Additional information
by Dante Muhammad (Author)
We Were Not Looking reconstructs the world assumed by the patriarchal narratives through the environmental and political realities of the Middle Bronze Age Near East. Drawing on ancient Near Eastern geography, hydrology, land law, and tribal anthropology, the study examines how the movements of the patriarchs reflect the territorial and ecological dynamics of the Levantine corridor.
Rather than treating biblical and Qur'anic traditions as isolated textual worlds, the book approaches them as parallel witnesses to a shared historical environment. When read through this geographic lens, familiar narratives surrounding Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob emerge as fragments of a coherent historical landscape shaped by water sources, migration routes, and jurisdictional boundaries.
By integrating archaeological data, ancient Near Eastern comparative sources, and close textual analysis, We Were Not Looking offers a new framework for understanding the patriarchal traditions and their place within the wider history of the ancient Near East.
Author Biography
Dante Muhammad is a Detroit-based researcher and writer whose work explores the intersection of sacred geography, political memory, and the ancient Near Eastern world. His debut monograph, We Were Not Looking: Reconstructing the Patriarchal World Through Ancient Near Eastern Context, examines how wells, ridges, thresholds, and movement corridors shaped the lived world of biblical and Qur'anic narrative.
Drawing on political geography, hydrology, land-law, and the archaeology of the Levant and Arabia, Muhammad's work reframes patriarchal and prophetic traditions through the material realities of the ancient landscape. He is the founder of Covenant Research, an independent project dedicated to the study of sacred space, corridor politics, and the transmission of memory across religious traditions.
He lives in Detroit with his family and is active in public scholarship, community education, and the recovery of overlooked historical geographies.
