Were any Prophets sent to the people of Africa and Europe?

Question

Praise be to Allah.

Firstly:

One of the basic
facts that are affirmed in our religion is that Allah, may He be exalted,
has established proof against His slaves by sending the Messengers and
sending down the Books. They were not sent to one nation to the exclusion of
others, or to one continent to the exclusion of others. Rather they were
sent to all nations, in different places and at different times, as Allah
says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Verily! We have
sent you with the truth, a bearer of glad tidings, and a warner. And there
never was a nation but a warner had passed among them.”

[Faatir 3524]

“And verily, We
have sent among every Ummah (community, nation) a Messenger (proclaiming):
Worship Allah (Alone), and avoid (or keep away from) Taghoot (all false
deities, etc. i.e. do not worship Taghoot besides Allah)”

[an-Nahl 16:36].

Hence it is part
of the justice of Allah that He has decreed that He will not punish anyone
whom the call of the Prophets and Messengers did not reach, as He says
(interpretation of the meaning):

“And We never
punish until We have sent a Messenger (to give warning)”

[al-Isra’ 17:15]

“This is because
your Lord would not destroy the (populations of) towns for their wrongdoing
(i.e. associating others in worship along with Allah) while their people
were unaware (so the Messengers were sent)”

[al-An ‘am 6:131].

But Allah has not
told us the stories of all the Messengers; rather He has only told us the
stories of some of them. He has not told us the stories of most of them, as
He says (interpretation of the meaning):

“And Messengers We
have mentioned to you before, and Messengers We have not mentioned to you”

[an-Nisa’ 4:164].

Based on that, the
idea that the Prophets were only sent to one region of the world is not
correct; rather Allah sent Messengers to all the nations of the earth.

See the answer to
question no. 95747 for
important details about the hadeeths that speak of the number of Prophets
and Messengers, and comments of the scholars on this issue.

Secondly:

It is well known
that most of the civilisations that were established throughout history were
in this area, which is known as the Mediterranean basin, and nearby, in
Syria, Egypt, Iraq and Arabia. Hence the most populated areas were mostly in
these lands. So it is very appropriate that most of the Messengers should
have been sent to the people of these lands.

As for the wisdom
behind Allah telling us the stories of the Prophets and Messengers of these
regions and not others, we may note the following:

1-
The lessons and
exhortations to be found in the stories of those Prophets and Messengers are
greater than others.

At-Taahir ibn
‘Ashoor (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

Allah did not tell
the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) the names of many of
the Messengers, and only told him the names of a few, because those who are
mentioned are the greatest of the Messengers and Prophets and greater
lessons may be learned from their stories. End quote.

At-Tahreer
wa’t-Tanweer,
6/35

2-
Because those
Messengers had lived in the region inhabited by the Arabs and thereabouts,
their stories were known to the Arabs and to the People of the Book who
lived in those regions. This was more effective in establishing proof
against them and the lessons of what befell those people has a greater
impact.

And Allah knows best.