Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

Here's another case of mosques not facing Mecca.

http://www.historyofmecca.com/historica ... .htm#qibla
http://nabataea.net/dedan.html

What eventually made Mecca holy besides the qibla after the Muslims gave up on praying facing Jerusalem?
And why did they create the legend of Muhammad's ascension to heaven from the site of theTemple in Jerusalem?

Duvduv wrote:What eventually made Mecca holy besides the qibla after the Muslims gave up on praying facing Jerusalem?

It's in part because the site in Mecca was a church before it was a mosque. There is a diagram and explanation on the third page of this PDF excerpt:

http://www.islamfacts.info/Islamfacts/E ... beKap7.pdf

The Ka’aba in pre-Islamic time as church (Al-Azraqi / G.Lüling)

I'm not sure what other factors played a role.

And why did they create the legend of Muhammad's ascension to heaven from the site of theTemple in Jerusalem?

It's in part because the Marwanids/Ummayads were expecting the second coming of a "praiseworthy" (i.e. "muhammad") Jesus for the turn of century around 700 AD to the Temple Mount. That's why they started the construction of the Dome of the Rock. Mohammed is an Arabicized Jesus.

What is the evidence for common use of the word Muhammad to refer to the Praised One rather than a proper name among Arabs or Aramaic speakers??

Duvduv wrote:What is the evidence for common use of the word Muhammad to refer to the Praised One rather than a proper name among Arabs or Aramaic speakers??

This:

http://aliqapoo.com/2008/08/13/circular ... comment-12
http://www.christoph-heger.de/2008-03-1 ... eger_5.pdf
http://www.newenglishreview.org/custpag ... c_id/19589

What I actually meant was a common usage of the word Muhammad to mean praised one outside of a couple of sources, as opposed to a proper name. If it can be shown that the name Muhammad was never used as a proper name at all, that is important. What would be even more important would be that the adjective muhammed/praise one would be commonly found in Arab usage having nothing to do with the Muslim prophet.
Finally, does Muhammad ever get referred to in the Quran or elsewhere simply with a respectful title instead of generically use of the name, i.e. "O, Prophet" or "O, Master" or "O, Teacher"??
Is he ever described as "Master Muhammed" or "Sage/Teacher Muhammad" rather than just a less than respectful generic use of that first name Muhammad?