 The center of the Muslim religion is Mecca. Mecca is also known as Makkah al-Mukarramah ... as well as Macoraba ... and even Bakkah. Mecca was said to have been a major trading center during the 6th and 7th Centuries, as well as centuries prior to that. This "Mecca trading center" narrative is a pivotal assertion for the Muslim religion. This is because the Muslim religion professes that its founder predominately lived in Mecca, from 570 to 622 C.E. The Muslim religion furthermore professes that this man was a very rich merchant in a very rich Mecca and who married a very wealthy widow in 595 C.E., when he was only 25 or 26 years old. Then, when reached the age of 40, according to the Muslim profession of believe, this same wealthy merchant started to have a long series of visions and locutions from the Archangel Gabriel, after this man told the same angel that he was illiterate, though outrageously wealthy. Now, as far as goes MAJOR trading hubs in the history of the Eastern Hemisphere, the Operative Phrase is =====> THE SILK ROUTE ... The Silk Road ... and more specifically, the Maritime Silk Road. Also in the equation were Red Sea Port Cities, a few of which were not officially regarded as existing along the Silk Route. In as much, whatever be the 6th Century city in Eurasia & eastern Asia ... if it were not located along the Maritime Silk Road .. or if it were not along the Red Sea ... it was NOT a major trading hub. It turns out that the Story of Mecca was just a story Mecca was nowhere near the Silk Route which began in Xi'an China and which ended in Antakya, TΓΌrkiye, to the north ... and Aden in the southern coastline of the Arabian Peninsula. In fact, Antakya is approximately 1,000 miles north of Mecca, while Aden is 689 straight-line miles from Mecca. Moreover, Alexandria Egypt was also a major trading hub along the Maritime Silk Road, and it's located 911 miles northwest of Mecca.  NOTE: The ABSENCE of EVIDENCE includes the names, 1} Makkah al-Mukarramah, 2} Macoraba, and 3} Bakkah, as well as 4} Mecca. No evidence of any kind exists under any of the four names for Mecca. There was no major mercantile center there in the 5th, 6th, and 7th Centuries. Period.     JEDDAH For those unaware, 41 to 45 miles west of Mecca is a port town which bears the name "Grandmother" or "Ancestress," in Arabic. This is because an Islamic writer of the early 10th Century claimed that Eve was buried there, in a tomb. His name is/was AbΕ« Muhammad al-Hasan al-HamdΔnΔ«, and there was some kind of a tomb there which was destroyed by the Saudi government, in 1928, under the claim that it incited idolatry. None the less, after a wave of Muslim conquests ... in 647 C.E. ... Jeddah's name became "the City of Consulates," as in Balad al-Qanasil. So, it was the city with two interchangeable names. As far as goes Jeddah, in the 6th Century and until 647 C.E., it was only a FISHING PORT which provided no accommodations for merchant caravans. This reinforces the findings that Mecca was not a major trading center in the 6th and 7th Centuries. Until 647 C.E., the Port of Jeddah was Persona Non Grata. It then became designated to be the port for those making pilgrimages to the Great Mosque of Mecca. The Great Mosque of Mecca was known as Masjid al-Haram. The person designating Jeddah as the pilgrim's port was Caliph Uthman ibn Affan. In as much, the Arabian word, Masjid, means place to prostrate oneself, as in prostrating oneself before God's presence. Something similar to that. The bottom line here is that neither Mecca nor Jeddah were major merchant centers in the 6th & 7th Centuries. Being that neither Mecca nor Jeddah were major trading centers at the time, the story of the rich 7th Century Mecca merchant suddenly receiving visions & revelations from the same one archangel completely falls apart.  There was also historic Baghdad. One of its suburbs ... located 21 miles away ... was the major 7th Century trading hub located along the Maritime Silk Road. It's located 850 to 900 miles north of Mecca. None the less, during the 8th Century, Baghdad was the major trading center of the region. Baghdad is 869 miles away from Mecca. In addition, Hormuz Island and the city of Hormuz itself is situated 1,200 miles northeast of Mecca. Hormuz, too, was one of the major trading hubs of the Maritime Silk Road. Meanwhile, Mecca was not.   In addition, Mecca is about 41 to 45 miles east of the Red Sea. HOWEVER, the main 7th Century Red Sea port was Berenice Troglodytica. Today, it's known as Berenike, and it was a Greco-Roman port on the Egyptian side of the Red Sea ... and NOT on the Arabian side. And, as the name suggests, Troglodytica means "cave dwellers," as opposed to desert nomads and/or Bedouins. Now, keep in mind that even BUDDHIST ARTIFACTS were found in Berenike, and they date as far back as the 2nd Century, CE. Archeological pieces with Sanskrit inscriptions on them were also found in Berenike. No such thing was found in Mecca, proving that Mecca didn't come close to being a major trading hub in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th Centuries, as well as the first half of 7th Century. In the Muslim religion, the important year 632 CE. This is the year when a very rich man supposedly receiving numerous vision from Gabriel the Archangel allegedly died. Equally important was the Year 622 CE. This was the year when the allegedly rich merchant moved to Medina. Well, up to the Year 622, Medina was an unknown town. Even up to 632 CE, Mecca was NOT a significant trading hub in anyway or in anyhow.  And then there was Aden, 689 miles away from Mecca. It was the south tip of the historic Maritime Silk Road. Thus, it was a thriving port city, for those traveling between India and Egypt.  Very simply, travel south on the Red Sea, and at the end of it, you turn left toward India. You will pass Aden, an accommodating port city, even in the 6th & 7th Centuries. The bottom line is that the major trading hubs of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th Centuries were far far away from Mecca. Period.    There was also Muza, Yemen. It was a thriving trading hub, mentioned in ancient texts, while Mecca was not. Muza is/was 648 miles from Mecca.   Below: As far as goes the history of Alexandria Egypt, it was the major Middle Eastern & Mediterranean trading hub of the 6th Century. Well, Muslim tradition states that a man named Mohammad started his rise to wealth at the end of the 6th Century, due to Mecca Commerce. He would then become fully wealthy at the start of the 7th Century ... due to Mecca commerce when the reality is that Alexandria was the place to get rich. Alexandria remained a major trading hub into the first four decades of the 7th Century. Then, in 641 C.E., nineteen years after the man named Muhammad was said to have died, Alexandria was conquered by Arabian forces. It's economic dominance in the region was no more. However, throughout the alleged lifetime of the man named Muhammad, Alexandria was a major trading hub. This meant that Mecca was not.  Concerning the claim that Mecca was the ultimate trading hub of the 6th and/or 7th Century, the logistics do NOT work, and the evidence is just NOT there ... or anywhere else. Even Baghdad, the major Silk Route hub nearest to Mecca, is 869 miles north north north of Mecca. And of course, Baghdad is a legend of a city. And then there was the big lie promoting by propagandists It was asserted with assured certainty that, in the 6th and 7th century, piracy was so rampant on the high seas that almost every trader traveled via land, with caravans of camels. It is the ultimate insult to human intelligence. Observe:  Let's get this well understood and review it 1] Wealthy Eastern Hemispheric merchants of the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th & 7th Centuries operated in either Hormuz or Alexandria or Baghdad or Antakya or Calicut India or Berenike or Muza or Aden or a few other places, all of which were either on the Maritime Silk Road or were port towns. Of course, subtract the years surrounding the 536 CE environmental disaster and the 541 Justinian Plague. 2] The wealthy merchants did NOT operate in Mecca, during the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th Centuries, be it under the name of Mecca or under the name of Bakkah ... or under the name of Makkah al-Kamarramah ... or under the name Macoraba. Plus, Jeddah was not a major trading port, either. It was a modest fisherman's port. 3] Therefore, all four names for Mecca were absent from the records and from the chronicles of the time. So too were they absent from archeological inscriptions of any kind, for centuries. Meanwhile, in the years before the Muslim conquest of the Arabian & Persian regions, Jeddah was part of the Kingdom of Hejaz, ruled by the Hashemite Dynasty, serving the function of a humble, yet essential, fisherman's port. Part 2 can be found through the link below: π π π π π π π π π π π π π π π π π π π |
Saturday
Part 1: Archeology says Mecca was no major mercantile center in 7th Century
