Conceptualization of the Hapax Legomenon “Bakkah” and Its Scope in the Language and Geography of the Qur'an

Certain Qurʾānic terms occur only once in the text (hapax legomena) and therefore pose significant interpretive challenges. A number of these terms have received limited scholarly attention, leaving their semantic scope and conceptual implications insufficiently defined. One such term is Bakkah, which appears in Qurʾān 3:96 (Sūrat Āl ʿImrān) in the context of a polemical discourse between Muslims and the People of the Book concerning the earliest house of worship established for humankind. Despite its apparent reference to a concrete location, the precise meaning and referential scope of Bakkah remain contested among Qurʾānic exegetes and scholars of Islamic tradition.

This article investigates the concept of Bakkah through a descriptive–analytical approach grounded in linguistic, historical, and comparative textual analysis. The study demonstrates that Bakkah was a term with an established semantic and historical presence within both Jewish and early Islamic milieus, which explains its deployment in the Qurʾānic argumentation addressed to the People of the Book. Etymologically, Bakkah derives from the Arabic root bkk and corresponds to the Semitic and Afro-Asiatic root bk, conveying meanings associated with pressure, crowding, and striking.

Contrary to the widespread exegetical assumption that equates Bakkah with Makkah, the findings suggest that the two designations differ both semantically and geographically. Drawing on Qurʾānic usage, biblical references—particularly in the Psalms—and early geographical traditions, this study argues that Bakkah denotes a specific valley situated between Mount Abū Qubays and Quʿayqiʿān, encompassing the site of the Kaʿba and the precinct of al-Masjid al-Ḥarām. The designation Bakkah thus reflects the area’s characteristic congestion of pilgrims, preserving the term’s original semantic core within Afro-Asiatic languages