\ Scholars have long questioned traditional accounts of the origins of Islam. Most of what we know comes from Islamic manuscripts written some 200-300 years after Islam began. Did those later writers clearly understand their history, or were they presenting the popular views of their time?

Canadian historian Dan Gibson has pieced together a different Islamic history using the archaeological record rather than manuscript evidence alone. He has compiled a database of the remains of over 200 early mosques and places of prayer in Islam, revealing a surprising and sometimes shocking account of the genesis of Islam and its spread. Could this really be true?

\ This book examines Gibson’s research data as well as a statistical analysis by Dr. Walter Schumm and Zvi Goldstein. Gibson, along with Chad Doell, examine how this new data changes and yet fits the manuscript accounts. The scholarly objections of Dr. David King are also examined and answered.

\ Gibson’s initial research was the subject of a 90 minute 2016 documentary film: The Sacred City. Then eight years later Gibson completed his research and published this book. A new documentary film (The Sacred City 2) is planned for release in the fall of 2026.

PRINT BOOK

You can purchase a hard cover, full color edition from the following sources.

USA https://www.amazon.com/Let-Stones-Speak-Archaeology-challenges/dp/1927581230

CANADA https://www.amazon.ca/Let-Stones-Speak-Archaeology-challenges/dp/1927581230/

UK and Europe https://www.amazon.co.uk/Let-Stones-Speak-Archaeology-challenges/dp/1927581230

Brazil and South America https://www.amazon.com.br/Let-Stones-Speak-Archaeology-challenges/dp/1927581230

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Funding, Copyrights, Photos

Transliterations, Dating, 1st person

Glossary

1. Let the Stones Speak

2. The Discovery

   • Unknown facing mosques
   • Petra facing mosques
   • Parallel facing mosques
   • Between facing mosques
   • Mecca facing mosques
   • Jerusalem facing mosques

3. Qibla Data Examined Statistically - by Schumm & Goldstein

   • Research Questions
   • Methods
   • Results, Objections, Conclusions

4. How did they do it?

   • Four cardinal directions
   • Measuring distance
   • Calculating the qibla
   • Amra star char

5. What about Mecca?

   • Ptolemies maps
   • Rivers in Arabia
   • Finding Mecca on Ptolemy’s maps
   • Morris drive another nail

6. Umayyad Qasrs

   • Nabataean manor houses
   • Qasr life
   • Change of Qibla

7. A Case for Petra

   • The names of Petra and Mecca
   • The Arabic of the Nabataeans
   • The Aramaic of the Qur’an

8. The Ka’ba in Petra

   • The Pre Islamic Ka’ba / Petra Ka’ba
   • The Ka’ba during Muhammad’s life
   • The Ibn al-Zubayr Ka’ba
   • The Ka’ba in Saudi Arabia
   • The Abbassids

9. The Religion of AbrahamThe Altar

   • The Pilgrimage
   • The Pilgrimage Route
   • The Ka’ba and Stone Cubes
   • Interpretation of Religion of Abraham

10. Evidence Suppressed

    • The Power of Al-Hajjaj
    • The Qarmatians

11. Dr. King Challenges Gibson - By Chad Doell

    • Astronomical Alignments
    • Modern Directions
    • Other Objections

12. The Roman Army - By Chad Doell

    • The Roman Border
    • The religious climate of Petra
    • The Roman-Sassanian war
    • Muhammad and the Sassanian war
    • Appendix: Mu’ta

13. Other Locations & Sites

    • Abraha and the elephant
    • The Battle of Badr
    • China
    • Medina
    • Paran
    • Ta’if
    • Zamzam
    • Shib Abu Talib
    • Ghadir Khumm
    • al-Abwa village

14. Conclusion

• Appendix 1: Online Qibla Tool and Database

  Appendix 2: The Mosques

• Appendix 3: Testing King’s Qibla Theory Statistically

• Bibliography

• Index