The holy Quran has touched upon a
number of diverse subjects within its different chapters such as:
legislations, rituals, ethics and creed as well as Quranic tales,
stories and anecdotes and other things.
But what interests us in this
field which covers so many pages of the holy Quran are stories
whose remembrance has been recurrently repeated in various verses
of different chapters and all were related in a vivid dramatic
narration and embellished with admirable and thrilling details…We
have put all this under one unified title-the Quranic
Tales.
Linguistically, a story is the
narration of news about an issue which has undergone subsequent
stages, but the Quranic tales are stories which deal with the
events or news about the bygone times of ancient peoples and
nations, prophets and messengers and what has occurred to them
with their folks of events and accidents together with
remembrance of the most significant personalities in the human
history and what they coincided with of events within long eras
of time…extending, according to some statistical estimations to
ten thousands of years.
What is the Purpose behind the
Quranic Stories?
So relate the stories, perhaps,
they may reflect"(Al-Araf:176)
1. To
notify the Muslims of the history of the ancient nations, the
prophets and messengers- the former ones and the latter ones and
what has happened to them since the start of creation, the
descending of Adam (P.B.U.H.) to earth and the birth of the seal
of prophets: Muhammad bin Abdullah (P.B.U.H.)
2. To
warn them of falling into the same mistakes which the ancient
folks have befallen – by showing disobedience to their prophets
and falsifying their prophetic claims and proofs and finally
encountering their divine torment in this world before the
punishment of the Hereafter, embodied in events which have taken
place several times over long periods of times.
3. They
contain lessons, wisdoms and sermons which can enrich the Islamic
society and human society as a whole in its religious and human
march along the course of time.
4. To
state and elucidate basic common factors between the Islamic
religion and other ancient religions with what can enhance and
strengthen the faith of the Muslims in Allah and the prophet-hood
of Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) as a descended prophet from Allah, the
Almighty, as a complementary to the march of prophets and
messengers.
5. To
put on display, the element of suspense and entertainment during
the Quran recitation now and then- to distract the reader's mind
from boredom and monotony of the situation especially if the
reader is of those who recite the Quran to an
excess.
6. There
are stories whose events have taken place at the time of the
Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) mentioned in the holy Quran like the
story of " The wife who made a dialogue with her husband"
(Al-Mujadala) or the story of the one who asked about a befallen
torture" (Al-Ma'aich) and this can enhance and reinforce man's
faith in Allah to whom be ascribed all glory and perfection and
verifies what Allah has descended on the Prophet. (i.e. the
Quran) because it narrates events which befall them directly and
serve as eye-witnesses. And some may claim and say: "Who
foretold the Prophet about these details? before declaring his
full option of Islam.
The Stories of the Holy
Quran
The stories related in the holy
Quran are so many that it will be hard for anyone to
statistically estimate them. There are long and short stories
like the story of Joseph (P.B.U.H.) and what occurred to him with
his brothers in his childhood, then Allah, the Almighty, gave him
power till he became king of Egypt.
There is another renowned story of
the People of Ahlul-Kahf that is, those young men who believed in
their Lord and Allah increased their guidance. They were of the
King's attendants and very close in status and position to the
ruler of their time King Duqianus; and the story of their long
sleep in the cave for three centuries.
Then comes the story of the
prophet Moses (P.B.U.H.) and his relationship with his people and
with Pharaoh with some other shorter stories like the stories of
some prophets like the Prophet, Lut (P.B.U.H.) and what had
happened to him in connection with his people together with the
story of Adam's descending to earth and others, like the story of
Abraha Al-Habashi as in the chapter of Al-Feel and the story of
the woman who made a dialogue with her husband, as in the chapter
of Al-Mujadalah and many others.
Sat -
18 Rajab 1446H -
