 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. 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 with a very rich wife. 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. In as much, whatever be the 6th Century city, if it were not located along the Maritime Silk Road, 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, Türkiye. In fact, Antakya is approximately 1,000 miles north of Mecca. Moreover, Alexandria Egypt was also a major trading hub along the Maritime Silk Road, and it's located 911 miles northwest of Mecca. 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. Well, 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 ... 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., Jeddah 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 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 45 miles east of the Red Sea. HOWEVER, the main 7th Century Red Sea port was Berenice Troglodytica. 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.  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.  In review: A caravan of camels could NOT survive the journey to the real trading hub, Alexandria. Plus, they could not swim across the Red Sea, to the port town of Berenice Troglodytica. The disaster of having a herd of pack animals travel long distances was already illustrated in the person of Hannibal and his Column of 37 War Elephants, in 218 BCE. A grand total of one elephant made it through the Pyrenees and the Alps, into Capua. Capua is a suburb of Caserta which is a suburb of Naples. 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.  Let's get this well understood and review it Now, in the list of Maritime Silk Road trading centers, one city is always missing from the list, concerning historical accounts, merchant records, and archeological evidence. In as much, in records and chronicles of the 6th and 7th Century, neither Mecca nor Makkah al-Mukarramah nor Macoraba nor Bekkah are ever mentioned as major centers of the Maritime Silk Road. The Muslim tradition of claiming that a Mohammad made a fortune in Mecca from the very late 500s into the early 600s has zero credibility to it. Let's review this one more time, due to the brain-washing that occurred by certain media entities, educational entities, and nations where the freedom of one's choice of religion is forbidden: 1] Wealthy Eastern Hemispheric merchants of the era operated in either Hormuz or Alexandria or Baghdad or Antakya or Calicut India or a few other places, all of which were either on the Maritime Silk Road or were port towns. 2] The wealthy merchants did NOT operate in Mecca, be it under the name of Mecca or under the name of Bekkah ... 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 chronicle accounts, as well as archeological inscriptions of any kind, for centuries. Meanwhile, in the years before the Muslim conquest of the Arabian regions, Jeddah was part of the Kingdom of Hejaz, ruled by Hashemite Dynasty. Part 2 can be found through the link below: |
Tuesday
Part 1: Archeology says Mecca was no major mercantile center in 7th Century
