Why were Prophets sent only to the Middle East?

Answer 1

It was believed the Middle East, especially Jerusalem, was the 'center of the world'. Also the 3 major religions began in the Middle East; Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.Each claims the city of Jerusalem, and other Middle Eastern cities, as holy to them.

An Islamic viewpoint

The Islamic definition of a prophet is someone chosen by Allah (and were communicated to by Allah, through the Angels) to spread his message and call people to belief in him and to worship him.

Muslims believe that despite Islamic sources (Qur'an & Hadith) citing only semitic prophets from Israel, Arabia, the Levant, Syria, Babylon etc that actually prophets were sent to every nation and tribe on Earth before the arrival of the final prophet, the Prophet Muhammad. Therefore it can be considered that great historical heroes, leaders, teachers etc from all over the world may have been prophets for their own nations. As the Qur'an was revealed in Arabia, the prophets of distant lands have by and large not been mentioned. One possible exception in the Qur'an is Dhul Karnain who was a great king and considered by some as a prophet (his prophethood isn't specified, so he may have just been a great leader favoured by God) and it is generally agreed by the scholars that he was not of the Middle East or Semitic origin. He is believed to have been either a European (some think possibly Alexander the great - as some parallels exist) or a Persian (possibly Cyrus the Great).

Zoroaster of Persia, Rama, Krishna & Siddhartha Gautama (The Buddha) of India, Osiris & Akhenaten of Egypt, Socrates of Greece, Merlin of Britain, Confucius of China are all historical figures who have been put forward as suggestions of possible non-semitic prophets. However it must be pointed out that there is no evidence for any of them according to Islamic sources and we have no real way of knowing, so one shouldn't speculate too much.

Other theories about the prophets of non-semitic peoples include that some of the dieties among the pantheons of ancient religions may have been in fact prophets who were initially heeded by their people but were eventually deified by successive generations. Another theory says that the names and knowledge of non-semitic prophets may have passed into legend or even out of known history all together.

In conclusion Muslims believe that prophets were sent by the One God (Known as Allah in Islam) to every nation to bring them to him in belief and worship. In other words, all people were sent Messengers from God be they Middle Easterners, Africans, Indians, Europeans, South Pacificers, Aborigines, Native Americans, Eskimos, Far Easterners, Central Asians etc etc. At this point in time knowledge for sure is only available for certain prophets of the Middle Eastern region.

Jews & Christians may have different answers to your question but I leave it to them to answer.

A Latter-Day-Saint Viewpoint

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believe that Prophets were sent to all peoples of the world. As of now, we all know about the Bible and how it talks about prophets. The Latter-Day Saints believe that the Book of Mormon is also the word of God written by prophets that God sent to the people of the Americas in ancient times. The people of the Book of Mormon are descendants of the people from the Middle East area, who traveled across the ocean. The Latter-Day Saints also believe that the current "Native Americans" are the descendants of these people who came to the America's at that time. The people who came from Europe are also believed, by the Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), to be descendants of the people from the Middle East who migrated northwest from the Middle East, and eventually made their way to the Americas. Furthermore, according to the Bible there was a major flood; Noah and his family were the only humans to survive along with numerous animals. Since this is the case we are all related to Noah, being descendants of his family, spread across the globe.

An Atheist viewpoint

The Abrahamic religions originated in the Middle East, and each of their 'biblical periods' took place at a point when most or all of their followers were in that region. Furthermore, the only people who are going to claim to be prophets of a religion are people who already believe in the religion, or who want to scam members of a religion. Since all the members of these religions were in the Middle East at the time, all the prophets were from the middle east. Other religions from other regions had their own prophets, but they are not considered prophets in most Abrahamic traditions.

In fact, the lack of any prophets of an Abrahamic god in regions where Abrahamic religions are not present (besides the one first prophet) is one of the better arguments against the Abrahamic religions being true. If the Abrahamic god was real, then it stands to reason that, while some of his prophetic 'seeds' would likely fail, more than just a few in one reason would sprout. It also stands to reason that the teachings of his prophets, especially in one region such as the Middle East, would be more consistent.