The Dubai of Ancient Arabia?
Was Mecca really an ancient trading centre?
Even those with a very sketchy knowledge of Islamic history will know that Mecca is supposed to have been one of the most important trading cities of the ancient Middle East. In fact, its most notable citizen made his name as a trader before embarking on a career as a ‘universal prophet’.
Mecca’s supposed economic prominence provides an opportunity to gauge the veracity of generally accepted Muslim history. Surely such a rich and fabled trading hub would have been recorded in the historical record? The fact is that it wasn’t, and there are several reasons to cast doubt on the claim that there was a trading city called Mecca in the middle of the Arabian Desert during the time when Muhammad is supposed to have lived. Consider the following:
Trans-Arabian Overland Trade Was Effectively at a Standstill by the 6th Century
Patricia Crone, in her ground-breaking work Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam, points out that there would have been few commodities for Meccan traders to trade by the 6th century, as trans-Arabian overland trade had essentially collapsed by this time. This trade depended heavily on transporting incense from Southern Arabia to the Roman province of Syria and beyond. The collapse of paganism in the Roman Empire (the rituals associated with Roman gods required prodigious amounts of incense) coupled with political instability effectively ended the incense trade. This leaves spices and other items imported from India as possible objects of trade.
Crone points out, however, that these commodities were typically transported via sea routes (i.e., through the Persian Gulf or the Red Sea) rather than using the slow and dangerous route through the centre of the Arabian Peninsula. Without spices and incense, the remaining goods (e.g., dates, animal hides, and salt) were low-value commodities. It would indeed be remarkable if the Romans and Persians imported such heavy and relatively abundant goods over large distances at great cost, given that cheaper and arguably better-quality sources were available much closer at hand. As Crone asks: “… what commodity was available in Arabia that could be transported such a distance, through such an inhospitable environment, and still be sold at a profit large enough to support the growth of a city in a peripheral site bereft of natural resources?"
Thus, even if Mecca had been a great trading city in earlier ages, it could not have been a trading hub by the time of Muhammad’s birth (as claimed by Muslim tradition).
A Trade Route Through Mecca Would Have Necessitated a Costly and Pointless Detour
If you plot the major trans-Arabian trade routes detailed in ancient sources, it quickly becomes clear that they bypassed Mecca entirely. The reason is readily apparent: the routes followed the straightest and easiest paths across the peninsula. In the general area of Mecca, the most important site was the ancient oasis of Ta’if, where traders could stop, rest, and obtain fodder for their camels. Ta’if’s significance is abundantly attested in ancient records.
If Mecca had been on the route, we would have to believe that traders made a 140-mile round trip up a narrow valley to visit Mecca, only to rejoin the established route near where they had left it. This detour would have taken several days, incurring significant costs in time, energy, and resources. Why time- and money-conscious traders would embark on such an unnecessary detour remains unexplained by proponents of the traditional view. Patricia Crone succinctly frames the issue: "Mecca was a barren place, and barren places do not make natural halts, least of all when they are found a short distance from famously green environments. Why should caravans have made a steep descent to the barren valley of Mecca when they could have stopped at Ta’if?"
Mecca Is Absent from Ancient Trade Descriptions
We have many surviving trade descriptions from the ancient world. These include correspondence and other writings that reference trans-Arabian trade. Using such sources, we can reconstruct a detailed picture of pre-Islamic trans-Arabian trade, even identifying the roles of tiny settlements. Trade descriptions often go into significant detail about which commodities were available where, what goods were likely to sell in various places, and where provisions could be obtained. Yet the supposed "trading hub" of the Arabian Peninsula, according to the Islamic account, is entirely absent from these descriptions. A modern equivalent would be writing a description of trading centres in the Arabian Peninsula today without mentioning Dubai.
There Are No References to Meccan Traders in Ancient Literature
Ancient people, like us, were curious about the cultures and habits of strangers, especially when profit was involved. Many surviving descriptions detail the characteristics and practices of various traders (e.g., Syrians, Persians, Nabataeans) to aid those interacting with them. According to the Islamic account, Meccan traders operated along the trans-Arabian trade route and conducted business deep into the Roman province of Syria. Yet we search in vain for any description of or reference to Meccan traders in the trade routes of late antiquity.
It should be clear, based on the evidence presented above, that it is highly unlikely a major trans-Arabian trading centre existed at the location of modern Mecca. This represents a direct and fundamental challenge to the accepted Islamic historical account.
For much more about the the questions that can be asked about the early history of Islam, please see my book ‘The Mecca Mystery - Probing the Black Hole at the Heart of Muslim history’. Please also consider supporting my work by taking out a paid subscription (link below)
Kind regards,
Peter
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