So, was the 1st Kaaba in Jerusalem? Paul says yes!

So what is Paul's NEW "Jerusalem Thesis", and does it fit the historical context? Our new contributor, Paul, from London, has spent 3 years studying the significance of the 'Masjid al Haram' (which literally means 'the forbidden place of bowing'), referred to in the Qur'an numerous times. Today, Muslims assume that it is the Ka'aba, that cubed building, situated in Mecca, which is the holiest site in Islam, and the place where every Muslim Mosque is facing, and every Muslim prayers towards 5 times a day. Yet nowhere in the Qur'an does it say where the 'Masjid al Haram' is situated. Muslim today simply assume it must be the Ka'aba in Mecca, because the later 9th and 10th century traditions say it was. Those traditions, however, don't even appear until 200 years after this Masjid was supposedly built, and refer to a city which didn't even exist in the 7th century, so are they correct historically? Paul certainly wasn't convinced, and so after much research into this place and its environment, he has come up with a completely new thesis concerning where Islam got its idea of the 'Masjid al Haram' from. He suggests that the writers of the Qur'an borrowed it from the Bible, which refers to such a place quite often, but places it much earlier, and much further north, almost 1,000 miles further north, in the city of Jerusalem itself. Paul notes that the Qur'an refers to 6 categories associated with the Masjid al Haram, which include: 1) That it was 'the house of God' (Surahs2:144, 129-150, 191 & 217; 5:96-97; 8:34; 17:1; 22:23, 29; 48:25, 27; 69:7, 19, 28) 2) That it was situated in a place called 'Bakka' (note, not Mecca) (Surah 3:96) 3) That it has a 'cube' shape (Surah 5:96, 97) 4) That it was also referred to as the 'station of Abraham' (2:125; 3:97) 5) That the 'Hajj pilgrimage' went to it and included circumambulation 7 times (2:158, 187, 196) 6) That the Safa and Marwa' mountains were included in its pilgrimage rituals (Surah 2:158) Yet, Paul noticed that none of these 6 categories fit the Ka'aba in Mecca very well, so they must be referring to another place. So, he decided to go further, and deeper, and went to the Bible, where he found that all of the 6 areas above fit perfectly with the city of Jerusalem! Notice what the Bible tells us: 1) That the house of God' (Exodus 25:8-9) is also known as the Tabernacle/Temple 2) That it was situated in a place called 'Bakka', a resting place along the pilgrimage to Jerusalem (Psalm 84) 3) That the temple in Jerusalem was 'cube' shaped (1 Kings 6:20) 4) That it was also referred to as the 'station of Abraham' (Genesis 22:2-9; 2 Chronicles 3:1) 5) That there were 3 'Hag' pilgrimage feasts in Jerusalem, which included circumambulation 7 times (Deuteronomy 16:16-17; Book of Jubilees 16:31; Mishna Sukha 4:5) 6) That the Safa and Marwa' mountains were included in its pilgrimage rituals. Safa was Mt Scopus, and Marwa was Mt Moriah, and that even the Qur'an's Jahannam (hell) is found in the Gehenna valley in Jerusalem (Josephus's Antiquities of the Jews & Joel 3:2, 12) It seems that once again the Qur'an has simply borrowed its most holy place, and the functions surrounding it from elsewhere, but this time from the Bible, and from the city it refers to, situated 1,000 miles further north, the city of Jerusalem! © Pfander Centre for Apologetics - US, 2021 (53,950) Music: Epic Trailer, by Rafael Krux, from filmmusic-io