Similarly, the sacredness of Makkah and its connection with the names of Abraham and Ishmael, finds clear mention in the early Makkah revelations. In one of the earliest chapters, Makkah is described as “this city made secure” (95:3). In another equally early revelation, it is referred to simply as the City: “Nay! I call to witness this City — and thou wilt be made free from obligation in this City — and the begetter and he whom he begot” (90:1-3); where, in the last words, Abraham and Ishmael are referred to. The Ka‘bah is called al-Bait al-ma‘mūr, or the House that is visited in a revelation of the same period (52:4), while another revelation of the early Makkah period speaks of al-Masjid-al-Ḥarām or the Sacred Mosque (17:1). The sacredness of Makkah is spoken of in still clearer words in revelations belonging to the middle Makkah period: “I am commanded only to serve the Lord of this City, Who has made it sacred, and His are all things” (27:91). The names of Abraham and Ishmael in connection with Makkah, its sacredness and the fact of its being a place of resort for men, also find mention in the middle Makkah revelations: “And when Abraham said: My Lord, make this City secure, and save me and my sons from worshipping idols … Our Lord, I have settled a part of my offspring in a valley unproductive of fruit near Thy Sacred House, our Lord, that they may keep up prayer; therefore so make the hearts of some people yearn towards them and provide them with fruits.” (14:35-37).
The theory thus built up by European savants has no foundation whatever. The sacredness of Makkah and its great Mosque, the connection therewith of the names of Abraham and Ishmael, and the fact of Makkah being made a resort for men, are all themes of the earliest as well as the later revelations. It is true that the various commandments and prohibitions were revealed gradually, and that the command to make the Ka‘bah a qiblah was revealed at Madīnah, but even this happened before the battle of Badr. Notwithstanding all that was said in the Holy Qur’ān with regard to the sacredness of