Within a few hours of joining this forum l’ve seen the lie repeated at least twice, that Muslims dont know where their Mecca should be. In fact it’s supposedly Petra or Jerusalem etc.
This ignores a macrocosm of facts e.g. the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) grew up and lived in Mecca, the Abyssnians attacked Mecca to destroy the Sacred House there in the Year of the Elephant (the birth year of the Prophet). It was a deadly journey to even go half way from Medina to Petra (= to Tabuk). Petra and Jerusalem where right inside Byzantine territory not pagan idolaters’ territory where Mecca was the centre of trade. Muslims would with some regularity make the journey between Mecca and Medina, not Medina and Petra, which would have been the equivalent to a continent-wide road trip in today’s terms, but with only food that you could physically carry. Etc . etc.
Wait. There’s more.
MATHEMATICAL MIRACLES OF MECCA AND ITS BLACK BOX:
1. MECCA IS AT A PHI RATIO POINT BETWEN NORTH AND SOUTH POLES, NO OTHER RELIGION’S SACRED SITE IS:
North-Pole to South-Pole Distance: 12,436.81 mi (20,015.11 km)
Makkah, SAU to South-Pole Distance: 7,698.85 mi (12,390.09 km)
Makkah, SAU to North-Pole Distance: 4,737.97 mi (7,625.02 km)
7698.85/12436.81 = 0.619
4737.97/7698.85 = 0.6154
Average Phi Ratio from the above figures = 0.6172 (but note: the earth isn’t a perfect sphere and it also wobbles a bit, so it may be even closer to the perfect value below)
Actual Phi Ratio: 0.618 or 1.618
2. THE PROPHET FORETOLD THE PRAYER DIRECTION FROM THE FIRST MOSQUE OF SANA’A (YEMEN) TO THE BLACK BOX IN MECCA:
The Prophet (peace be upon him) never visited Yemen nor saw Mount Deyn.
In a well preserved hadith we see that the Prophet told a person to build a mosque at Sana’a in Yemen such that it faced the Black Box of Mecca. To do this, he ordained that a line connecting the places should pass through Mount Deyn, visible from Sana’a, i.e. the prayer direction should be toward that mountain.
Only today, with satellite technology (the Black Box and Sana’a are 815km apart), is this proven correct
Sana’a Mosque was one of the earliest mosques in Islam. It was built during the life of the Prophet (peace be upon him).
The Prophet sent several companions to teach Yemenites during his life such as Muath bin Jabal, Abu Ubaida bin Al-Jarrah and others. Tabarani Narrated from Wabr ibn Yahnas Al-Khuza’i that he said: Messenger of Allah said to me “When you start building the Mosque of Sana’a, point it to the right of a Mountain called Deyn”. (Hasan Narration from Haythami in Mujamma’ Az-Zawaed).
And: Abdul-Razzaq Narrated "The Messenger of Allah commanded Wabr ibn Yahnas al-Ansari when he sent him to Sana’a as a ruler over it and said: “Call them to faith and if they obeyed you then call to prayers. If they obey you then command to build a mosque in Bathan Park from where a rock is called Ghamdan. Then point it towards a mountain called Deyn”. (Narrated from Ar-Razi)
Imam Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani in his al-Isaba and other historians relate that when the Companion Wabr ibn Yahnas (Allah be pleased with him) visited the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace), he (Allah bless him & give him peace) commanded him to build a Mosque in San’a that faced in the direction of mount Dhayn. Hence, adhering to the Messenger of Allah’s command, Sayyiduna Wabr ibn Yahnas (Allah be pleased with him) constructed this historic Mosque in the city of San’a. Ibn al-Sakan and Ibn Mandah both narrate in their respective Hadith collections from the Companion Wabr ibn Yahnas that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) had ordered him to construct a Mosque in San’a and also advised him to appoint the Qibla in the direction of Mount Dhayn. As a result, the Qibla direction till today stands facing towards this mountain. (See: al-Isaba fi Tamiz al-Sahaba, 3/630)