In the course of research for my forthcoming book, Did Muhammad Exist?, I have been in contact with a European researcher who has given me some extraordinary information about the origins of the rituals that Muslims perform during the hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca. Mecca is central to Islamic worship, as all Muslims must face Mecca while praying, and are obligated to make the hajj once in their lifetimes if they are able to do so. Muslims call the Kaaba is called “albayt alharaam” (Qur’an 5:97). It is considered the inviolable institution of obedience to Allah’s Sharia, the pure mosque: “Al-masjid al-haraam” (see Qur’an 2:196, 5:97, 9:19, 48:25). Yet only one verse of the Qur’an seems to refer to Mecca by name: “And He it is Who hath withheld men’s hands from you, and hath withheld your hands from them, in the valley of Mecca, after He had made you victors over them. Allah is Seer of what ye do” (48:24). And we know that the Ka’aba predates Islam, as Muhammad is said to have entere
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