Mecca in the East?

Okay, I'm no expert on Islam, but this is something for my AAR, and something I was wondering.

Is the location of Mecca and Medina and all the various things there (such as the Kaaba, etc) particularly important to Islam? I think so, just confirming.

Let's say somehow (maybe with ASBs if needed) Egypt, the Levant, and Anatolia falls to crusader armies, the Mamluks and Ottomans are wiped out. Now, let's say the crusaders attack Medina and then Mecca, and they manage to capture both cities.

Would it be possible that the fleeing Muslims take the important Islamic relics with them and move them to another city, a possible Mecca-in-the-East, a holy city in exile while the true city is occupied by the infidels?

Or would they just leave everything there even if Christian crusaders captured the cities?
 
Well, I'm not entirely sure, but I think that most of the Islamic holy relics are too big to move. The Kaaba is huge, the Black Rock that Muslims claim Abraham received from Heaven is built into the Kaaba, etc. I think that the Muslims would leave the relics there, then launch jihad as soon as possible. But that's my opinion. ^^
 
Okay, I'm no expert on Islam, but this is something for my AAR, and something I was wondering.

Is the location of Mecca and Medina and all the various things there (such as the Kaaba, etc) particularly important to Islam? I think so, just confirming.

Let's say somehow (maybe with ASBs if needed) Egypt, the Levant, and Anatolia falls to crusader armies, the Mamluks and Ottomans are wiped out. Now, let's say the crusaders attack Medina and then Mecca, and they manage to capture both cities.

Would it be possible that the fleeing Muslims take the important Islamic relics with them and move them to another city, a possible Mecca-in-the-East, a holy city in exile while the true city is occupied by the infidels?

Or would they just leave everything there even if Christian crusaders captured the cities?

Yes, it is pretty important. A lot of things of note are meant to have happened there in Islamic cosmology. Its significance is similar to that of the Temple Mount in Judaism. Also, as Lady Cowles says, a lot of the important things aren't movable.
 

Leo Caesius

Banned
No, you can't just move it. The position is sacred. You could destroy it down to the foundations, but its location is what makes it holy. According to Islamic belief, the archetype for the Kaaba resides in the Seventh Heaven directly above it - if it were to fall from its current position it would land right on top of the Kaaba.

The best equivalent for what you're trying to do here are the Holy Cities in Iraq - Karbala, Najaf, and the rest. They became major centers of pilgrimage for Shiah, especially when Makka and Madina were under hostile control.
 
Yeah, I pretty much figured they were the kind of things you can't move.. I just wanted to confirm.. stranger things have happened.

The best equivalent for what you're trying to do here are the Holy Cities in Iraq - Karbala, Najaf, and the rest. They became major centers of pilgrimage for Shiah, especially when Makka and Madina were under hostile control.

So in this scenario those cities would probably be more off the center of Islamic culture in the region?
 

Philip

Donor
Well, I'm not entirely sure, but I think that most of the Islamic holy relics are too big to move. The Kaaba is huge, the Black Rock that Muslims claim Abraham received from Heaven is built into the Kaaba, etc.

The Black Stone can easily be moved -- it is about the size of a basketball. It was stolen by the Qarmatains in the Seventh Century. There was concern that it would be removed again during the Grand Mosque Seizure in 1979.

One the other hand, Mecca's relationship with Mohammad, Ishmael and Hagar can not be easily replaced.
 
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