, Dedan and Teima were established long before, there is no such evidence that Mecca ever existed before the Christian era.

Try a search like - archaeology of mecca - or - historical and archaeological evidence of mecca - or - ancient towns in Arabia. If you can find some evidence that predates the first few centuries AD, that demonstrates that Mecca existed prior to the Christian era, we would appreciate you sharing it with us in the forum. In the absence of such archaeological and historical record, what can be concluded about Mohammed's 7th century religion?

If Mecca has been the epicenter of Islam since the time of Abraham, it would follow that there would be increasingly more archaeological evidence in the form of artifacts and such, the closer one traveled to this focus of Mohammed's religion. It also follows that there should be a greater pre-Christian historical record for Mecca, than perhaps most any other Arabian city, but no such record exists. Compare this to Jerusalem, for example, the epicenter of Judeo/Christian beliefs. One can hardly pick up a shovel full of earth in Jerusalem that doesn't contain artifacts, and the closer one gets to Jerusalem, the more concentrated and abundant such artifacts are. Indeed there are even one million artifacts on display.

Sahih Muslim Book 007, Number 3078: 'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported: Allah's Messenger may peace be upon him) said to me: Had your people not been unbelievers in the recent past (had they not quite recently accepted Islam), I would have demolished the Ka'ba and would have rebuilt it on the foundation (laid) by Ibrahim; for when the Quraish had built the Ka'ba, they reduced its (area), and I would also have built (a door) in the rear.

Based on extensive historical and archaeological evidence presented by Dr. Rafat Amari (quotes and links below), Mecca was built around the 4th century, by the Yemeni tribe of Khuzaa'h, that had migrated to that bleak barren desert wasteland. The Kaaba was apparently constructed by Asa’d Abu Karb in the early 5th century A.D., when the black stone apparently made it's way to Mecca, most likely also from Yemen. It is said that prior to the construction of the Kaabah, a tent existed on the spot where it was built.

Geographers and historians from antiquity, note even small Arabian settlements before the Christian era that came and went within a few centuries, and while the historical accounts about, and artifacts from, ancient settlements confirm the existence of each other, there is no reference to Mecca or it's Kaaba to be found. This even though it was eventually built on one of the most established trading routes in Arabia about which historical record abounds, and in spite of the Muslim claims that Mecca was the center of the Islamic faith, for thousands of years before Mohammed. If this were the case, Mecca would certainly have been one of the most written about Arabian places, by those early geographers and historians.

Indeed the Qibla (direction to point when praying) of three of the oldest Mosques do not point to Mecca but rather to an area about 500 miles to the north of Mecca. Please visit the "Oldes t Mos que Qibla" page for more on that subject.

Even Mohammed's own tribe, the Quraish went on Hajj or pilgrimage twice a year - one to the north - long after the Kaaba in Mecca was built, indicating that the Kaaba in Mecca was a lesser temple. One of the journeys during the summer was to the city of Taif where there was also a temple called Kaabah of Ellat, or Kaabah of the Sun.

"The stone was considered the main shrine, or sacred element, in each temple, called Kaabah in Arabic. This revered stone, which represented the moon, was considered to be divine. The worship of the Arabian Star Family with Allah, who was the moon as its head, revolved around the black stone. Ellat, Allah’s wife, was the sun, and al-'Uzza and Manat, his daughters, represented two planets. (below)

There was no shortage of Kaabas in Arabia each with it's own black stone. Arabian Star Family temple design left its indelible fingerprints on those temples as well as on the Kaaba in Mecca, demonstrating that Abraham could not have built it even if the city of Mecca had existed before the 4th century AD."

Indeed no Muslim will deny that there may have been as many as 360 stone idols located in and around the Kaaba in Mohammed's day. Mohammed took issue with the polytheists, and finally gained the power to expell all of the stone idols, which he did ...... except for the black rock that Muslims still bow toward five times a day. In Islam, each Muslim is required to travel to Mecca to circumambulate the stone, just as the pagans did before Mohammed.

"The reverence of the Black Stone evidently preceded the rise of Islam. The Semitic cultures of the Middle East had a tradition of using unusual stones to mark places of worship, a phenomenon which is reflected in the Hebrew Bible as well as the Qur'an.[8]

Grunebaum, in Classical Islam, says that the Kaaba was a place of pilgrimage even in pre-Islamic times, and was probably the only sanctuary built of stone, but that there are other sources which indicate there were other "Kaaba" structures in other parts of Arabia. A "red stone" was the deity of the south Arabian city of Ghaiman, and there was a "white stone" in the Ka'ba of al-Abalat (near the city of Tabala, south of Mecca). He points out that the experience of divinity of that time period was often associated with stone fetishes, mountains, special rock formations, or "trees of strange growth."[11]

It has been suggested that the Black Stone may be a glass fragment from the impact of a fragmented meteorite some 6,000 years ago at Wabar, a site in the Rub' al Khali desert some 1,100 km east of Mecca. The craters at Wabar are notable for the presence of blocks of silica glass, fused by the heat of the impact and impregnated by beads of nickel-iron alloy from the meteorite (most of which was destroyed in the impact). Some of the glass blocks are made of shiny black glass with a white or yellow interior and gas-filled hollows, which allow them to float on water. Although scientists did not become aware of the Wabar craters until 1932, they were located near a caravan route from Oman and were very likely known to the inhabitants of the desert. The wider area was certainly well-known; in ancient Arabic poetry, Wabar or Ubar (also known as "Iram of the Pillars") was the site of a fabulous city that was destroyed by fire from the heavens because of the wickedness of its king. If the estimated age of the crater is accurate, it would have been well within the period of human habitation in Arabia and the impact itself may have been witnessed.[13]."

Since Yemen is a neighbor of Oman, this explanation would be consistent with Dr. Amari's suggestion that the black stone made it's way to Mecca in the early 5th century by way of the Yemeni immigrants that settled Mecca in the 4th century.

It is also interesting to note that the name "Makka", is mentioned in Quran surah 48:24, and again in 33:50 (but in parantheses), and is somehow even suggested to be one in the same with the name "Bakka", that is found in Surah 3:96. Even if this were the case, Islam's holiest city - it's most important geographical location since Adam - would then only be mentioned three times in the Quran. Compare this with the name Jerusalem, which is mentioned 814 times in 767 verses, in the Word or God. Isn't that interesting?

Zion is mentioned 153 times in God's Word because it is the name of the easternmost hill of ancient Jerusalem. Thus we see this passage describing a journey to ZION - to Jerusalem - to the Holy Land. Baca simply being a stop along the way.

In conclusion, in the absence of archaeological or historical record, notions of a pre-first century Mecca or Kaaba it would seem, become nothing more than a desert mirage. There is, however, abundant historical record of veneration of meteorites. Indeed there is record of men venerating black rocks in the many Kaabas throughout Arabia.

Quoting just a few, of a ton of sites on the Internet that attest to the absence of archaeological or historical record of Mecca existing before the 4th century A.D., that reside in the company of an absolute dearth of sites, a few of which feebly attempt to confirm Mecca existed before that time, by citing sources from the 7th century and later, we find.....

Islam claims that Mecca is an ancient historical city which existed long before Christ, dating as far back as the time of Abraham. A powerful argument against this claim is the absence of any inscriptions found on monuments, or in any archaeological records dating back to those times. The ancient cities and kingdoms of Arabia do have rich histories which survive to this day through monuments, the inscriptions they bear, and in other archaeological documents. These historical records have given archaeologists a highly-integrated and, in some cases, complete record of the names of kings who ruled these cities and kingdoms. These records have also given archaeologists important information about the history of the wars fought over the kingdoms and cities of Arabia. In most cases, inscriptions and monuments in various cities – especially in the western and southwestern portions of Arabia – even give the names of coregents who ruled with the kings. Yet, even with this rich collection of historical and archaeological information, there are no inscriptions or monuments, or other archaeological findings whatsoever, that mention Mecca.

"It is also impossible to believe that the black Stone was hidden for three or four centuries. The stone was considered the main shrine, or sacred element, in each temple, called Kaabah in Arabic. This revered stone, which represented the moon, was considered to be divine. The worship of the Arabian Star Family with Allah, who was the moon as its head, revolved around the black stone. Ellat, Allah’s wife, was the sun, and al-'Uzza and Manat, his daughters, represented two planets."

It is said that prior to the construction of the Kaabah, a tent existed on the spot where it was built.[ii][2] The tribe of Khuzaa'h came from Yemen around the 2nd century A.D. In the 4th century A.D., they moved toward the area where Mecca was eventually built. Since they didn’t find a temple there in which to worship, they pitched their tent in a field."

"He learned the Jewish myths, such as the legend of the hoopoe bird that announced the kingdom of Saba to Solomon. This myth came from the Jewish mythological book called the Second Targum of Esther. Mohammed incorporated the same myth into the Qur’an."

The fact that the temple at Mecca was built as a Kaabah for Arabian star worship is shown in many ways. First, it was built in the same architectural style as other Kaabahs in Arabia. They were all temples for the same Arabian Family Star religion, in which Allah is considered the head and Ellat is his wife. All the Kaabahs had a Black Stone as the most revered element. It represented the star deity in Arabia."

"How, then, could Abraham have built the Kaabeh, if what we have learned about its construction is true? How did the Black Stone come from heaven, and how did Abraham sacrifice on it, and build the Kaabah around it, if the stone was not in Mecca before the 5th century A.D.? How could Mohammed’s teaching come from Allah through the angel Gabriel and still be of Yemeni origin?"

"It is important to note that none of the tribes who came from Yemen inhabited Mecca. If Mecca was in existence at the time the dam was seriously damaged, around the year 150 A.D., we would find many tribes locating in Mecca, because it is closer to Yemen than Yathrib is to Yemen. But, because the area where Mecca was eventually built was desolate and had no cities, it induced the tribes of Ozd and Khuzaa'h to live there. They did so, although they previously lived in a civilized city in Yemen which was Ma'rib, the capital of Saba. This is an important argument which points out that Mecca could not have existed before Khuzaa'h built the city in the 4th century A.D.

Let’s review these historical facts. I’ve shown that the Yemeni tribe of Khuzaa'h built the city of Mecca in the 4th century A.D. We’ve seen the connection between the temple of Mecca and Yemeni pagan religious worship. All this shows that the claim of Islam about Abraham and Ishmael building the temple of Mecca contradicts the true historical facts. Building faith on the sand is unwise. I pray that our Muslim friends will return to true faith as found in history and announced in the Bible. In the Bible they can find a solid foundation, documented in the writings of the prophetic books, and considered by historians to be the accurate resource for ancient history."

If we are to take the Qur'anic and Biblical records seriously, we will need to inquire further as to whether there are other sources which we can turn to for a corroboration of their accounts. Since we are dealing with scriptures which often speak of history, probably the best and easiest way to confirm that history is to go to the areas where the history took place because history never takes place in a vacuum. It always leaves behind its forgotten fingerprints, waiting dormant in the ground to be discovered, dug up and deciphered. It is therefore, important that we also get our digets dirty and take a look at the treasures which our archaeologist friends are discovering, to ascertain if they have been able to reward us with any clues as to the authenticity of both the Qur'anic and Biblical accounts. Let's see what archaeology tells us concerning the Qur'an.

As with the manuscript and documentary evidence, there is not much archaeological data to which we can turn for corroboration of the Qur'an. What we can do, however, is look at the claims the Qur'an makes and ascertain whether they can be backed up by archaeology. Let's start with the Qibla, or direction of prayer.

Yet, the earliest evidence from outside Muslim tradition regarding the direction in which Muslims prayed, and by implication the location of their sanctuary, points to an area much further north than Mecca, in fact somewhere in north-west Arabia (Crone-Cook 1977:23). Consider the archaeological evidence which has been and is continuing to be uncovered from the first mosques built in the seventh century:

According to archaeological research carried out by Creswell and Fehervari on ancient mosques in the Middle East, two floor-plans from two Umayyad mosques in Iraq, one built at the beginning of the 8th century by the governor Hajjaj in Wasit (noted by Creswell as, "the oldest mosque in Islam of which remains have come down to us" - Creswell 1989:41), and the other attributed to roughly the same period near Baghdad, have Qiblas (the direction which these mosques are facing) which do not face Mecca, but are oriented too far north (Creswell 1969:137ff & 1989:40; Fehervari 1961:89; Crone-Cook 1977:23,173). The Wasit mosque is off by 33 degrees, and the Baghdad mosque is off by 30 degrees (Creswell 1969:137ff; Fehervari 1961:89)."

According to the Qur'an, the Kaaba was re-built by Ibrahim (Abraham) and his son Isma-i-l (Ishmael).[12] Islamic traditions assert that the Kaaba "reflects" a house in heaven called al-Baytu l-Ma?mur[13] and that it was first built by the first man, Adam and is believed that it is the first building ever built on earth. Ibrahim and Ismail rebuilt the Kaaba on the old foundations. [14]

The early Arabian population consisted primarily of warring nomadic tribes. When they did converge peacefully, it was usually under the protection of religious practices.[15] Writing in the Encyclopedia of Islam, Wensinck identifies Mecca with a place called Macoraba mentioned by Ptolemy. His text is believed to date from the second century AD, before the rise of Islam,[16] and described it as a foundation in southern Arabia, built around a sanctuary. The area probably did not start becoming an area of religious pilgrimage until around the year AD 500. It was around then that the Quraysh tribe (into which Muhammad was later born) took control of it, and made an agreement with the local Kinana Bedouins for control.[17] The sanctuary itself, located in a barren valley surrounded by mountains, was probably built at the location of the water source today known as the Zamzam Well, an area of considerable religious significance.

In her book, Islam: A Short History, Karen Armstrong asserts that the Kaaba was dedicated to Hubal, a Nabatean deity, and contained 360 idols which either represented the days of the year,[18] or were effigies of the Arabian pantheon. Once a year, tribes from all around the Arabian peninsula, be they Christian or pagan, would converge on Mecca to perform the Hajj.

Imoti[19] contends that there were multiple such "Kaaba" sanctuaries in Arabia at one time, but this is the only one built of stone. The others also allegedly had counterparts to the Black Stone. There was a "red stone", the deity of the south Arabian city of Ghaiman, and the "white stone" in the Kaaba of al-Abalat (near the city of Tabala, south of Mecca). Grunebaum in Classical Islam points out that the experience of divinity of that time period was often associated with stone fetishes, mountains, special rock formations, or "trees of strange growth."[20] The Kaaba was thought to be at the center of the world with the Gate of Heaven directly above it. The Kaaba marked the location where the sacred world intersected with the profane, and the embedded Black Stone was a further symbol of this as a meteorite that had fallen from the sky and linked heaven and earth.[21] According to the Boston Globe, the Kaaba was a shrine for the Daughters of God (al-Lat, al-Uzza, and Manat) and Hubal.[22]

According to Sarwar,[23] about four hundred years before the birth of Muhammad, a man named "Amr bin Lahyo bin Harath bin Amr ul-Qais bin Thalaba bin Azd bin Khalan bin Babalyun bin Saba", who was descended from Qahtan and king of Hijaz (the northwestern section of Saudi Arabia, which encompassed the cities of Mecca and Medina), had placed a Hubal idol onto the roof of the Kaaba, and this idol was one of the chief deities of the ruling Quraysh tribe. The idol was made of red agate, and shaped like a human, but with the right hand broken off and replaced with a golden hand. When the idol was moved inside the Kaaba, it had seven arrows in front of it, which were used for divination.[24]

To keep the peace among the perpetually warring tribes, Mecca was declared a sanctuary where no violence was allowed within 20 miles (32 km) of the Kaaba. This combat-free zone allowed Mecca to thrive not only as a place of pilgrimage, but also as a trading center.[25]

Patricia Crone disagrees with most academic historians on most issues concerning the history of early Islam, including the history of the Kaaba. In Makkan Trade and the Rise of Islam, Crone writes that she believes that the identification of Macoraba with the Kaaba is false, and that Macoraba was a town in southern Arabia in what was then known as Arabia Felix.[26]

Many Muslim and academic historians, stress the power and importance of the pre-Islamic Mecca.[weasel words] They depict it as a city grown rich on the proceeds of the spice trade. Crone believes that this is an exaggeration and that Makkan may only have been an outpost trading with nomads for leather, cloth, and camel butter. Crone argues that if Mecca had been a well-known center of trade, it would have been mentioned by later authors such as Procopius, Nonnosus, and the Syrian church chroniclers writing in Syriac. However, the town is absent from any geographies or histories written in the last three centuries before the rise of Islam.[27]