1لا أُقسِمُ بِهٰذَا البَلَدِMir Ahmed AliNay!1 Swear I by this City (Mecca)!City, i.e., Mecca—The people were already aware of the sanctity of the place which was chosen by the great prophet Abraham where at the command of the Lord he left his wife Hagar and his son Ishmael. For the connection of Ishmael’s name with Arabia is historic fact through Kedar, son of Bhima. This is vouched by the Old Testament: Gen. 25:13, 18 ps. 120:5, Isa. 42:11, 60:7. Abraham and Ishmael had built the Holy Ka’ba which they raised, dedicating it exclusively for the remembrance of the Lord 2:127 and Abraham in his prayers to the Lord wanted a Prophet to be raised in his seed and to raise some holy one 2:125 who would uphold the sanctity of the House and maintain it in purity and glorification. The sanctity of the Ka’ba was a fact even before Abraham which is given out in 3:95, wherein the first House of God was in Mecca. See also 22:29 and 30.