Qisas Al-Anbiya

The Qiṣaṣ al-'Anbiyā' (Arabic: قصص الأنبياء‎) or Stories of the Prophets is any of various collections of tales adapted from the Quran and other Islamic literature, closely related to exegesis of the Qur'an. One of the best-known is that composed by Kisa'i in the 13th century (AH 6th century); others include the Ara'is al-majalis by al-Tha'alabi (d. 1035, AH 427) and the Qasas al-anbiya by Ibn Kathir (d. 1372, AH 774).

Overview

Because the lives of biblical figures — the Muslim prophets or أنبياء 'anbiya' — were covered only briefly in the Qur'an, scholars, poets, historians, and storytellers felt free to elaborate, clothing the bare bones with flesh and blood. Authors of these texts drew on many traditions available to medieval Islamic civilization such as those of Asia, Africa, China, Europe. Many of these scholars were also authors of commentaries on the Qur'an; unlike Qur'an commentaries, however, which follow the order and structure of the Qur'an 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.