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Mohamad Mostafa Nassar
Twitter:@NassarMohamadMR
Professor Reuven Firestone (Phd), Professor of Medieval Jewish History and Islamic Studies admits Mecca is mentioned in the Bible.
There is only one ‘GPS‘ area in the Bible which states where Ishmael and Hagar settled. The location of the ZamZam well which is in Mecca.
Genesis 21:17-21 New International Version (NIV)
17 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, βWhat is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.β
19 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.
20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. 21 While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.
Ancient Arab history testifies almost exactly to these events. Although the Arab version is slightly different. Abraham accompanies Hagar and Ishmael and leaves them at that spot, after which in desperation, Hagar runs back and forth between the mountains of Safa and Marwa in Mecca in desperation looking for water for little Ishmael who is crying with thirst – after which Ishmaelβs heel hits the ground and water comes out – resulting in the ZamZam well. God heard Ishmael crying – Ishmael means ‘God listens to him’.
The descendants of Ishmael became the Arabs, and they passed this story down generation to generation. They did not get it from the Torah later nor did they ever care what was in the Torah so the fact that these two versions of events match add to their authenticity.
It is then believed that Abraham regularly came to visit Ishmael and together they built a temple upon the sacred land (the Kaaba) setting into it the stone which had been sent down from heaven which landed in the exact location that the Kaaba was to be built. This is the black stone today in Mecca
The Ishmaelites started off with Abrahamic Monotheism.
Over many generations of degradation, the Ishmaelites eventually left the Abrahamic Monotheism of their ancestor Ishmael and fell into deep idolatry, but they never forgot 2 things even though they forgot their pure Monotheism:
Β· they always knew they were Ishmaelites, and they knew their origin and their history, about Ishmael and Hagar being left there by Abraham and the ZamZam well and Abraham and Ishmael later building the kaba and about the black stone. They knew this as these stories were passed down and venerated as part of their history.
Β· they kept up the practice of circumcision taught by their fathers Ishmael and Abraham.
Other than this they fell into deep idolatry and put 360 idols around the Holy tabernacle built by Abraham.
Muhammad smashed all 360 when he conquered Mecca and brought the holy sanctuary back to Abrahamic Monotheism.
The Kaaba did NOT go: Paganism -> Abrahamic Monotheism as so many people mistakenly try to imply today.
Rather it went: Abrahamic Monotheism -> Paganism -> Abrahamic Monotheism
As for what proof there is of Abraham building the Kaaba amongst people who believe in Abraham.
Well, No Jewish Rabbi or normal Jew in Madinah or anywhere else at the time of the Prophet Muhammad EVER disputed that Abraham and Ishmael built the Kaaba.
Every form of criticism towards Prophet Muhammed raised by the Jews and Christians of his time is recorded in the hadith but not a single Jew ever contested this issue.
This is the strongest proof. The pagan Meccans used to come to the Jews in desperation trying to find ways to refute the prophet. They would have loved to hear that the Kaaba had nothing to do with Abraham.
They would have thrown this in Muhammad’s face every day. But the Jews never said this, nor ever disputed this.
Arab history states that the Jews also used to visit the Kaaba and knew its importance and connection to Abraham, but they started keeping away from it due to the statues and idolatry that had started there.
Half of the Jewish Rabbis in Madinah eventually accepted the Prophet Muhammad during his life and NEVER left Islam even after that.
And it is said that the Jews that rejected him (and were subsequently defeated in humiliation after siding with the pagans), then went and removed all obvious references to the Kaaba and Paran from their teachings and focused fully on Jerusalem instead.
The fact that no Jews, Christians, Pagans, or anyone else ever contested that Abraham had built the Kaaba during the time of the Prophet, and the fact that it was accepted as an agreed fact amongst everyone at the time, is the strongest proof amongst those who believe in Abraham that Abraham built the Kaaba.
1- Psalm 84:6 and the Glorious Quran.
– Becca’s geography is Mecca. According to (1) Cambridge commentary, (2) Jewish Encyclopedia Volume II, and (3) Encyclopedia Biblical in Arabic and other sources. Ample Jewish and Christian references declare Becca’s geography to be modern-day Mecca.
1- Psalm 84:6 and the Glorious Quran:
Let us look at what the Bible and the Glorious Quran say about Baca (Bacca, Becca, Beca):
Psalm 84
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. [a]
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. [b]
Footnotes
a. Psalm 84:4 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verse 8.
b. Psalm 84:6 Or blessings
Let us look at what the Glorious Quran says:
βSurely the first House founded for all mankind is that at Becca, abounding in blessings and a guidance for all peoples.β Quran (3:096)
Pilgrimage to Baka. Notice how both the Bible and the Quran speak about Baka as a place where Pilgrimage to the House of GOD Almighty happens. So where is the geography of Baka?
Baka’s geography is Mecca:
From https://biblehub.com/commentaries/cambridge/psalms/84.htm:
“Psalm 84:6
Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.
6. Passing through the vale of Baca they make it a place of springs,
Yea, the early rain clotheth it with blessings.
The word Baca:
Is derived from the root which means to weep, but it nowhere means weeping, for which words of a different form are used. Here, as in 2 Samuel 5:23, it probably denotes some kind of balsam-tree, so called from the βtearsβ of gum which it exudes.
The vale of Baca or the balsam-trees was some vale which, like the vale of Elah or the terebinth (1 Samuel 17:2), and the vale of Shittim or acacias, took its name from the trees which grew there. Balsam-trees are said to love dry situations, growing plentifully for example in the arid valley of Mecca; and this is clearly the point of the reference.
The vale of Baca was some waterless and barren valley through which pilgrims passed on their way to Jerusalem; but faith turns it into a place of springs, finding refreshment under the most untoward circumstances, while God refreshes them with showers of blessing from above, as the autumnal rains clothe the dry plains with grass and flowers. Cp. Isaiah 35:1 ff., Isaiah 35:6 ff.; Isaiah 41:18 ff.; and see Tristramβs Natural Hist.
of the Bible, pp. 30, 455, for a graphic description of the marvelous way in which the rains in Palestine transform the country from a brown and dusty desert to a lovely garden. Once more we have to note the singularly bold use of metaphor which is characteristic of this poet.
The familiar phrase βthe vale of tearsβ comes from the Vulg. vallis lacrimarum, and it is possible that such an allusion to the derivation of the word is intended. It is natural to regard the pilgrimβs experience as a parable of the pilgrimage of life, but this secondary application must not be allowed to supersede the original meaning.
This verse has suffered a strange fate in translation. The English Versions follow Jewish authorities in taking berΓ’chΓ΄th as the plural of berΓ§chΓ’h, βa pool,β not, as it must be, of berΓ’chΓ’h, βblessing.β The LXX renders. The lawgiver shall give blessings, taking mΓ΄reh to be connected with tΓ΄rΓ’h, law: and similarly, Jerome, the teacher shall be clothed with blessing, a rendering followed by Luther.”
Here is an image for the webpage of the text above:
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/cambridge/psalms/84.htm
From The Jewish Encyclopedia Page 461 in pdf, Page 415 in book:
“BACA, THE VALLEY OF: A valley mentioned in Ps. Ixxxiv. 7 [6 A. V.]. Since it is there said that pilgrims transform the valley into a land of wells, the old translators gave to “Baca” the meaning of a ” valley of weepingβ; but it signifies rather any valley lacking water. Support for this latter view is to be found in II Sam. v. 23 et seg.; I Chron. xiv. 14 ct seq.,
in which the plural form of the same word designates a tree similar to the balsam-tree; and it was supposed that a dry valley could be named after this tree. KOnig takes ” Baca ” from the Arabian “baka’a,” and translates it “lack- ing in streams.” The Psalmist apparently has in mind a particular valley whose natural condition led him to adopt its name.”
Page 526 in pdf, Page 476 in book:
“BALSAM: Word used as the translation (R. V., margin) of the Hebrew DBΒ£ (Cant. v. 1) and of IW1JJ Dt?3n (ib. v. 13, vi. 2), for which the A. V. has “spice.” An aromatic gum or spice, probably the product of a Balsam tree or plant. The Balsam tree of Jericho is noted among ancient writersβTheophrastus, Strabo, Plinyβfor its medicinal and highly agreeable aromatic qualities.
The so-called Mecca Balsam is generally conceded to be the product of the Balsamoclendron opobalsamum. It is reported that the Balsam has disappeared from Jericho.
The product of the Balsam is known in Arabic as balasdn from a balasdn tree, from which balsamon (Greek), balsamum, balsam, and balm are probably derived.
The so-called ” balm of Gilead “βmade by the monks of Jericho and sold to travelers to-dayβis a product of the Balanites JEgyptiaca.”
Allah knows Best.
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Almighty Allah is the highest and most knowledgeable, and the attribution of knowledge to him is the safest.
Right from Almighty Allah and wrong from me and Satan
Prepared by Mohamad Mostafa Nassar
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Arrogance is not only a sign of insecurity, but also a sign of immaturity. Mature and fully realised persons can get their points across, even emphatically without demeaning or intimidating others.