Template:QuranRelated Bakkah (Arabic: بكة) is an ancient name for Mecca, the most holy city of Islam.[1] Most people believe they are synonyms, but to Muslim scholars there is a distinction: Bakkah refers to the Kaaba and the sacred site immediately surrounding it, while Mecca is the name of the city in which they are both located.[2]
Bakkah is mentioned in sura 3 (Al-i-Imran), ayah 96 of the Qur'an, where it is said to be the site of the first place of worship.[3][4] Others also identify it with the Biblical "valley of Baca" from Psalms 84 (Hebrew: בך).[5][6]
Bakkah (also transliterated Baca, Becca, Bakka, etc.) is the ancient name for the site of Mecca.[1][3][7][8] Bakkah means "narrow" and is descriptive of the area in which the valley of the holy places and the city of Mecca are located, pressed in upon as they are by mountains.[3] Widely believed to be a synonym for Mecca, Bakkah is also said to be the early name for the valley located therein; Muslim scholars use it to refer to the sacred area of the city that immediately surrounds and includes the Kaaba.[2][5][9]
The form used for the name Mecca in the Quran is Bakkah (in South Arabic, the b and m were interchangeable).[10] It appears only once in 3:96, where it says: "The first sanctuary appointed for mankind was that at Bakkah, a blessed place, a guidance for the peoples."[3] Other references to Mecca in the Quran (6:92, 42:5) call it Umm al-Qura, meaning "mother of all settlements."[10]
In Islamic tradition, Bakkah is where Hagar and Ishmael (Ismā'īl) settled after being taken by Abraham (Ibrāhīm) to the wilderness, a story related in the Bible's Book of Genesis.[7] The Genesis story tells of how after Hagar and Ishmael ran out of water to drink, God showed Hagar a well from which she refilled her goatskin. In Islamic tradition, God prompts a spring to gush forth from the spot where Hagar laid Ishmael under a bush while she went forth to search for water, and Muslims believe this spring to be the Zamzam well of Mecca.[7] They also believe that Hagar and Ishamel settled in Bakkah, and the Quran relates that Abraham came to Mecca to help his son Ishmael build the Kaaba.[7]
Ibn Ishaq, the 8th century Arab Muslim historian, relates that during the renovation of Kaaba undertaken by Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, in 605 CE, the Quraysh found an inscription in one of the corners of the foundation of the building that mentions Bakkah. Composed in Syriac, it was incomprehensible to the Quraysh until a Jew translated it for them as follows: "I am Allah, the Lord of Bakka. I created it on the day I created heaven and earth and formed the sun and the moon, and I surrounded it with seven pious angels. It will stand while its two mountains stand, a blessing to its people with milk and water."[11]
The names "Baca" and "Bakkah" are almost identical. If Bakkah is Mecca, then in accordance with Muslim beliefs that Mecca is God's select city. Also, in the Biblical Book of Isaiah, several passages provide descriptions of Zion, several of which, notably Isaiah 35:8-10,[12] which states that the "unclean" will not enter the city, and 60:16-18,[13] which describes its prosperity, bear striking resemblance to Mecca in Muslim eyes with the fact that small birds constantly circle the Kabba and build nests in the open mosque, where people circle the House with praise and prayer constantly and the historic well in Mecca associated with Ishmael and Hagar (Hājar) referred to in the Book of Genesis[14] is a bow shot away.
How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts!
My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.
Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God.
Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.
Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.
Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.
The first House (of worship) appointed for men was that at Bakka: Full of blessing and of guidance for all kinds of beings:
In it are Signs Manifest; (for example), the Station of Abraham; whoever enters it attains security; Pilgrimage thereto is a duty men owe to Allah,- those who can afford the journey; but if any deny faith, Allah stands not in need of any of His creatures.— Qur'an, sura 3 (Al-i-Imran), ayat 96-97[4]
Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.
— Bible, Psalm 85, verse 5[16]
Makkah is a place of Pilgrimage, thousands make it every year
— Arabic; hajj, Hebrew; mes-il-law
As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
— Bible, Psalm 84, verse 6[17]
Some Bible versions say "Valley of Tears/Weeping",[18] this would make more sense since Ishmael and Hagar cried (baka’) to God for aid in the wilderness after Abraham left them in a deserted area. In Hebrew "tears" is Baka’ and in Arabic Baka’ means to cry.
Another note to look into is that many places named in the Bible are not necessarily found/match or proven historically.
they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
— Bible, Psalm 84, verse 6[17]
The Zamzam Well is a spring that Islamic history states came into being at the time of Ishmael and Hagar. The spring's existence was revealed by the angel Gabriel (Jibral) after Hagar had "cried" to God for aid.[19]
And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.
— Bible, Book of Genesis 16, verse 7[20]
They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.
— Bible, Psalm 84, verse 7[21]
1. The passage itself pins the location of the pilgrimage to which Psalms 84 refers.[21]
Psalms 84:7 They go from strength to strength, [every one of them] in Zion appeareth before God.
Zion, the name of the easternmost hill of ancient Jerusalem, is mentioned 153 times in the King James Version of the Bible.[22] Jewish scriptures apply the term "Mount Zion" to the Temple Mount or the City of David, both located on this elevation. For Jews the term "Zion" became a synecdoche referring to the entire city of Jerusalem and the Land of Israel. Thus this passage describes a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the Holy Land rather than one to Mecca
2. There is no historical or archaeological record of the Jews to whom this passage refers, going on pilgrimage to any temple, other than the one they themselves built in Jerusalem.
3. Zion - that is Jerusalem - lies 1,200 km (750 mi) across the Arabian Desert from Mecca.
4. According to the study from Dr. Rafat Amari shows that there is no historical record penned before the 4th century, that suggests that Mecca ever existed before that time, while other ancient Arabian towns are well attested in the historical record.[23]
5. In a study conducted by Dr. Rafat Amari, there is no archaeological record that suggests that Mecca ever existed before the 4th century, while other ancient Arabian towns are well attested, in the archaeological record.[24]
6. In another study, Dr. Rafat Amari found that no pre-4th century historical or archaeological record that suggests that the Kaaba existed before the early 5th century.[25]
7. Pilgrimages to Zion - to Jerusalem - to the Holy Land - were conducted during the First Temple Period.[citation needed]
8. Baca is a Hebrew name that dates to before 1000 BC of a valley in Palestine, and is also a Hebrew term for balsam or mulberry trees that "weep" or bleed sap when they are cut. Bakkah is a more modern language 7th century AD Quraysh Arabic dialect name that some suggest refers to Mecca.[26][27]
9. Genesis 16 verse 7 also pins its own location in "Shur", which is located in the northern Sinai Peninsula, on the north-eastern border of Egypt.
