The first part of your question applies to the concentration of prophets in a certain region, that is the Middle East. The fact is that there are so many regions of the world, so many nations in which Allah sent his prophets. And they also have their own special line, and many prophets appeared in those lines as well. But not so concentratedly, I agree, as in the case of the Middle East. Moreover, their histories are not preserved, while the history of this line of prophets has been fully preserved. Why?
The obvious reason is that it was an evolutionary tree, the main trunk on which was to appear the consummate form of the ultimate prophet, prophethood, that is Islam. And at the end of which was to appear the fruit of creation, that is Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. That had a very special significance, that line, obviously. So, there were many branches which were abandoned earlier, many types of religion which were abandoned earlier, and they came to an end abruptly sometimes. Because they were not required anymore. And the ending of religions took place particularly at the time of Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam’s appearance.
From then on, every other religion was not entirely obsolete, that is not what is claimed by the Holy Quran. They kept on serving their purpose, but they were abandoned in the sense that from then on, there was not to appear any prophethood among them. I make this very clear. Some Ahmadis take this stance that every religion is dead in the sense that no benefit can be drawn out of any other religion. That is totally wrong. Not a claim made by the Holy Quran. It says a much better and a perfect religion has appeared, and those who know, it will be in their own interest now to follow this religion. Not to be satisfied with much less, when much more has been provided. That is a sort of comparison.
And when a teaching which is safe, completely, without any influence of man has been revealed, with guarantee that it will be preserved, why should you follow such teachings which have many pitfalls? Many poisons have been added into the food. So these are the dangers which have been manifestly made clear by the Holy Quran about the earlier teachings. Yet it leaves at that. It says those who cannot understand or have not heard the message of Islam and still pursue the older teachings, in honesty, they will be rewarded by Allah. So, by giving preference to the Middle East, it does not mean that other religions were abandoned. In fact, this was the line on which A.S. was to appear.
So it was specially guarded and preserved, both in history and in substance. With the result that Islam appeared ultimately. And after that, when you pursue the history backwards, the only sensible way to do is to follow the immediate history of that branch on which A.S. appeared. And that is quite significant and sufficient as example for the rest of the religions. So two courses are possibly open now. Either to give history for the Holy Quran of every religion, independently. That means that the Holy Quran would swell in size to hundreds of times of its present size.
The other alternative was to give the history of only that religion, which had ultimately resulted in its complete and perfect form. So it is quite sensible to follow that history, provided no harm is done by leaving the mention of other religions and their history. So the Holy Quran says that the history we are presenting to you, right from the start of Adam till the time of A.S. is quite sufficient and all-comprising. It contains every possible situation which mankind could be confronted with. There is not a single situation left out of it.
So when it is complete in illustrations, so why should the Holy Quran go on also mentioning other prophets when they have been fully represented in those prophets which appeared in the Middle Eastern religions. So that is the reason as I see. And this is the wisest course which could have been adopted and it cannot be replaced by any other course.
