I want everyone's honest, non-polemical, and scholarly take on this assessment of the non-existence of Mecca hypothesis.
Let us say for the sake of argument that we do not have any record of Mecca being a trading civilisation,
There is no "sake of argument" here. There is nothing whereas it is affirmed the contrary.
does that negate the Muslim historical claim that it was?
It this
specific area, yes.
If it does, then the Medieval Castle of Africa in Great Zimbabwe,
I do not know the topic. What scholar of Late Antiquity know this stuff? Almost none. Especially when "Medieval Castle of Africa in Great Zimbabwe" is thrown to you face like that ; no introduction, chronology, etc.
Artifacts and coins from Persia and as far away as China have been discovered at the site of the uncovered lost civilisation.
Zimbabwe in Africa? There is no scripture there.
The Indus civilisation is another great example of a forgotten segment of human history. This was a mighty nation that disappeared into oblivion and whose existence was unknown until the first quarter of the 20th century when archaeological discoveries were made in Harappa. Until that time the civilisation was practically non-existent in the thoughts of men. It wasn't even in any fairy tale. But when it was discovered, it was a marvel of history. The civilisation was stunningly advance and it had trade relations with Mesopotamia and that remains a hallmark of global trade between two distant civilisations. If the Indus civilisation had traded with as far a civilisation as Mesopotamia, it is likely that it had trade relations with nearer surrounding civilisations, but no record of the Indus civilisation's existence can be found elsewhere.
Yes. There's is many civilizations lost. Of course. But "Mecca" is not existent
at all. Only the basalt. And Islam is not lost. What is "lost" is that there was something. And there is no sources. It is not at all the same situation described by this paper. At all.
These and many similar examples negate the argument of revisionists
Negates nothing. The situations of theses lost civilization are not (at all) the same as "Mecca". Nothing to see. Apparently yes. Just apparently and that's all.
If Mecca was a non-trading nation, then historians would have a difficult time explaining its long historical existence in Islam (dating back to its beginnings) as it was a land devoid of cultivation.
What historians? "Muslims historians" who have to believed this story to be Muslim, that's all...
How would the population have survived and sustained its existence if there was no trade going through Mecca?
Of course, that is why there's no Mecca.