The Qur’an affirms a foundational principle in its repeated declaration: “We have indeed sent a Messenger to every nation” (An-Nahl 16:36), and “There is not a nation but a warner has passed among them” (Fatir 35:24). The Arabic term ummat, translated here as “nation,” is used in the Qur’an with a variety of meanings—up to ten distinct semantic fields, according to Majd al-Din al-Fayruzabadi’s Basā’ir Dhawi al-Tamyīz (2:79). In the verses cited above, the term refers not merely to a political or ethnic group, but to a civilizational collective—people bound by shared geography, language, culture, and, often, political organization.

Thus, the Qur’anic verses point to a universal historical truth: that every such civilizational community throughout human history has received prophetic guidance. The Qur’an’s emphasis is unmistakable—no nation, no people organized under a coherent sociocultural or political identity, was left without a Messenger. This theological assertion finds echoes in the patterns of historical and archaeological record.

Archaeological and historical studies have identified several ancient civilizations as among the earliest organized human societies: Mesopotamia; ancient Egypt; the Harappan and Mohenjo-daro settlements in the Indus Valley of India; the Yellow River civilization in China; the Minoan society on the island of Crete; the early Mayan communities of Central America; the proto-Dravidian culture of southern India; the Olmec civilization in central Mexico; and even the enigmatic megalithic structures of Stonehenge in England. Among these, the Indus Valley Civilization—dating as far back as 3300 BCE—is often cited as one of the oldest.

While archaeological evidence does not yet provide written records older than this, many Islamic scholars and exegetes—drawing from the Qur’an and early Islamic historiography—maintain that human societies existed well before this period. The renowned historian Ibn Sa’d al-Baghdadi (d. 784 CE / 168 AH), in his magnum opus Tabaqat al-Kubra, offers a timeline from Prophet Adam (peace be upon him) to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ as cited by Imam al-Qurtubi in his Tafsir (vol. 6, p. 122): 

Period    Duration (in years)

Adam to Nuh (Noah)  1000

Nuh to Ibrahim (Abraham)  1000

Ibrahim to Musa (Moses)  1000

Musa to ‘Isa (Jesus)   1700

‘Isa to Muhammad ﷺ     569

Total     5269 years

A hadith reported by Abu Umamah al-Bahili and recorded by Imam al-Tabarani notes that there were ten generations between Adam and Nuh, each spanning roughly a century. If this generational calculation is used as a reference point, one could estimate that Adam lived around 4700 BCE. This estimate pushes the antiquity of human civilization far beyond current archaeological horizons, suggesting the possibility of yet-undiscovered civilizations with prophetic roots.

These early societies, though primitive in their material development, were not bereft of moral or spiritual direction. According to a report from Ikrimah cited by Ibn Sa’d, all ten generations between Adam and Nuh adhered to divine law. This means that belief in God and moral order was not a later invention but present in primordial human communities.

Were There Prophets in India and Europe?

If the Qur’an affirms that messengers were sent to all peoples, then a natural question presents itself: Who were the prophets sent to regions like India, China, Europe, and the Americas? Why are their names not mentioned in the Qur’an or Hadith?

A famous hadith reported by the Companion Abū Dharr al-Ghifārī (may Allah be pleased with him), narrated by Imām al-Ṭabarānī, mentions the total number of prophets. When asked how many prophets there were altogether, the Prophet ﷺ is reported to have replied, “One hundred and twenty-four thousand.” Out of all these, the Qur’an mentions only twenty-five by name. That is, only 0.02% of all prophets are named explicitly in the Qur’an. And those mentioned were named only to the extent necessary for communicating the intended moral and theological messages of the Qur’an. The remaining 99.98% have not been named at all. The Qur’an itself acknowledges this, saying: “We have certainly sent messengers before you. Some of them We have related to you, and some of them We have not related to you.” (Surah Ghāfir 40:78)

We thus know very little about the ancient human communities and civilizations that existed in places like Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt, the Indus Valley of India, and elsewhere. Even what we do know comes from interpreting archaeological findings—relics, ruins, ancient buildings—using human logic and conjecture. And if we know so little about these people’s social and spiritual leadership, it is no surprise. In fact, we are told that in these civilizations too, there existed belief in God.

At this point, two Qur’anic concepts deserve special attention—maʿrūf and munkar. The Qur’an instructs believers to call to maʿrūf and forbid munkar: Let there be a group among you who call to righteousness, enjoin what is maʿrūf, and forbid what is munkar. It is they who will be successful. (Āl ʿImrān 3:104)

You are the best nation produced [for mankind]. You enjoin what is maʿrūf and forbid what is munkar, and you believe in Allah. (Āl ʿImrān 3:110)

The believing men and believing women are allies of one another. They enjoin what is maʿrūf and forbid what is munkar… (Tawbah 9:71)

What exactly do these two terms mean? Maʿrūf is commonly translated as “virtue” or “right conduct,” and munkar as “vice” or “wrongdoing.” But linguistically, maʿrūf means “that which is recognized or familiar,” while munkar means “that which is rejected or unfamiliar.” So, the question becomes: familiar or unfamiliar to whom? Recognized or denied by which community?

The Qur’anic worldview is that Islam was not a novel religion with alien moral codes; rather, it came with teachings that were already familiar to all human communities. The God it calls to—One, without partner—was already familiar (maʿrūf) to people across the world. The idol worship and disbelief it opposed were already munkar—recognized as deviations by earlier prophetic communities. Islam was thus a call to return to the original teachings that the earliest prophets had brought—teachings that had once been widely known and accepted.

Contemporary anthropological and historical studies suggest that belief in God and the supernatural has existed in all known human societies. In fact, the oldest form of religious belief seems to be monotheism. Over time, however, various interpretations of this original belief arose, such as:

• Henotheism: believing in many gods but worshipping only one;
• Deism: belief in an impersonal, non-interventionist Creator;
• Pantheism: the universe itself is divine;
• Panentheism: God is both immanent in the universe and transcends it;
• Monistic Theism: belief in a non-personal, all-encompassing divine principle;
• Substance Monotheism: multiple gods are all expressions of a single divine substance;
• Trinitarianism: belief in one God in three persons.

Alongside these, polytheism also spread.

But the Qur’an reminds us: Mankind was [once] one community [of believers]. Then Allah sent the prophets as bringers of good tidings and warners, and He revealed with them the Scripture in truth to judge between the people concerning that in which they differed. (Surah al-Baqarah 2:213)

The Prophet ﷺ also said in a well-known hadith: The best thing that I and the prophets before me have said is: ‘There is no god but Allah, alone without partner.’

This means that the goal of all prophetic missions was to bring people back to the worship of one God, eliminate innovations, superstitions, and idol worship, and revive the pristine belief and conduct once familiar to all.

The Vedas of ancient India, for instance, contain many passages that reflect monotheistic belief. The Yajurveda and Atharvaveda declare the oneness of God, and the Kena Upanishad affirms a transcendent God beyond human perception. The Isha Upanishad condemns polytheism as a form of darkness. The Rigveda describes the One God under various names—Hiranyagarbha, Vishwakarma, Virat Purusha.Although most modern Hindus may be unaware of these teachings, they still exist in ancient scriptures. It is plausible to think that these ideas were part of a maʿrūf—an earlier prophetic legacy. Even if we cannot say definitively whether figures like Buddha, Krishna, or Rama were prophets, we can affirm this: the versions of their lives and teachings familiar to us today—through Buddhist or Hindu scriptures—do not align with the Islamic concept of prophethood. Prophets, in the Islamic view, are exemplars of pure belief and conduct, far above myth or legend.