Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Kisāʾī () (ca. 1100 CE) wrote a work on Stories of the Prophets (''Qiṣaṣ al-Anbiyā''). It has been characterised as "one of the best-loved versions of the prophetic tales".

Work

Al-Kisāʾī produced a collection of '' Stories of the Prophets''; according to Wheeler M. Thackston, its date "is highly uncertain, although the prevalent opinion is that it must have been written not long before 1200". It includes exegetic information not found elsewhereWheeler.
Historical Dictionary of Prophets in Islam and Judaism
', ''Al-Kisaʾi''. and elaborates on earlier exegesis with a fuller narrative and folkloric elements from oral traditions now lost that often parallel those from

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

. He includes two

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divinity, divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings ...

Shem Shem (; ''Šēm''; ) is one of the sons of Noah in the Bible ( Genesis 5–11 and 1 Chronicles 1:4). The children of Shem are Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram, in addition to unnamed daughters. Abraham, the patriarch of Jews, Christ ...

and

Eleazar Eleazar (; ) or Elazar was a priest in the Hebrew Bible, the second High Priest, succeeding his father Aaron after he died. He was a nephew of Moses. Biblical narrative Eleazar played a number of roles during the course of the Exodus, from ...

, not named in later literature as prophets. The work often cites ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salām (d. 663), Kaʿb al-Aḥbār (d. c. 652), and

Wahb ibn Munabbih Wahb ibn Munabbih () was a Yemenite Muslim traditionist of Dhamar (two days' journey from Sana'a) in Yemen. He was a member of Banu Alahrar (Sons of the free people), a Yemeni of Persian origin. He is counted among the Tabi‘in and a narrato ...

(d. c. 730), who were understood as foundational authorities on pre-Islamic Abrahamic traditions in early Islam. It was later translated into Persian by Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan al-Daydūzamī.

Editions and translations

* al-Kisāʾī, ''Qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ / Vita Prophetarum'', ed. by I. Eisenberg (Leiden 1922–23) * Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Kisāʾī, ''The Tales of the Prophets of al-Kisa’i'', trans. by Wheeler M. Thackston Jr. ( hicago, IL Great Books of the Islamic World, 1997),

References

{{Authority control Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam Iranian historians of Islam 11th-century Iranian historians