Institutional Resource Overview
A reference page for institutional reviewers, educators, librarians, chaplains, and researchers evaluating We Were Not Looking for academic, library, programmatic, or independent-study use.
We Were Not Looking: Reconstructing the Patriarchal World Through Ancient Near Eastern Context
Dante Muhammad
Resource Publications, an imprint of Wipf & Stock Publishers
Paperback / softcover
ISBN-13: 979-8-3852-7904-3
We Were Not Looking investigates the historical and geographic world of the patriarchal narratives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Hagar by grounding textual traditions within ancient Near Eastern context, terrain, hydrology, and political geography.
The study engages traditions preserved in both the Torah and the Qur'an and incorporates original-language textual analysis alongside historical-geographic and comparative methods. Rather than functioning as devotional commentary, the work is designed to be accessible to readers approaching the material through Christian, Muslim, Jewish, comparative-religious, historical, or secular academic frameworks.
Endorsed by Ellen F. Davis (Duke Divinity School) & John Kaltner (Rhodes College).
For Institutional Reviewers
Faculty members, librarians, chaplains, correctional educators, and other qualified institutional reviewers may request an examination copy when evaluating the work for:
Coursework or curriculum consideration
Institutional or program libraries
Study groups
Independent humanities or religious study
Comparative or interfaith educational programming
Review copies can be arranged through an appropriate institutional fulfillment channel.
Covenant Research / Author Outreach
Email: dante.muhammad@gmail.com
Please include your institution and program name and, if requesting a physical examination copy, the appropriate institutional delivery information or fulfillment instructions.
🔍 ONGOING RESEARCH
Appendix A of We Were Not Looking, “The Hydrological Spine Hypothesis,” proposes that selected patriarchal and prophetic narrative locations may correspond to significant hydrological thresholds, including springs, drainage corridors, watershed divides, and geographic passageways along portions of the Levantine and Arabian landscape.
That hypothesis has developed into an ongoing reproducible GIS research program involving terrain analysis, drainage extraction, watershed delineation, geographic controls, and comparative testing.
The research has also benefited from correspondence and methodological discussion with scholars working in archaeology, geoarchaeology, hydrology, and related fields at several academic institutions.
→ Hydrological Thresholds research page
→ GitHub repository (reproducible workflow)
📖 ESSAYS & FURTHER READING
Covenant Research publishes shorter studies extending the book's methodology into specific questions involving geography, hydrology, kinship, political authority, textual memory, and the historical worlds preserved in the Torah and Qur'an.
TOPICS INCLUDE
• Historical Geography & Hydrology
• Kinship, Land, and Political Authority
• Joseph and State Power in Egypt
• Abrahamic Trade & Corridor Control
• Scripture, Memory & Sacred Space
● ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dante K. Muhammad is an independent researcher based in Detroit, Michigan, and founder of Covenant Research.
His work examines the historical geography of traditions preserved in the Torah and Qur'an through original-language textual analysis, ancient Near Eastern context, political geography, and geospatial and hydrological methods.
He is a United States Marine Corps veteran and author of We Were Not Looking: Reconstructing the Patriarchal World Through Ancient Near Eastern Context.
◉ ACADEMIC PURPOSE | This resource is intended for educational, research, and institutional evaluation purposes.