Stories from the Quran - Sheikh
By Yasir Qadhi | 2026-01-07T18:51:53.424035+00:00 | Topic: Quran
Stories from the Quran
Sheikh Yasir Qadhi
Introduction
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. Alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salamu ala rasoolillahi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala. So the topic that has been assigned to me is a topic that is very dear to my heart and the hearts of all Muslims and that is stories. And the role and the purpose of stories in the Quran. And the word story in Arabic, of course, the primary word that the Quran uses is qissa. Right, that's the main word.
By the way, for those of you who don't know, my talks are always semi-academic, so paper, pen always comes in handy. You always benefit, inshallah ta'ala, so it will be good if you can take some notes down and then summarize them to give halaqat based upon these. Because that's the purpose why I give talks.
Not just to your audience, but for the knowledge to be filtered out and spread to your communities. I always tell my students, I don't travel all the way here just to talk to you guys. You guys aren't that important, with all respect. It's your communities that are important. It's the people that you represent. It's the people that you interact with. And that's why I'm here. So that this knowledge is spread, inshallah ta'ala. Each and every one of you has to summarize this and go back to your Sunday schools, halaqat, communities, masajid, and etc.
The Meaning of Qissa
So, let us begin. The word for story in Arabic is qissa. This is the primary Quranic term for qissa. And like all Arabic words, there's a profound meaning. And I know I'm treading on Imam Nu'man's territory here because that's his forte to always bring out the profound meanings of the Arabic words. But each and every Islamic term, each and every Arabic word, it has a profound meaning that relates to its usage in the Arabic language.
So the word qissa actually has nothing to do with stories. The original meaning of qissa is to follow the tracks of somebody else. This is the meaning of qissa. And that's exactly how the Quran uses the term in a number of different verses. So for example, Musa's mother tells Musa's sister. What does Musa's mother tell his sister? Where are the hufadh? Come on.
She said to his sister, qussi. Follow his qissa. Qussi. This is the word qissa here, right? So the word qussi here means is walk in the footsteps where Musa is walking. Likewise, Allah mentions about Musa and his companion, Yusha.
Musa and Yusha, Allah says, once they discovered that the fish had been taken away at an earlier place, they returned upon their tracks, qussasa. They didn't tell stories to each other as they're walking back, no. That's not the point here. They returned on their tracks, qussasa, walking in the same footsteps that they had traveled in. So the actual meaning of qissa is to travel in the footsteps, to walk on the tracks of somebody else. So what has the word story got to do with walking on the tracks? I think it's pretty obvious.
When you narrate a story, it is as if you are walking on the tracks of that person's life. When you hear a story, it's as if you've basically lifted yourself off from your own life for a while, and you're in suspended animation. And for a period of time, you're not walking your footsteps, you're walking his or her footsteps. And this is why the story is called qissa, from the narrative, from the meaning of walking in the footsteps of.
Non-Arabic Words in the Quran
Now, one of the most interesting tidbits that I like to talk about a little bit, and I've written an academic article on Muslim matters about this as well. There is this whole controversy about non-Arabic words in the Quran. Does the Quran have non-Arabic words or not? And to make a long story short, yes, there are non-Arabic words in the Quran. There are Greek words, there are Persian words. There are lots of non- Arabic words in the Quran.
And this is the fact of the matter. There's no denying this academically. And I've given an academic talk and an article, you can read it. Bottom line, the question is, if there are non-Arabic words in the Quran, and we can verify there's Greek words, there's Persian words, there's Sanskrit words that have become Arabicized. The question is, I'm asking you now, do you think there are any English words in the Quran? Simple question, really simple. Yes or no? Are there any English words in the Quran? Why? Very good, there was no English 14 centuries ago.
The English as we speak it, well, I don't want to go down that tangent, let me just stop right here, okay. English didn't exist 14 centuries ago. However, the precursor to English did exist, and that is Latin. Well, that's true as well, Germanic languages, but Latin is the mother language of the Romance languages. Latin did exist. So did the Quran take Latin phrases? Yes, it did.
Did any of these Latin phrases then also end up in the English language? I'll just make this suspense short, yes it did. So, there are no English words in the Quran, because there was no English when the Quran was revealed, but there are words that resemble English words. Why? Because the Quran took some Latin phrases, Arabicized it, and the Arabs knew those phrases, so they are Arabic words, right? So the origin is non-Arabic, but Arabs use it, so it becomes Arabic.
The Word "Asatir" in the Quran
So, what is this got to do with my topic? Well, obviously, there's some relevance. My tangents are always semi-relevant, okay? The word story exists in Arabic, in the Quran. But it's always used in a negative. It's always used in a pejorative. And of course, the phrase is, everybody should know, now that I've told you, story exists in the Quran. Come on, Hufadh, I don't wanna embarrass you by name, Mazhar, I don't wanna embarrass you by... Asatir, story, Asatir.
Asatir comes from the Latin, historia, history, historia. And from history, we get story. And the pagans would ridicule the Quran by saying, oh, these are only fables. Asatir, story. So the English story comes from the Latin, historia. And from historia, Asatir, the Arabs Arabicized it. Like the Company Limited, they did their Asatir from historia. So the Quran uses the word story in its original form. And it is a number of times. But it's always used in a negative. Never used in a positive sense. The positive is qissa.
And the Quran says, we reveal the best of all qissa.
And Allah also says:
We tell you the true stories. And Allah says, that there's always ibrah in their qasas. Surah Yusuf verse 111.
There's always wisdom, there's always benefit to be derived from their stories. So the Quran is full of stories.
The Human Nature of Stories
We know this by reading the Quran, by listening to the stories of Yunus and Musa and Firaun and everybody. The Quran is full of stories. And stories occupy a very central place in the imagination of us human beings. We grow up hearing stories. The number one thing that children love to do is to hear stories. And adults themselves are mesmerized by stories.
Next time you're in some type of party, some type of dawah going on, just pay attention to the conversations around you. Most of them involve stories. Most of them, Alhamdulillah, we needed that like, Alhamdulillah. Most of them involve stories. Oh, you know what happened to me the other day? You know what my boss said to me? You know this, you know that. This is how we communicate via stories.
We tell each other stories that happened to us or that happened to other people. And in fact, good speakers are always told to begin their talks with anecdotes, with stories. Why? It's an attention grabber. It's human nature. You love to hear stories. In fact, what is the entire movie industry except stories? What is it? This is the modern version of stories.
What is Hollywood, Bollywood, Lollywood, I don't know, Bollywood, whatever else is there. What are all of these things except stories? And that's the modern version. Instead of having storytellers coming and telling you stories in the town hall, we go to the cinema and watch the latest blockbuster.
Whether it's Thor or what's the latest blockbuster right now? X-Men is coming out as well I heard. Kind of sort of disconnected from that world but I do keep in touch a little bit, Alhamdulillah. Maybe it's not that praiseworthy but it's good to know what's going on.
But these are the stories. Now, why are we so fascinated by Harry Potter or whatever else we're fascinated by? Why? Because what stories does is it allows you to enter into a fantasy world. By fantasy, I don't necessarily mean it's false. Even if we hear the story of Musa and Firaun. It's true. But for our imaginations, it's fantasy.
Like we haven't lived there, we haven't seen it. So it's a fantasy world for us. It moves our emotions. It peaks our curiosity. We always wanna know the ending of a story. So, not surprisingly, Allah created us, He knows what we like. He knows we like stories. And so the Quran is full of stories.
Types of Quranic Stories
Now, there's lots of types of stories of the Quran. Don't wanna get too academic here but the first type is stories of the Prophets and those who oppose them. The second type is stories of people or incidents that are not related to Prophets. So, for example, the story of Luqman or the story of the man who passed by the town and said, how can Allah resurrect this? So the story of incidents or peoples that are not directly related to Prophets.
And the third type are the stories related to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) i.e. the Seerah. And each one has its own methodology, its own purpose. For the purposes of this talk, I will concentrate on only the first type of story because that's what has been assigned to me and that is the stories of the previous Prophets.
Four Benefits of Quranic Stories
So, time is limited. I know you're waiting for Ustad Norman as well inshaAllah after me who's gonna really rock the boat inshaAllah as well. So let me just summarize to how many points? Let's say four points only. Four points only. The benefits of the Quranic story.
First Benefit: Strengthening the Resolve
First and foremost, Allah mentions explicitly some of the benefits of telling these stories. So first and foremost, one of the benefits that Allah mentions, Surah Hud verse 120:
We tell you these stories, why? So that your heart might be strengthened. Your resolve might be made more firm. Your Fu'ad, your chest, has to be strengthened.
So stories strengthen the resolve of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). I want you to understand this point. If you want to be really simplistic, perhaps a little bit even crude in how we phrase this. Allah boosted the Iman of our Prophet (peace be upon him) by telling him stories. This is what the Quran says. Allah increased his optimism, his determination, his resolve, his drive, his will.
How? By telling him stories. That's exactly what Allah says. We tell you the stories of the Prophets so that your heart, your determination becomes more resolved.
Now, why would the Prophet's determination increase via these stories? Well, common sense, logic, human emotion, we understand why. The fact that the Prophet (peace be upon him) is told about the trials, the persecutions of the Prophets of old, it consoles him, I'm not alone. I'm not the only one whose people, whose brothers and sisters, whose tribe, whose nation has rejected him.
As the saying goes in English, shared joy is double the joy, and shared sorrow is half the sorrow. It's a simple profound saying. Shared joy is double the joy. When you're really happy, what do you do? You call somebody, you shout out in your house, I got an A, I passed my exam. You want people to share it with you, right? And on the day of judgment, may Allah make our books be handed in the right hand. What are the people of the right hand gonna say?
I passed, I won. This is human nature. Shared joy is double the joy. Shared sorrow is half the sorrow.
When something happens, when a problem happens, you want somebody who loves you, who cares about you. That's why children come running home to their mothers, and sometimes not so many children come running home to their mothers as well. It's human nature. You want somebody to comfort you, calm you down. So, by telling the Prophet (peace be upon him), you're not the only one who face persecution.
Many Prophets before you who are also denied, are denied.
So this consoles the Rasul (peace be upon him). Also, of the purpose of affirming the resolve, how does the Prophet's resolve increase? It shows that the ultimate fate of those who rejected was always negative.
Allah never allowed the rejecters of the Prophets to be successful. This is the rule, the sunnah of Allah.
Allah never allowed the deniers of the Prophets to be successful. So by telling him the stories, the Prophet (peace be upon him) is being told, just wait, be patient, your time will come, your victory will come. And Allah says in the Quran in numerous verses:
It is our duty that we save the Prophets, that we save the believers, that we aid our messengers.
Numerous verses tell the Prophet (peace be upon him) this matter. How else is the Prophet's resolve affirmed? It provides a methodology for da'wah. It shows the successful tactics, it shows the past pitfalls.
And in more than one occasion, our Prophet (peace be upon him) consoled himself by reminding himself, Musa went through more than I did. These are hadith, we have them in Bukhari. When the Sahaba said something, when somebody might have said something that is not appropriate, when the hypocrites come, when the pagans do something, he says, for example in one hadith, Musa suffered more than I did, and he was patient.
What is he doing? He is reminding himself of the stories of the previous Prophets. In another hadith, when some of the Sahaba did something very foolish, he said, subhanallah, you have done exactly what the people of Musa did with Musa. You have done exactly what the people of Musa did.
This is a pitfall, a mistake. Don't you realize? And so, by providing a methodology, a framework for how to give da'wah, this is another thing that the stories do. So, the first point, and there was three sub points, maybe I should have made it more clear. The first point, stories increase the resolve of the Prophet (peace be upon him), and that's done by three manners, as I said in the past five minutes.
Second Benefit: Warning to Rejectors
The second benefit of a story is a warning to those who reject the message. In many verses in the Quran, Allah challenges those who reject the Quran. Allah challenges them with the stories of the past. Don't you see what happened to the people before you? In another verse in the Quran, Allah says that, you pass by their relics, morning and evening.
You're passing by Aad and Thamud, or in our case, maybe the pyramids of Egypt, and other grandiose civilizations.
You pass them by all the time.
Don't you think? These were mighty men, these were mighty nations, they were the most powerful people on earth. Where are they now? Who is more powerful than them? Allah.
Don't they travel in the land and see what was the fate of those before them? Allah destroyed them.
Where are they now? So the stories have a warning to those who reject the prophets, the second wisdom.
Third Benefit: Demonstrating the Prophet's Truthfulness
The third wisdom we'll mention, and again, this is not an exhaustive list, I only have 20 minutes. The third wisdom that we'll mention is to demonstrate the Sidq or the truthfulness of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to demonstrate that he was a true prophet of Allah.
From where did this man in the desert, this man raised in a backward, uncultured, uncivilized society, this man raised in an environment of illiteracy, there were no libraries in Arabia, there were no institutions universities, there were no scholars and sages who knew past histories. We really need to understand how Arabia was pre-Islam. Arabia was so backward, they didn't even have a unified leadership.
You know the basic sign of civilization is structure of government. That's the basic sign of civilization. You have a law to call, if somebody attacks you, you call the police. This is the basic sign of government. You have a ruling body, whether it's the constitution, whether it's a dynasty. The Arabs did not even have that.
Forget literature and arts and architecture, they couldn't build two-story houses, they didn't have grandiose cities, they were literally desert Bedouins, with small villages like Mecca and Yathrib and whatnot. There were no centers of civilization, they didn't even have a script for their language. Their language was so rudimentary, they did not even have a developed script for it.
The Ba, the Ta, the Tha, the Ya, all of them are represented by the same letter and that is a simple line. The Ain, the Ghain, the same letter. The Fa, the Qaf, the same letter.
They didn't have a developed script. In Mecca there were probably less than 5 people who could read and write at the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him). You need to understand it's as if we're talking about, let's say the Aborigines 100 years ago, not even now. This is how they were viewed by the world.
The Romans and the Persians were fighting each other for 300 years. Beneath them is this big land called Arabia, empty for the taking. They didn't care about oil back then, so they're like, why do we need to invade? What are we gonna gain by occupying Arabia? It was so backward, the two mighty superpowers are fighting it out in Damascus and in the fault lines above, in Syria and in Iraq.
They're fighting for 300 years. They never bothered to send a small army down to conquer this territory because they couldn't care less about it. This is how insignificant Arabia was.
And from this backwaters, or I should say back deserts, from this land of very little knowledge and culture, written culture, they had of course an oral culture, that's a separate point. They didn't have history written down. They didn't have encyclopedias.
Comes a man, who's preaching a message that incorporates histories of nations he has nothing to do with. The stories of the Jews and Christians, there were no Jews and Christians in Mecca. There were a few Jews in Medina.
But in Mecca, where the Prophet (peace be upon him) is raised and born, there are no Jews living there, there are no Christians. It's purely pagan. And now he begins talking about Jesus Christ, about Moses and Fir'aun, about Yusuf.
Remember when the Quraysh went to the people of Medina, and they said, how do we prove he's not a prophet? The people of the Jews of Medina said, oh, we know what you can do. Ask him about stories that only we know about. Ask him about the story of Joseph.
You guys don't know who Joseph is because he's nothing to do with your culture. You Arabs, you have nothing to do with Yusuf. Go ask him about the story of Yusuf. Go ask him about the story of Musa and Yusha. That's none of his business, he wouldn't know that. Go ask him about the story of Dhul-Qarnayn.
He wouldn't know that. So they came and they asked the Prophet (peace be upon him) three stories. And eventually Allah revealed Surah Yusuf. Allah revealed Surah Kahf. And Allah told them the stories that they had no access to. And the stories are found to this day in the Old Testament.
The first Arabic translation of the Old Testament has been discovered recently. It's been dated to like 170-180 Hijrah. There were no Arabic translations of the Old and New Testament written down in Arabia.
Even if they were written down, they weren't in Mecca. Even if they were in Mecca, the Prophet (peace be upon him) could not read and write. It's as if literally, imagine, you know they just discovered some tribe in Brazil that is cut off from civilization for the past 300 years.
Imagine if they send an anthropologist there. Imagine. And this person finds the sage of the village spouting forth about American history, about the upcoming elections let's say in America, about the histories of the world, about the United Nations, about this and that.
And this is a guy who's been cut off from civilization for hundreds of years. Where is he getting this from? This is exactly what happened with our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). And Allah mentions this in a number of verses. In surah 10 verse 16, Allah says:
Don't you understand that I wasn't this person I am now? For 40 years I lived amongst you. I wasn't a storyteller. I wasn't a person who's a lawgiver.
Don't you think? In multiple verses, at least 6 verses in the Quran, Allah says, and you were not there when Musa spoke with Allah. You were not there when Zakariya argued with the people. You were not there when the brothers of Yusuf plotted to kill Yusuf.
How did you know if you weren't there? This is what Allah is telling us through this phrase. You were not there. In surah 11 verse 49, Allah says, that this anba'il ghayb, this knowledge of ghayb we give to you:
The stories of these prophets, the knowledge of the unseen that we're giving you, neither you nor the people before you, your people before you knew these stories.
Neither you nor your people, the Arabs before you knew these stories. From where did you get it from? Where did all of these stories come from? Which are now matching up precisely what we find in other scriptures. And subhanAllah I was listening to a series, by the way, have you heard of the teaching company? I have to recommend the teaching company.
The teaching company is the company that specializes in recording lectures in university environment and then, I don't get a paycheck, don't worry, I don't get a percentage, but they're very academic lectures about miscellaneous topics, not Islamic topics, history, political science, very good. So I was listening to something with the teaching company about Christianity. Bart Ehrman is a very famous scholar, he has a lot from the teaching company.
And it really shocked me that he mentioned some stories found in manuscripts that are not in the New Testament, and I knew them as a five-year-old child because the Quran tells this to me. So he was talking about some manuscripts they discovered in, I think it was the Dead Sea Scrolls one, I've forgotten it right now, but one manuscript was discovered that had stories of the childhood of Jesus Christ, of Isa ibn Maryam.
Now, of course, he's not a Muslim, he's an atheist, he's not mentioning what he's found in the manuscripts, right? And he says, and there's this story that's really interesting, and it's not found in the gospels as we know them, of Jesus being challenged to breathe life into a clay pigeon.
And Jesus basically breathes life and the pigeon becomes alive. And I'm scratching my head wondering, you just discovered that now? We knew this, I grew up hearing this, I didn't know it was not in the New Testament until just five, six years ago. I didn't read the New Testament cover to cover, I just found out a few years ago when I was doing my research and whatnot, that some stories in the Quran are not in the New Testament.
I was listening to this lecture series last month, and the guy says, well, these stories are there, but they're found in these manuscripts. Subhanallah, isn't it amazing that the Quran is telling us a story of Jesus Christ that the Western civilization is just discovering. It's exactly what the Quran says, that you're gonna breathe onto this bird and it's gonna become a living bird, bi-idhnillah.
And they're discovering this now. This is exactly what Allah is telling us in the Quran. Where did you get these stories from? You weren't there, the Prophet (peace be upon him) didn't know.
This was a story mainstream Christianity forgot. They didn't even know it. And they're just discovering it now. And we have it in the Quran from 14 centuries. And this shows us the truthfulness, the veracity, the sidq of our Prophet (peace be upon him). And you all know I'm an academic as well, in the academic study of Islam.
One of the things that fascinates me, how non-Muslims try to understand our Prophet (peace be upon him). How do they explain him? Because it is a phenomenon that is not really explainable, it's inexplicable unless you follow what he says. How do you explain this person, this personality, who moved and changed and shook the world, and was such a pious and a righteous person in his daily life? And how do you explain the knowledge that he had? And there's so many dissertations done on this.
And subhanAllah, I mean, again I wrote a paper, I think it's on Muslim matters, I wrote it for my degree at Yale. It's about how people try to interpret the knowledge of the Prophet (peace be upon him), where he got it from. And when you read some of these big shot names, Arthur Jeffery and these big guys, it's as if they're assuming that our Prophet (peace be upon him) was some type of polymath genius, graduated from 10 Ivy League universities with 15 PhDs in anthropology and science and history and this and that.
And Allah tells us he's an unlettered, uneducated man from Arabia. The amount of knowledge they're forced to give him. Some people say he must have read Aramaic. Allah says he can't even read Arabic. And you're saying that he must have read Aramaic. He must have had Syriac sources.
Because there's no other way he could have gotten this knowledge. He must have had a secret person who's coming and teaching him from Rome. What secret? Romans didn't travel to Mecca.
The Meccans went up the Mediterranean. But you see, they cannot explain where he gets this knowledge from. And Allah explains where he gets it from. We're the ones who tell you. So this is the third reason.
Fourth Benefit: Moral Lessons and Spiritual Benefit
You guys writing notes? What's the first one? Quick quiz. Strengthen the resolve of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Number two. Warning for those who disobey and reject. Number three. The Sidq or the truthfulness of the Prophet (peace be upon him) will finish at number four, even though of course the list goes on and on, but time is limited for me. Number four.
Of the reasons why Allah tells us stories is so that we can benefit from these stories. We can derive moral lessons. We can derive ethics. We can increase in our Iman. And this is the beauty of the Quran that Allah's stories are not fantasies and fables. Allah says that we are giving you the true stories.
"We relate to you, [O Prophet], their story in truth."
And from these stories we can derive multiple benefits, multiple wisdoms. And I just finished giving an extensive tafsir of Surah Yusuf in around 18 hours or so. And it's being put on Muslim Matters week by week.
If you log on, I think we're on week number five now. I spent around 18 hours doing Surah Yusuf. And I would say this is an intermediate tafsir. It's not even advanced. Because really to go advanced, you need to go into too much Arabic. This is an intermediate tafsir.
And I derived... You can listen to those lectures online and they're being transcribed. Surah Yusuf is a perfect example of why Allah tells us stories. Because you see, it's one thing to be told, you should be patient. Patience is good for you. It's another thing to be told, Yusuf was in the well and his Iman in Allah went up. He showed patience.
Yusuf was locked in a room with a beautiful woman. And the woman tempted him. And prepared herself for him. And she says, come on, let's do it. And he says, I fear Allah. You see, being told to be patient is good.
But then you're told of that story and it strikes, it resonates. Could you have done the same in such a room? That's the question that you ask yourself. Would you have that much Iman if your own brothers threw you into a well? That you pray to Allah.
So by telling us a story, the concept, let's say in this case of patience, doesn't remain an abstract concept anymore. It becomes real. It becomes a tangible reality.
And the same goes over and over again. Ya'qub and how patient he was.
"...patience is most fitting."
"...patience is most fitting."
I'm gonna have a beautiful patience. And our hearts break when we learn that he goes blind crying out of love for Yusuf. And you, many of you are young here.
Believe me, when you have your own children, your hearts will break much more because you will understand what it means. Parents love what it means. His heart, literally Allah says, he went blind crying over Yusuf.
"And his eyes turned white from grief because of the sorrow that he suppressed."
His eyes went blind crying over Yusuf. That's how much he loved his son Yusuf. As a parent you will understand this verse better. But when you read this verse, it really strikes and resonates a chord. It's very different than I would just to say, you should be patient when a calamity happens to you. Then when I tell you, Ya'qub was so sad he went blind.
But still he says, I'm gonna accept Allah's decree. You see that translates patience in a way that no lecture, in a way that no dry description of patience could ever do. Because this is a living patience.
You read it in a story. And just wanna conclude by mentioning one of the things about Surah Yusuf. That's a very profound point.
The Structure of Surah Yusuf
That in the beginning, Allah says of Surah Yusuf, in the beginning Allah says:
"There were certainly signs in Yusuf and his brothers for those who ask."
This is right in the beginning of Surah Yusuf. I think it's ayah number 6 or 7. That in the story of Yusuf, are signs for those who ask. Memorize this phrase.
Signs, ayahs, for those who ask. Okay, then Allah goes into the longest story in the Quran. The longest continuous story in the Quran is Surah Yusuf. No exceptions. And then Allah concludes the story. What does He say? What does Allah say in conclusion?
"There was certainly in their stories a lesson for those of understanding."
What is ibrah mean? Ibrah comes from the word abarah, which means to traverse or to cut across. So an ibrah is a point of benefit that you derive by traveling across the story, by digging deep into the story. Notice in the beginning Allah says, in their stories are signs for those who ask.
In the end Allah says, in their stories are wisdoms and morals for those who contemplate and think. Beautiful, wallahi this is beautiful. In the beginning Allah is saying, just read the story.
Read the story, be a little bit inquisitive, you will benefit. When Allah finishes the story, Allah says, now that you've heard the story, realize there are multiple meanings here. There are ibrahs, there are wisdoms, there are profound points you will derive.
But not just by asking. No, no, no, no, no. Asking is in the beginning, that's a cursory level.
How are you gonna derive these points? Thinking, contemplating, letting the story literally just circle around in your head all day long. And that's how you benefit from a story. You think about it, you contemplate over it.
And when you contemplate over it, what happens? There are profound morals that you will derive from their stories. And this is the beauty of the Quran, brothers and sisters. And with this I conclude.
Conclusion
The basic story of the Quran, the basic message. My 5-year-old daughter is mesmerized when I tell her about the stories of Yunus and the stories of Musa. She's mesmerized, she loves it.
And at that level, she is obeying Allah's command. The ayahs, that there are points of benefit for sa'ileen. She's a 5-year-old, but she's inquisitive, she's curious.
She's wide-eyed listening to me tell her the Quranic stories. She's benefiting, right? And then, somebody else, a person of knowledge, thinks about these stories. Contemplates them.
Thinks about them days and nights. Just literally, nothing, but just thinking about these stories. And trying to understand why is Allah telling us this story.
And this person knows the Arabic language, he knows fiqh, he knows hadith, he knows the science of tafsir. And now he's deriving 15 benefits from one verse that he might have told his daughter in simply half a minute. This is the difference.
And Allah mentions both of them in the same surah. And in this is a profundity. The Quranic stories are always beneficial. They'd be beneficial to a 5-year-old girl. They'd be beneficial as a bedtime story for your children. And they're beneficial to have advanced tafsir classes.
They're beneficial for people to contemplate and to derive wisdoms from. So each and every one of us, and with this I conclude, each and every one of us, let us now approach the Quranic stories with both of these frames in mind. Because in the beginning of the surah, Allah says, look, just read it.
Think about it, read it. Be inquisitive. Once you've read the surah, we all know our Sunday school stories, we all know the Quranic stories. We now know them, it's time to take a fresh look at them. It's time to go back. It's time to derive wisdoms and morals and benefits.
And subhanallah, if the iman of the Prophet (peace be upon him) could have been boosted by the stories of the Quran, wallahi I know my iman needs to be boosted all the time. I know I need an iman charge all the time. So if our Prophet (peace be upon him) could increase his iman via these stories, then who am I and who are you not to take advantage of that? May Allah cause us to be those who read the Quran the way that it deserves to be read.
May Allah cause us to be of the ahlul Quran. May Allah cause the Quran to be our guide, our intercessor, our light and our nur, our burhan and our hujjah in this world and the next.