Assalam o Alaikum
a question that is bugging me for some time now…
Why every prophet whose names are mentioned in quran belonged-were sent to arabs-arab lands…or surrounding areas…
why there is no mention of any prophet say sent to indo pak sub continents..which i am sure had thier share of prophets…
what could be the reason…
this is nauzobillah not a critical comment…but a confusion…
Will check replies in 2/3 days …
Bit busy now…
I would like to ask you what references you have that state all the prophets(pbut) were sent to arabs or arab lands.
This is an incorrect statement in my view.
Especially when you consider Prophet Adam(AS).
This is not like that, we think like that they are Arabic because their names are written in Arabic language. Every language try to localize the terms and names used in other language. Like Burtaniya, cheen, are urdu-localized names in Urdu names of Great Britain and China similarly India is English-localized name of Bharat.
Taken from Ibn Kathir's tafsir of Qur'an:
Allah said that Ibrahim(AS) said,
(And of my offspring (to make leaders)) and Allah replied,
(My covenant (prophethood) includes not Zalimin (polytheists and wrongdoers)).
**When Allah made Ibrahim(AS) an Imam (Leader for the faithful), he asked Allah that Imams thereafter be chosen from his offspring. **Allah accepted his supplication, but told him that there will be unjust people among his offspring and they will not benefit from Allah's promise. Thus, they will neither become Imams nor be imitated (for they will not be righteous). The proof that Ibrahim's(AS) supplication to Allah was accepted is that Allah said in Surat Al-`Ankabut (29:27),
(And We ordained among his offspring prophethood and the Book).
*Hence, every Prophet whom Allah sent after Ibrahim (AS) were from among his offspring, and every Book that Allah revealed was to them. *
^^ This stilll does not prove/mean that all Prophets were sent to arabs. Another side of the coin is, it has been said that Allah sent prophets to the nations that needed it the most...in other words people who were gumrah and corrupt...if you were to believe that all prophets were sent to Arab nations...what does it say about them?
there is this book called "One God One Creed" which is an english translation of a malayalam book written by an Indian Muslim, which draws interesting conclusions on the link between hinduism and Allah's religion....
also an attempt is made to show how some of the dieties of hindus were actually prophets sent by Allah....
the Quran might contain mention of only those people who were sent to arabia and neighboring lands, cuz it wud be easier for the "then audience" to grasp the message of the Quran since they wud already be aware of most of the historical events linked with these prophets....
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Kaleem: *
^^ This stilll does not prove/mean that all Prophets were sent to arabs.
[/QUOTE]
I dont know if you were referring to my post Kaleem, but if you were, my post was not stating that all the prophets (pbut) were arab. My post simply mentions that the prophets after Ibrahim (AS) were most probably from that region.
I believe the Qur'an makes it clear that prophets
(pbut) were sent to every nation, and every nation does not mean just arab or arab regions. smile
Wa 'alaykum salaam
*"And for every nation there is a messenger." (10:47)
"And there is not a people but a warner has gone among them." (35:24)*
The above ayahs clearly state that the Prophets were sent to every nation, and the ayah below clearly states that there were Prophets that are not mentioned in the Quran.
Of some messengers We have already told thee the story;of others We have not* ;- and to Moses Allah spoke direct; - [4:164]*
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by armughal: *
the Quran might contain mention of only those people who were sent to arabia and neighboring lands, cuz it wud be easier for the "then audience" to grasp the message of the Quran since they wud already be aware of most of the historical events linked with these prophets....
[/QUOTE]
I agree with the above as the ‘addressees’ of the Quran at that time would not have been able to relate to mention of names of the Prophets they had not heard about.
True…Every nation on earth was given a Prophet, except until Hazrat Ibrahim :as:, after whom every Prophet which ever came, came from his progeny including our beloved Prophet :saw:…
It makes one think (me at least) that the reason the Holy Prophet :saw: was never given a son was to make sure that the line of Prophets would end with him, and I have no doubt that had the Prophet :saw: ever had a male child, subsequent generations of Muslims would, no doubt through ignorance, have given his kin the status of gods 
…
But it is a given fact, that although the majority of Prophets came from the desert, it was after Hazrat Ibrahim :as: that every Prophet that ever came from the desert, particularly from the middle eastern deserts…
After the Allah :swt: declared in the Quran, that it is the final Message to be transmitted by the final Messenger, no true Muslim doubts the finality of Prophethood and the finality of Message he brought except those who are misguided, misled and in grievous error…
After Ibrahim :as:, all the prophets were from his progency. From Ishmael :as: came only Prophet :saw:, and from Isaaq :as: came all the other prophets which were sent to Israel, Yes?, most prohets were then sent to the Jews, what does it say about them?
Didnt Adam :as: built the first Kaba, yes?, Also wasnt Adam :as: dua for forgiveness accepted at mount Arafaat (near Makkah).
How many prophets that have been mentioned in the Quran between Adam :as: and Ibrahim :as: were not sent to the Middle East? Could you name any please?
As far as Ive heard all of them that have been mentioned in the Quran were sent to that region.
I should clarify. Adam (AS) wasnt sent to arab people as he was the first person. smile
He was sent to a region between Makkah and Taif, according to the scholars.
I base my statement that not all prophets were sent to arab lands, on the fact that Qur’an says every nation received a prophet(pbut). Dont know enough about all the Prophets(pbut) mentioned in the Qur’an, to state they all came from that region or not. If I find out something, may post here, insha’Allah. smile
arabic language came much after ibrahim (as) hence the arab locality itself wud be a much later development....
adam (as) was not an arab and i dont think anyone cud prove him to be one....
The discussion was not about whether there were Prophets sent to ‘every nation’. I dont think there is any diagreement about this.
The question was:
Which I think even applies to Hazrat Adam :as:, as he was sent to the middle east region. As I think were all prophets that have been mentioned in the Quran (Unless there is evidence to suggest otherwise).
The question was why were only these prophets mentioned in the Quran, I guess we can speculate as much as we want but Allah Knows Best.
smile
It is obvious innit? The supposed divine message is for people living in the desert during those times. PLaces like India, China, Japan, Meso America didn't have a need for a message that takes their civilized society backwards.
True, I didnt realize bihari mentioned the ones that were named in the Qur’an. However, what evidence is there that all the Prophets named were only sent to arab regions? These are the references I would like bihari to present, otherwise its merely speculation.
why???
were they already in the deepest portion of backwardness already???
Ok Here is a list of all the Prophets mentioned in the Quran, taken from Understanding Islam - Explaining Islam in Light of the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad
[list=1]
[li] Hadhrat Adam (pbuh) (Adam)
[/li][li] Hadhrat Idrees (pbuh)
[/li][li] Hadhrat Nooh (pbuh) (Noah)
[/li][li] Hadhrat Hood (pbuh)
[/li][li] Hadhrat Saleh (pbuh)
[/li][li] Hadhrat Loot (pbuh) (Lot)
[/li][li] Hadhrat Ibraheem (pbuh) (Abraham)
[/li][li] Hadhrat Ismael (pbuh) (Ishmael)
[/li][li] Hadhrat Ishaq (pbuh) (Isaac)
[/li][li] Hadhrat Yaqoob (pbuh) (Jacob)
[/li][li] Hadhrat Yousuf (pbuh) (Joseph)
[/li][li] Hadhrat Shoaib (pbuh) [/li][li] Hadhrat Ayyub (pbuh) (Job) [/li][li] Hadhrat Mu'sa (pbuh) (Moses) [/li][li] Hadhrat Haroon (pbuh) (Aaron) [/li][li] Hadhrat Dawood (pbuh) (David) [/li][li] Hadhrat Suleman (pbuh) (Solomon) [/li][li] Hadhrat Yunus (pbuh) (Jonah) [/li][li] Hadhrat Ilyas (pbuh) (Elijah) [/li][li] Hadhrat Al-Yasa (pbuh) (Elisha) [/li][li] Hadhrat Zu-Al-Kifal (pbuh) [/li][li] Hadhrat Zakariya (pbuh) (Zechariah) [/li][li] Hadhrat Yahya (pbuh) (John) [/li][li] Hadhrat Esa (pbuh) (Jesus) [/li][li] Hadhrat Muhammad (pbuh) [/li][li] The twenty-sixth Prophet who is referred to in the Qur’an is Hadhrat Samuel (pbuh). However, the Qur’an has not given his name, but has presented him as a Prophet` of Bani-Israel after Hadhrat Mu’sa (pbuh). This is mentioned in the verses 246-248 of Surah Al-Baqarah. The name of this Prophet, that is Samuel is mentioned in the Bible. In fact one book of the Old Testament is in his name.
[/li][/list=1]
From the above list which were not sent to an area of the middle east?
Is it accepted that from Ibrahim :as: came all prophets after him via his two sons Ibrahim :as: and Isaaq :as:.
From Ishamel :as: came only our final Prophet :saw:. From Isaac :as: came all the Prophets of Bani-Israel until Esa :as:. Then that would only leave question marks over the first 6 mentioned in the list. Yes?
Edit: Also you can see a family tree of the prophets. If you can make sense of it though
Interesting. By the way, I am not stating that the Prophets(pbut) named were not from that region, as I myself dont know, if infact you have inferred this from me.
Some of the first six mentioned, from what I have been reading, were from the region that is now the middle-east and surrounding. However, the peoples back then were not all arabs that spoke arabic. Perhaps bihari is asking why was Mesoptamia and what is now the middle-east a place/region where many of the named Prophets were sent. A question which I do not know the answer to. Allahu Alam. smile
Yeah well, I dont think Bihari meant Arab people, but the Arab region and its surrounding area (thats why I was referring to them being sent to the Middle East).
From the first 6 they were sent to the same region as far as I have read (not sure bout Idrees :as: though, but not much is mentioned about him and seems unlikely he would be from elsewhere).
So unless anyone can provide evidence for otherwise, all the Prophets mentioned by name in the Quran were sent to the Middle East region.
smile