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Road of the Patriarch

Started by Pazuzu, November 29, 2011, 10:18:04 AM

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huruf

I am not upholding that the Mecca of Qur'an is the one we are told it is today, but not because of the fig and the olive, those can be had in too many places to use it so selectively por Jerusalem or whatever, or for Mecca indeed. I do not think that is a very useful criteria.

almarh0m

Peace be upon you all

If you all really want to separate the myths from reality of the peoples and religions of the ancient, please do yourselves a favor by reading this book: The Christ in Egypt by D.M. Murdoch. In it you will find that, the myths of Christ and Jesus existed many millenia before the advent of present day Christianity and Judaism. If after reading this book with all its primary sources and archeological evidences and still give The Bible some credibility, then you are a hard people to convince.

Please read this book and tell us what you think about the the various theories going around regarding the patriarchs and the religions they brought with them.

Peace and Regards

almarh0m

"He who Created me, it is He who Guides me"

roshan_m

Quote from: virtueorvice on May 15, 2014, 05:02:03 PM

The advocates of the Palestinian Ṭūr  theory actually thought that the Qur?ān supported their argument, specifically in the following passage: {And a tree which emerges from Ṭūr Seenā?; it grows with oil and is a relish for those who eat}?[23:20]. Their argument is that olives do not - nor did they ever - grow on the so-called ?Sinai Peninsula?, which means that the Egyptian Ṭūr theory clearly contradicts the Qur?ān. Whereas, on the other hand, the ?Blessed Land? (al-arḍ  al-mubāraka) - which they automatically assumed was Palestine - had plenty of olive trees all year round. In fact, the mountain in question, which overlooks Jerusalem, is called ?the Mount of Olives?, and its peak is around 850 meters above sea level. Their conclusion was that Ṭūr Seenā? is in fact the Mount of Olives.

What the proponents of the Mount of Olives didn?t realize  is that they had  fallen under the influence of an old and fruitless Jewish debate regarding the true location of ?Mount Sinai?, a debate that is still raging until today. In fact, some Jewish sects firmly believe that the Mount of Olives is ?Mount Sinai?, where the Lord spoke to Mūsa. A more recent theory among Biblical scholars and academics has even placed Mount Sinai in the far north of Saudi Arabia, claiming that it is none other than  the famous Jabal al-Lawz, a peculiar-looking mountain with a blackened peak, located near the city of Tabūk, not far from the Jordanian border. Still, others have claimed that Mount Sinai  is somewhere in the Negev desert! -Search for Pharaoh[/b]

The Books II and III are filled with place names: the similarity between the names cited in Arabian Poetry and Geographical Books with the names in the Old Testament!

As far as I know, Bakkah and Makkah will be tackled in the upcoming books... anyway, I hope Pazuzu will shed more light!

Also you can see The Queen of Sheba and Biblical Scholarship by Bernard Leeman: http://www.scribd.com/doc/86438965/2009-Queen-of-Sheba-and-Biblical-Scholarship

You might also be interested in reading Kamal Salibi's books if you can find them!

Peace

thank you for the verses and references, I will look at them. My main point is that according to my understanding, if we assume that Yemen is the origin of montheism (and humanity for that matter) it should be only logical that the two important trees for humans, olive and fig  (as even mentioned in Quran) would be originally found there. The verses given by you didn't really answer my question, but thank you for effort :)

Quote from: huruf on May 16, 2014, 06:25:21 AM
I am not upholding that the Mecca of Qur'an is the one we are told it is today, but not because of the fig and the olive, those can be had in too many places to use it so selectively por Jerusalem or whatever, or for Mecca indeed. I do not think that is a very useful criteria.

May I dare to disagree with you. I don't know what methodologies you guys are using in determining the truth/falsehood or the facts/conjencture but I use the following:
a) Reflecting what are the strong and weak points of the given theory in my general logical reasoning
b) if theory has more convincing strengths rather than weaknesses I will test it against verses from Quran that are relevant to the matter

Now, according to my observation and study of Quraan, everytime Allah swears in Quran by something, that is indeed very important clue. Because in surah At Tin the swearing by the olive and the fig follows directly swearing by the City of Peace, then obviously (at least to ME) it means something very important and I wouldn't call it 'not very useful criteria'.

Of course I am not basing my research only on this but this is also a test question and have to answer it..
Obviously the matter here is not where the olives are cultivated now but where they appeared FIRST (I remember that according to OT, Noah sent a dove away from the ark and it came back with the olive branch, this story rings a bell from Quran but I'm not 100% sure, so there is another clue!!!).

Because in my first post I have mentioned that according to Wikipedia, the first and the oldest traces of olives and figs were found more or less in Palestine and Jordan, my Question to you, the truth seekers, was: what do you know about this matter in Yemen, I believe that it would be possible to find even older traces over there, but is my assumption backed by any decent archeological discovery/references or not?? I would appreciate proper references or links to such discoveries, if you have any, instead of going on about how unimportant my question is.

Thank you :)
M.

"I want to know God's thoughts ? the rest are mere details." A. Einstein

huruf

The thing is I do not see why in order for God to swear by anything in the Qur'an those things in order to matter should be the oldest specimens of them, why not gthe most abundant or the best or some other which were notorious for some other reason? How could we know anyway which were the first? Not even the traces proove anything. The fact that you find the oldest traces yet found, that does not proove that there were no others before of which there are no traces, or that later on older trace smay be found.

Also those mentions may be also symbolical. The Qur'an speaks of the olive tree which is neither from the east nor from the west. Why no think that it may be of that kind of olive tree that it is speaking about?

I did not mean to slight your ideas, I just do not see how God swearing by the fig and the olive proove a particular place fig and olive being widespread.

Salaam

Zulf

Agreed.

We need to be watchful about our own assumptions.
Like when researchers say that there are no evidence for X.... well, just because there currently are no evidence only means exactly that. Lack of evidence is absolutely not the same as evidence of the opposite. Lack of evidence often just means that X has not been studied properly as yet.

We'd never be able to establish what were the first fig and where they were, because it is impossible to record every inch of the planet at every time of the past history. Also, why assume we're looking for the first appearance of fig? I don't think the species fig (or whatever we'd be talking about) never existed before the events of the so called holy books. So we should be pondering WHY we are looking for exactly that which we are looking for.

Peace
If you name me, you negate me.

Hizbullah

Salam

I am refreshing my Brother Pazuzu, interesting thread. Now, the Quran use the word BILAD for the area where Kinanah is / was. This word does not seems to mean LAND, but something else. This word is mentioned in the Quran as follows

(2:126:7) baladan   a city   وَإِذْ قَالَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ رَبِّ اجْعَلْ هَٰذَا بَلَدًا آمِنًا
(3:196:7) l-bilādi   the land   لَا يَغُرَّنَّكَ تَقَلُّبُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فِي الْبِلَادِ
(7:57:15) libaladin   to a land   حَتَّىٰ إِذَا أَقَلَّتْ سَحَابًا ثِقَالًا سُقْنَاهُ لِبَلَدٍ مَيِّتٍ فَأَنْزَلْنَا بِهِ الْمَاءَ
(7:58:1) wal-baladu   And the land   وَالْبَلَدُ الطَّيِّبُ يَخْرُجُ نَبَاتُهُ بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِ
(14:35:7) l-balada   city   وَإِذْ قَالَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ رَبِّ اجْعَلْ هَٰذَا الْبَلَدَ آمِنًا
(16:7:4) baladin   a land   وَتَحْمِلُ أَثْقَالَكُمْ إِلَىٰ بَلَدٍ لَمْ تَكُونُوا بَالِغِيهِ إِلَّا بِشِقِّ الْأَنْفُسِ
(35:9:9) baladin   a land   فَسُقْنَاهُ إِلَىٰ بَلَدٍ مَيِّتٍ فَأَحْيَيْنَا بِهِ الْأَرْضَ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا
(40:4:13) l-bilādi   the cities   مَا يُجَادِلُ فِي آيَاتِ اللَّهِ إِلَّا الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فَلَا يَغْرُرْكَ تَقَلُّبُهُمْ فِي الْبِلَادِ
(50:36:12) l-bilādi   the lands   فَنَقَّبُوا فِي الْبِلَادِ هَلْ مِنْ مَحِيصٍ
(89:8:6) l-bilādi   the cities   الَّتِي لَمْ يُخْلَقْ مِثْلُهَا فِي الْبِلَادِ
(89:11:4) l-bilādi   the lands   الَّذِينَ طَغَوْا فِي الْبِلَادِ
(90:1:4) l-baladi   city   لَا أُقْسِمُ بِهَٰذَا الْبَلَدِ
(90:2:4) l-baladi   city   وَأَنْتَ حِلٌّ بِهَٰذَا الْبَلَدِ
(95:3:2) l-baladi   [the] city   وَهَٰذَا الْبَلَدِ الْأَمِينِ

(25:49:3) baldatan   (to) a land   لِنُحْيِيَ بِهِ بَلْدَةً مَيْتًا وَنُسْقِيَهُ مِمَّا خَلَقْنَا أَنْعَامًا وَأَنَاسِيَّ كَثِيرًا
(27:91:7) l-baldati   city   إِنَّمَا أُمِرْتُ أَنْ أَعْبُدَ رَبَّ هَٰذِهِ الْبَلْدَةِ الَّذِي حَرَّمَهَا
(34:15:17) baldatun   A land   بَلْدَةٌ طَيِّبَةٌ وَرَبٌّ غَفُورٌ
(43:11:9) baldatan   a land   وَالَّذِي نَزَّلَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً بِقَدَرٍ فَأَنْشَرْنَا بِهِ بَلْدَةً مَيْتًا
(50:11:5) baldatan   (to) a land   وَأَحْيَيْنَا بِهِ بَلْدَةً مَيْتً


The Quran tells us that,

The Bless Land was in the Bilad

Abraham sojourned to the Bilad

Saba was in the Bilad

Our resurrection will be at the Bilad.

In order to comprehend what i have written, please read Pazuzu's thread below


Quote from: Pazuzu on January 12, 2012, 03:59:27 PM
Coincidence # 6: Hebron

(This is actually #6. I must have miscounted earlier on)

There are less than 1,000 Jewish settlers living in the town of ?Al-Khaleel? today, most of them having come from Europe or the USA, and they have been turning the lives of some 20,000 Palestinians into a veritable hell. These settlers, under the influence of the imperialist and orientalist interpretation of the Torah, absolutely REFUSE to believe the poor, simple Palestinians, who have never stopped telling the glaring truth, even though they do not have the linguistic or geographical proof to back their claims: That Al-Khaleel is and has always been an Arab town, and was never known by the name of ?Hebron?, and that the name ?Hebron? which appears in the Torah has absolutely nothing to do with the geography of Palestine whatsoever, no matter how long the archeologists search for it.

But their cries have fallen on deaf ears, as the imperialists and orientalists have continued to imagine Palestine and its towns as the ancient theater of events mentioned in the Old Testament. And this imagination has led to unpardonable injustices and persecutions, which the conspiring West and the Zionist Arab regimes have never so much as raised a finger against. Yet it is up to us to uncover the truth of the matter. We MUST believe the Palestinians for no reason other than that what they have been saying is the truth, even though they lack the evidence to back it up. Their blatant denial of the name ?Hebron? as being related to ?Al-Khaleel? stems from their firmly-rooted knowledge and familiarity with the land of their birth, passed down from generation to generation.

The Torah tells us that Abraham the Hebrew (?Hebrew? meaning -  عبري    he who crossed over - عبر - from the wilderness of Arabia, towards the lush mountain oases of the Sarat Mountains), after having settled for a while in the land of the so-called Canaanites (which we have previously proven were none other than the sedentary Bani Kanana tribe, whose domain was the mountain slopes along the Red Sea coast), witnessed the death of his wife Sarah, in a place called ?Kirjat-Arba? (spelled ?Kirjatarba? or ?Kirjatharba? in some translations). And it tells us that this place was also known as ?Hebron?, which appears as   حبرون  in the Orientalist Arab translations:

And Sarah died in Kirjat-Arba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her (Genesis ? 23:2)

Now, since we have postulated that the ?Land of Canaan? was actually the ?Land of Kanana?, in South West Arabia, then, in order for our theory to be correct, we must find evidence of a place called Hebron  حبرون  in that location. It must have been a very well-known place, and mention of it must be found in old Arabian records. But first, we must bear in mind that the original  Squared Aramaic letters (which the so-called  ?Hebrew? language STOLE and claimed as its own), were originally silent letters, and did not include any vowels. So, if we were to render the word ?Hebron? as it appeared originally (before the Masorite priests perverted the text through their ?accentuation? of the letters), it would be in the form of ?Hbrn? - حبرن .  We also have to show that the name was associated to a place called ?Kirjat-Arba?.

And here is where another shocking truth has been uncovered:

The ancient tribe of Bani Kananah did in fact know of a location called ?Hbrn?, which was actually rendered sometimes as ?Hebran?, (  حبران ) and sometimes as ?Hebra? ( حبرى ).

Now, if we compare   حبران  with  حبرون, we will see that in terms of Arabic structure, the word is actually the same, once we remove the vowel.

In fact, this place was so popular to the ancient Arabs of the Asir region, that they mentioned it on numerous occasions in their poetry. 

Yemeni poet Zayd-al-Khayl al- Tai?i (who died in the 9th year of the Hijra and who was famous for his many travels northwards), mentioned the place in one of his poems:

غدت من رخيخ ثم راحت عشية            بحبران    إرقـــال العقيـــق المجفــر

Another poet,  Al-Rai?i al-Numairy, also mentions the same place:

كأنـــها ناشط حمــت مدامعــه             من وحش حبران بين النقيع و الظفر

From our understanding of the descriptions of this place by the Arab poets, we can conclude that Hebran - Hebron was a mountainous place that had fallen into desolation since very ancient times, and had become a den of wild beasts.

Have you heard of the famous Arab Jewish Rabbi by the name of ?Kaab-ul-Ahbar? كعب الأحبار  ?

In case you haven?t, here is a briefing on him: He was a prominent Jewish figure who lived during the time of Muhammad (p), and later ?embraced? Islam during the time of Abu Bakr. He was a Yemeni Himyarite Jew, most probably hailing from Sana?a - the capital of Judaism in Arabia. His title actually means ?the Kaab of the Clergy? - meaning: the center/head / most prominent of their order. (This is an important clue as to what the word ?Kaaba? actually means). He is even mentioned in the Jewish Encyclopedia.

Here?s the link:  http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/9105-ka-b-al-ahbar

Arab geographer Yaqoot al Hamwi (volume 2 - pages 244,245) relates to us the following concerning this Jewish Rabbi:

وفي هذا يقول كعب الأحبار الأخباري  "أول من مات ودفن في حبرى، سارة زوجة إبراهيم (ع)، وكان مسكنه بناحية حبرى، فاشترى الموقع بخمسين درهما...."

Here is what al-Hamwi is telling us: 

"According to Kaab?ul Ahbar, The first to ever be buried in ?Hebra?  was Sarah, wife of Abraham, who had lived in the general area, and who had bought the place for 50 Dirhams"

Now of course, we cannot be 100% sure that this story was in fact true. I have already told you that history is often mixed with legends. And commentators generally agree that many stories tend to attribute legendary events to actual real places. The poets of ancient Yemen did NOT invent place names in their poetry. This is because ?crying at the ruins? was deeply imbedded in their culture, and was a means of expressing sadness over long-lost glories and places that had turned to dust (the tented homes of their lovers, desert oasies, tribes that migrated away, etc...). They were showing emotion to long-bygone days, and VERY real places. This "crying" was later incorporated into Jewish culture, which we see in their ?Wailing Wall" ritual - further proof of where Judaism originated.  So although the EVENT of Sarah?s death and burial somewhere in the desolation of Hebron-Hebran-Hebra may have been a local legend, the actual location was very much a real place. Or else how can we explain its mention attributed to a prominent Jewish religious figure, as related to us in the writings of a geographer of the caliber of Al-Hamwi?

Furthermore, the fact that the Jewish Rabbi of the 6th/7th Century A.D, Kaab -ul-Ahbar, knew of the story/legend of Abraham burying his wife (and then later on being buried HIMSELF) in a place called ?Hebra?, makes it very difficult to dismiss that he was not familiar with the place, and with the geography of the Torah in general. Furthermore, a Yemeni Jewish priest like Kaab - a real Semitic Jew - is more qualified to tell us where Hebran was located than all the Rabbis of Poland, Russia, and Lithuania, who are KHAZARI Jews of no relation whatsoever to the Children of Israel.

And if the Hebron of the Torah is indeed the town of  Al-Khaleel  in today?s Palestine, then why would Kaab, who was a YEMENI, mention it? Why would the Arab poets mention it? What relation did they have to Palestine?

Better yet, why is there a Hadith in Islamic folklore, which says that the prophet Muhammad (P), gave Tamim-al-Dari (one of the so-called ?companions?) a piece of land in a place called ?Hebran?, near  ?Wadi al- Qura?  (Valley of the Towns),  some 300 kilometers south of Mecca?

What does the word ?Kirjat-Arba? mean?    Could it be perhaps: THE FOUR TOWNS?    (The word ?Kirjat? is the same as ?Qiryat?, meaning ?town?. This is one of the thousands of words that the so-called Hebrew ?borrowed? from Arabic). Look at the map of ?Israel? today, and you will see names of towns that begin with ?Qiryat? (examples include: Qiryat Shemona, Qiryat Yam, Qiryat Tivon, etc?). This phenomena also existed in Arabia, and continues until this day. The word, in the Eloquent (Arabic) is ?qaryah? قرية.   

Reflect please?on where the events of the Old Testament took place?

And if you?re still not convinced, here?s another one for you:


Coincidence # 7:  Macphela

What is even more shocking is that the Torah, in its mention of Abraham?s wife Sarah, talks about a cave by the name of ?Macphelah?, which served as a burial site. Here are the words of Abraham (P) himself, as reported by the Torah:

That he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which is in the end of his field; for as much money as it is worth he shall give it me for a possession of a burying place amongst you (Genesis ? 23:9)

To summarize the story, is appears that Abraham bought a small patch of prairie land and a nearby cave somewhere in the desolate wilderness of Hebran-Hebra, from a man named Ephron son of Sohar. (The Arabic rendering of the name is: 3afroun bin Sawhar - I think it?s a no-brainer).  And, as was the old Yemeni tradition, buried his wife in the cave, which the Torah calls ?Macphelah?.

In his book ?The Bible Came from Arabia?, Kamal Salibi, who visited the region of Hebran in Saudi Arabia, in the early 1980?s, and spoke with the locals there, brings to our attention the following:

Below is an old map of the region taken from a Saudi gazetteer in 1977. You can see the town of Al-Miqfalah, barely 50 kilometers east of Al-Qunfudha, a once prominent Saudi town on the Red Sea coast, some 300 Km south of Mecca.  Not only that, but the region ?coincidently? happens to be mountainous, and full of caves, and the stories of prophets buried there have been local legends for centuries uncounted.


Old map of the Asir region, showing the site of al-Miqfalah (in relation to Makkah)

Blue circle: Miqfalah
Red circle: Al-Qunfudha
Orange circle: Misrama
Black square: Makkah


Of course, no one in the world listens to these legends, as the memories of the people living in Asir and Yemen are viewed as no more than baseless ranting. Instead, the world has gone on imagining Palestine as the theater of events that never happened there - events which archeologists have disproved time and time again.

The ruins in the Asir region (which the Zionist Saudis have been hiding from the public media), date back to as early as 3500 BC. The towns in that region (the ?Qaryats?) have maintained their names at least since the 7th Century BC. So you can bet that the name ?Miqfalah? existed since the Babylonian exile era, when the Jewish scribes corrupted the Torah for the first time, distributing "Promised Lands" to their descendants as a revenge on the world for the suffering and destruction that were perpetrated against them by the Assyrians (Remember: REAL places as theaters for possibly legendary events).

It also shows you how all the descendants of Abraham (P) actually lived in the same region, and that the ridiculous stories that the Muslims believe in, which separate between Abraham?s progeny, placing some in the Levant and others in Arabia are all LIES.

The very scarce archeological digs in Yemen, for example, have demonstrated the habit of burial in caves since the most ancient of times. This agrees with the old traditions of that country, as well as their legends (for example, there are folk stories in Yemen, transmitted from generation to generation, telling of the burial of the Prophet Hud in a cave north of Hadramaut. Also, the prophet Shuaib is believed to be buried in a cave located in a mountain that was named after him: Jabal al Nabi Shuaib, which happens to be the tallest peak in all of Arabia). You can read about these legends in such books as: ?Al Tijan fi Muluk Himyar" (The Crowns of the Kings of Himyar) by Wahb bin Manbah, and ?Akhbar al Yemen? (Tales from Yemen) by Obaid bin Sharia al Jurhumi.  The burial of prophets, kings and heroic figures in caves have been a part of Yemeni culture for many generations.

Coincidence # 8:  Mamre

We have seen so far, that Abraham migrated from his original homeland, which was NOWHERE near Iraq, towards a land that Allah described as ?blessed to the worlds?. This blessing existed since the time of Abraham (around 1700 BC), and had nothing to do with Jerusalem (which didn?t even exist back then), nor with Mecca (which also didn?t exist), and certainly had nothing to do with Christianity nor Judaism. It was land full of trees, fruits, flowing mountain streams, and immense resources. By now, you have probably figured out where that mountainous land was.

Allah led the Patriarch to the location of the Sacred Valley - The Bayt.  (The same valley in which Allah would later address Moses, on the slopes of "al-Tur"). And there, very near to that valley, Abraham set up his tents.

But what was the original place he settled in called? (According to the Torah).

Let?s read:

Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the oaks of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD (Genesis ? 13:18)

A bit further down we have:

So the field of Ephron which [was] in Machpelah, which [was] before Mamre, the field and the cave which [was] in it, and all the trees that [were] in the field, which [were] within all the surrounding borders, were deeded (Genesis - 23:17)

Mamre, which is in Hebron, and near Macphelah?

Has the city of Al-Khaleel in current-day Palestine ever been connected to a place called Mamre? I defy anyone on this planet to bring me proof of this claim. The Palestinians themselves, who lived in that land for generations until the KHAZAR PIRATES came and took it from them, have never heard of the name  ?Mamre?  in association with the occupied city of Al-Khaleel. Their elders know very well that this mysterious name was introduced by force onto their land.

But the Bani Kananah of Arabia knew of such a place. And they sang many legends about it in their poetry, describing it as wilderness place where ancient Arab heroes and warriors would rest in the shade of trees, and where mystics and oracles would commune with the gods.

In fact, the Torah relates to us an extraordinary event that took place in that copse of oak trees. Here it is:

Then the LORD appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day.   2 So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw [them,] he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground,   3 and said, "My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant.   4 "Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.   5 "And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, inasmuch as you have come to your servant." They said, "Do as you have said."   6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, "Quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal; knead [it] and make cakes."   7 And Abraham ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave [it] to a young man, and he hastened to prepare it.   8 So he took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set [it] before them; and he stood by them under the tree as they ate.   9 Then they said to him, "Where [is] Sarah your wife?" So he said, "Here, in the tent."   10 And He said, "I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son." (Sarah was listening in the tent door which [was] behind him.)   11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; [and] Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.   12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, "After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?"   13 And the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I surely bear [a child,] since I am old?'   14 "Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son." (Genesis 18: 1 - 14)

This same story appears in the Quran, albeit in slightly different details.


1- No names of places are mentioned, nor any copse of oak trees.
2- The name of the wife who laughed as she received the tidings is not mentioned.
3- The guests who visited Abraham were very unusual in appearance and behaved very strangely, causing Abraham to have some fear in his heart.
4- The guests did not even touch the food.

Here is the uncorrupted version of this story:

{Has the narrative of the noble guests of Abraham come to you? * When they entered upon him, they said: ?Peace!?. He said: ?Peace, O people unknown! * Then he went to his family and brought a fat calf. * He offered it to them, he said: ?Do you not eat?? * He then became fearful of them. They said: ?Do not fear?, and they gave him good news of a knowledgeable son * His wife then approached in amazement. She slapped upon her face, and said: ?A barren old woman!?}?[51:24-33]

Elsewhere in Allah?s book, we read the same story again, and get a new perspective (note how the two perspectives complete each other, forming an independent whole):

{And Our messengers came to Abraham with good news, they said: "Peace" He said: "Peace," and he made no delay in bringing a roasted calf * But when he saw that their hands did not reach towards it, he mistrusted them, and he began to have fear of them. They said: "Have no fear, we have been sent to the people of Lot? * And his wife was standing, so she laughed when We gave her the good news of Isaac, and after Isaac, Jacob. * She said: "O my! Shall I give birth when I am an old woman, and here is my husband an old man? This is indeed a strange thing!" * They said: "Do you wonder at the decree of Allah? The mercy and blessings of Allah are upon you O people of the Sanctuary. He is Praiseworthy, Glorious."?[11:69-74]

We understand, from the above, that the guests of Abraham were unfamiliar and behaved strangely. The word that Abraham used to describe them was ?munkaroon? (plural of munkar), which means simply that: strange / unknown / unfamiliar. Also, not eating the food of the host was considered an insult (and still is), in Arabian culture. We also understand that Lot?s town was nearby, and that the messengers were going there to bring down the wrath of Allah on that place.  So, Lot?s town is not far from Hebran - Hebra, which itself is near the Oaks of Mamre (sometimes spelled ?Mamra?), which is also near the Kirjat-Arba (the ?Four Towns?). The region is no more than 300 KM south of Mecca.

Please keep this in mind, for later on, when we finally pinpoint where Muhammad (P) was initially located. 

What do the ancient Arab poets say about Mamre-Mamra?

Read this and gawk:

Yemeni poet A?mr bin Maad Yakreb (more famous by the name Karb al-Zubaidi) wrote:

و يومَ ممرَ قد حَميَت لقائحي     و ضَبني عن أبناء جُعفٍ و مازنِ

He is remembering past events of a great battle that took place between the tribes of Hamadan and Zubaid (the poet?s own tribe), where their foes, the Hamadani warriors, took refuge in a mountainous vale full of trees. And the day of that battle was called ?Yawmu Mamra? (The Day of Mamra). The verse also mentions the very famous Asiri tribe of Mazen (These events took place during the first or second century A.D. at the latest). In fact, the tribe of Bani Mazen in southern Saudi Arabia, were located in and around the city of Abha, and the name is still - until today - very famous there. If you don?t believe me, type in   بني مازن      (Bani Mazen) in the search bar, and see what you get: DOZENS of links associating this tribe to the city of Abha, which is 2000 Km above sea level (it will only work if you make the search in Arabic ). Where is Abha?  Look at the map below, and see how close this town is to the region depicted in the previous map:


Blue circle: Al-Qunfudha
Red circle: Abha
Green circle: Najran
Black circle: Makkah

Another poet, known simply as "Zhul-Rimma", also mentions the same legendary place - The warrior?s solace of Mamra.

Note how often the Yemenis use the pronoun ?Zhu? or "Zhul" in their names. Over 30 Yemeni kings were labeled as ?Zhul - something":  ( Zhul? Azhar , Zhu Nawwas , Zhu Raydan, Zhu Jayhan, etc? ). Also, prophet  "Zhul? Kifl" mentioned in the Quran was obviously a Yemeni.   What about "Pharaoh"?    The Quran calls him   "Far?oun Zhul? Awtad" , meaning: Far?oun of the Tent Pegs (denoting he was no more than a tribal chief).

The list goes on and on?

Every time you encounter a name that begins with ?Zhul? or ?Zhu?, you can rest assured it?s Yemeni.

Here?s what "Zhul? Rimma" says about Mamre-Mamra. If you can read Arabic, you will immediately note how outstanding the description is:

     
كأني و رحلي فوق أحقـــــــبَ لاحه           من الصيف شل المخلفات الرواجع 
                                  ممرَ أمــــــرت مَتنــــــهُ أســــــــيدة             يمانية حلـــت جنوب المضاجـــــــع     
                                 دعاها من الأصلاب أصلاب شُنطبِ            أخاديدُ عهدٍ مُســــــتحيل المواقـــــع
                                 كسا الأرض بُهمى غضة حبشـــــية             نؤاساً و بقـــــعان الظهور الأقـارع 


I just wish you folks could read what I?m reading, because this is absolutely earth-shattering.
No words in English can do justice to these timeless verses?poetry that comes from the soul. In the second line, he is describing the desolate grove of Mamre as a location to the south of the resting place of the Heroes of Yemen (The cavern graveyards). In the third line, he describes how difficult and treacherous the mountain paths leading to it can be. Finally, in the fourth line he describes the vestiges of an Ethiopian campaign in the region, and the destruction it left behind.  Does this ring a bell?  Who was the leader of this Ethiopian excursion against the south of Arabia?   (Scratch your heads a little, and you?ll get the answer. This is another major clue as to where Muhammad was located). 

Here is what a third poet, Kaab bin Zuhair (a pre- Islamic poet) says of this legendary tree grove:

فكأني كسوتُ ذلك رحلي     أو ممرَ السراة جأباً ذريرا

Again, we have a description of ?Mamra of the Sarat??In the heart of Asir?The greenest, most fertile, and most river-abundant region in all of Arabia, and in the past, the heart of the incense and myrrh trade routes that ran along the slopes of the Sarat Mountains.

It is the same region and the same trade routes mentioned in the story of Joseph.

And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry [them] down to Misraim (Genesis 37:25)

And their father Israel said to them, "If [it must be] so, then do this: Take some of the best fruits of the land in your vessels and carry down a present for the man -- a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds (Genesis 43:11)

If there is any land in ancient history (before Jerusalem...before Mecca...before Christianity and Judaism) that was blessed to the world, that would be it. There is not a single spot on this entire planet where you will find the names: Mamre - Hebran - Miqfalah - all together bundled up in the same region, other than Asir.

Asir , the theater of the Old Testament, was the cradle of all civilizations, and the land of the prophets.  And the Muslims who keep insisting that the Levant was the land of the prophets are deluded to the point of insanity.

And the story of Abraham and Sarah, their tribulations and wanderings in the wilderness looking for a place to settle, their digging of the ?Well of Fullness? (Bir? Shabba3a), at the Holy Bayt (the sacred vale where Adam first descended from the earthly paradise high up in the Sarat Mountains) is a 100% ancient Arabic folkloric tale that has been told and retold by the people of that region for over 3000 years.

It has nothing to do with Palestine whatsoever. And the Palestinians have been right all along. The city of Al-Khaleel is NOT the Hebron of the Torah.

And God only knows who is buried there in that catacomb they call ?The Tomb of Abraham?.


The alleged site of Abraham's tomb in "Hebron", Palestine
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Could all these be coincidences?
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To Be Continued..

(Next, we will look at the issue of Lot, and the peoples of Ad and Thamud.
Q:02:32 - They said, "Exalted are YOU; we have no knowledge except what YOU have taught us. Indeed, it is YOU who is the Knowing, the Wise."