The word makkata in 48.24 is NOT written Al-Makkata indicating a nominative, furthermore it is not written fi-Makkata, the proper Arabic way of indicating a town. Going back to the root form for MKK we've learned, from the Classical Arabic dictionaries, that its main meanings were 'sucked' or ''desolate' which fits the context of the harsh (sucked) negociations and the climate of hostility whereas the Hudaibayyah Treaty emerged...
Thus I've proposed the following reading for 48.24:
Wa Huwa Al-Ladhī Kaffa 'Aydiyahum `Ankum Wa 'Aydiyakum `Anhum
-bibaţni makkata-
Bi is simply the preposition and 'batni' is better translated 'midst' than 'valley'.
To indicate a city it would have to be rendered... fi-makkata or Al-Makkata !
48:24
And He it is Who hath withheld men's hands from you, and hath withheld your hands from them,
in the MIDST of SWINDLES, after He had made you victors over them. Allah is Seer of what ye do.
Context of surah 48:
We were clearly in the context of enmity, but then 48.24 turns the tide... and tranquility as 'Victory' is rather instilled !
48.26:
When those who disbelieve had set up in their hearts zealotry, the zealotry of the Age of Ignorance, then Allah sent down His peace of reassurance upon His messenger and upon the believers and imposed on them the word of self-restraint for they were worthy of it and meet for it...
Now we have also seen that, before around 710, the former qiblas were pointing to the area of al-Qura, North of Medina,
to a place known throughout antiquity as Al-Ula (Dedan) and al-Hijr (Hegra) which perfectly fit Muhammad's own Hegira
and are closer to many other events (Tabouk, Pledges of Aqaba, etc), not to mention verses like 37.137-138.
So, in Phoenician (the mother alphabet for all later Semitic's) MAKAK means RUINS, desolation (in this context: sacred ruins) !
Thus:
in the MIDST (or valley) of DESOLATION, after He had made you victors over them. Allah is Seer of what ye do.
Who made the change by 710? No doubt... Al-Hajjaj, a ''
tough, cruel, draconian or even savage ruler'' !
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Hajjaj_ibn_Yusuf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
He sent a courier to ask ‘Abdu l-Malik for reinforcements and also for permission to take the city by force. Al-Ḥajjāj received both. Angered at being prevented by Ibn al-Zubayr from performing Hajj, al-Ḥajjāj bombarded Mecca (ie. al-Hijr), going so far as to target the Ka’bah and its pilgrims during the Hajj. After the siege had lasted seven months and 10,000 men (among them two of ibn az-Zubayr's sons) had gone over to al-Ḥajjāj, Ibn al-Zubayr and loyal followers, including his youngest son, were killed in the fighting around the Ka’bah on October 692 AD. Al-Ḥajjāj's siege of the Hijaz (ie. wadi al-Qura) resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent inhabitants....
(Later) He then killed all their Zoroastrian priests and burned and wasted their books, until gradually the illiterate only remained, who knew nothing of writing, and hence their history was mostly forgotten.
It is written that Al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf once entered a city. There was an elder cleric whose prayers were widely believed to bring blessings. He asked the cleric to recite a prayer for him. The cleric prayed: "O God, take his life away!" Al-Ḥajjāj, startled, burst out: "Old man, what kind of prayer is this that you recite for me?!" The old man replied: "It is for your own good and the benefit of the people."
Simply obvious: It was the dreadful al-Hajjaj (661-714) who destroyed the former al-Hijr (as Mecca) and replace it with nowadays location!
Al-Hajjaj also collected all existing copies of the Koran, edited them at will with an army of scribes, and burned all previous copies !
Next, we'll have a look at -bibakkata- (3.96), itself very bad Arabic, translated 'Becca'.
Authority has the same etymological root as authenticity.