In answer to the video "The Kaaba in the Bible: Debunked"
In Psalms84, David speaks in his prayers to the Lord of hosts -the Lord of all nations-, of pilgrims frequently going through the valley of Beca to pray at the altar. Some attribute this psalm to David, others to Korah's 3 sons who lived in Moses' time. Jewish oral tradition states that the book is entirely David's who took the earlier works and melded them with his own ideas. In that passage Becca is identified by a definite article meaning a specific place. That place could not be the Jerusalem Temple, which was not even constructed at the time (neither in Moses' time).
Of course, later in Jewish history Zion became affiliated with Jerusalem, but it couldnt have been during the time of David, or Moses for that matter. Jerusalem in the sense of the Holy City and place of pilgrimage was not built yet in David's days who was in addition referring to a place far away that required strenuous effort. The context of Ps84 is that of difficulty as one engages in a dry and barren valley then gaining spiritual strength upon strength. Clearly the meaning as noted by all commentators cannot be anything than the "valley of lamentation/weeping". The root word, bacca is used for types of trees that grow in arid places, like balsam, mulberry, or aspen that drip resin like tears. The balsam tree itself is found in southern Arabia, as well as on the mountains of Mecca and Medina.
So then which valley in Jerusalem is the ground so hard that the rain collects in pools? The valley of Becca has this particularity and the passage is meant to demonstrate its aridity. A valley of trees and lush vegetation doesnt fit this description. Which valley in or around Jerusalem do people take rest in and make it a well, when they go through to "Zion"? The fact that they make it a well, show that they take their rest there as well, another specificity of the place.
David laments that this place is far from the people and much hardship has to be taken to get there and despite the hardship, as they proceed to it and get closer to the court of the Lord in 'Zion", they move with strength upon strength. So where is that arid valley that pilgrims ever took on their way to Zion?
None of this was applicable to Jerusalem, nor is any valley affiliated with the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, besides the fact that the Temple didnt even exist then.
David speaks of Becca as a frequently journeyed site by pilgrims and there was no place in his days nor before, to the point that certain commentators argue that what David is referring to is a place in heaven. This is ruled out by the fact it is refered to as a geographical location which Bible scholars have not been able to identify until now. Since pre-islamic times, Arabs identified Mecca originally as Becca as corroborated in the Quran.
One of the Becca's defining characteristics, per the Psalms is that rain collects in pools when it rains because of the hardness of the grounds, which isnt Jerusalem's case, besides the fact that people journey to it through valleys
"Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools".
Mecca is enclosed between valleys and Jerusalem, which is on a small range of mountain tops in no way can be said to fulfill these qualities. The Zamzam well is what made the location hospitable to the pilgrims. This is where the HB states that God openned Hagar's eyes to a well, in answer to her supplications
Gen21:18-9"Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation. Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink".
This was God's gift to her, a means of sustenance for her settlement there in accordance with His plan and promise to make a great nation out of Ismail. As a side note, none of the wells of Beerseba or anywhere near it are mentionned as God-given. They are very distinctly described as the work of human hand. Nor is there any local tradition pointing to the existence there, now or in the past, of any divinely caused well. The only well made to gush miraculously in connection to Hagar and Ismail is in Mecca.
It is interesting to note also that by the time of the great rabbinic scholar and Torah commentator ibn Ezra, when every historian and religious scholarly authority agreed that the inhabitants of hijaz are descendants of Ishmael, he comments that the well which Hagar was miraculously pointed to prior to Ishmael's birth in Gen16:14 was originally called Beer Lahai, meaning
"the well of him who will be alive next year..The well was so called because the Ishmaelites held annual festivities at this well. It is still in existence and is called the well of zamum".
This well, present in his time and known accross cultures, is mispronounced as Zamum. Obviously no other well than that of Zamzam exists, where Ishmaelites ever held festivities prior to Islam.
Some Bible versions say "Valley of Tears/ Weeping", and Beca means "crying" in Arabic as a reference to Hagar crying for Allah's help in the wilderness fearing for her son Ismail's life, as related in both the Torah and Islamic tradition.
In answer to the video "The Kaaba in the Bible: Debunked"
By the time of the prophet Muhammad, the assimilation of the Abrahamic legacy into the regional polytheistic systems was such that only a distant echo had remained in their minds from their spiritual connection to Abraham. Just as happenned to the Temple of Jerusalem that slowly became transformed into a pagan shrine and idols were introduced in it 2kings21 the prime symbol of monotheism in Mecca became thus radically transformed through pagan influence.
As the Ishmaelites, like the Israelites throughout their history, drifted from the original path of monotheism, the Hajj pilgrimage became a celebratory occasion, and the Kaaba was stocked with idols and false deities supposed to bring the worshipers closer to the One God, Allah, whom they believed in. Men and women would run naked throughout the holy precinct. Merchants from all over would travel to the Kaaba and set up shop during the pilgrimage. People and tribes from all over Arabia would make the journey to Mecca to take part in the festivities. But this annual pilgrimage was in greater parts disconnected from the Abrahamic practice 22:26-7. It was simply a time to make money instead of being charitable, drink alcohol, and commit immoral acts. The importance of the annual event perdured despite the corruption. It was maintained by those that settled in Mecca, and the Arabs of the entire peninsula that got attracted to it with time. These are the points brought to attention in 2:196-7. And then until v203 great stress is laid on the spiritual dimension, forgotten and neglected, of that occasion.
No other nation can be compared to the Ishmaelites' handling of their spiritual legacy and sacred shrine, than their own Israelite brothers. They could not maintain the way of their forefathers despite the constant sending of prophets to them to bring them back to the right path. When the Arabs were admonished and urged to reform, they qualified the warnings as
16:24,27:68"stories of the ancients".
These Ishmaelites vaguely recalled the Abrahamic ways, but found no other constructive argument in their opposition but by denigrating it as old and useless stories, based on its ancienty and supposed obsolescence, inaplicability to the current circumstances.
They never qualify these stories as "false".
23:82-3"They said, "When we have died and become dust and bones, are we indeed to be resurrected? We have been promised this, we and our forefathers, before; this is not but legends of the former peoples".
It was in fact one of the Quran's oft repeated functions, to "remind" the people of the truth they were still somewhat aware of but that had been supressed by falsehood. The Quran openly states that
26:196"most surely the same is in the scriptures of the ancients".
It repeats, time and again, its role as the guardian and preserver of the truth present in the past scriptures. Along with Abrahamic and monotheistic practices known in pre-islamic days, going back to previous prophets, was the Zakat which the people knew they had to give away to the poor but rarely practiced or misused 19:30-31,54-55,70:24,Deut14:28-29,26:12-14, fasting 2:51,183-187,7:142,Deut9:9,Ex24:18,34:28,Matt4:2,Lk5:33-6 prayer that continued after Ibrahim established it in the settlement of the Kaaba 14:37,19:55,Dan6:10,Ps55:18,1Chr23:30 until it was disfigured 8:35, animal sacrifice, circumcision.
Other concepts propounded by previous prophets and which the Quran was reminding its addressees of, include the Resurrection, day of Judgement and accountability Matt13:24-43,1Kings17:17-24,2Kings4:17-37,13:20-1,1Sam2:6,Isa2:17,26:19,66:14,Ezek37:1-28,Ps71:20,Prov6:22,Prov31(see Rashi),Dan12:1-2,Quran29:36,54:36-9.
There are pre-islamic poems with clear eschatological connotation, some of them speaking of the resurrection of the soul, and Allah being the judge of mankind. One such poems is that of Zuhayr who wrote in his muallaqat
"Do not conceal from Allah what is in your souls, trying to hide it. Whatever is concealed from Allah, He knows. It is delayed and entered in a register and stored up for the day of reckoning, or it is brought forward and avenged".
Labid wrote
"every human will one day come to know his striving when it will be disclosed before the God what has been extracted".
See also the lines of al-A'sha evoking fear of the final accounting
"when the resurrected souls will shake of the dust".
The Quran and the traditions speak of the hanif remnants that tried preserving the monotheism of Ibrahim, and these lines of poetry might echo these marginal beliefs. The majority of the pre-islamic Arabs however rejected bodily resurrection and otherworldy accountability, the Quran repeatedly condemns this attitude.
This phenomenon is clearly seen with the "talbiya", the invocations the pilgrims coming from all over Arabia made during their rituals. Some of these have come down to us, referring to Allah as
"al wahid al qahhar rabb assamad",
while others clearly referred to the idols as subservient to him
"laa nabudul asnama hatta tajtahida li rabbiha wa tutabad"
or
"rabb al thalitha ukhra/Lord of the third goddess",
and others spoke of the One Lord of the last hour
"rabba assa'a".
All of this shows the multifaceted shades of idolatry among the pilgrims, some of them praising Allah alone, others associating with Him while maintaining Him above the intercessors, and others still referring to the day of judgement.
This confirms the Quranic statement that the original religion established at the sanctuary was Abrahamic monotheism. It got disfigured with time, polluted with foreign concepts, although it maintained a recognizable foundation of truth, which the last prophet came to revive. Sura 87, after summing up the pillars of divine truth, such as monotheism, intelligent design, resurrection, God's all-encompassing, intricate knowledge and sway over His creatures' affairs, spiritual purification through prayer and constant remembrence of God as being the ways to success in the Hereafter, it says that these are all concepts known, written and transmitted by the prophets, from Ibrahim to Moses.
All of these things were known to the people whom Muhammad was addressing over 4000 years later but have been neglected for so long that only a dim remembrance of them remained
23:83"Certainly we are promised this, and (so were) our fathers aforetime; this is naught but stories of those of old".
Muhammad revived the corrupted, obscured and forgotten way of Ibrahim
6:161"Say: Surely, (as for) me, my Lord has guided me to the right path; (to) a most right religion, the faith of Ibrahim the upright one, and he was not of the polytheists".
The climax of that revival occured when he entered Mecca triumphantly, cleansed the Kaaba of its idols and rededicated it to its monotheistic purpose. Prior to that physical uprooting, the Quran would remind the Meccans of their legacy and duty towards the Kaaba, in many verses beyond the scope of that discussion.
Prior to the rise of the prophet Muhammad and the retribution befalling the heedless Ishmaelites, idol worship continued to flourish and even spread to the centers inhabited by their Christian and Jewish neighbors, namely Najran and Yathrib. The Jews of Yathrib tolerated idol worship, coexisted with it, and finally befriended it so as to develop their trade with the pagan Arabs.
Although idolatry was important to the pre-Islamic Arabs, yet they did not develop any elaborate mythology around their gods and goddesses as did ancient people around the world such as the Greeks, Romans or Hindus. No trace of such things can be found in the pre-Islamic poetry and traditions. This fact further indicates that polytheism and idol worship were not indigenous to the Ismailite Arabs but were grafted on to the Abrahamic tradition. One of such polytheistic influences came from Noah's descendants.
For instance it is documented in Arab history as well as the Torah that some of them -such as the branch descending from Ham- inhabited the region of Canaan. This Noahide branch reverted to idol worship. This is why in the HB these Noachide descendants of Ham, along with all pagan tribes including the Philistines who apprently knew God despite their perverted spirituality 1Sam4:7, were systematically slaughtered by the Israelites.
The Canaanites and Noahide descendants had reached the utmost of their spiritual depravation Gen15:16,Deut9 and had to be uprooted in order to make way for a new nation to be tested in turn. Archaeological evidence suggests that Canaanite pagan worship was ongoing on the location of what would later become Temple mount.
The Canaanite relatives of the Israelites, who are actually Abrahamic descendants, such as the Moabites descendants of Lot and Edomites whose father is Esau may very well have emulated their ancestors by worshiping YHWH.
Jethro Similarily proclaims to Moses that YHWH is greater than all gods Ex18:7-12. Jethro was a Midianite-Kenite (from Midian the son of Abraham and Kenite from Cain whose descendants lived among all the people of the Levant).
That monotheism preceding the arrival of the Israelites in Canaan was corrupted with time, as happened to the Israelites themselves. These non-Israelite Abrahamic descendants grafted their own evil inclinations and foreign religions to their original monotheism. These crimes made them unworthy of remaining in a land declared sacred by God and dedicated to monotheistic worship. The same would be done through the Ishmaelite prophet Muhammad, commanded to uproot, willingly or forcefully, those who had disfigured the religion of their forefather Abraham, who had perverted the purpose for which a settlement was established on that land of Mecca 8:34-35,53.
The Quran names the idols brought by these Noachide descendants, and the Arabs of the peninsula adopted them 71:21 among other gods mostly because of the Nomadic migrations throughout the peninsula. It is well documented archaeologically that most gods of the Arabian peninsula were introduced into the Southern kingdoms of Saba and Himyar in the 2nd century BC, through these nomadic routes. This also led to the Arabization of these idols' names. Some of these idols of Noah's times who were associated with the One God 23:24 include the Nisr, which is the "vulture-god". It was worshipped all throughout the Middle East, whether it went by this name or another. After Noah, generations after generations kept returning to polytheism all the while they worshipped the One supreme God 23:31-44,11:53-4,46:21-2.
The names of these idols were thus preserved, just as the Israelites in their books carried on the name of Baal and other regional gods whom they started worshipping again at different portions of their history. The Meccans were thus originally monotheists, who lapsed into idolatry. Just as the Israelites lapsed into idolatry as recounted in the Hebrew Bible even intermarrying with polytheist Canaanites.
In answer to the video "The Kaaba in the Bible: Debunked"
In the pre-Islamic poems of the likes of Jiran al-'Awd or Umayyah ibn Abi as-Salt, the hanifiya, "the way of Ibrahim" as he said, is mentioned by name and Ibn Ishaq quotes it in connection with the Yemenite ruler Abraha's attack on the Kaaba. Sirmah ibn Anas of the Banu Adyy ibn Al Najjar was another hanif, per the work of Isabah, that renounced idolatry and became a hanif and that he worshipped only the God of Abraham.
There are countless sources that connect Abraham with the Arabs and those that desired to return to his ways, without any connection to Jewish and Christians ways, were considered hanifs. None among the Arabs ever contended with such facts. This whole tradition revolved especially around the legacy of the Kaaba.
The ARAB (although later transmitted by Muslims) tradition on this point is so strong and of such old standing that the Quran every now and then refers to it as a matter of undoubted history, and the Arabs never contended with it. There isnt any trace of the Arabs tracing their genealogy to anyone else than Ismail. Islam didn't show up and made them believe this massive conspiracy by first causing a general blackout.
The onus is on the revisionists and critics of Islam to establish that what the Arabs believe is their identity is not true or that they identified themselves as anything else than Ishmaelites prior to Islam. There is a peculiar feature of those Ishmaelites of the Hijaz in that one finds rare occasions of them testifying to their ancestry. Instead it is the non-Muslim writers of the early days of Islam that emphatically do so. This is because these Ishmaelites, contrary to most people of the region and beyond, lived in insularity, rarely in conflict with their neighbors. They did not need to affirm their identity and territorial borders, nor boast of the greatness of their armies and battles they would have fought against invaders.
The objections and calumnies of Islam's enemies among the Arabs -whether aimed at the the prophet's personality or his message- are reported and can be seen by anyone today, both in and out of the Quran. No eyebrow was raised as regards the Abrahmic connection to the Kaaba, yet it was the focal point and core of Muhammad's prophetic message.
The same is the case concerning the monotheistic origin of some of their most highly revered rituals, although at the time stained with idolatrous practices. It is also interesting noting that although Abraham is clearly pictured as having been to and prayed at the Kaaba where he had settled a place of monotheistic worship together with his son, yet this is never done in a polemical tone against the believers of the Judeo-Christian tradition. It is thus inevitable that traditions about Abraham relating him to Mecca and its sanctuary were current in the peninsula well before the rise of Islam.
As appropriately noted by Goudarzi
"It is well known that Ishmael did not occupy a prized position in late-antique Jewish or Christian thought. For Jews, he was an outcast, excluded from Abraham’s household and inheritance, a man of the desert who was worthy neither of the land nor of the law that was given to Isaac’s descendants. For Christians, Ishmael was above all the son of Abraham “according to the flesh” but not the spirit, the son of the slave woman who inherited the servile state of his mother, and therefore a type for the spiritually incapacitated Jews toiling under the burden of the law. Jewish and Christian writers depicted Ishmael as a foil for their beloved Isaac, a potential rival who resorted to violence and persecution, a man guilty of idolatry and sexual misconduct— whose menacing ambitions were nipped in the bud thanks to Sarah’s timely intervention".
All these perverted and corrupt ideas were well established in the historical background of pre-islamic Arabia. The prophet Muhammad, or any Arab prior to Islam, had nothing to win in terms of credibility or eminence in the eyes of Jews and Christians by supposedly inventing family ties to Ishmael. Even the covenant of the land, as stated in the Torah, is open to any non-Israelite convert. Also, nowhere does the HB restrict the covenant of prophethood to the descendants of Abraham, be it Israelites or Ishmaelites. The notion of the Arabs or the prophet resorting to a radical re-shaping of their ancestry to gain any kind of legitimacy in relation to the people of previous scriptures is therefore not only improbable given the scale of the conspiracy but mainly useless and even counter-productive.
The question one should be asking one's self is how could Muhammad actually pass off the Kaaba as being built by Ibrahim, if the Arabs did not already believe it considering that Arab tribes had since antiquity been paying extensive homage to the Kaaba and its rites? It is the height of absurdity to say that in any culture, one would manage to fake not only his own identity but also that of an entire nation without anyone raising an eyebrow. This is worth emphasizing; for nothing was more obnoxious to an Arab than to ascribe a false or imaginary ancestry to him. Arab culture had such pride in its ancestral origins that when the Quran wanted to give a point of reference to how intensely Allah should be praised, it evoked the remembrance of their forefathers which Allah's remembrance must surpass 2:200. Despite the effects of modernism and the loss of oral culture, some Arabs even today still keep their ancient family trees that date to the time of Prophet. The Quraysh, the prophet's own tribe, was respected among the Arabs not only because it ruled over Mecca but also because of the nobility of its lineage. To come and argue that the prophet fabricated it is very unrealistic.
Even if we disregard these facts and suggest that the Arabs had a memory lapse, why would a people who had forgotten their common ancestor, accept the ancestor of another people as their ancestor too because the latter stated so, thus not only puting in question their identity but also compromising their claim on their prime religious site and by extension the economical benefits of being its custodians? Such an illegitimate attack on a people's known identity and its ancestral worship sites would have met with universal resistance, both from the preexisting idolatrous population of Mecca as well as from the Arab tribes.
Critics of Islam ignore these simple observations, forget that the starting point of studies on the Arabs concerning their origin, culture and religious identity should start from their own sources. This is a well-recognized modus operandi in ethno-historical studies of a group of people.
In answer to the video "The Kaaba in the Bible: Debunked"
The history records this legacy of Ibrahim and Ismail, especially with the hanifs, a term used first and foremost as an uncompromising opposition to polytheism 10:105,22:30-1,98:5. It also describes mankind's original predisposition to uprightness 30:30.
Hanif stems from H-N-F, which is lexically very interesting. It means the foot that is tilted inwards so that the sole is exposed. In the highly metaphorical language of the Arabs, it became used for the one that exposes his inner self, his secrets, has nothing to hide due to his uprightness, rectitude. The opposite of hanaf is janaf, indicating the outward inclination of the feet. It is used to imply crookedness of intent in 2:182. As to hanaf, a water tap is called hanafiya, from the same root, because of the straight manner that water comes out of it. A person born with a condition that made both feet point to eachother when walking was referred to as rajulun "ahnaf" because that person walks in a straight manner and can only change direction with difficulty.
The common denominator to all these subtle meanings, is straightness, rectitude.
Because to the pre-islamic Arabs, their forefather Ibrahim's spiritual way was independent of all belief systems of the time, be it the loathsome distortions of Judaism and Christianity or Idolatry, it was considered as close to man's original upright predisposition as one can be, and thus the word became associated with those seeking to emulate him 3:67,6:161. They were a minority that tried preserving the original monotheism of Ibrahim. They neither wanted to belong to Christianity with its dying god incarnate nor to Judaism and its ethno centered deity.
These hanif remnants and keepers of the way of Ibrahim, like their forefather, severed their ties with their community and kinsfolk whom they found walking an erroneous path
43:26-9"And when Ibrahim said to his father and his people: Surely I am clear of what you worship, Save Him Who created me, for surely He will guide me. And he made it a word to continue in his posterity that they may return.".
These small groups of Meccan men and women detested the use of the Kaaba by the polytheists and kept their practice of religion monotheistic. They affirmed that the Abrahamic legacy had been distorted beyond recognition, whether by the Jews, Christians or Ishmaelites brethren, and these personalities were seeking a return to the pristine religion. The traditions mention their names and how their belief and ways of life lead them to harassment by the idol worshipers.
They include names like Uthman ibn Huwayrith, Ubaydullah bin Jahsh, Zayd ibn Amr ibn Nawfal Al-Nabighah al Ja'adi etc, as well as Muhammad the orphan whose belief and lifestyle were equally exposed and known to all
10:16"I have lived a lifetime among you before it".
Muhammad essentially raised himself, never worshiped the idols, never entertained the idea of doing so in the past 109:1-6. He would retreat away from the pagan environment to contemplate as some of his forefathers did, such as his great grand father the hanif, Hashim ibn Abd al-Manaf. He would remain in such wandering perplexity until his prophetic call came unexpectedly. His firm stance against associating with God and polluting the Kaaba reached its peak then, despite his opponents' demands to compromise his message with their beliefs 68:9.
The Hanif rejected the consumption of meat slaughtered in the name of idols as well as other pagan rituals and abominable practices like the burying of infants alive, which they openly decried. They performed circumcision and rites that were similar to the Israelite rites of the altar sacrifice even before the coming of Muhammad.
Josephus in his Antiquites speaks of the Arabs as Ishmael's descendants, way before the time of Muhammad, almost 500 years, saying they circumcized their children at 13 years old, as was still done in the times of the prophet, to commemorate their forefather Ishmael.
Uri Rubin (Professor, Tel Aviv University) "The pre-Islamic Abrahamic sacredness of the Kaaba is clearly demonstrated in the belief that Abraham's footprints could be seen on one of its sacred stones. This belief is reflected in the very early verses attributed to Abii Talib in which numerous pre-Islamic places of worship are described in a manner which is totally independent of the phraseology of later Islamic sources. The verse referring to Abraham's' footprints reads "wa-mawtii Ibrahima fi l-sakhri ratbatun 'ala qadamayhi hafiyan ghayra na'ili/By Abraham's footprint in the rock still fresh / with both feet bare, without sandals". Later on, Muslim tradition applied to the stone bearing Abraham's footprints the Quranic epithet "Maqam lbrahim". Even the view that the haram, i.e., the sacred territory of Mecca, was founded by Abraham may be regarded as pre-Islamic in origin. Muhammad b. Habib (d. 245H/859), has recorded in his Munammaq a remarkable report saying that Quraysh once asked Thaqif to become their partners in the Meccan haram, in return for equal partnership of Quraysh in the territory of Wajj which was owned by Thaqif. Thaqif refused saying: "How can you be partners in a land in which our father settled, and dug it out of the rocks with his bare hands, without iron tools. And you have not founded the haram by yourselves. It was Abraham who founded it". In other words, Thaqif maintained that Quraysh had no right to make transactions with the Meccan land due to its Abrahamic sacredness. Later on, Muhammad established the haram of Medina on the model of the Abrahamic haram of Mecca".
There is a reason why virtually every non-Muslim writer that witnessed the rise of Islam, from polemicists the likes of John of Damascus that had every reason to refute Muslim claims, to Sebeos in Armenia and beyond, regardless of precise dating and authorship of the works attributed to various Judeo-Christian elite across the region, almost all of them refer to the Abrahamic ancestry of Muhammad and the Muslims. In a short Nestorian chronicle, the Khuzistan Chronicle written around 660, in the section concluding the death of Heraclius, the writer says
"the victory of the sons of Ishmael who overpowered and subdued these two strong empires, came from God."
The chronicler further observes
"Regarding the dome of Abraham, we have been unable to discover what it is except that, because the blessed Abraham grew rich in property and wanted to get away from the envy of the Canaanites, he chose to live in the distant and spacious parts of the desert. Since he lived in tents, he built that place for the worship of God and for the offering of sacrifices. It took its present name from what it had been, since the memory of the place was preserved with the generations of their race. Indeed, it was no new thing for the Arabs to worship there, but goes back to antiquity, to their early days, in that they show honour to the father of the head of their people. Hasor, which scripture calls "head of the kingdoms" (Joshua 11:10), belongs to the Arabs, while Medina is named after Midian, Abraham's fourth son by Qetura; it is also called Yathrib. And Dumat Jandal [belongs to them], and the territory of the Hagaraye, which is rich in water, palm trees and fortified buildings. The territory of Hatta, situated by the sea in the vicinity of the islands of Qatar, is rich in the same way; it is also thickly vegetated with various kinds of plants. The region of Mazon also resembles it; it too lies by the sea and comprises an area of more than 100 parasangs. So [belongs to them] too the territory of Yamama, in the middle of the desert, and the territory of Tawf, and the city of Hira, which was the seat of king Mundar, surnamed the "warrior;" he was sixth in the line of the lshmaelite kings".
Even among the polytheist Arabs, remnants of rites commemorating the Abrahamic legacy were maintained. For example, though they used to sacrifice animals on various idol altars at different places, their sacrificing of animals at Mina at the time of the pilgrimage was only in pursuance of the Abrahamic tradition. It was no sacrificing for any particular idols or their idols in general. This is why no idols or altars were there at Mina or Arafat.
The ritual of sa'i or running between the two hills of Safa and Marwah is among God's signs. Just like foreign idols were brought to Mecca and integrated into the Kaaba, corrupting the Abrahamic legacy, some idols were placed on these hills. We read in the history books what caused this innovation. When 2 lovers named Assaf and Naila hid inside the Kaaba to be intimate, Allah turned them to stone statues. Associating this with a miracle, the Quraysh placed them each on one of the 2 hills, and as the generations passed, took them for deities.
The association of the site with paganism repulsed some early Muslims, but God told them plainly not to worry, for the Safa and Marwa are among His signs, regardless of how the sinful generations mishandled them
2:158-9"Surely the Safa and the Marwa are among the signs appointed by Allah...Surely those who conceal the clear proofs and the guidance that We revealed after We made it clear in the Book for men, these it is whom Allah shall curse, and those who curse shall curse them (too)".
The re-institution of this location as a monotheistic pilgrimage site comes in the context of patience in adversity and trust in Allah, just as Hagar was as she frantically searched for help, running back and forth between these 2 hills, when she was settled in the location by Abraham, together with her infant child Ismail. It is important noting, the Quran itself, throughout the verses laying out the hajj rituals 2:196,5:95-6,22:26-37etc doesnt link these rituals to Ibrahim, although it gives credit to Ibrahim for having initiated worship at the site and instated the pilgrimage. This was part of the Quran's denationalization test of the Kaaba, placing it above any national pride, making its primary purpose to be a location where the one God is praised by all of humanity indiscriminately. These rituals should be done in God's name only. Every capable Muslim is bound to perform them at some point 3:97 with an upright state of mind before and during the journey 2:197.
Pre-Islamic oral tradition has preserved names of the non-polytheistic remnants in their midst, some of them already mentioned above. The Quran cites some of them, Luqman, as an example of wisdom, righteousness and gratefulness to the One God 31:12-13. This pure way of the hanif, the hanifiyya, Abraham's way, was something that none could contend with, whether Jew, Christian and even the Arab polytheists who knew him, his history and never denied that his "Way" was the Right Way. None denied he founded the Kaaba which he dedicated to Allah alone. That is why the pagans would simply argue that their idols did not supplant Allah, rather were merely intercessors 43:9,87,29:63,10:31,17:67,31:25. The complacency they felt as time went on made them believe that had they been doing anything wrong in their worship of Allah, then Allah himself would have already chastised them for it 16:35,6:148.
The Quran therefore would repeat Abraham's life story while laying great stress on his antagonism to polytheism, as well as him not being part of any later group that claimed spiritual closeness to him, like the Jews and Christians. This was an admonishment, on one hand to the Arabs and the Quraish in particular. They regarded themselves as his spiritual and physical descendants. The people of the book and more particularly the Jews, thought the same and are told that Abraham instead was a pure submitter (lit. hanif muslim) as demonstrated throughout his upright life and unconditional submission to God
3:67"Ibrahim was not a Jew nor a Christian but he was a hanif, a Muslim, and he was not one of the polytheists".
In such background, the Quran would interpel Ismail's descendants and keep asking them to bring proof for their innovations 35:40-1, reminding them of the One, supreme, all powerful Creator they readily professed belief in, yet placed interceding idols next to Him.
In answer to the video "The Kaaba in the Bible: Debunked"
Mecca was a monotheistic settlement which the Arabs knew was connected to Abraham. When in the Torah, Ibrahim prayed that Ismail might live "before the Lord", he was asking God that his firstborn and only son at the time be dedicated to His service at the altar. Anyone familiar with that terminology knows that throughout the Hebrew Bible, it applies to dedication to God, besides its use for the offerings made to God.
Accordingly, Ibrahim settled his only son in a place where he would live "before the Lord" and worship Him 2:127, right besides the altar of sacrifice. Ibrahim prayed God that this Holy Shrine remain a purified sanctuary for the righteous pilgrims 2:125, that this unforgiving location be turned to a hospitable place for those seeking it 2:126,14:37,28:57 that he and his descendants remain free from worshiping idols
14:36"surely they have led many men astray; then whoever follows me, he is surely of me, and whoever disobeys me, Thou surely art Forgiving, Merciful".
Ibrahim asked that his descendants keep up prayer and be protected until the Day of Resurrection 14:40.
Judeo-Christian apologists often wonder as to the distances involved in Abraham having to travel between Beersheba where he had settled his family through Sarah and Mecca, where the Muslim tradition states he had settled his family through Hagar. From the beginning as he set himself out of his native area, Ibrahim travelled distances surpassing the Beerseba-Mecca distance, which is an approximate 10 days journey.. It was nothing out of the ordinary for frequent travelers, nomads, or traders to undergo 20 or 30 days journeys even in harsh terrains, so why would it be the case for an obedient servant of God whom Judeo-Christian tradition itself admits he was so submissive in his obedience that he set out to sacrifice his son to God. Neither did he hesitate to leave everything behind his native Ur in Chaldea, for a far away and unspecified location, in obedience to God Gen11.
His travels, they happened by foot, donkey's back, and he made many stops along the way, pitching his tent, building worship sites and altars, a practice that continued among his descendants. He used a donkey as he went to prepare the sacrifice of "the only son" Gen22. It is also to be noted that to the ancient, town-dwelling Hebrews the term "wilderness of Beersheba" comprised all the desert regions south of Palestine, including the Hijaz.
When in the Torah, God promises -several times over- to turn Ishmael's progeny into a great nation, and a "great nation” in biblical terminology can never be a nation of idolaters, who among the descendants of Ishmael succeeded in fulfilling this promise? Where is the great nation promised to Ishmael, whose numbers would be as vast as the stars in the sky? Where is that great Ishmaelite nation that rose and then vanished without anyone ever knowing about it? The obvious isnt missed by many rabbis in their commentaries of the verse, as they see the rise of Islam as the fulfillment of the promise.
And that is one of the most outstanding manner in which one can verify the truthfulness of God's words, despite their successive destructions and scattering that almost took the Bani Israel to the brink of racial extinction, they have nevertheless remained and regenerated because they are linked with God by a covenant and so is the case of Bani Ismail, despite having almost entirely, besides the scattered hanif remnants, plunged into a state of spiritual ignorance (jahiliya) for thousands of years, nevertheless maintained their ancestral identity. In Gen15 Abraham's progeny is promised to dwell between the Nile and the Euphrates and in Gen37:25-28 we read of
"Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmailites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt".
The progeny of Ismail settled in the area from Havilah (beginning from around Yemen all the way to the north of the Arabian Peninsula, among the possible extent of the territory according to Biblical scholars) unto Shur (near gulf of Aqabah at the north east end of Red sea) Gen21:21,25:9-18, which essentially is the Hijaz where the descendants of Ismail have always identified themselves in, whether in ancient history or today. In the early 7th century Syriac Chronica Minora, the author remarks that there is nothing unusual for the Arabs to worship at the "qubta" of Abraham since they have been doing so since ancient times in homage to their forefather.
In the words of the Jewish historian Josephus who wrote in the 1st century, after speaking of the Arabians of his time as practicing male circumcision at 13 in commemoration of their forefathers Ismail and Ibrahim
"When the lad was grown up, he married a wife, by birth an Egyptian: from whence the mother was her self derived originally. Of this wife were born to Ishmael twelve sons: Nabaioth, Kedar, Abdeel, Mabsam, Idumas, Masmaos, Massaos, Chodad, Theman, Jetur, Naphesus, Kadmas. These inhabited all the country from Euphrates, to the Red Sea: and called it Nabatene. They are an Arabian nation, and name their tribes from these: both because of their own virtue, and because of the dignity of Abraham their father".
This Nabatene country extends on a much larger area than the later northern Nabateans. It goes from the Euphrates to the Red Sea. Further, it is known that the later northern Nabateans with Petra as their capital originated from further south within the Arabian Peninsula.
This makes the Nabateans in fact Arabs and it is only an arbitrary designation that created this distinction. Nabateans and the Hijazi tribes shared the same deities and the script used by early Quran scribes closely resembled that of the Nabateans.
One interesting historical narration is that, per Ibn Kathir, the horns of the ram sacrificed in substitution of Ismail were religiously preserved in the Kaaba and handed down from generation to generation, upto the times of Abdullah bin Zubair. When Hajjaj besieged the Kaaba in 692, and destroyed part of it, the horns too were destroyed (as a quick side note, inscriptions dated to 78AH attesting to the reconstruction and remodelling of the Kaaba have recently been found, thus providing an independent documentary verification of the event).
Ibn Abbas and Sheibi both had seen the horns. Another narration attests to the pre-islamic Abrahamic connection and how falsehood was mingled with truth
"When Allah's Messenger came to Mecca, he refused to enter the Ka`ba with idols in it. He ordered (idols to be taken out). So they were taken out. The people took out the pictures of Abraham and Ishmael holding Azlams in their hands. Allah's Messenger said, "May Allah curse these people. By Allah, both Abraham and Ishmael never did the game of chance with Azlams." Then he entered the Ka`ba and said Takbir at its corners but did not offer the prayer in it".
Abdul Muttalib, during the siege of Mecca by the Yemenite ruler Abraha, recited a prayer which clearly acknowledges that they recognized the House as belonging to Allah alone:
"O Lord/Allah! A man protects his family, so protect Your people. Let not their cross and their strength overpower You. If You want to leave our Qibla at their mercy, then do as You please".
Another major relic from the time of Ibrahim is none other than the 'black stone'. It is fixed on one of the pillars/arkan of the edifice. It is one of the original stones Abraham used to build the Kaaba, as he built other altars and places of worship to God throughout his journeys Gen12:6-8,13:4,18. That Abrahamic practice we are told in the HB, was left to his posterity that similarly built places of worship symbolized by stones erected as pillars Gen28:10,18-22.
In answer to the video "The Kaaba in the Bible: Debunked"
Lets see how accurate and authentic biblical geography is.
As regards the location of that mountain often placed in the Sinai peninsula, we read in Gal4:25 that Mt Sinai is in Arabia. By his time, Hellenistic geography applied the term Arabia to the Peninsula as a whole. It was therefore easy to imagine the inhabitants of the inner Arabian desert also as Ishmaelites. The location of Horeb and Mt Sinai in the Sinai peninsula instead of the Arabian peninsula originated in the 4th century. Christian authorities of the time created several such fictious holy sites for pilgrims throughout the empire because of the massive revenue it generated for the Church and local areas.
There are no maps from the 1st century that delineate Arabia, all that is available are accounts of geographers, historians, and contemporary travelers. Until Hellenistic times, only the northern part of the Arabian Peninsula was referred to as "Arabia". But as the Greek explorers began mapping the shores of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf, they extended the name to the entire Peninsula. What is of interest here is the area around central Saudi Arabia, more particularily the Hijaz which borders to the north the ancient land of Canaan, Moses and the Israelites' final destination following their desert wandering. There is a reason why the location of "Sinai", the place associated with the most momentous miracles witnessed by an entire nation has never been located yet.
People have simply been looking in the wrong place. "Sinai" is an Arab location and an Arabic word known to the descendants of Ishmael under 2 variations saynaa' 23:20 and sineen 95:2. It further is interesting to note, the verse 23:20 speaks of a tree yielding oil pleasant to eat, in reference to olive oil. In Saudi Arabia, even today, wild olives grow high in the Hijaz mountains, stretching from Jabal Radhwa (West of Medina) to Jabal Fayfa near the Yemen border. The largest population is concentrated between Baljurshi, 300km south of Mecca, to Al Namas further south. Many trees can be seen there even today having large trunks and are probably over a 1000 years old.
The desert of Paran where Ishmael was settled Gen21 is equally associated with Mt Sinai (Numbers10), again reinforcing the fact that the correct location is Arabia. Ex3:1 plainly identifies Mt Sinai/Horeb as being in Midian. That is where Moses at the beginning of his herding job was tending to Jethro's flock. This place could not have been in the modern Sinai peninsula since Moses' refuge in Midian is qualified as being outside of Egypt Ex2:15,4:19. The name of his Midianite son reflects this fact
Ex18:3"named Gershom, because he [Moses] said, "I was a stranger in a foreign land".
He would have never returned to Egypt, much less with a whole flock of sheep at that point. His return would only occur later on when God told him to do so. Later as he led his people out of Egypt and was encamping at the mount of God/Sinai in the desert, Jethro came to visit the community and hear first hand the miraculous account from Moses, his son in law.
He is reported to have converted and returned to his land to preach to his people Ex18. The implicit meaning as per the rabbinic commentaries is that he went to
"convert the members of his family".
Obviously, Jethro wasn't the ruler of the whole land of Midian and further it is appropriate to refer to the wilderness as a foreign land within one's own geographical borders. In another instance in Numb10:31, Moses pleads with Hobab the Midianite (Jewish tradition says this is none other than Jethro) to be his and the Israelites' guide in the wilderness, prior to his return to his land and kinsmen. Again, there is a reason why he was very familiar with this wilderness, as a Midianite who would have no reason to wander around the Sinai Peninsula instead. As a side note his return to his land and kinsmen corroborates the Jewish commentary on Ex18:27 mentionned above.
IT would have been completely insane for Moses, accused of murder, to "hide" in Sinai, ie Egyptian territory with state mining activity throughout the region, meaning presence and movement of government officials and manpower. It would have been even more improbable for the whole Israelite comunity to "hide" in the same area, let alone wander in it for 40 years after having escaped their masters, along with their masters' precious belongings Ex3:21-22,11:2,12:35-36.
There is a reason why not a shred of evidence has been found for the massive wandering of Israelites in the Sinai peninsula. The Jews witnessed impressive, collective revelation and miracles at that location. So extraordinary and terifying their experience was that they never forgot it, actually even used and still use it to claim superiority over gentile religions. Yet even they have no idea where that location is, further showing how "truthful" and "preserving" they were of their religion and covenant they were entrusted with.
It is interesting to note here that the Quran states that following their ungrateful request for "better" foods during their desert march, Moses scolds them and tells them to
2:61"descend to Egypt, and you will find what you asked for".
They were therefore wandering outside Egyptian territory (if one considers that the Pharao of the exodus was RamessesII as is most certainly the case), and the only vast desertic region that fits is the one in the Arabian peninsula.
The Quran in addition, in its usual pattern of narrating ancient stories and at the same time restoring the truth, states that the enslaved Israelite population was few in numbers compared to the Egyptians 26:52-6. The HB on the other hand Ex12, as well as Jewish tradition place their number in the millions, almost equalling the known number of Egyptians at the time. Besides the absurdity of captors being able to control and enslave, torture and humiliate with such a compelling manner this relatively vast population, no evidence has been found that Egypt, whose population was estimated at between 3 and 5million, ever suffered the demographic and economic catastrophe such a loss of population would represent.
Nor is there the slightest spark of evidence suggesting that the Sinai desert ever hosted (or could have hosted) these millions of people and their herds. Marching ten abreast, and without accounting for livestock, they would have formed a line 150 miles long. Also, no evidence has been found that a large new group of people entered into Canaan during the post-Exodus settlement period, further dividing the land among 12 tribes. In fact archaeological finds from the area of the Israelite settlement in Canaan display no connection between the area’s inhabitants and Egypt, which certainly wouldnt have been the case had the group been as numerous and overwhelmingly invasive as Biblically depicted.
No archaeological evidence has ever been found of the migration of the Israelites from the wilderness of Sinai via the Jordan Valley to the fertile land of Canaan, as described in the Bible. The Abrahamic relatives of the Israelites, among the Edomites and Moabites inhabitants of Canaan, were natives to the land and no evidence suggests that the Israelites came from outside, as stated earlier. Although a limited number may have been taken captives by the Egyptians, most archaeologists now agree that the Israelite-Jewish identity arose from traditions that developed among the inhabitants of Canaan. It was not brought from outside by invaders. This doesnt mean the event didnt occur, just that it happenned differently.
On a final note, Interestingly, when Moses had fled Egypt where he was wanted for man slaughter, and hid in Midian/Madyan, which is nowhere else than in the Arabian Peninsula, a "foreign land" in Moses' own words, from where he had to "return to Egypt" to free the Israelites Ex2:22,4:18, the Quran mentions his encounter with a righteous man, saying to him
28:27"I desire to marry one of these two daughters of mine to you on condition that you should serve me for eight hijaj/pilgrimages; but if you complete ten, it will be of your own free will, and I do not wish to be hard to you; if Allah please, you will find me one of the good".
The man is counts the years in terms of pilgrimage, as it happened every year on the peninsula. Also, the valley where God first spoke to Moses is called Tuwa 20:12. The word tuwa means to fold, from the root ta-waw-ya, it is used as a name of the valley because a valley is by definition folded between higher ground, and in this case, figuratively folded with holiness. Dhi tuwa is a location near Mecca, known till this day.
Something else to add, as further food for thought. While relating Moses' first encounter with God at the "burning bush", the Quran, in its usual pattern of restoring certain distorted truths, seizes the opportunity to clarify that prior to the encounter, he was travelling with his Madyan family, in other words Arabs, after the working contract with his father in law had ended 28:22-30.
The ethnically prejudiced Israelite narrators on the other hand, had every reason to not want to picture their spiritual leader as a man moving on with his life and seeking to establish a new home for himself and his Arab family and instead speak of him simply pasturing the flock of his father in law prior to the divine encounter Ex2. And until now, they will never stop conjecturing where that pasturing occured.
In answer to the video "The Kaaba in the Bible: Debunked"
From the beginning as he set himself out of his native area, Ibrahim travelled distances surpassing the Beerseba-Mecca distance, which is an approximate 10 days journey. It was nothing out of the ordinary for frequent travelers, nomads, or traders to undergo 20 or 30 days journeys even in harsh terrains, so why would it be the case for an obedient servant of God whom Judeo-Christian tradition itself admits he was so submissive in his obedience that he set out to sacrifice his son to God. Neither did he hesitate to leave everything behind his native Ur in Chaldea, for a far away and unspecified location, in obedience to God Gen11.
His travels, they happened by foot, donkey's back, and he made many stops along the way, pitching his tent, building worship sites and altars, a practice that continued among his descendants. He used a donkey, not a camel as he went to prepare the sacrifice of "the only son" Gen22. It is also to be noted that to the ancient, town-dwelling Hebrews the term "wilderness of Beersheba" comprised all the desert regions south of Palestine, including the Hijaz.
In answer to the video "The Kaaba in the Bible: Debunked"
Muslims know where Moriah is, but the judeo-christian world is still conjecturing. Here is some food for thought, the HB states Abraham had to journey from Beerseba where he dwelt with Isaac before and after the event of the sacrifice Gen21:31-34,22:19 to mourn Sarah's death in Canaan Gen23:2.
Was Sarah living away from both husband and son all this time or just after the sacrifice and why? Jewish tradition suggests she dwelt in Canaan before Isaac's near sacrifice since it is this news that sadenned her to the point it caused her demise Gen.Rabbah58:5. The only way she could have known of the incident while in Canaan was if Abraham and Isaac had left for the location of sacrifice (ie Moriah) from Canaan itself. However we are told Abraham and his "only son" left for the sacrifice from Beerseba, not from Canaan. And by the way, it would have never taken Abraham 3 days to reach Moriah in Jerusalem, from his location near Hebron, which is less than a day's walk.
The only way for all these conflicting elements to come together is to say that Abraham had left alone from Beerseba to the location where he had settled his "only son", and from there to the location of the sacrifice. The Quran and the traditions say he left to Mecca where he had settled his firstborn Ismail, and from there to Marwah nearby, for the sacrifice. Interestingly, this Marwah which the HB calls "Moriah" is located in 2Chron3 in Jerusalem and yet when David purchases the site later on from a Jebusite, neither the writer, David, the owner, the angels, nor God or any prophet make a connection between that site, and one of the most significant locations to Judaism, the place where the event of the near sacrifice occured. Instead it is simply labelled the "threshing floor" of the future Temple.
In answer to the video "The Kaaba in the Bible: Debunked"
A little note about Arabia first. Most scholars now consider that the Arabian peninsula is the original habitation of the Semitic people. They migrated outwards, into places like Iraq, where Abraham was eventually born, to Egypt, to Yemen, and into Africa, through places like Abyssinia.
The Arabian peninsula is way more Semitic than any other region in the world, including the ancient lands of Canaan and Palestine. It was not affected through contact with various other civilizations as much as the Israelites, because the region was not hospitable and was geographically isolated. It was precisely these characteristics that Abraham sought, for it provided protection from the environment of polytheism 2:123-9,14:35-41. It makes all the more sense that this peninsula was chosen for the final expression of truth, because the Israelites, throughout their history, lost sight of their faith and assimilated themselves into the competing cultures.
Instead of being the beacon of light for humanity, they ended up following the ways of the people they were suppose to guide. In fact, Christianity was the final culmination of the paganization of the Israelites.
As to Mecca not being known, its very simple. Mecca was not a passing point of voyagers nor a trade route, hence the scarcity of non-Arab sources mentioning it, besides the lack of inland explorations of the area by either Greek or Roman writers. Outside the annual pilgrimage during which all of Arabia flocked in and generated profit to the city and its inhabitants, Meccans had to journey outside their own region to places like Syria and Palestine (in summer) and Yemen (in winter) to sell and buy goods because no trading route passed by or close to them. These long journeys were dangerous at the time and caravans were frequently raided and looted. The Quraysh however benefited from an immunitiy that was not provided to any other tribe, for they were given a special respect as the custodians of the Temple and caretakers of the pilgrims. It is with all this background that the Quran admonishes the Quraysh not to become inebriated with these worldly successes and forget the Lord of this House and their ancestral duty towards Him
106:1"For the protection of the Quraysh, Their protection during their trading caravans in the winter and the summer, So let them serve the Lord of this House, Who feeds them against hunger and gives them security against fear".
The Quraysh have specifically been pointed out, for it was their primary obligation to become the torch bearers of the truth. They commanded great respect in the whole of Arabia and all their caravans and settlements were protected in every part of the country. In fact, any tribe who became their ally was also treated with similar regard. The Quraysh instead of being thankful to their Lord for this favour became neglectful and rebellious.
Mecca was therefore an isolated, seasonal city, far from any trading route. Advanced archeological research in Mecca and its surroundings has been very limited. In addition the dynasty of the Saud family that now rules over the area that has become known by its proper name; Saudi Arabia, destroyed old constructions, pretexting it might lead to improper veneration. The prophet however is reported as prohibiting the destruction of ancient edifices
"do not pull them down, as these are the ornaments of AlMadina".
Both the Quran and ahadith call upon the observation of the archaelogical remains of past nations to whom prophets were sent, so as to learn from their errors. The Thamudic monuments and their idols were present in the prophet's time but were never destroyed. These sites should therefore be preserved. Most reports of artifacts and rock inscriptions therefore come from amateurs in the field, or during the construction projects the city of Mecca and its environs recently underwent. Some of these findings, spanning different periods of human history, include drawings of hunting and of animals, carvings, writings, scattered on rocks, mountains, caves. Tools were recovered dating to prehistoric times. This pattern is found throughout the peninsula, including in the current Meccan province, all testifying to consistent human presence and activity in the whole peninsula and Mecca's surroundings since ancient times.
Satellite imagery of the Meccan region has revealed an array of human constructions proving continuous habitation in the area. These structures, observable from altitude, represent gates, kites, triangles, keyholes among other things, and are dated beyond to 9000 years old. Some are believed to have been used for hunting purposes, while others are of unknown function. A burial site with hundreds of tombs was discovered east of Jeddah, at a lava field dated between 4000-1000BCE.
All these data are no evidence of a town thousands of years ago at Mecca's location but neither does Islamic tradition state so. What Islam says is that when Ibrahim settled his wife Hagar and son Ismail at Mecca's location, the place was uninhabited. Ismail and his mother lived at that site and dedicated themselves to the worship of One God. Nomadic tribes would pass by and interact with them, including the Jurhum with whom Ismail married.
The prophet narrates
"The House (i.e. Ka`ba) at that time was on a high place resembling a hillock, and when torrents came, they flowed to its right and left. She lived in that way till some people from the tribe of Jurhum or a family from Jurhum passed by her and her child, as they (i.e. the Jurhum people) were coming through the way of Kada'. They landed in the lower part of Mecca where they saw a bird that had the habit of flying around water and not leaving it. They said, 'This bird must be flying around water, though we know that there is no water in this valley.' They sent one or two messengers who discovered the source of water, and returned to inform them of the water. So, they all came (towards the water)." The Prophet (ï·º) added, "Ishmael's mother was sitting near the water. They asked her, 'Do you allow us to stay with you?" She replied, 'Yes, but you will have no right to possess the water.' They agreed to that." The Prophet (ï·º) further said, "Ishmael's mother was pleased with the whole situation as she used to love to enjoy the company of the people. So, they settled there, and later on they sent for their families who came and settled with them so that some families became permanent residents there. The child (i.e. Ishmael) grew up and learnt Arabic from them and (his virtues) caused them to love and admire him as he grew up, and when he reached the age of puberty they made him marry a woman from amongst them".
With the passage of time idols were introduced by Ismail's descendants, progressively making the small Ishmaelite settlement known throughout pagan Arabia, leading to its development into a town.
Judeo-Christian critics often point to absence of evidence to undermine Mecca and the Kaaba's antiquity yet no archaeological evidence for Solomon's first temple's existence, let alone its location, has been discovered despite years of excavations, on a scope far surpassing any exploration activity involving Mecca.
Neither are there extra-biblical records of it that have survived, despite it being a place where much more people flocked in for pilgrimage than to Mecca, bringing in all kinds of offerings, sacrificing thousands of animals according to the Bible. The stone palace uncovered at the foot of Temple Mount in Jerusalem could attest that King David had been there; or it might belong to another era entirely, depending who you ask.
There is no archeological evidence even for the second temple built on the first one's rubbles after the Babylonians sacked it in 587BCE. It was supposedly rebuilt by the Jewish exiles returning from their Babylonian captivity 40 years later, even though in this case we do have extra-biblical written sources attesting to it. The only conclusive archeological evidence that exists is for Herod's temple (started in 20BCE and ended 80years after his death), supposedly built instead of the second temple which the rabbis thought was too modest in comparison to Solomon's first Temple. In fact no evidence exists for any of the events described in the Book of Genesis, such as the Jericho wall toppled by Joshua.
More damning is that despite active digging like never before, from the Temple Mount to the Kidron Stream, via the neighborhood of Silwan, including the so-called City of David, with the exception of a few controversial sites, the imperial capital of a mighty unified kingdom as described in Scripture, of David and Solomon has not been found.
Even the Timna copper mines, dubbed “King Solomon’s Mines” could hardly have been under Solomon's control; in the 10th century BC, no trace of powerful enough kingdom, to manage and require that amount of copper, stretching as far south as Timna exists.
Islam made Mecca and the Kaaba known to the world, obviously as it spread beyond Arabia. Prior to that, its importance, greatness and historicity was confined to the Arabs and their oral tradition. When it was built by Abraham, who had the habit of building worship sites along his journeys as stated throughout Genesis, it wasnt to be the universal qibla from the start. As stated in 3:96 it was the first house dedicated to the One God, for all mankind. All previous places of worship were meant for a particular community. That universal character however came to fruition with the rise of the last prophet. It was initially a monotheistic settlement, from where God would manifest his promises of blessings to Ismail and his seed, the place where per Abraham's words in the Torah Ishmael "might live before the Lord".
It is interesting pointing at this point to a Rabbinical exegesis, by the famous Saadia Gaon in the 10th century. He identifies the mysterious town of Mesha mentioned in Gen10 where some among the Semitic ancestors of Abraham had lived, as Mecca. This could have been among the factors that led Abraham in returning to that location specifically.
In answer to the video "The Kaaba in the Bible: Debunked"
All Israelite prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel or Habakkuk, Iddo and others put themselves into writing or asked their followers to eventually write down, in their lifetime or after their death, what was revealed to them of wisdom, teachings, prophecies, warnings and admonitions 2Chr11:2,12:5,15,13:22. Solomon had his wise utterings, that were either put into writing in his lifetime or later, compiled from scattered suppports under the reign of Hezekiah Prov25:1.
It thus certainly is an established trend within the line of the prophets of Israel, of which Jesus fully adhered to, to commit to writing, whether themselves or by others, in their lifetime or later, the revelation bestowed upon them. We're talking about prophets, they received messages from the divine, and they applied themselves to put into writing as faithfully as possible all that they perceived.
The prophet Muhammad was no different in that regard. He wrote what was revealed, when it was revealed, over 23 years. This system of occasional, piecemeal revelation applies to all prophets. Ezekiel for example and other prophets in the HB were granted a vision of their entire individual book and its content which they will be responsible to later communicate and put into writing Ezek2:9-10. They still had to follow directions and commands revealed at specific times in answer to certain events.
There are ample examples of biblical prophets, including Moses who received revelation in answer to specific incidents, whether having to do with the prophet's own personal life or concerning the comunity at large. There are even situations in the Hebrew Bible where the solution to a situation is deffered until God reveals the answer Lev24:12. According to Jewish tradition, the entire Torah was given to Moses in 2 parts; the first during the year after the exodus, then followed a 38 years hiatus after which the rest was revealed. David is reported to have told his followers to wait for God's decision as regards a possible strike on an enemy 1Sam22:3.
Moses received oral instructions for 40 years and long before the events of Sinai, see for example Ex12:49,13:9,16:4,28,18:19-20 all refering to Torah and Law before Moses went to Mt Sinai. This process is meant at smoothly establishing socio-religious reforms, among other benefits. Gradual revelation also ensures a continuous connection between the receiver/prophet and the Source, providing him further comfort and legitimity in the face of the unavoidable persistent, increasing opposition, as well as answers to new challenges and questions.
Muhammad went through the same process for 23 years, just like Jeremiah was inspired with warnings and glad tidings to his people for 23 years Jer25:3.
This was objected to by the Quraysh, and, ironically, by the People of the Book themselves, just as missionaries do today, in ignorance of their prophetic history
4:153,25:32"Why has not the Quran been revealed to him all at once?".
Yet had the request been granted, it would still not prevent the rebellion and disbelief of those that requested it in the first place, since the demand did not stem from sincere hearts seeking to confirm their belief and intuition, rather it was a mocking challenge and an excuse to justify their rejection 6:7.
The moment during which the Quran started descending to the heart of the prophet wasnt a random point in time. It was in the night, as darkness symbolically stands for a time of spiritual obscurity. A prophet's advent is always preceded by such darkness. And neither was it a random night. It was during the month of Ramadan 2:185, during the specifc night of qadr/destiny 97:1, a most blessed night 44:3. It is blessed because in it the world received the greatest manifestation of Divine light. Linguisticaly, the Quran descending in one night does not necessarily imply it entirely descended on that specific night. The Quran is a composite entity spoken of as "Quran" even while it wasnt yet entirely revealed 43:2-4 just as it is said to be the book before it was a complete book. Even in everyday speak, a portion of it is said to be "Quran".
So it is perfectly accurate to say of the Quran that it has descended on a specific moment in time, even though it was just the beginning of this glorious process.
Finally, even those that argue that the Quran did entirely descend on that night, still say that this descent was partial, remaining suspended somewhere in the heavens from where it was sent on occasions unto the prophet's heart.
