According to the Standard Islamic Narrative, Mecca was not only the oldest city in the history of the world, but it was also a major trade city in that part of the world, controlling trade north, south, east and west.Yet, history is telling us that this simply isn’t true. Mecca isn’t found on any ancient trade maps, nor is anything written about it on any ancient documents, which created a real problem for the Muslims in the last century, because there was nothing available to support the historical underpinnings for their holy city.Fortunately for them a British scholar named William Montgomery Watt came to their rescue by proposing what he termed “The Trade Route Theory”.This theory suggests that the trade in the 7th century originally went from India, across the Arabian Sea and through the Persian Gulf, where it was then unloaded at what is today ‘Basra’, and sent across to what is today Iraq and Syria, to either Lebanon or Israel, and from there across the Mediterranean Sea.But there was a problem, because in the 5th century the Sassanians began warring against the Byzantines, and for 200 years the battles between these two empires continued, shutting down the trade through the Persian Gulf.Montgomery Watt introduced the idea that the trade then had to be changed so that the boats went across the Arabian Sea to Aden, where the goods were taken off of the ships and put onto camels which then carried them across 1,250 miles of desert to Petra in the north, and then on to Gaza on the Mediterranean Sea.En route across the desert, they had to stop at Mecca, and thus it was the Meccans who controlled the trade.Dr Patricia Crone, in 1987 wrote a book entitled “Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam”, where she debunked Montgomery Watt’s ‘Trade Route Theory’ with two simple rebuttals.1) If all the trade going across the desert of Western Arabia went through well documented oases such as Sa’na, Najran, Taif, Yathrib, Khaybar, Tabuk, Petra and Gaza, all of which were located on the Western Plateau of Arabia, why would you then take a detour at Taif, and go down off of the plateau 3,000 feet to a desolate hamlet called Mecca, which had no water or food for your camels, and then climb back up 3,000 feet to get to Yathrib, which did have food and water? 2) The Standard Islamic Narrative says that Mecca controlled all of the trade. But how could such a desolate and isolated little hamlet control all of the trade from Aden to Petra?3) The biggest problem comes when you simply look at a map of that area. Notice that there is the Red Sea, which parallels the Western Plateau of Arabia. If you already have all of your goods on boats, why then would you offload them at Adan to go 1,250 miles by land, when you can carry a ton of goods only 50 miles by land for the same price as 1,250 miles by sea. Shipping goods by sea is the cheapest way to transport goods, even today?By land you have to feed and water the camels, protect your goods from robbers who can hide behind rocks, hills and sand dunes.By sea you have nothing to feed or water, as you only need wind to fill your sails to push your boat, and you can see any enemies miles away, as there is nothing to hide behind.So, Dr Crone, who reads and writes 15 languages went to all the trading documents, all written in ancient languages little used today and found out that all the trade in that part of the world from the 1st to the 7th century went by the Red Sea, and very little of it by land, and certainly none of it via the city of Mecca, as there was not one trade document with that name on it, proving that Mecca had nothing to do with the trade of that day.Watch as Al Fadi and Dr. Jay review the evidence that completely debunks the Land Trade Route Theory.© Pfander Centre for Apologetics – US, February 15, 2023(70,390) Music: “Epic Heroic Conquest” by Musiclfiles, from filmmusic-io