Position of Mecca, Qibla, etc.

Sura-3 [Al-Imran, Medina 89 ]

The Quranic Text & Ali’s version:

إِنَّ أَوَّلَ بَيْتٍ وُضِعَ لِلنَّاسِ لَلَّذِي بِبَكَّةَ ...

3:96. The first House (of worship) appointed for men was that at Bakka

C422. Bakka: same as Makkah, perhaps an older name.

The foundation of the Ka'bah goes back to Abraham, but there are place associations in the sacred territories with the names of Adam and Eve. (R).

... مُبَارَكًا وَهُدًى لِّلْعَالَمِينَ ﴿٩٦﴾

full of blessing and of guidance for all kinds of beings:

C423. 'Alamin:

- all the worlds (1:2 and n.20),

- all kinds of beings;

- all nations (3:42):

- all creatures (3:97),

Asad’s Version:

3: 96

Asad Behold, the first Temple ever set up for mankind was indeed the one at Bakkah [note 75]: rich in blessing,

Yusuf Ali The first House (of worship) appointed for men was that at Bakka full of blessing and of guidance for all kinds of beings:

Pickthall Lo! the first Sanctuary appointed for mankind was that at Mecca, a blessed place, a guidance to the peoples;

Transliteration Inna awwala baitiw wudi'a linna_si lallazi bi bakkata muba_rakw wa hudal lil'a_lamin(a).

[ Ali’s notes - 422 Bakka: same as Makkah, perhaps an older name. The foundation of the Ka'ba goes back to Abraham. (3.96)

423 'Alamin: all the worlds (i. 2. ii), all kinds of beings; all nations (iii. 42): all creatures (iii. 97), (3.96) ]

[ Asad’s note 75 - ………in some old Arabic dialects the labial consonants b and m, being phonetically close to one another, are occasionally interchangeable. …….Since the prototype of the Kabah was built by Abraham and Ishmael (see 2:125 ff.) – and is, therefore, much older than the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem - ………and herein lies the answer to the second of the two Jewish objections mentioned in note 73 above.]

8: 33-34 But God did not choose thus to chastise them while you [O Prophet] were still among them, nor would God chastise them when they ask for forgiveness. But what have they in their favor that God should not chastise them seeing that they bar [the believers] from the inviolable House of Worship, although they are not its guardians?

6: 92 And this [the Quran], too, is a divine writ which We have bestowed from on high – blessed, confirming the truth of whatever there still remains [of earlier revelations] – and [this] in order that you may warn the foremost of all cities and all who dwell around it. And those who believe in the life to come do believe in this ; and it is they who are ever-mindful of their prayers.

8: 33-34 But God did not choose thus to chastise them while you [O Prophet] were still among them, nor would God chastise them when they ask for forgiveness. But what have they in their favor that God should not chastise them seeing that they bar [the believers] from the inviolable House of Worship, although they are not its guardians? None but the God-conscious can be its guardians:

8: 35 And their prayers before the Temple are nothing but whistling and clapping of hands.