(Disappeared and restored from database. When I did a lot of the links don't work so I recommend going to the web page link, or better yet the
http://www.historyofmecca.com/ website that I published a while after I posted this article.)
http://petewaldo.com/mecca.htmVideo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-PDQFTzNTcHISTORY OF MECCAThe
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 a House in Heaven called
Baitul Ma’amoor around which the angels are said to perform
Tawaf. The structure incorporates a
black stone into one corner that is believed to have been sent down by Allah.
So important is this site in Islam 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 includes circumambulation of 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. Please see the video series "Hajj & Umrah" for details of these rituals. 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.
It's interesting to note that in the 7th century AD in which Mohammed lived the Ka'aba was a center of pagan worship of 360 stone
idols that resided in and around the Ka'aba. After being exiled to Medina, Mohammed enlisted a couple of bandit tribes there, and eventually conquered Mecca and had all of the stone idols removed ..... except one.
The black stone that Muslims bow toward to this day is believed to be
a meteorite, or more likely a glass object, composed of melted sand combined with particles from a metorite. Some glass balls that were created by the
Wabar meteorite even float. From Wikipedia:
"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."
It would seem likely that the immigrants from neighboring Yemen, who settled the bleak and barren desert around Medina and Mecca, brought the black stone with them.
So the question begs, if Allah commissioned the Kaaba to be constructed at the center of the world, and right below the gate to heaven,
why then did
God give Moses
specific instruction to build
a tabernacle on
Mount Moriah, that
was completed almost 3,000 years ago, that stood 766 miles from Mecca?
One of the difficulties with Mohammed's view is that there is no record - outside of Islamic tradition - of Abraham ever having been in Mecca. Please see the "Hagar, Ishmael, Paran & Mecca" video for more. 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.
Based on extensive historical and archaeological evidence presented by Dr. Rafat Amari, that you can access at the links provided below this video, it seems Mecca was built around the 4th century A.D., by the Yemeni tribe of Khuzaa'h. The Kaaba was apparently constructed by Asa’d Abu Karb in the early 5th century A.D. 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 epicenter of the Islamic faith for thousands of years before Mohammed. If this had been the case Mecca would certainly have been one of the most written about Arabian places by those early geographers and historians.
There are references to lots of other temples and even to a great temple "highly revered by all the Arabsâ€. This may be reference to a temple near Ilat in the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba, or to one of the many other kaabas devoted to Arabian Star family worship, as also discussed in the "What Do The Oldest Mosques Point to?" video. Even Mohammed's own tribe the Quraish went on Hajj, or pilgrimage, to a holy place to the north long after the Kaaba in Mecca was built. Indeed they went on summer and winter pilgrimages, indicating that the Kaaba in Mecca was a less significant place of worship.
Quoting Dr. Amari, "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."
There was no shortage of Kaabas in Arabia each with it's own host of stone idols. Pagan Arabic religious temple design left its indelible fingerprints on these temples as well as on the Kaaba in Mecca demonstrating that Abraham could not have built it even if the city of Mecca had preceeded the 4th century AD.
Try a search like -
archaeology of mecca - or -
historical and archaeological evidence of mecca. 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 epicenter of Mohammed's religion. Where are all the mosques that predated Mohammed? 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 that doesn't contain artifacts, and the closer one gets to Jerusalem, the more concentrated and abundant such artifacts become. Indeed there are over
one million artifacts, just on display.
It is also interesting to note that the name "Makka", mentioned in Quran surah 48:24, and again in 33:50 (but in parantheses), is by some suggested to be transformed into the name "Bakka", that is found in Surah 3:96, perhaps somehow changing over the brief 23 years of Mohammed's "revelations". 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.
Suggestion that Mecca is mentioned in the Old Testament as the Hebrew name "Baca" is accomplished by removing the following verse from context and suggesting a similarity with the Arabic name "Bakka", from the Quran.
Psalms 84:6
[Who] passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.But the most obvious difficulty with this claim is the very next verse:
84:7
They go from strength to strength, [every one of them] in Zion appeareth before God.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, any pre 4th century A.D. Mecca or Kaaba, would seem nothing more than a desert mirage. There is, however, abundant historical record, of men venerating meteorites and other forms of stone idols, throughout history.
http://islamchristianforum.com/index.php?topic=1050.0 
