Anbiya’-Centric vs Arab-Centric: Reorganising the History of the Prophets in the Qur’an

When we read the history of the prophets in the Qur’an, we find that their stories are not gathered in one place. They are not confined to a single location.

The story of a prophet may appear in several surahs. Each surah may highlight a different event. One surah may describe the beginning of his da‘wah. Another may describe the journey of his people. Some may mention a particular place. Others may provide descriptions of seas, mountains, valleys, cities, nations and directions of travel.

For this reason, the history of the prophets cannot be read in isolated fragments. We need to gather it according to the prophetic figure involved. At the same time, we need to arrange it according to events. We must also examine the geography and identify the landmarks mentioned directly or indirectly in the Qur’an.

This method is not easy. However, when I began arranging history around the prophets, one indication after another started to emerge. That is why I call this approach “Anbiya’-Centric”.

What Does Anbiya’-Centric Mean?

Anbiya’-Centric means making the prophets the main axis for organising the history contained in the Qur’an.

We do not ask only:

“Where is this place?”

We also ask:

Which prophet is connected to that place?

What event took place there?

Which people were present there?

What journey took place before and after that event?

What mountain, sea, valley, city or landmark can help us identify the area?

When these questions are brought together, Qur’anic history no longer appears to be a collection of fragments standing alone. Instead, it begins to appear as a connected sequence of journeys involving human beings, prophets, peoples and regions.

This is the major difference between reading stories separately and reading history through the central axis of the prophets.

Allah says:

لَقَدْ كَانَ فِي قَصَصِهِمْ عِبْرَةٌ لِأُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ ۗ مَا كَانَ حَدِيثًا يُفْتَرَىٰ وَلَٰكِنْ تَصْدِيقَ الَّذِي بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ وَتَفْصِيلَ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَهُدًى وَرَحْمَةً لِقَوْمٍ يُؤْمِنُونَ

“Indeed, in their stories there is a lesson for people of understanding. The Qur’an is not a fabricated narrative. Rather, it confirms what came before it, explains all things and is a guidance and mercy for a people who believe.”
Surah Yusuf 12:111

This verse shows that the stories of the prophets are not merely stories to be read. They contain lessons, explanations, guidance and connections between various events.

What Does Arab-Centric Mean?

In this article, I use the term “Arab-Centric” as an analytical term. It refers to the tendency to place almost the entire history of the Qur’an within the Arab lands. When a place is mentioned in the stories of the prophets, we immediately search for it around the Arabian Peninsula, Sham, Iraq or areas with which we are already familiar.

I do not use this term to insult the Arabs. Nor am I saying that all earlier scholars deliberately restricted the history of the prophets to the Arab world.

The Arab lands remain important. Makkah, Madinah, Madyan, Sham and Mesopotamia certainly hold an important place in prophetic history.

However, the fact that revelation was sent down in Arabic does not mean that the entire history of humanity mentioned in the Qur’an took place only in the Arab lands.

The Qur’an was revealed in Arabic, but it was addressed to all humanity. Prophet Muhammad SAW was not sent to one nation alone. Therefore, the history of the prophets contained in the Qur’an must also be read with the awareness that the human world is wider than a single region.

The problem arises when the map with which we are familiar is treated as the only possible map. At that point, every place must be fitted into the same map. Every journey must have taken place within the same area. Every trace of the prophets must be sought around the Arab region.

This is where the Arab-Centric approach becomes limited.

When History Is Organised According to the Prophetic Figure

When I use the Anbiya’-Centric approach, I begin to see things that were previously invisible.

We encounter Prophet Muhammad SAW in Makkah. We also encounter him in Madinah. In addition, there are other events and indications connected to places that cannot simply be grouped under one location.

Prophet Nuh AS provides a chain of indications that leads me to Nusantara. At the same time, I also find indications connected to Mesopotamia.

If the story of Nuh is read only through an Arab-Centric map, the relationship between these events will not become visible. However, when the story of Nuh is gathered according to his prophetic figure, his journey, his people, the Ark, the water, the mountain and the place of landing, we begin to see a much wider field of investigation.

Prophet Shu‘ayb AS is commonly associated with Madyan in the Arab region. That is one part of the investigation. However, when the chain of stories and indications is examined more broadly, I also find indications that I connect to Aceh in Nusantara.

Prophet Dawud AS did not necessarily leave traces only in the Arab region. In my reading, there are indications that lead to the Malay Peninsula.

Prophet Sulayman AS is even more interesting. His traces are not connected only to the Arab lands. I find indications connected to various parts of Nusantara. They do not appear only once, but through several recurring chains of events and journeys.

Uzair’s story is connected to the journey of Bani Israel. At the same time, there are indications that lead to events in Nusantara.

The story of Maryam also cannot necessarily be read through a single geographical setting. I find one layer of the story connected to the Arab region and another chain of indications that I connect to Nusantara.

The same applies to Khidr, Hud and Salih. When their stories are gathered according to the prophetic figure, events and geography, we see that their investigation cannot necessarily be completed by placing every location in the Arab region.

There is no need for me to elaborate at length on Prophet Ibrahim AS. I find traces of Ibrahim in many different places. His story involves journeys, family, places of worship, migration, peoples and blessed lands.

In my study of Hajar, I find traces of her in Arabia as well as another chain of indications in Nusantara that I associate with her position as a maidservant to the Jabbarin.

As for the story of Qanturah, I have not yet found a chain of indications strong enough to present at length within the Anbiya’-Centric framework. That is why I do not want to force a conclusion before the arrangement of the evidence becomes genuinely clear.

Why Were These Things Not Visible Before?

The answer is that we often read the Qur’an according to separate surahs.

We read the story of Nuh in one surah. Then we read the story of Nuh in another surah. After that, we return to the stories of Ibrahim, Musa, Dawud, Sulayman or Maryam without connecting all these events into one historical sequence.

We also often read place names according to assumptions that have already been established.

When we hear the word Madyan, we immediately direct our thoughts to a location that has already been inherited. When we read the story of Bani Israel, we immediately confine it to one region. When we read the stories of the prophets, we assume that their journeys took place within the same setting.

Yet the Qur’an itself teaches us to view history more broadly.

Allah says:

قَدْ خَلَتْ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ سُنَنٌ فَسِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَانْظُرُوا كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الْمُكَذِّبِينَ

“Indeed, established patterns have passed before you. So travel through the land and observe what was the end of those who denied.”
Surah Ali ‘Imran 3:137

The instruction to travel through the land and observe the fate of earlier nations shows that history is not merely material to be memorised. It is connected to land, places, remains, journeys and consequences that can be observed.

Therefore, when we study the history of the prophets, we cannot ask only what the interpretation of a particular place is. We must also ask how that place is connected to other events mentioned in the Qur’an.

“All of This Is in the Qur’an”

When I say that everything I have mentioned is found in the Qur’an, I do not mean that the Qur’an mentions the names of modern countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia or Iraq one by one.

The Qur’an does not use modern maps.

What I mean is that the elements of this history are found in the Qur’an. The figures are there. The journeys are there. The peoples are there. The events and relationships between them are there. Descriptions of mountains, seas, valleys, blessed lands, cities and directions of travel are also there.

The indications will not become visible if we read every verse separately and immediately force it into the same map.

However, when the verses are gathered according to the prophets, events, geography and landmarks, one connection after another begins to emerge.

What is there begins to appear as being there.

What is here begins to appear as being here.

Events that take place during a journey may involve regions to the west as well as regions to the east.

The Qur’an is a Book that must be contemplated. Allah says:

كِتَابٌ أَنْزَلْنَاهُ إِلَيْكَ مُبَارَكٌ لِيَدَّبَّرُوا آيَاتِهِ وَلِيَتَذَكَّرَ أُولُو الْأَلْبَابِ

“This is a blessed Book which We have sent down to you so that they may contemplate its verses and so that people of understanding may take heed.”
Surah Sad 38:29

Tadabbur is not merely reading one verse and then stopping. Tadabbur also means examining the relationships, arrangement, repetition and indications scattered throughout the Qur’an.

Not Everything Can Be Presented at Once

I have found many more indications. However, I cannot lay everything out in a single article. If everything were presented at once, readers might become confused before they had understood the foundation.

Each prophet requires a separate investigation. Each region must also be compared with the verses, language, history, geography and landmarks.

I also do not want to turn similarities between names alone into proof. Any geographical mapping must be built gradually. It must be supported by a chain of evidence and compatibility between the event and the geography.

That is why I am arranging this investigation little by little. From this arrangement, I have begun to form several clusters, including three main clusters that I am developing in other articles.

Readers may not yet see the complete picture. That is normal. A map cannot be understood by looking at only one point.

What Do We Need to Do?

We need to place our confidence in the Qur’an as the ultimate primary source, the highest and most perfect source. The Qur’an is the speech of Allah. It will not mislead those who genuinely take it as their guidance. What we need to examine are our assumptions, the limits of our maps and the way we arrange the verses of Allah.

Do not accept something merely because it has been mentioned for a long time. Do not reject something merely because it appears to be new.

Read the Qur’an carefully. Gather the stories according to the prophets. Arrange the events according to their sequence. Examine the geography. Identify the landmarks. Distinguish between clear evidence and hypotheses that still require further investigation.

Anbiya’-Centric does not mean discarding all earlier knowledge. It is an effort to broaden the way we read the history of the prophets so that it is not confined to a single geographical assumption.

When this approach is used, one indication after another begins to appear in an organised manner. We eventually understand that the history in the Qur’an is not the history of one nation alone.

It is not merely Arab history. It is the history of humanity, the history of the prophets and the history of Allah’s guidance throughout the earth.

And it is the Qur’an that must lead us to rediscover those traces.