Page 160 - World Religions I - Islam

o The earliest historical reference to the Qur'an is found in the writings of the Greek historian
Diodorus Siculus, who, about 60 BC, described it as a "temple greatly revered by the
Arabs".
• Biblical accounts indicate that Ishmael settled in the Desert of Paran.
o Ishmael settled in the Desert of Paran and married an Egyptian woman. (Genesis 21:13-21)
 Genesis 14:5-7 places Paran near Kadesh, and references the Canaanite tribes that
lived there.
 Numbers 10:11-13 states that the Israelites were led out of the Sinai Desert and
through the Desert of Paran.
 It is recorded in Numbers 12:15-16 that the Israelites encamped in the Desert of Paran.
orld Religions 1: Islam
 Numbers 13:1-3 indicates that the 12 Israelite spies who were to scout out the land of
Canaan were sent from the Desert of Paran.
 When the Israelite spies returned in Numbers 13:25-27, they reported their findings to
the Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran.
 Deuteronomy 1:1-2 indicates that Paran is opposite the Arabah Desert (modern-day
Jordan), and that it takes only 11 days to travel from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea (which is
in Paran).
 David traveled to the wilderness of Paran after Samuel's death in 1 Samuel 25:1.
 Mount Paran is connected to Teman and Seir (both associ-ated with Edom) in
Habakkuk 3:3.
 In 1 Kings 11:17-19, Hadad passes through Paran when traveling from Midian to Egypt.
Paran is listed as being in the land of the Edomites (modern-day southern Israel and
Jordan). Are we to believe that the Israelites left Egypt and traveled through the
wilderness to Mecca before returning up to Canaan? Or that David traveled down to
Mecca after Samuel's death? Or that Hadad of Edom passed through Mecca in order to
get to Egypt?
o Ishmael's descendants settled in the area from Havilah to Shur (home of the Amalekites),
near the border of Egypt. (Genesis 25:12-18)
o There is no Biblical evidence to indicate that Abraham nor Ismael ever lived in - or even
traveled to - the Arabian peninsula.

• Islamic scholar Alfred Guillaume concludes that there is no historical evidence to support the idea
that Abraham built the Ka'aba.
o "... there is no historical evidence for the assertion that Abraham or Ishmael was ever in
Mecca, and if there had been such a tradition it would have to be explained how all
memory of the Old Semitic name Ishmael (which was not in its true Arabian form in
Arabian inscriptions and written correctly with an initial consonant Y) came to be lost. The
form in the Quran is taken either from Greek or Syriac sources." (Islam, 1956, 61-62) pp.

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