Because there is not a shred of historical or archaeological
evidence that suggests that Mecca ever existed prior to the 4th century when Yemeni migrants may have initially settled the area, Islam's leaders engage in dissimulation and taqiyyah in efforts to dupe their followers into believing there is one, through such devices as pretending that the pilgrimage of Psalms 84 is about God's people turning their backs on their temple in THE Holy Land of the prophets and patriarchs to instead wander across 1200 KM of harsh, dry, barren, desert wasteland, south to where Mecca was eventually established thousands of years later, to march around the pagan Kaaba 7 times. No kidding, a search engine will reveal this taqiyyah parroted in countless websites, as well as YouTube videos. You will find that one thing most of these dissimulators have in common is quoting the verses, but
censoring out the location pin given within the verses as being
IN ZION, while adding a dotted line in its place.
http://www.petewaldo.com/baca_mecca.htm#old_testament_bacaIn addition they desperately cling to a few misunderstandings and false presumptions of earlier works, like the false presumption of 18th century historican Edward Gibbon that seems endlessly parroted by 19th century encyclopedias, and dishonestly parroted even in today's encyclopedias along with the created fiction of Islamic so-called "tradition".
http://www.islamchristianforum.com/index.php?board=92.0All as if somehow a few misunderstandings of a couple early geographers, that can be counted on the fingers of one hand, could somehow take the place of a completely absent 4500 year pre-Muhammad historical and archaeological record of Mecca,
dating all the way back to Adam! Really, again, I'm not kidding. Yet the Arabian Peninsula abounds with archaeological evidence of actual Arabian towns, because the low rainfall has helped to preclude its degradation.
Edward Gibbon would be rolling over in his grave if he could see what a disservice to humanity his careless false presumption has resulted in, by those that parrot a phrase from his writing regarding the Kaaba in Mecca, but in the dissimulation of selective quoting by excluding his cautionary preface regarding his own carelessness.
"
I am ignorant, and I am careless, of the blind mythology of the Barbarians: of the local deities, of the stars, the air, and the earth, of their sex or titles, their attributes or subordination."
Let alone how his 18th century false presumption was echoed by 19th century encyclopedias as well as many other writers, that have parroted it along with the mythology of Islamic "tradition", that continues unto this day.
http://www.islamchristianforum.com/index.php?board=92.0Yet Muhammad's followers repeat Gibbon's 18th century western presumption, about an Arabian temple mentioned by a 2nd century geographer, as if it somehow magically creates an otherwise absent 4500 year pre-Muhammad historical and archaeological record of Mecca!
http://www.historyofmecca.com/historical_claims.htm#diodorusEdward Gibbon presumed Diodorus wrote about the Kaaba
The most commonly cited author on this subject, perhaps because
Ahmed Deedat parroted the notion, is 18th century author Edward Gibbon's citing of 2nd century
Diodorus' writing about Agatharchides work. Muslims quote from Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" regarding "...a famous temple, whose superior sanctity was revered by all the Arabians...", in which Gibbon parroted Diodorus' ".....is highly revered by all the Arabs.", that by the 1700s Gibbon understandably presumed was the Ka'aba in Mecca of Islamic folklore. However Gibbon's area of interest was the Roman Empire, and prefacing the very same passage the quote is lifted from, Gibbon gives his readers ample warning regarding his disinterest in the subject with: "I am ignorant, and I am careless, of the blind mythology of the Barbarians: of the local deities, of the stars, the air, and the earth, of their sex or titles, their attributes or subordination." After which he goes on to parrot unhistorical fables of Islamic "tradition" regarding the kaaba and Mecca. It should be no surprise that by the time the 1700s rolled around, an Englishman that had expressed a less than enthusiastic interest in Arabia, could falsely presume that the "famous temple" written about by Diodorus was the Ka'aba, though the
evidence suggests otherwise. By Gibbon's 18th century the Kaaba was the only show in town because more than 1,000 years before, Muhammad and his followers had destroyed all of the other places of worship throughout Arabia, in their
ravaging rampage of the Arabian Peninsula.
However even Mohammed's own tribe the Quraish continued to go on pilgrimage twice a year, long after they built their Ka'aba in Mecca
in the 5th century, indicating that the Ka'aba in Mecca was a less significant site than other places of pagan Arabian Star Family worship.
Quran 106:1 For the covenants by the Quraish, 2 Their covenants journeys by winter and summer,- 3 Let them adore the Lord of this House,
One of the Quraish pilgrimages was to a Ka'aba in Taif where the sun goddess al-Lat was worshiped, who the etymology of the name would suggest was the wife of the Arabian pagan's
moon god al-Lah. Which also helps highlight the
origins of the Islamic ritual of Ramadan.
Another pilgrimage was to the north. Quoting Dr. Amari "
Agatharchides told about another temple close to Ilat in the Aqaba gulf area. It is in a land belonging to a tribe called "Batmizomaneis." Agatharchides emphasizes that the temple, in his own words, "is highly revered by all the Arabs." (1)
Thus we can understand why the Arabian pagan's expression "Allah Akbar", exclaims that Allah is the greater or greatest, of all the
Arabian Star Family deities.
Another possibility for a famous Arabian temple could be the one near Dedan, where she-camels were sacrificed, that is explored
further down the page.
Diodorus writing on Agatharchides regarding a temple:
http://www.islamchristianforum.com/index.php?topic=1081.msg4276#msg4276Ptolemy's survey:
http://www.islamchristianforum.com/index.php?topic=1081.msg7337#msg7337
