Makkah

“Verily,
the first House (of worship) appointed for mankind was that at Bakkah
Makkah), full of blessing, and a guidance for Al-‘Âlamîn (mankind and
jinn).”

(Surat Al-’Imran (The Family of Imran): 96)

By: Dr. / Zaghloul El-Naggar

This Holy ayah comes in the middle of Surat
Al-Imran; which is a Madinan Surah and one of the longest Surahs in
Holy Qur'an as it consists of two hundred ayahs after the “Basmallah”.
This Surah is named Al-Imran as it contains a reference to the family of
Maryam (Mary) the daughter of Imran, and the mother of Jesus (peace be
upon him and our Prophet Muhammad). On this subject Allah says *“Allah
chose Adam, Nûh (Noah), the family of Ibrâhîm (Abraham) and the family
of ‘Imran above the 'Âlamîn (mankind and jinn) (of their times).Offspring, one of the other, and Allâh is All-Hearer, All-Knower.”*

(Al-'Imran (The Family of Imran): 33-34).

This
Surah relates the story of Imran's wife, and their daughter Maryam the
mother of Jesus (peace be upon them). The Surah also relates the story
of the miraculous birth of Jesus without having a father, and sheds
light on the miracles bestowed on him by Almighty Allah. The
Surah further contains references to Prophet Zakariah (Zacharia) and
his son Yahia (John the Baptist), whom Allah blessed him with when he
was very old. The Surah also contains a detailed description of the battle of Uhud.

The
main theme of this Surah is its dialogue with the People of the
Scripture (those who believe in the Gospel and the Torah). This dialogue
highlights and defines a number of tenets of the Islamic Faith.

Tenets of faith in Surat Al-Imran:

The Tenets of Faith mentioned in Surat Al-Imran can be summarized in the following points:

First:

Belief
in Allah as the sole God, worshipping Him only, with no partners, peers
or rivals; refraining from using any description for Him (glory be to
our Lord) that does not befit His Excellence and Majesty (such as
claiming that Allah may have a wife or a son, which is a quality of
creatures of Allah and does not befit His Majesty).

Belief
that Almighty Allah is the Ever-Living, the One who sustains and
protects all that exists, the One who knows everything in heavens and
earth. Belief that Glorious Allah is the One who shapes fetuses in the
wombs of their mothers as He wills. That He is the All-Mighty, the
All-Wise, that Allah is All-Seer of the (His) worshippers; and that
Allah is the Possessor of the dominion, giving power to whom He wills,
and taking power from whom He wills. That Allah endows with honor those
whom He wills, and He humiliates whom He wills, and that He is the
source of goodness. Belief that Allah is Able to do all things; that He
knows what is in the heavens and what is in the earth; that victory only
comes with His guidance; and that He supports whom He wills with
victory. Belief that right guidance is the Guidance of Allah; that all
bounties are from Allah, and that Allah is All-Sufficient for His
creatures’ needs, All-Aware. He selects for His Mercy (Islam and the
Qur'an with Prophethood) whom He wills and Allah is the Owner of Great
Bounty. Allah is full of kindness to (His) worshippers, and at the same
time He is, All-Able of Retribution, and that He never breaks (His)
Promise.

Second:

Belief
in Divine Revelation revealed by Almighty Allah to His Messengers, in
order to guide people; and that He compiled, finished and preserved it
in His final ultimate Message (The Holy Qur'an and Prophet Muhammad’s
Sunnah), and that this final Message confirms what came before it of
Divine revelation and is dominant over them all. In this respect, belief
in the Messengers of Allah is an essential part in the belief in Divine
Revelation.

Third:

Belief
that the Holy Qur'an contains ayahs that are explicit (the foundations
of the Book), and others that are vague (Allah being the only One that
knows their true interpretation).

Fourth:

Belief
that every person will die one day, and that Almighty Allah will
definitely gather all people in a day that is beyond any doubt. In other
words, the belief in the truth of the Afterlife and Day of Judgment,
and in major incidents they include; such as resurrection and judgment,
Heaven and Hell, that Heaven is the final abode of the pious and that
Hell is the final abode of the sinners; that the faces of the pious will
be bright on the Day of Judgment while the faces of those who
disbelieved after being believers and rejected faith after accepting it
will be dark.

Fifth:

Belief
that the sole religion of Allah is Islam (Submission to Allah), and
that those who were given the Scripture (Gospel and Torah) did not
disagree except, out of mutual envy, after knowledge had come to them.
And whoever disbelieves in the ayat (proofs, evidences, signs,
revelations, etc.) of Allah then surely, Allah is Swift in calling to
account.

Sixth:

The
belief in the importance of obeying Allah and His final Messenger
Muhammad (peace be upon him), following his Sunnah, and holding fast,
all Muslims together, to the Rope of Allah (i.e. this Qur'an), and
belief in the importance of not being divided amongst themselves.

Seventh:

Belief
that true believers in Islamic Monotheism, and real followers of
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and his Sunnah form the best
community ever raised up for mankind; because they enjoin Al-Ma‘rûf
(i.e. Islamic Monotheism and all that Islam has ordained) and forbid
Al-Munkar (polytheism, disbelief and all that Islam has forbidden), and
they believe in Allah. However, if they do not do this, they will lose
that honor. (I fear that supremacy might be misunderstood as a Muslim
belief that they are better then everyone else. I chose honor instead)

Eighth:

Belief
in fate and destiny, and that affliction is an essential part of one’s
life that should be faced with contentment, patience and acceptance of
Allah's destiny.

Signs of creation in Surat Al-Imran:

(1) That Glorious Allah is the One who shapes fetuses in the wombs of their mothers as He wills.

(2) A
reference to the theory that Earth revolves daily around its axis by
mentioning that night enters into day, and that day enters into night
according to Allah's Will.

(3) A
reference to the cycle of life, death and resurrection by mentioning
bringing the living out of the dead, and bringing the dead out of the
living.

(4) A reference to the creation of Adam from clay or earth.

(5) An assertion of the fact that the first House (of worship) appointed for mankind was that at Bakkah (Makkah), full of blessings.

(6) An assertion that Allah owns whatever exists on Earth or in the heavens, and to Him only all matters return (for decision).

(7) An
assertion that everyone shall experience death and that no person can
ever die except by Allah's will and at an appointed term.

( A
reference to the human tendency to react to grief by remembering other
sad situations, this is a psychological issue discovered by recently.

(9) A
reference to the fact that in the creation of the heavens and the earth
and in the alternation of night and day, there are indeed signs for
people of understanding; and that contemplating upon them is a means of
knowing the Creator (Exalted are You above all that they associate with
You as partners), and some of His glorious attributes and excellent
abilities that have no barriers in excellence in the art of creation.

Each
one of these issues needs a separate discussion, which is what I will
do God willing, in the following articles. But I will focus here on the
fifth point which deals with the fact that first House (of worship)
appointed for mankind was that at Bakkah (Makkah). However, before I begin, I’ll go over the interpretation of this ayah by some scholars.

Interpretations of this ayah by some scholars:

*“Verily,
the first House (of worship) appointed for mankind was that at Bakkah
(Makkah), full of blessings, and a guidance for Al-'Âlamîn (mankind and
jinn).”*

(Al-Imran ( The Family of Imran): 96).

Ibn-Kathir
(May Allah have mercy on his soul) said: Allah tells us that the first
house appointed for mankind, for the purpose of worship and performing
rituals, circumambulating around or facing towards it during daily
prayers, and where people could resort to focus on spirituality, was the
House in Bakkah (Makkah). This “house” is the Ka’ba, which was erected
(upon previously established foundations) by Ibrahim (Abraham) and his
son Isma’il (Ishmael) (peace be upon them). That is why Allah says in
the holy ayah what can be translated as, *"full of blessing, and a guidance for Al-‘Âlamîn (mankind and jinn)"*.
Abu-Dhar
(may Allah be pleased with him) related: "I once asked Prophet Muhammad
(peace be upon him): ‘Which was the very first mosque?’ He said: ‘The
Sanctified Mosque.’ I asked: ‘Then which?’ He said: ‘The Aqsa Mosque.’ I
asked: ‘How many years were between them?’ He said: ‘40 years.’ I
asked: ‘Then which?’ He said: ‘Wherever you are when the time for Salat
comes then pray… they are all mosques of Allah.’" (Related by Ahmed, and
reported by the two Sheikhs, Bukhari and Muslim, in the same form).

It
was related that Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) once said: There
were houses before this one, but this was the very first House appointed
for mankind for the purpose of worshipping Allah. On the other hand,
Al-Sudday claimed that it was the very first House ever built on earth
(this is really a marvelous interpretation that exceeds the knowledge
available in that era by many centuries, although Ibn Kathir added that:
Ali's words are more trusted).

Concerning
the name Bakkah mentioned in the holy ayah, it is a famous name of
Makkah. It was said that Makkah was called Bakkah because it overpowers
tyrants and it is where they are defeated and humiliated. It was also
said that this name goes back to the fact that people came in crowds to
Makkah. Katada said: Allah gathers all people in this place; women pray
in front of men in this place and nowhere else. Shuba related that
Ibrahim said: “Bakkah is the house and mosque.” Ikramah said: “The house
and what surrounds it is Bakkah, while what is outside of this is
Makkah.” Mukatel Ibn Hayan said: “Bakkah is the place of the house while
what is other than this is Makkah.” There are many other names for
Makkah: Al-Bayt Al-Ateek (The Ancient House), Al-Bayt Al-Haraam (The
Sanctified House), Al-Balad Al-Ameen (The City of Security), Um Al-Qura
(The Mother of all Cities), Al-Qades…because it purifies people of their
sins… Al-Moqadasa, Al-Hatema, Al-Ra's, Al-Balda, Al-Benya, Al-Ka’aba.

Scientific implications in this ayah:

After
long debates that exhausted many scientists over many decades, it was
proven in the mid-1960s that earth was completely immersed with water in
a certain phase of its creation, and that there was no dry land exposed
above the surface of that water. Then by the will of Allah, the bottom
of this huge ocean exploded into violent volcanic eruptions that kept on
continuously throwing molten lava. The lava accumulated in layers over
layers causing a mountain range to form on the bottom of this huge
ocean. This mountain range continued to grow and mount until its peak
emerged out of the water's surface forming the first part of dry land
similar to the various volcanic islands widespread in today's oceans
(such as: Japan’s islands, Philippines, Indonesia, Hawaii, etc.). The
volcanic activity continued, and this island grew gradually as a result
of the successive volcanic eruptions that added new areas to it, causing
it to become a great continent called the Mother Continent or Pangaea.

This operation of gradual growth by accumulation is known in Arabic as “Dahw”
which is linguistically defined as: the process of extension, expansion
and throwing. In fact, this is a precise definition of the earth
building processes through volcanic eruptions. After Pangaea was
completely formed, it started to break up and rip apart by Allah’s will
and eventually fragmented into the seven continents seen now on the
earth's surface, which were closer to one another in the past. These
fragments then began to shift and drift apart until they reached their
present locations, and are in continuous dynamic movement up until now.

This
phenomenon in which a part of the ocean turns into dry land, or in
which the dry land separates to enclose an ocean or a body of water
inside it is called “oceanic crust recycling”, where an ocean turns into
dry land as a result of successive volcanic eruptions from beneath the
ocean's floor, which causes a part of that floor to rise up to the
water's surface in the form of volcanic islands. Such volcanic islands
keep in growing gradually till they turn into a continent, and as a
result of rifting and chinking parts of this continent it is divided
into two entities separated by a long sea such as the Red Sea. This long sea would widen continuously until it turns into an ocean.

Fourteen hundred years ago, it was related from Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) that he said: "The Ka’ba emerged from beneath the water, and then land formed around it." This Hadith was mentioned by Al-Harawy in The Book of Strange Ahadith (3/362). Al-Zamakhshary also included it in his book Al-Fa'ek Men Ghareeb Al-Ahadith
(The Very Strange Ahadith) (1/371) because its scientific implications
exceeded the knowledge of its era by fourteen hundred years.

This Hadith is supported by another Hadith narrated by Al-Tabarany and Al-Bayhaqy in Al-Sha'b from Ibn Omar (may Allah be pleased with both of them): "It
(the Sanctified House) was the first thing to come out over the surface
of the water in the time of creating the heavens and the earth as a
block, then land formed from beneath it."

Those
two Ahadith are considered a miraculous scientific proof supporting the
Prophethood of Muhammad (peace be upon him), and proving that he was
connected to Allah through Divine Revelation, and was taught by the
Creator of the heavens and earth, because no creature before the middle
of the twentieth century realized any of these facts.

This
is supported by what we mentioned before, that Makkah is located in the
middle of Earth’s mainland. This also indicates that the land beneath
the Holy Ka’ba is considered as the oldest piece of the solid rocky
surface of the earth. However, no one tried to prove such a fact until
now. Muslim scientists should prove this by specifying the general age
of rocks around the Ka’ba through the radioactive elements they contain
(i.e. Carbon-14), in order to present this evidence to all people – be
they Muslims or non-Muslims – as this is considered tangible, documented
proof and logical evidence for all people that Muhammad (peace be upon
him) is the final Messenger of Allah.þ

These two Ahadith may support Al-Sowday’s interpretation of the holy ayah that can be translated as, *“Verily,
the first House (of worship) appointed for mankind was that at Bakkah
(Makkah), full of blessing, and a guidance for Al-'Âlamîn (mankind and
jinn)”* that it was the very first house ever existed on Earth's surface….

Praised
be Allah who sent the Holy Qur'an with His Knowledge to His final
Messenger, and protected it for us in the language in which it was
revealed, word by word and letter by letter, to be a warning for mankind
and jinn. May Allah praise and send blessings upon the final Messenger
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to whom this Holy Qur'an was
revealed and also upon his family, companions, and followers of his
Sunnah and whoever takes the responsibility of his mission until the Day
of Judgment. Praise be to Almighty Allah.