According to the Islamic traditions (i.e. the Standard Islamic Narrative = S.I.N.), as well as the Qur’an (Surah 2:146-149), the Qiblas (the direction of prayer) for every mosque was to face the city of Mecca by 624 AD, but was this actually the case?

Over a century ago, in 1905 AD, two prominent archaeologists, Dr Creswell and Dr Fehervari, discovered that two of the earliest mosques in Iraq and Egypt had Qiblas which were both facing what they believed was Jerusalem, and certainly not Mecca.

Dan Gibson, who did much more extensive research on Quranic geography between 1985 – 2004 AD, visiting over 100 early 7th century and 8th century mosques, and like the two earlier archaeologists found that all of the 7th century mosques as well as more built in the early 8th century had Qiblas facing directly towards Petra, in Jordan, while none of them had Qiblas anywhere close to Mecca.

He noticed that this practice continued right up until 727 AD, when the first mosque with a Qibla facing Mecca was built in Banbhore, Pakistan.

Yet, 727 AD is almost 100 years after Muhammad supposedly died!

How do Muslims explain this away? They simply can’t.

Petra, unlike Mecca, was actually an ancient city with a rich history in trade and religious significance, while Mecca had yet to be discovered, suggesting that the Islamic Traditions (i.e. the Standard Islamic Narrative) is once again full of Historical holes.

Watch as Al Fadi and Dr. Jay review evidence of example after example of mosques facing Petra, instead of the falsely claimed yet supposedly famous and historical city of Mecca.

© Pfander Centre for Apologetics – US, Feb.10, 2023
(70,340) Music: “Epic Heroic Conquest” by Musiclfiles, from filmmusic-io