Stories of The Prophets

Simple English accounts of the lives of many Prophets, including Prophets Adam, Nuh, Ibrahim, Yusuf, and Musa (a).

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Prophet Adam (a)

Allah made the mountains and the seas.

He made all the animals.

He made the heavens and the stars.

He made the sun and the moon

and he made the angels.

The angels were like Allah's servants

and did everything He ordered.

Then Allah decided to make a man.

He called this first man Adam.

He taught him many things

so that Adam had more knowledge

than the angels.

There was one Jinn,

called Iblis and he thought

he was better than Adam

so Allah would not let him

stay with the other angels.

He was to be called

'Shaytan', the Devil.

Shaytan blamed Adam for what had

happened to him and was very angry.

Allah let Adam live in

a beautiful place because

he was good. The place was

called Paradise.

It was a very nice place but

Adam was a little lonely,

on his own all of the time.

Allah decided to help Adam.

He made Hawa to be Adam's wife.

They were happy and

liked living in Paradise.

There was, however,

one thing they were not allowed to do.

There was a special

tree and Allah had told them they must not

eat any fruit from that tree.

At first Adam and Hawa were

very good and kept away

from the tree.

Shaytan decided to do

something very naughty.

He told them they were silly

to keep away from the tree.

He said nothing would happen

if they ate its fruit.

He said the fruit was delicious

and they should try it.

After a while they began to

listen to Shaytan and thought

they would have just a little

taste of the fruit, just to see

what it was like.

Shaytan was very happy because

he had made them disobey Allah.

As soon as they had eaten

the fruit,

Adam and Hawa

realised that they had been

very naughty and

they felt guilty

for what they had done.

Allah forgave them

But He wouldn't let them

stay in Paradise any more

So He sent them to live on earth.

Habil and Qabil

Adam had two sons

called Habil and Qabil.

Adam thought that

Habil, the younger son,

should take over after him.

But Qabil didn't like this

idea and was very

jealous.

To settle the argument

Adam thought of an idea.

He told his sons to think

of a present to give to

Allah and to leave it

on top of a certain hill.

The one whose

present Allah accepted,

would win the

argument.

Allah chose Habil's

present because Habil

had taken a lot

of time and trouble

to choose his present.

Qabil was very upset and

angry. He was so angry

that he killed his

own brother. Afterwards,

when he realised what

he had done, he cried

and cried but it was

too late to be sorry.

Prophet Nuh (a)

After many years Adam

had grandchildren and even

great grandchildren.

There were now lots of

people on earth.

Many of them obeyed Allah

but some were not so good

and did just what they

wanted to do all the time.

This made Allah very unhappy.

Allah chose Nuh,

a good man, to tell the

people that what they

were doing was wrong.

But they wouldn't listen

to him and carried on

doing bad things.

Allah decided that

all the naughty people

should be punished.

He told Nuh to build

a big ark near

his house.

Nuh quickly got busy

choosing good wood and

building it up into a

fine ark.

A lot of people laughed

at him but he did not

take any notice of them,

because Allah had told

him what to do.

When he had finished,

he put lots of food

into the ark and collected

the good people together.

They also took lots of

animals with them

into the ark, two

of every kind.

One day, all of a sudden,

the sky went very dark

and it started to rain.

Lightly at first, then

more and more heavily. Soon

there was water everywhere.

The bad people were not

laughing any more. They

were frightened because

they had no shelter

from the water.

Only the good people

in the ark were

safe and dry.

Prophet Hud (a)

A long time ago,

a great tribe lived in the

South of Arabia.

They were called Ad.

They were very clever and

could do many things.

They used the mountains

for their homes.

They carved out great mansions

with wonderful pillars.

They called their city Iram.

It was very famous.

As time went on,

the people of Ad

thought more about themselves

and less about Allah.

They thought they

didn't need Allah,

because they had

lots of money

and power.

They thought they were

being clever but really

they were foolish.

Before long they turned

to bad ways.

Gangs of them used to

rob and kill people

travelling by.

There was still one good man

among them.

His name was Hud.

He did not belong to any of

the gangs.

He did not agree

with the things they did.

He tried to tell them

to stop their bad ways

and told them

to follow Allah's ways.

Hud said Allah would punish

the bad ones but most of the

people still would not listen.

They thought they were

more clever than

the messenger of Allah.

Allah told Hud to take all the

good people into a big cave

near the city. The very next

day a terrible tornado

came and only the

good ones,

the ones who had

listened,

were saved.

Prophet Salih (a)

The people of Thamud

lived in a valley

called al-Hajr

in the north of Arabia.

It was a good land

so everything grew very easily.

Cattle and sheep grazed

on the land.

Everyone

had plenty of everything.

When people have a lot

they sometimes forget

who provides everything,

they sometimes forget Allah.

When this happens

Allah sends a messenger

or a prophet

to try to help the people.

To the people of Thamud,

Allah sent Salih.

Salih told the people

to remember Allah

but a lot of people just

laughed

at him and would

not listen.

He did not give up.

He still tried to persuade

them to worship Allah

and soon people

began to listen.

They realised Salih was right.

The leaders of Thamud

were upset by this.

They did not want people

to listen to Salih.

They did not believe Salih

was sent by Allah.

They wanted him to prove it,

they wanted a sign.

They told Salih

to bring them a camel

but it had

to be a

special camel.

Salih prayed to Allah

and Allah sent

the special camel.

The camel gave lots and

lots of milk so all the poor

people had enough to drink,

and they were very happy.

The leaders of Thamud

became

angry again to see Salih

and his followers so happy.

They decided

to kill the camel.

Salih told them that Allah

would punish them.

Salih took all the good people

away from the valley.

A terrible earthquake came

and destroyed the valley

and all the bad people.

If they had listened to Salih

they would have been saved.

Prophet Ibrahim (a)

Many years ago a boy

called Ibrahim lived

in Canaan.

he was very clever and was always asking questions.

Most of the people he knew

worshipped idols but

Ibrahim did not.

The people had

forgotten the messages

that Adam, Hud, Nuh

and Salih had

brought them.

Instead of praising

Allah they worshipped

statues.

Ibrahim told his father

he didn't think people should

worship objects they had

made themselves. His father

was angry and told him

not to say anything about

the gods again.

Ibrahim decided he must

show the people they were

wrong so he thought of a

plan.

One night he sneaked into

the place where all

the statues were

kept. With an axe

he chopped off the

heads from all but

one of the statues.

The biggest one

he left.

The next morning the

people were very angry

and upset at what had

happened. They were

sure Ibrahim had done it.

They gathered in the

public square and asked

him if he had done it.

Ibrahim told them to ask

their big idol if he

knew who was responsible.

But, of course, the statue

could not speak and the

people knew it was only

stone. Ibrahim shouted at

them and asked how

they could worship lumps

of stone. The bad people were

even more angry.

They started to collect wood

for a fire. They were

going to burn Ibrahim

to death.

They made a big bonfire

and put Ibrahim on the top.

Everyone came to watch. They

lit the wood. The fire burned,

the flames grew higher and

higher. The people had to

back away from the heat

of the flames.

Ibrahim was a good

person. He believed in Allah.

Allah would protect him.

Allah would not let the

fire harm him. When the

flames dies down the people

could not believe their eyes.

They saw that Ibrahim

was alive and the flames

had not harmed him at all.

How had this happened?

They all knew this was a

great miracle and they

fell to their knees.

This wonderful thing had

made them believe in Allah.

Some people would still not

listen. They thought

Ibrahim was just a magician

Nimrod, the king of Canaan,

heard all about Ibrahim.

He wanted to talk to him.

He asked Ibrahim about Allah.

Ibrahim told him that

Allah could do all things.

He could give life and death.

Nimrod said that he too

could do that.

His soldiers brought

two men in. Nimrod

ordered one to be

killed and the

other to be saved.

Nimrod thought that

this made him like Allah.

Ibrahim told him that

Allah brings the sun

every morning from the

East.

He asked Nimrod if

he could bring the sun

from the west next

day, of course, Nimrod

was unable to do that.

Prophet Ibrahim (a) II

Ibrahim married a girl

called Sarah. They lived

very happily in Palestine.

They worked and had

plenty of everything.

Ibrahim became very

wealthy, but he was

a good man. He

always helped

other people too.

After many years Ibrahim

and Sarah still had no

children. This made

them very sad. They

both wanted a

child to share

their life with.

Sarah told Ibrahim

that he should marry

her servant Hajar too,

so that Ibrahim and

Hajar could make a

child together.

Prophet Ismail (a)

After a while Ibrahim

did marry Hajar and

she had a son.

They called him Ismail.

They were all very

happy.

Ibrahim, Hajar and Ismail

moved to a valley in

Arabia. They settled in

a good place with hills

and mountains on all

sides to protect them.

After a while Ibrahim

said that he should go

back to see Sarah and

to get more food and water.

Before he left he prayed

to Allah to look after

his wife and son because

they did not have much

food and water left.

The food and water

soon began to run low.

Hajar was very worried. What

could they live on?

They prayed to Allah.

Hajar went to the top of

the mountain, Mount Safa,

to look for Ibrahim.

Now their water was all gone

and they were desperate.

She went to the other

side of the valley and

climbed to the top of Mount

Marwa. She looked towards

the North, East, West and

South for help but found

none.

Hajar kept running

backwards and forwards

between Mount Safa and

Mount Marwa.

She did this seven times.

Suddenly she saw

Ismail kick the ground

with his heel.

A spring of water gushed

out - beautiful, pure water,

they were saved.

Even today this water, called

Zamzam, still flows in the

Valley of Hijaz and when

people go to Makkah on Hajj

they go seven times between

the two mounts in memory

of this miracle that saved

the lives of Hajar and Ismail.

When Ibrahim returned he was

amazed to see the valley.

The water had made the place

very fertile. All the animals

and caravans visited and

made it a prosperous place.

The Sacrifice of Prophet Ibrahim (a)

One night Ibrahim had

a bad dream.

He dreamt Allah told

him to sacrifice Ismail.

Ibrahim thought it was

Shaytan playing nasty

tricks on him.

The next night Ibrahim had

the same horrid dream.

Ibrahim knew that

Allah would only

ask him to do such

a thing if he had good

reason.

Even though he loved

his son dearly, he was

prepared to do this

difficult thing for Allah.

Ibraim told

Ismail they

had to go to

Mount Arafat.

He took a knife

and a rope with him.

On the way they passed

a place called Mina.

The devil, Shaytan, came

to Ibrahim and

tried to talk him

out of sacrificing

his son.

Ibrahim turned his back

on him and would not listen.

When they reached Mount

Arafat, Ibrahim told Ismail

what Allah wanted him to do.

Ismail listened and accepted

what was to happen. He was

an exceptional child.

He too was a

great prophet.

Ismail told his father to tie

his hands and legs and blindfold

himself so he would not struggle and

make his father even more upset than

he was going to be and Ibrahim was

blindfolded so he would not see his

son suffer.

Ibrahim did as Ismail

had said. He then took

the knife and did what

Allah had told him to

do. When he took

the blindfold from his

eyes he looked down, not

at his son but at a

dead ram.

Ismail was at his side.

Ibrahim was afraid.

He thought he had disobeyed

but then he heard a voice

telling him not to worry.

Allah looks after his

followers. Ibrahim and Ismail

had passed a difficult test.

Each year, during the

month of Dhul Hijjah,

many Muslims, from all

over the world, travel

to Makkah.

They want to remember

what Ibrahim and

Ismail did.

In the month of Dhul Hijjah

these pilgrims go to Makkah,

Mina and Arafat.

They visit places

where Ibrahim and Ismail

lived and preached.

They give a sacrifice just

as Allah commanded

Ibrahim to do. The pilgrims

sacrifice animals in

memory of the deed.

We must obey

Allah's commands

as Ibrahim and

Ismail did. We

obey by doing

the things we

know are right,

praying, obeying

our parents and

always telling

the truth.

Prophet Ibrahim (a) & Prophet Ishaq (a)

The Well of Zamzam

where water first flowed

to save the lives of

Hajar and Ismail, became

a popular place for the

caravans to stop.

Some people liked the

place so much they decided

to stay there.

This place became known

as Makkah.

One day Ibrahim had

a message from Allah.

He and Ismail were to

build a place for

people to pray.

They were to build

an altar, it was to

be known as the Ka'aba.

The angel Jibrail

brought the message

saying that the Ka'aba

should be built near

the Well of Zamzam,

the most sacred place

on earth.

The foundation stone

for the Ka'aba was to

come from heaven.

It is found today in a

corner of the Ka'aba and is

known as the black stone.

When Ibrahim was

building the Ka'aba

he was standing on

a large rock. Allah

softened the rock and

the shape of Ibrahim's

bare feet was left in

it. It is still there,

for all to see.

When Ibrahim was

very old the angels

came to see him and

said Allah was

going to give a son

to him and Sarah.

Sarah could not believe

it was true. She too was

old. The angels said that

all things are possible

to Allah. They said the

son was to be called

Ishaq. He was to be a prophet.

Sure enough,

Sarah did have

a son and they called

him Ishaq. he grew

up to be a great

prophet.

Ishaq married a

girl called Rebecca.

They had two sons,

called Esau and Yaqub.

Yaqub became a

great prophet.

Yaqub grew up and

married Zia and they

had lots of children,

both boys and girls.

His second wife

Rohsie had two sons,

Yusuf and Benjamin.

Yusuf and Benjamin

were very good, obedient

sons and they became

Yaqub's favourites because

of their good behaviour.

Yusuf too grew up

to be a prophet.

All of these great

prophets were

descendents of Ibrahim.

He is known as

the father of all

the prophets.

Muhammad (s), our great

and beloved prophet,

the last of all the

prophets was a

descendant of Ismail.

Prophet Yaqub (a) & Prophet Yusuf (a)

Yaqub was also

known as Israil.

Israil's children could

see that Yusuf was their

father's favourite. This

made them very jealous.

They became so jealous,

some of them actually

wanted to kill him.

The jealous brothers

finally decided

to throw Yusuf

into a deep well.

They went to Israil, their

father, to ask if they could

take Yusuf out with

them; they said they would

teach him to be a good

shepherd. Israil would

not let Yusuf go because

he thought the others

were planning to do

something bad.

One day Yusuf went to

Israil and said that he

had had a strange dream.

In the dream Yusuf

had seen the sun, the

moon and eleven stars

bowing down to him!

Israil felt that

the dream had a

message, Yusuf was

going to have a

great future. He

told Yusuf not to

tell his brothers

about the dream.

Israil's son were

still thinking of their

plan to kill Yusuf.

They pestered Israil

to let them take

Yusuf with them

to their work.

At last Israil agreed,

but he made them promise

to look after him.

They were so bad they

knew they would break

their promise.

At the end of the day

they asked Yusuf to take

off his shirt. They killed

a sheep and put blood all

over Yusuf's shirt; then they

threw Yusuf into a well.

They went home and

showed the shirt to Israil.

Pretending to be very upset;

they told their father that Yusuf

had got left behind and a

wolf had eaten him!

Israil was very

upset but he

did not believe

the story.

He knew that one

day Allah would

bring Yusuf back

to him.

Poor Yusuf spent the

night in the well.

The next morning, when

someone put the

bucket down the

well to get water,

he sat in the bucket.

The man had to get help

to pull the bucket up.

He was very surprised to see

a boy in it.

The man was a merchant.

The merchant decided

to take Yusuf with

him to Egypt and to

sell him as a slave.

When they arrived in

Egypt, one of the noble

families bought Yusuf.

The man who

bought him told

his wife that they

should take care of

him, as he was a

good-looking child

and they had no

children of their own.

Yusuf became one

of the family.

Prophet Yusuf (a)

The Pharaoh of Egypt

called Firawn had many

people working for him.

One of his assistants had

a very wicked wife who

said many things about

Yusuf that were quite

untrue. She thought

she loved him but he

told her that she should

honour her husband.

She became very angry

and persuaded her

husband to have Yusuf

put in prison.

While he was in prison,

Yusuf used to tell everyone

what their dreams meant

and his explanation of the

dreams always came true.

Allah had given Yusuf

this great gift.

Firawn kept

having a strange dream

and none of his wise men

could explain what it meant.

Then Firawn heard of

Yusuf's great gift and

sent for him.

Yusuf would not leave

the prison until he had

proven his innocence.

Firawn had an inquiry

and discovered that Yusuf

really was innocent, so

he was able to leave prison.

Firawn's dream was most

unusual. In it, he saw

seven skinny cows eat

seven big fat ones and

there were seven skinny

ears of wheat and

seven fat ears of wheat.

Yusuf explained that

this meant there would

be seven years of plenty

but seven years of famine

would follow, when there

would be no water and

no food for anyone.

After that there would

be a year of rain.

Firawn liked and trusted

Yusuf so he put him in

charge of all the store houses

in the land.

Yusuf had worked himself

up to a very powerful position.

Allah always rewards

good people.

Yusuf worked hard; he

made sure the store houses

were filled with wheat and

grain.

Just as he had said,

there were seven years

of plenty. Those years

passed very quickly.

Soon the seven years of

famine came. The crops

failed. People were

hungry. Others were

starving.

Yusuf had planned for

this. He opened his

stores and let everyone

have some of the wheat.

Back in Palestine,

Israil too was facing

a hard time with

no food for his family

or the animals.

He sent his sons to

Egypt to get grain from

the famous treasurer of

Egypt. When they arrived

they were told that they

must get permission from

the governor to buy grain.

They went to see him, but

did not realise that the

fine man, in splendid robes was

really their brother. He told

them they could have some

grain, but if they wanted

any more, they would have

to come with their youngest

brother and parents.

Yusuf had recognised them

straight away and he longed

to see his father, mother

and young brother Benjamin

again.

Eventually the eleven

brothers returned with

their mother and father.

They bowed down before Yusuf.

Yusuf put his father on his

throne and reminded him of

the dream he had had so long ago.

The sun, the moon and

eleven stars had bowed

down before him just as

his father, mother and

brothers had done at this

meeting, This was a great

moment in his life

and he thanked

Allah, for all He

had done for him.

Prophet Shu'ayb (a)

The Prophet Shu'ayb

was a descendent

of the Prophet Ibrahim.

He was sent to Midian and the

Dwellers of the wood to give

them Allah's message.

The Midianite people

committed many sins.

They gave short measures

and weights,

they robbed people and

caused mischief but most

seriously they tried to stop

people from

worshipping Allah.

Shu'ayb tried to make

them change but they

would not listen to him.

They wanted to throw

him out and all the

people who had

listened to his words.

Then Allah sent an

earthquake and all

the evil people were

destroyed because they

would not obey the

word of Allah.

Prophet Yunus (a)

The prophet Yunus

was sent to Ninevah.

He became known as the

Lord of the Fish (Dhan-Nun).

He warned the people about

their evil ways and told them

to follow Allah but they

would not listen.

Yunus was so angry he left.

He sailed away but the ship

was so full and heavy,

poor Yunus

was thrown

overboard.

He was

swallowed by an

enormous fish and he

lived in its belly

for three days.

Then the fish spewed

him out on a shore.

He was very ill but

Allah was protecting him.

A plant grew

and its leaves protected

Yunus from the sun and

kept the flies away.

A wild goat provided him

with milk. When he became

better he went back to

Ninevah and gave the

people Allah's message

once more. This time

the people listened

and Allah forgave them.

Prophet Ayyub (a)

The Prophet Ayyub had

been a wealthy man.

He was a very good

man but he lost his family

and his wealth.

He became ill and had terrible

sores all over his body.

However he never gave up.

He spent his time praying.

He was very patient and

always kept his faith in Allah.

Eventually Allah showed mercy.

He told Ayyub to strike the earth

with his foot and miraculously

a fountain appeared.

He drank the water and used

it to wash his body.

All his sores were healed

and everything was returned

to him as before.

Allah had rewarded him for

keeping his faith despite the

terrible afflictions he

had tested him with.

Prophet Musa (a)

Israil's family decided

to stay in Egypt. For a

long time they were

happy. The family grew.

There were many people

related to Israil and they

became known as the

Bani Israil.

For some reason the

Egyptian people did not

like the Bani Israil.

A new Firawn became ruler

of Egypt. Israil's people

became slaves to the

government. They wereforced

to do many unpleasant jobs

and were treated very badly.

One night Firawn had a

dream. His high priest, Haman,

told him what he thought the

dream meant. An Israil boy would be born

and he would grow up and cause

the death of Firawn.

This made Firawn very

angry and so he thought of

a horrible plan.

All the boys born to the

Israilites would be

killed at birth.

He thought this would

stop the dream from

coming true.

Imran and his wife had two

children, a girl called Maryam

and a boy called Iram. Soon

after Firawn told of his

plan, Imran's wife found out that

she was going to have another

baby.

They were pleased but they were

also worried that if the baby was

a boy, he would be killed.

She did not tell anyone that she was

going to have a baby. She stayed at

home and kept her secret until the

baby was born.

It was a boy.

She loved the baby very much but

realised that if she kept him, he

might be killed.

She put the baby in a special

box and Maryam went with her

to the river Nile.

They carefully put the box in

the river and prayed that it

would sail to safety.

Allah was watching over the

baby. No harm would come

to him.

The box sailed into Firawn's

gardens. Some maids were there

and saw the box caught in the

bullrushes. They pulled it out

and were amazed to find a

beautiful baby inside.

They took him to Firawn's wife,

Asia, who looked at him and

knew at once that he was an Israili.

Firawn wanted to kill the

baby but Asia cried and

cried and was so upset that

eventually he said she could

keep him and even adopt him.

The baby was called Musa.

He was not happy. He cried

because he was hungry but

would not take milk from

anyone.

Maryam heard of this and she let

it be known that she knew someone

who might be able to help.

She went to her mother

and told her

what had

happened. They

went to the

palace and when

Musa was put

in her arms he

stopped crying

and took milk

from her.

With Allah's help

Musa and his

mother were reunited.

She was able to look after

Musa for a long time and

he loved her dearly.

Topic Tags:

Prophets [5]

Publisher(s):

Tawhid Institute [1]

Source URL: https://www.al-islam.org/stories-prophets?page=0#comment-0

Links
[1] https://www.al-islam.org/organization/tawhid-institute
[2] https://www.al-islam.org/printpdf/book/export/html/18339
[3] https://www.al-islam.org/printepub/book/export/html/18339
[4] https://www.al-islam.org/printmobi/book/export/html/18339
[5] https://www.al-islam.org/tags/prophets