The Syrian Prophet(s)
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Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Enoch Tanyi, The Syrian Prophet(s), bahai-library.com.
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60        THE J O U R N A L OF B A H À ’Î S T U D I E S              4.3.1991

THE SYRIAN PROPHET(S)
Enoch N. Tanyi

The Qur’àn declares that before Muhammad there were Messengers of God
whose names have not been mentioned (40:78). But can an idea of where some
of them came from and where they fit into the chronology of the known
Messengers be had? The aim of this research note is to answer these two
questions, namely: (i) to locate the place of each Messenger in the overall
chronology of the known Messengers, and (ii) to determine the nationalities of
some unnamed Messengers.

Discussion
The Messengers before Muhammad are listed chronologically as Adam, Noah,
Abraham, Moses, and Jesus (The Báb, Selections 126). The Qur’àn inserts Hud
and Salih between Noah and Abraham, and Lot and Shu’aib between Abraham
and Moses (7:65-103). The Messenger Krishna is placed between Abraham and
Moses (The Bahai Faith 1), but whether Krishna comes before Lot and Shu’aib
or after Shu’aib is not relevant to this essay. Zoroaster and Buddha are placed
between Moses and Christ (The Bahai Faith 1).
Thus, a more comprehensive, yet incomplete, chronology of the Messengers
becomes: Adam, Noah, Hud, Salih, Abraham, Lot, Krishna, Shu’aib, Moses,
Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus Christ, Muhammad, the Báb, and Bahà’uTlàh. This
list does not include Messengers that came before Adam. Having prepared the
chronological order of the Messengers, the next step is to ask: What clue is
there to any unnamed Messenger?
B aháV lláh writes of the different languages that have been known to
humankind since Adam’s language. The land of Babel is mentioned as the place
where diversities of language arose. Out of the resulting languages, Syriac
became prominent and the language of revelation or of the sacred scriptures.
Syriac maintained this important role until Hebrew became the language of
revelation for Abraham (BaháVlláh, Gleanings 173).
The Qur’àn asserts that “We sent not an apostle Except [to teach] in the
language of his [own] people” (14:4). This quotation means that any Apostle or
Messenger sent from God teaches in his mother-tongue, a fact proven by
religious history.
It can therefore be inferred that since the sacred scriptures at some time were
revealed in Syriac, then Syriac was the mother-tongue of this Messenger. But
Syriac is the language of ancient Syria (Oxford Illustrated Dictionary). Therefore,
this Messenger was Syrian. (There could have been more than one Messenger.)
In the Qur’àn, God states that Messengers had been sent to the nations
before Muhammad (16:63). This statement would have made it less necessary
to try to show that a Messenger or Messengers appeared in Syria or any other
Research Notes!Articles de Recherche!Apuntes Investigativo              61

nation, but for the fact that the Arabic word translated as “nation” can also mean
something else that seems like a better translation. The Arabic word is Ummat
and can also be translated as “religious community.” This is a better translation
since nations in the geographical sense have had their boundaries shifted back
and forth with time. Some nations have completely lost their identities and been
absorbed into larger ones, and some new ones have been created.
A study of history would suffice to demonstrate these points, but reference
to BaháT literature would present one example. Some letters from ‘Abdu’l-
Bahá published in Star of the West are addressed as “Haifa, Syria.” Today,
Haifa is in Israel.
The next step is to try to locate the position of this Messenger in the
prepared chronology. Since the Babel episode took place between the times of
Noah and Abraham (Genesis 9:29-12:1), it can be stated that this Syrian
Messenger arose between the times of Noah and Abraham. It has already been
shown that Hud and Salih also came between Noah and Abraham. So, the
questions that naturally arise are: Was either of these two Messengers a Syrian,
or were both Syrians? Let us examine these two questions one after the other,
starting with Hud.
Hud was sent to the people of ‘Ad who were also his people (7:65). “The
story of the ‘Ad people,” according to a commentary by Abdullah Yusuf Ali,
“belongs to Arabian tradition. . . . They occupied a large tract of country in
southern Arabia, extending from ‘Umman at the mouth of the southern end of
the Red Sea” (Yusuf Ali, Koran 358). This extract shows that Hud was an Arab,
not a Syrian.
Next comes the turn of Salih. “Salih was sent to his own people, the people
of Thamud” (7:73). “The Thamud people were the successors to the culture and
civilization of the ‘Ad people. . . . Their seat was in the north-western comer of
Arabia (Arabian Petraea), between Medina and Syria” (Yusuf Ali, Koran 360).
This excerpt shows that Salih was an Arab, not a Syrian, because Salih was
from the Thamud people who “were the successors to the culture and
civilization of the ‘Ad people.” The ‘Ad people belonged to the Arabian
tradition, and so the Thamud people also belonged to the Arabian tradition and
were Arabs.

Conclusion
A Syrian Messenger or Syrian Messengers did appear in this world between the
times of Noah and Abraham. The name of this Syrian Messenger is (or their
names are) unknown. The order in which the Syrian Messenger(s) appeared in
relation to Hud and Salih cannot be shown.
62         THE J O U R N A L OF B A H Á ’ 1 S T U D I E S              4.3.1991

Works Cited

Báb, The. Selections from the Writings of the Báb. Comp. Research Department. Trans.
H. Taherzadeh et al. Haifa: Bahà’i World Centre, 1976.
B a h a i Faith, The. HidáyaUťlláh Ahmadiyyih. Thornhill, Ontario: BaháT Canada
Publications, n.d.
BaháVlláh. Gleanings from the Writings o f Baha u’lláh. Trans. Shoghi Effendi. 2d ed.
Wilmette, IL: Bahà’i Publishing Trust, 1976.
Bible, The Holy. Authorized King James version. Red Letter edition. Miami, Florida:
P.S.I. and Associates, 1986.
Koran, The Holy. Trans. Abdullah Yusuf Ali. 3d ed. Beirut, Lebanon: Dar A1 Arabia,
1938.
Oxford Illustrated Dictionary. Ed. J. Coulson et al. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1962.
-- The Syrian Prophet(s) (Used by permission of the curator)