Affiliation:
1. Corpus Christi College Oxford Great Britain
Abstract
Abstract
The redirection of the qiblah to the Kaʿbah (Q 2:142-5) is redated from 622, very soon after the hijrah where it is placed in the sīrah, to 628 on the eve of the Prophet’s negotiations with the leaders of Mecca at al-Ḥudaybiyah. It is interpreted as a compromise forced on the Prophet, if he was to reach a settlement with the Quraysh. A corollary was God’s authorisation of pilgrimage in pagan fashion and of animal sacrifice at the Kaʿbah (Q 22: 23-38, Q 5: 2-4). The Kaʿbah was redesignated a monotheist sanctuary, on the grounds of its foundation by Abraham (Q 2:125-7, Q 3:96-8, Q 22:28-9). These sūrahs (and an anomalous late passage in Q 14:35-7) are all late. No earlier sūrah associates Abraham with the Kaʿbah.
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