An overview of Qasasun Nabiyyeen - Stories of the Prophets(PBUT)

بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Whenever I search on the internet for an explanation or overview of the famous literature work of Abul Hasan Ali Hasani Nadwi(May Allah Have Mercy on him) called: Qasasun Nabiyyeen(Stories of the Prophets(Peace be upon them)), I only get results for downloading the PDF of the book.

In the offline world, many an Aalim will be able to explain to you what this literature work is. As the internet lacks an explanation(including Wikipedia), this is my best effort to provide one.

I previously discussed the issue with anglicisation of Arabic and the same situation applies here. The many different spellings of the book are outlined below:

• Qasasun Nabiyyeen(the one I will use)
• Qasas un Nabiyyeen
• Qasas al-Nabiyyeen(Wikipedia)
• and the variety of ways to spell Nabiyyeen(Nabiyeen, Nabiyyin, Nabiyin, etc.)

What is Qasasun Nabiyyeen about?

The translation of the title is: Stories of the Prophets(PBUT). The set of volumes(see below), provide stories of different Prophets in the Abrahamic faiths(from an Islamic perspective). In the opening chapter, the story of Ibrahim(AS) and how he destroyed the idols is provided.

The volumes were written in Arabic with the purpose of helping the nephew of the author to learn Arabic. It could be said that this is a primer text for learning Classical Arabic. This is evidenced by the fact that Darul Ulooms(traditional Islamic seminaries) found in the Indo-Pak region(and those linked to it, like South Africa and the UK) use it as an introduction to literature after the Nahw(grammar) and Sarf(morphology) are done.

The text follows a repetitive style to introduce both grammar rules and common vocabulary that would be found in the Qur'an and possibly Hadith.

Volumes and Structure

Abul Hasan Ali Hasani Nadwi's website says that the text comprises of 4 volumes/books. But Maryam Institute shows that 5 volumes exist. I am basing my decision that the total is 5 volumes because Maryam Institute has uploaded all their PDF content in AP style(books per year) and they seem to follow the traditional Uloom course structure(known as Dars-e-Nizami).

The structure is as follows:

Volume 1

Section 1: من كسر الأصنام؟ (who broke the idols?)

16 Chapters

Section 2: احسن القصص (the best of stories)

25 chapters

The Australian Islamic Library uploaded a copy that has an English translation with added grammatical notes. I am unable to find similar content for Volumes 2 to 5(but did find translations for Volumes 3-5)

Volume 2

Section 1: سفينة نوح (Nuh(AS)'s ship)

22 chapters

Section 2: العاصفة (The storm)

11 chapters

Section 3: ناقة ثمود (Thamud's she-camel)

13 chapters

Volume 3

Section 1: (no title)

26 chapters

Section 2: (no title)

20 chapters

Volume 4

Section 1: قصة سيدنا شعيب (The story of Sayyidina Shu'aib(AS))

14 chapters

Section 2: قصة سيدنا داود, وسيدنا سليمان (The story of Sayyidina Dawud(AS) and Sayyidina Sulayman(AS))

15 chapters

Section 3: قصة سيدنا أيوب وسيدنا يونس (The story of Sayyidina Ayub(AS) and Sayyidina Yunus(AS))

7 chapters

Section 4: قصة سيدنا زكريا (The story of Sayyidina Zakariyya(AS))

8 chapters

Section 5: قصة سيدنا عيسى ابن مريم (The story of Sayyidina Isa bin Maryam(AS))

42 chapters

Volume 5

This volume appears to be a Seerah(life of the Prophet Muhammad(Peace be upon him)). It does not have sectional divisions and the copy from Maryam Institute is 353 pages.

Useful links for referencing

Dr. Saleem A. Khanani's Qasas blog

Dr. Saleem's Archive.org profile

English Translations of Volume 3, 4 and 5 by Mufti AH Elias

Off-topic

When searching for "qasasun nabiyyeen translation", I found a number of unrelated websites hosting the PDF. Just like my past observation of hacked websites hosting 'essays' and other frequently searched-for content, it appears that Qasasun Nabiyyeen is also used by threat actors to draw in visitors on hacked websites.

Through Allah's Mercy, I was able to find Volume 3, 4 and 5 whilst writing this summary. I am now only short of Volume 2. If you know of an English translation of Volume 2 hosted somewhere, please drop me an email.

It would be a good exercise to compare the translations against what the literal would be.