Before Mecca

or centuries, the story of Islam's origin has been told as an Arabian story alone. Before Mecca argues that the deeper roots of the faith, and of the Arabic language itself, reach across the Red Sea into the ancient civilizations of Africa — Nubia, Kush, and Axum — long before the Hijaz became the center of a new revelation.

In Before Mecca, #1 bestselling author Ajarn Shaman Shu (Oluwo Jolaoso Osainbola) traces the trade routes, migrations, and shared civilizational currents that connected the Horn of Africa and the Nile Valley to the Arabian Peninsula, arguing that the linguistic and cultural foundations later inherited by Islam and Arabic have African origins that history has largely forgotten.

Inside you'll explore:

The ancient kingdoms of Nubia, Kush, and Axum, and their reach across the Red Sea
The trade and migration routes linking Africa to the Hijaz and Yemen
The Ethiopian sanctuary of the first Muslims, and its place in early Islamic history
The African linguistic and cultural threads argued to run beneath Arabic
A bold reexamination of where the story of Islam truly begins

Provocative and ambitious, this is a call to look again at a history many assume is settled.Learn more at robertshumake.co. Part of the Sacred Sciences University Network: OrishaUniversity.com · ShivaUniversity.com · BuddhaUniversity.org · Krishna.University

About the Author
Robert S. Shumake, publishing as Ajarn Shaman Shu, has lived two lives in one — the builder and the priest — and his books are where the two meet. He rose from a Ford factory floor to become founding president and CEO of Inheritance Capital Group, a Black Enterprise-ranked private equity firm, served as honorary consul for Botswana and Tanzania, and founded Inheritance Media Group, owner of more than 300 publications produced by an AI-run newsroom. In spirit, each tradition that initiated him gave him a name: Buddhist Ajarn in the Theravada and Vajrayana lines, Oluwo Jolaoso Osainbola in Ifá, and Shri Surya Narayana Swamikal in the Tamil Siddha line. He is the founder of Soul Tribes International Ministries and of Buddha Digital Temple and its universities — Orisha University, Buddha University, and Shiva University. He authored Detroit’s Proposal E, the 2021 ballot initiative that decriminalized entheogenic plants in Detroit, and is the author of more than 140 published books and 86+ DOI-registered academic publications. His philosophy: the Double Bottom Line — make a profit, and make a difference. Robertshumake.biz