STUDIES BY CLASSICAL WRITERS SHOW THAT MECCA COULD NOT HAVE BEEN
BUILT BEFORE THE 4TH CENTURY A.D.
THE
ABSENCE OF MECCA IN THE ETHIOPIAN, SYRIAN, ARAMAIC AND COPTIC LITERATURE
The
absence of Mecca in the Ethiopian, Syrian, Aramaic and Coptic literature points
to the fact that it couldn’t have been founded during the 3rd century A.D.
Let’s
look at Ethiopian literature. The Ethiopians were also concerned with documenting
Arabian cities on the opposite coast of the Red Sea, especially in the area
where Mecca was eventually built. Again, we see that there is no mention of
Mecca in their surveys. Neither do we find any mention of Mecca during the 2nd,
3rd or 4th century A.D. This also demonstrates that Mecca did not
exist at the time of Ptolemy; we have to place its origin at a
later date.
That Mecca was not built before the 2nd A.D. century is an
indisputable fact. The question now is whether we can determine if Mecca was
built in the 3rd or 4th century A.D. The absence of records in
Syrian, Aramaic and Coptic literature makes the dates for the existence of
Mecca later than the 3rd century A.D. Crone, whom I mentioned
earlier, did a survey of the Coptic and Syrian literature which was concerned
with Arabia, but none of these works mentioned Mecca.[xciii]
We also have other
reasons to assume that the date for Mecca’s founding was after the beginning of
the 4th century A.D. We find some help in Christian evangelistic and missionary
activities in Arabia and Christian literature. They do not mention Mecca,
either.
We also know that the Christians under the Byzantine Empire tried to evangelize
Arabia. The Byzantine emperor targeted the main cities of Arabia and sent
missionaries to evangelize and establish churches. This evangelism was so
successful that, at the Nicea Convention around 320 A.D., an
Arabic bishop participated.[xciv]
The church in Najran, a city on the border of Yemen
toward Mecca, was established before the Nicea Convention. In 354 A.D.,
Constantine the Second sent Theophilus Indus to Arabia to evangelize
the region. He established churches in Eden, Thafar and Hermez. The Ethiopians sent
missionaries to Arabia to evangelize the cities around the Red Sea. The
Nestorians sent missionaries to Hijaz; into northern and central
western Arabia where Mecca was eventually
built. Arabia was also the main target of missionary activity for the church of
Hira in southern Iraq.
It is significant that we don’t find any mention of Mecca in all the Christian
records of this time. This suggests that Mecca did not exist in the 3rd century
A.D., or at the beginning of the 4th century. Because it was inhabited by many
tribes, and built by a big tribe, like Khuzaa'h, Mecca could not be a small
village which would not have attracted the attention of the missionaries and
the Christian churches of Mesopotamia, Ethiopia and Byzantium.
Once again, we see the writers of history confirming our research which shows
that Mecca was built long after Muslims claim it was. This simple truth should
challenge Muslims to take a fresh look at the teachings of the Bible and seek after the truth, which
Jesus said, “And ye shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free.”(
Gospel of John 8:32)
Fig.
3 Central Western Arabia as it appeared in 1945 taken from “Western Arabia and
the Red Sea,” prepared by the Naval Division, Great Britain.
Fig.
4 The cities occupied by Nabonidus, king of Babylonia, during his 10 years'
sojourn in north and central western Arabia, but Mecca is missing in his
records
[1] Many of the reports upon
which Eratosthenes based his map were lost, but much of the contents survive in the fragments of Agatharchides' work “On
the Erythraean Sea,” Burstein,
page 12
[2]
Many passages in On the Erythraean Sea clearly point to
the fact that Agatharchides consulted eyewitness merchants and others who visited the
region. See especially fragment 41.
[3]
Although the book of Agatharchides is no longer in existence, it has been preserved through the synopsis
of the classical authors Photius, Diodorus and Strabo. We find a good summary of the 5th book
of Agatharchides in the work of Diodorus Library of History, chapters 12-48. The summary of Photius in his work Bibliotheca, especially Codex 250, is very important.
[4] The geographical book Western Arabia and the Red Sea, specifies
the area of Wadi al- ‘efal in the following area adjacent to the Gulf of Aqaba: “East of the Gulf of Aqaba two important watersheds lie, roughly parallel to one
another and to the gulf; immediately behind the coastal lowlands the Ridge of
al-Farwa separates the Wadis, which cut westward through the coastal ridge to
the gulf, from those which drain southward to the Red Sea east of Ras Fartak. The chief of the latter wadis is Wadi al-Abyadh which, in its lower reaches, broadens and is called
Wadi Efal- behind to be the plain inhabited by the Bythemani- Bythemaneas-….”; Western Arabia and the Red Sea, Naval
Intelligence Division, Geographical Handbook Series, 1946, page 40; see also
footnote 3
[5] Nonnosus was an ambassador to Justinian the Great,
the Byzantine Emperor, who lived in the 6th century A. D. He made a journey to
western Arabia, Yemen, and Axum (a kingdom that flourished in the land that
became known as Ethiopia). Nonnosus wrote a book describing his own voyages and the Arab
cultures he encountered. His book survived in the writings of Photius of
Constantinople.
[6] Arabia Petraea, or Provincia Arabia , was a Roman
province. It was called so in the beginning of the second century; when
Trajan annexed the Nabataean lands, which consisted of Trans-Jordan, southern
Syria, the Sinai and Aqaba Gulf area.
[7] Regarding the expedition of Gallus; He returned to Negrana in nine days after he failed to occupy
Marsiaba in Saba. Negrana is Najran, about 650 kilometers south of Mecca. On the 11th day he reached a village called Hepta phreata, then he went to another
village named Chaalla, then on to another village named Malotha which, most
probiblay, was Malothan located close to the actual city of Jadda, which is
about 30 miles from Mecca. But between Malotha or Malothan and Egra (north of where Mecca was later built)
there were no villages mentioned by Strabo who accompagned the expedition. Gallus
badly needed urgent supplies of water and food, but he could not find villages
which could give him rest, and re-supply his troops in the area where Mecca was eventually built.
See The Geography of Strabo, Book XVI. 4 . 24
See The Geography of Strabo, Book XVI. 4 . 24
[8] Scholars agree that Pliny wrote his Natural History after the compilation of The Periplus
of the Erythraean Sea, because Pliny seems to include many
elements in the description of The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea of Arabia Felix. It is known that Pliny accomplished his work Natural History between
72-76 A.D.
[ii] Arrian, Anabasis, book vii, chapter 19: 4 and 5
[iii] Arrian, Anabasis, book vii, chapter 19: 6
[iv] Arrian, Anabasis, book vii, chapter 20: 2
[v] Arrian, Anabasis, book vii, chapter 20:6 and 7
[vii] Strabo, book 16, 3:1
[viii] Arrian, Anabasis, book vii, chapter 20: 7, 8
[ix] Arrian, Anabasis, book vii, chapter 20: 10
[x] Himanshu Prabha Ray, The archaeology of seafaring
in ancient South Asia, Press of the
University of Cambridge, 2003, page 170
[xi] Stanley M. Burstein, Agatharchides of Cnidus, On
The Erythraean Sea, The Hakluyt
Society, London, 1989, page 3
[xii] Burstein, Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea, The
Hakluyt Society London, 1989, page 160
[xiii] Stanley M. Burstein, Agatharchides of Cnidus, On
The Erythraean Sea, The Hakluyt Society, London, 1989, page 31
[xiv] There are fragments of the book of Pythagoras, kept by Aelian, NA 17.8-9 and Athenaeus,
Deipnosophists 4 .183-4; citation of Burstein
[xv] Strabo wrote: “Eratosthenes takes all these as matters actually established by
the testimony of the men who had been in the regions, for he has read many
historical treatises - with which he was supplied if he had a library as large
as Hipparchus says it was – he means the Library of Alexandria” Strabo, Geography,
book 2. 1:5
[xvi] Stanley Burstein, Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea, The
Hakluyt Society London, 1989, page 30
[xvii]
Stanley Burstein, Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea, The Hakluyt Society London, 1989 , page 3
The
Geography of Strabo, Volume VII, Harvard University Press, 1966, page 313
[xix] See C. Muller, Geographi Graeci Minores,
Paris, 1855-1861, I,LIV-L,VIII; quoted by Burstein, page 13
[xx] Fraser, P.M., Ptolemaic Alexandria, Oxford,
1972, I, 549; cf. Peremans, W., Diodore de Sicile et Agatharchide de Cnide',
Historia xvi, 1967, pp. 443-4; cited by Burstein, page 30
[xxi] From Book 5 of Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea,
excerption from Photius, Bibliotheca, cited by Burstein, page
147-fragment 87
[xxii] From book 5 of Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea,
excerption from Diodorus, Library of History, cited by Burstein, page
79-fragment 40b
[xxiii] Peremans, W., Diodore de Sicile et
Agatharchide de Cnide', pp. 447-55, cited by Burstein, page 32
[xxiv] Burstein, Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea, The
Hakluyt Society London, 1989, page 160
[xxv] There are fragments of the book of Pythagoras, kept by Aelian, NA 17.8-9 and Athenaeus,
Deipnosophists 4 .183-4; citation of Burstein
[xxvi] Burstein, Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea, The
Hakluyt Society London, 1989 , page 36
[xxvii] From book 5 of Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea,
excerption from Photius, Bibliotheca, cited by Burstein, page
169-fragment 105a
[xxviii] See Burstein’s study, footnotes, page 33
[xxix]
From book 5 of Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea, excerption from Photius, Bibliotheca, cited by Burstein, page
148-fragment 87a
[xxx] From book 5 of Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea,
excerption from Diodorus, Library of History, cited by Burstein, page
153-fragment 92b
[xxxi]
Musil, page 303
[xxxii]
Wilfred Schoff, The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, Munshiram Manoharial Publishers Pvt Ltd., 1995, page 54
[xxxiii] From book 5 of Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea,
excerption from Photius, Bibliotheca, cited by Burstein, page
150-155-fragment 90 a- 95a ; from book 5 of Agatharchides of Cnidus, on
the Erythraean Sea, excerption from Diodorus, Library of History, cited by Burstein, page
150-155 –fragment 91b-93b
[xxxiv]
From book 5 of Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea,, excerption from Photius, Bibliotheca, cited by Burstein, page
155-fragment 95a
[xxxv]
cf.Woelk, p. 223; cited by Burstein, page 155
[xxxvi]
Nonnosus cited by Photius, Bibliotheca, 1,5
[xxxvii] Forster, The
Historical Geography of Arabia, I, page 20
[xxxix] Irfan
Shahid, Byzantium and the Arabs in the sixth century, volume 2, Part 1,
Dumbarton Oaks, 1995, page 126
[xl] Procopius, History of the
Wars, book I, xix. 7-16
[xli] Procopius, History of the
Wars, book I, xix. 7-16
[xlii] W.Wright, Catalogue of Syriac
Manuscripts in the British Museum ( London, 1871), part II, page 468;
cited by Irfan Shahid,
Byzantium and the Arabs in the sixth century, volume 2, Part 1, Dumbarton Oaks, 2002, page 29
[xliii] cited by Irfan Shahid, Byzantium and the Arabs
in the sixth century, volume 2, Part 1, Dumbarton
Oaks, 2002, pages 29 and 46
[xliv] Irfan
Shahid, Byzantium and the Arabs in the sixth century, volume 2, Part 1,
Dumbarton Oaks, 1995, page 125
[xlv] Irfan Shahid, Byzantium and the Arabs in the sixth century, volume 2,
Part 1, Dumbarton Oaks, 1995, page 127
[xlvi] Al Waqidi, Al Maghazi, part ii, page 355
[xlvii] Al Waqidi, Al Maghazi, part ii, page 369
[xlviii] Procopius, History of the
Wars, book II, xvi. 18-19
[xlix]
Nonnosus cited by Photius, Bibliotheca, 1,5
[l] Crone, page 197
[li] Al Suheili, Al Ruth al
Unf, I, page 423
[lii]
Noted by Wellhausen, Reste, p.92, cited by Crone, page 197
[liv]
Nonnosus cited by Photius, Bibliotheque, 1,5
[lvi] Rasael al Jaheth, page
70; Al Thaalibi, Thimar al Qulub, page 115
[lvii] Al Zubeidi, Taj al
Aruss, I, page 258
[lviii] Jawad Ali, al
Mufassal Fi Tarikh al Arab Qabl al Islam, part 7, page 294
[lix] Al Asfahani, Al
Aghani, 8, 50
[lx] Al Azruqi, Akhbar Mecca, pages 66, 67 and 69
[lxi] Sidney Smith, Babylonian Historical Texts,
London 1924, Chapter III, page 27-97; Dougherty, Nab. And Bel., pages 105-11;
cited by F.V.Winnett and W.L.Reed, Ancient Records from North Arabia,
University of Toronto Press, 1970, page 89
[lxii]
C.J.Gadd, The Harran Inscriptions of Nabonidus, ( Anatolian Studies, 8
(1958), page 59 ; cited by F.V.Winnett and W.L.Reed, Ancient Records from
North Arabia, University of Toronto Press, 1970, page 91
[lxiii] From book 5 of Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea,
excerption from Photius, Bibliotheca, cited by Burstein, page
152-fragment 92a
[lxiv] cf Woelk, p.223; quoted by Stanley Burstein, Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea, The
Hakluyt Society London, 1989, page 155
[lxv] H.Von Wissmann, Zaabram', Pauly's Realencyclopadie
der Klassischen Altertumswissenschaft ( Stuttgart, 1894-1980) supp., XI
(1968) col.1310 ; cited by Stanley Burstein, Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea, The
Hakluyt Society London, 1989 , page 155
[lxvi]
Western Arabia and the Red Sea, 1946, Naval Intelligence Division, page 585.
[lxvii] See Stanley Burstein on his introduction to “Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea,” The Hakluyt
Society, London, 1989, page 13
[lxviii] Leopoldi, Helmuthus, De Agatharchide Cnidio
(Diss.Rostow, 1892) pp.13-17 ; cited by Burstein, page 39.
Strabo made abridgement of Agatharchides's book, adding material from the lost book of
Artemidorus. The work which Artemidorus developed, especially
about Arabia, is contained in Strabo’s chapters, especially 16.4.5-20. See
Bunbury,
E.H. A History of Ancient Geography, 2nd ed. (London 1883),
pages 61-69; Burstein, page 38
The
Geography of Strabo, Volume VII, Harvard University Press, (London,
1966), page 343
The
Geography of Strabo, Volume VII, Harvard University Press, ( London,
1966), page 345
[lxxi] Wilfred Schoff on his comment on The Periplus of
the Erythraean Sea, Munshiram Manoharial Publishers Pvt Ltd. ( New Delhi,
1995), page 101
[lxxiii]
Dio Cassius: History of Rome,
Book LIII. xxix.3-8.
The
Geography of Strabo, Volume VII, Harvard University Press (London, 1966),
page 349
[lxxv]
The Geography of Strabo, Book XVI .4.2
[lxxviii] Wilfred Schoff on his introduction to The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, Munshiram Manoharial Publishers Pvt Ltd.(New
Delhi, 1995), pages 14,15
[lxxix] Among the places where Josephus mentions Malchus are in “The Wars of the Jews,” Book 1, chapter 14 and “The
Antiquities of the Jews,” Book 14,
chapter 14.
[lxxx]
The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, section 27
[lxxxi]
The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, section 23
[lxxxii]
Inscription No. 1619 by Glaser, cited by Wilfred Schoff, page 11
[lxxxiii]
The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, section 4
[lxxxiv] H.Rackham, Introduction to Pliny, Natural History, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press,
William Heinemann Ltd. (London,
1979), page vii
[lxxxvi] Josephi Fischer S.J., Commentatio de CL. Ptolemaci
vita, operibus, influxu sacculari, pages 65-79 (in his introduction
to
Vatican publication of Ptolemy: Claudii Ptolemaci Geographiac Urbinas
Codex graccus 82 phototypice depictus); the same mentioned by Josephi
Fischer in his introduction
to Claudius Ptolemy The Geography, translated by Edward Luther Stevenson, Dover Publications, INC, (New York, 1991, page 7
[lxxxvii] Josephi
Fischer in his introduction to Claudius
Ptolemy, The Geography , translated by Edward Luther Stevenson, Dover Publications
, INC, (New York, 1991), page 5
[lxxxviii]
Claudius Ptolemy, The Geography, Book II, Claudius Ptolemy, The Geography, translated by Edward Luther Stevenson, Dover Publications , New
York, 1991, page 47
[lxxxix]
Claudius Ptolemy, The Geography, book VI chapter VI, Claudius Ptolemy, The Geography, translated by Edward Luther Stevenson, Dover
Publications , New York, 1991, page 137-138
[xc]
Yaqut al-Hamawi, Mujam al-Buldan, iv, 587; quoted by Patricia Crone, Meccan
Trade, Princeton University Press, 1987, page 136
[xci] ) The Geogrophy of Strabo, Book 16, chapter iv, 2 (The Geogrophy of Strabo,
volume vii, translated by Horace L. Jones , 1966, page 311)
[xcii] Natural History of Pliny; Book VI, chapter 32
[xciii] Patricia Crone, Meccan Trade,
Princeton University Press, 1987, pages 134,135
[xciv] Nallino
Carlo Alfonso , Raccolta di Scritti editti E ineditti, Roma, Istituto per l'Oriente,
1939-48 , Vol.III, page 122 ;
Caetani, Annali Dell' Islam, I, (1907), page 125
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