HISTORY CRAFTER - THE REAL AND SIMULATED HISTORY

SACRED SPACES IN PRE-ISLAMIC HIJAZ   In a previous post, I discussed the difference between haram and hima in the region oh Hijaz, where Madinah is located; here, it seems interesting to explore with more depth the harams  present there. On this regard, one may note that in Hijaz, not all the himas  were sacred in a strict sense; however, the custom to sanctify a place is well known and the harams  existed in the proximity of the cities of Makkah and Madinah. These places, in particular, as historians suggest, must have been known by the Prophet Muhammad; although the evidence is still generally lacking, this seems reasonable.   A UNIQUE HARAM ?   An interesting questions, then, is about the number of this places in the region of Hijaz before Islam; in fact, the Holy Quran mentions only one haram , but the available evidence seems to suggest that there must have been other harams as well. Besides the well known haram in Makkah, the historians point to Waji ...

MADINAH: A DIFFERENT CITY When we think at Madinah, the mind associates this place to the Prophet Muhammad, as he found refuge there, when his own people turned against him; today, Madinah is one of the two holy cities in Islam. Madinah is Muslim then, but it is not always been the case; in fact, Islam was revealed by Prophet Muhammad some 1,400 years ago. The history of Madinah, though, is much older, and bear witness to a history which is now almost forgotten and relegated to the realm of a few historians, experts and curious people who may wonder what was there before this city became one of the strongholds of Islam, before it came to be known as the ‘city of the Prophet’.   The religious landscape of the Pre-Islamic Hijaz   Before Islam changed forever the city and society of Madinah, of the Hijaz region, the rest of Arabia, and the world at large, the landscape was very different; in general terms, there were, in the region of Hijaz, where Madinah is located, many shrines...