Study – Grow – Know

What is the Real History of Mecca?

June 19, 2013 at 11:09 AM Leave a comment

To hear people like Karen Armstrong talk, every claim made against Islam is wrong. It’s a lie, a falsehood that is designed to attack Islam at its root. Karen Armstrong is the quintessential apologist for Islam. Armstrong began adult life as a nun in a convent.

One thing led to another and due to what Armstrong believes to be the cruel practices of the sisters at the convent, she eventually left her order. Eventually, she left Roman Catholicism altogether and over the years, has embraced more mystical aspects of religious thought. She has become a prolific author and while she has written on numerous religions, she has spent much time focusing on Islam’s history and its founder, Muhammad.

While Armstrong often receives plaudits for her work supporting Islam, some charge that she is being disingenuous. “Sam Harris who is one of her prominent ‘New Atheist’ critics, criticizes her for obfuscating what he considers to be the most pressing issue of our time: ‘Islam, as it is currently understood and practiced by vast numbers of the world’s Muslims’.”

But this article  isn’t about Armstrong per se. It is about truth as we are able to discern it. For that to happen, we must look at various people who claim to speak the truth. In my previous article about whether Abraham ever went to Mecca, we learned that not everyone who knows history, Islam, and speaks Arabic fluently agrees with Islam’s proponents who argue that Abraham went to Mecca with Ishmael and built the first temple. We noted how Dr. Rafat Armari refutes that claim. Is what he says true? That’s for each person to decide of course, but some would argue that he should not be allowed to say it. That type of censorship has no place in a free and civilized society. Of course, we’ve all seen Muslims protesting, carrying signs that say “Freedom Go to Hell” and others like that.

Freedom of speech is anathema to strict Islam. If people are allowed to openly discuss the pros and cons of Islam, then they may begin to question the very validity of Islam. If they question it, they may wind up rebelling against it and leaving it. That wouldn’t do. People must not be allowed to think for themselves if Islam has its way.

In Dr. Amari’s book Islam: In Light Of History, he deals with many areas of Islam that are relevant. A large portion of his book focuses on what he terms the true history of Mecca. Obviously, he writes too much to include here, but we can highlight some of what he says in an effort to learn whether or not he has any substance at all in what he states.

One of the first questions he deals with is whether or not Hagar fled to Mecca. Hagar, as you’ll no doubt recall, was Sarah’s handmaiden that Sarah gave to Abraham because it appeared as though God’s promise to give them a son was taking too long. Sarah stepped in and helped things along. The entire story begins in Genesis 16.

Abraham does what just about any red-blooded man would do when faced with such a decision. He gives into his wife and sleeps with Hagar, eventually impregnating her. Sarah’s thought was that any child born to Hagar would technically be Sarah’s because Hagar was her handmaiden. Hagar gives birth to Ishmael and Abraham was 86-years-old then.

In Genesis 17, four years later when Abraham was 90-years-old, God meets with Abraham and tells him that he must be circumcised as the sign of the covenant between Abraham and the nation of Jewish people that would come from his loins. Please note that Abraham is circumcised after he impregnated Hagar and she gives birth to Ishmael, not before. It is also interesting to note that if Abraham had not listened to his wife, Ishmael would never have been born. That one act has caused severe trouble for Israel ever since.

The promised son – Isaac – has still not been born yet. God tells Abraham in Genesis 17 that He will surely bless Ishmael because he came from Abraham’s loins. But in verse 21, God clearly says, “But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.” There is no mention of Ishmael as being part of this covenant, even though we soon read that Abraham circumcised all the males in his household. This not only included Ishmael, but all male servants that Abraham bought with his own money as well as any other male born into Abraham’s household. By the way, we will talk more about circumcision in another article soon.

In Genesis 18, we read of the three visitors to Abraham. They are on their way to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and stop to remind Abraham that Sarah will give birth to the promised son the following year. This cannot refer to Ishmael because he was already living at the time.

Skipping ahead to Genesis 21, we learn of the birth of the promised son, Isaac. We also learn that Ishmael started treating Isaac like crap and Sarah demanded that Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael away. The Bible tells us that Hagar took Ishmael to live in the Desert of Paran (v. 21). The question is whether this is anywhere near where Mecca now exists?

Dr. Amari – referencing Scripture – notes that Paran is actually part of the Sinai Peninsula, near Egypt (cf. Numbers 10:12). “When some Islamic writers read in the Bible that Ishmael lived in the Wilderness of Paran, they try to convince their followers, called Muslims, that Paran is Mecca. But the Bible is clear. It identifies Paran as part of Sinai, close to Mount Sinai.” [1]

According to the Bible, Paran is actually north of Mt. Sinai, closer to the land of Palestine. This means that it is not in Saudi Arabia (see illustration above). This fact alone disproves the fallacious claims of Islam, but we’re not done yet. There’s a lot more to say and we’ll be back with more details in our next article.

[1] Dr. Rafat Amari Islam in Light of History, 2004, p. 99

Entry filed under: Islam, Islamofascism, Life in America, Political Correctness, Politically Correct, Politics, Religious - Christian - Theology. Tags: #ccot, #pjnet, #tcot, anti-zionist, arab states, as it was in the days of noah, did abraham go to mecca?, islam, islam's lies, islamic, the real history of mecca.