Thread by @NaqadStudies

Aqaba is a coastal Jordanian city with a storied Islamic and pre-Islamic history.

The archaeology of the port town is worth considering. Let's look at D Witcomb's field research, undertaken in 1994 for the University of Chicago.

In the Roman period, the city was known as Aila.

It was a Nabatean port, start of the Via Nova road to Bosra (116 CE). Tthe Xth Legion Fretensis was also stationed in Ayla.

In 630 AD, bishop Yahanna ibn Ruba made a treaty with Arabs who were establishing hegemonic control of the region, and then handed over the city to Arab rulership.

A new Islamic town, Ayla, was built next to the byzantine town.

Ayla was situated on the crossroads to Mecca, Syria/Palestine, and Egypt.

Ayla was abandoned in 1116, due to a sacking and multiple earthquakes. Baldwin conquered the city with little resistance that same year.

A new settlement named Aqaba grew besides it, around the castle.

Rashidun Umyyad era Aqaba, 650-670 CE

The early mosque shows an interesting 215° qibla.

This mihrab does not point to Mecca. Nor does it point due South (36° off), nor to the qabūl summer sunrise (34° off), and so does not fit the traditional explanations generally applied in this circumstance (by King et al).

Can we reasonably say that the early Aylan Arabs intended this specific qibla direction?

Yes, it is reasonable. Given that it was built on new land, and given the location of Ayla as a nexus of early Islamic trade, we should take ~215° seriously.

As seen in this map, the trade route (and thus the Hajj pilgrimage route) to Mecca went through Ayla. Early Aylans knew which direction was Mecca - almost surely as well as they knew due south, or the direction of summer sunrise.

Naqad would like to suggest one tendentious theory that explains the early Aylan Arabs were pointing to.

Though Witcomb didn't make qiblah conclusions, we would suggest the mihrab's direction points to Mt Sinai - a prominent holy site in Late Antique JudeoChristian traditions.

Mount Sinai (2285m in height) is part of an impressive southern mountain chain in the Sinai Peninsula. these mountains can be seen for many miles in the arid atmosphere.

Is the Sinai mountain range visible from Aqaba, on a clear day?

Let controversially, Witcomb found interesting medallions that displayed Sasanian influence.

Here we see a head and winged horse with the Arabic bismallah.

Axumite coins show that Aila/Ayla had extensive regional contacts.

Reused Christian elements were also found in the later layers (9-10th centuries CE), showing that for the first centuries after Arab takeover, the churches seemed to have functioned normally.

Beautiful photo of modern Aqaba!

Research taken from the following paper by D Witcomb:
oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchic…