Qisas al-Anbiya

The Qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ (Arabic: قصص الأنبياء) or Stories of the Prophets is any of various collections of stories about figures recognised as prophets and messengers in Islam, closely related to tafsir (exegesis of the Qur'an).

Since the Quran refers only parabolically to the stories of the prophets, assuming the audience is able to complete the rest from their own knowledge, it became necessary to store the version the original audience had in mind to keep the purpose of the message, when Islam met other cultures during its expansion.^[1]

Authors of these texts drew on many traditions available to medieval Islamic civilization such as those of Asia, Africa, China, and Europe. Many of these scholars were also authors of commentaries on the Qurʾān; unlike Qurʾān commentaries, however, which follow the order and structure of the Qurʾān itself, the qiṣaṣ told its stories of the prophets in chronological order, which makes them similar to the Jewish and Christian versions of the Bible. The narrations within the Qisas al-anbiyāʾ frequently emphasise wisdom and moral teachings rather than limiting themselves to historical-style narratives.^[2]

^ Hagen, G. (2009). "From Haggadic Exegesis To Myth: Popular Stories Of The Prophets In Islam". Sacred Tropes: Tanakh, New Testament, and Qur’an as Literature and Culture. Leiden, Niederlande: Brill. p. 302. doi:10.1163/ej.9789004177529.i-536.65.
^ Weismann, Itzchak; Sedgwick, Mark; Mårtensson, Ulrika (6 May 2016). Islamic Myths and Memories: Mediators of Globalization. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-11220-4.

[1] Hagen, G. (2009). "From Haggadic Exegesis To Myth: Popular Stories Of The Prophets In Islam". Sacred Tropes: Tanakh, New Testament, and Qur’an as Literature and Culture. Leiden, Niederlande: Brill. p. 302. doi:10.1163/ej.9789004177529.i-536.65.

[2] Weismann, Itzchak; Sedgwick, Mark; Mårtensson, Ulrika (6 May 2016). Islamic Myths and Memories: Mediators of Globalization. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-11220-4.

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