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History, Archaeology, and Geography of Mecca & Islamic Faith / Re: Quranic Geography
« on: May 26, 2012, 12:02:44 AM »
I'm sorry I haven't been on this discussion board. I forgot my password, and then got busy with other aspects of my research and writing.
The various posts above have addressed many topics, including 'Ad, Thamud and others. In my book "Qur'anic Geography" I give whole sections with multiple chapters to these peoples. It is impossible to discuss this material here if the readers have not read the book, and do not know what is included in the chapters. In short, the book demonstrates that Islamic 'Ad, Biblical Edom and the Egyptian Hyksos were all the same people. Muhammad knew so much about them, because he was born and raised in the land of 'Ad, and was surrounded by the ruins of 'Ad. He used them as illustrations when speaking to the people about those that went before.
I also point out that the tribes of northern Arabia between 7 century BC and 2nd century AD were collectively known by various names. Thus Arab people were labeled as "Nabataeans" after the eldest son of Ishmael, "Hagarites" after the mother of Ishmael, "Ishmaelites" after the person of Ishmael, and also Thamud, after the ancient person of that name. These all refer to the same grouping of tribes in northern Arabia that we label as Bedouin Arabs today. The word Arab is actually a Persian word. I then look at the great Thamudic - Nabataean empire and demonstrate how Muhammad simply had to look around at the ruins of these people to illustrate his preaching on idolatry.
But what I am writing here are summaries of whole sections, with five or more chapters on each of these topics. I believe that Muhammad was not making up lies, he was using these people as illustrations for his sermons, and from these illustrations we can learn what the worldview of the people of that time was. My book argues that we should not try and deduce if they understood something correctly or not, as we don't always know exactly what was correct ourselves, rather we should try and understand the worldview and culture of the people of Muhammad's time.
The last half of the book looks at the Arabian Qibla which pointed to Petra for many centuries, and examines many mosques from the first 100 years of Islamic history that had that qibla. This is the most interesting part of the book.
I have tried to present my arguments in a graphical format on http://searchformecca.com. This will help people to see some of them laid out in various formats. I hope that some day we can produce a series of videos on this topic that would explain things in greater detail.
The various posts above have addressed many topics, including 'Ad, Thamud and others. In my book "Qur'anic Geography" I give whole sections with multiple chapters to these peoples. It is impossible to discuss this material here if the readers have not read the book, and do not know what is included in the chapters. In short, the book demonstrates that Islamic 'Ad, Biblical Edom and the Egyptian Hyksos were all the same people. Muhammad knew so much about them, because he was born and raised in the land of 'Ad, and was surrounded by the ruins of 'Ad. He used them as illustrations when speaking to the people about those that went before.
I also point out that the tribes of northern Arabia between 7 century BC and 2nd century AD were collectively known by various names. Thus Arab people were labeled as "Nabataeans" after the eldest son of Ishmael, "Hagarites" after the mother of Ishmael, "Ishmaelites" after the person of Ishmael, and also Thamud, after the ancient person of that name. These all refer to the same grouping of tribes in northern Arabia that we label as Bedouin Arabs today. The word Arab is actually a Persian word. I then look at the great Thamudic - Nabataean empire and demonstrate how Muhammad simply had to look around at the ruins of these people to illustrate his preaching on idolatry.
But what I am writing here are summaries of whole sections, with five or more chapters on each of these topics. I believe that Muhammad was not making up lies, he was using these people as illustrations for his sermons, and from these illustrations we can learn what the worldview of the people of that time was. My book argues that we should not try and deduce if they understood something correctly or not, as we don't always know exactly what was correct ourselves, rather we should try and understand the worldview and culture of the people of Muhammad's time.
The last half of the book looks at the Arabian Qibla which pointed to Petra for many centuries, and examines many mosques from the first 100 years of Islamic history that had that qibla. This is the most interesting part of the book.
I have tried to present my arguments in a graphical format on http://searchformecca.com. This will help people to see some of them laid out in various formats. I hope that some day we can produce a series of videos on this topic that would explain things in greater detail.