Telling the stories of the Quran

The four steps

• Inspire · Wonder. A question from everyday life, then the story in short scenes. Under each scene, open the ayat it comes from.
• Investigate · Remember it. Put the scenes in order, who, where and what, and “Did this happen?”. At Level 2, find the moment in the Quran.
• Integrate · What it teaches. Lesson cards (all of them true, so there is no wrong answer), the Name of Allah you see in the story, and “me too”.
• Impart · Tell it. Your child retells the story to someone at home, using the cards. Then one small plan for the week.

Levels

Level 1 (often 4 to 7) tells each story in four scenes, with picture questions. Level 2 (often 7 to 11) adds the rest of the scenes and finding the ayah. Choose by ability, not age, in the settings (the gear).

The story in our words

The scenes are a simple retelling, not the Quran itself. Each one shows the ayat it is told from. What Allah, the angels and the prophets said is reported, never put in quotation marks: their words show only in the ayah box, from the Quran text in our database.

We tell only what the Quran tells. Details from other reports (names, numbers, what happened afterwards) are left out unless our asatizah approve them, and each story's note says what was left out and why.

Lessons, not rulings

The lessons are about character: patience, trust in Allah, gratitude, honesty, forgiveness, courage. When a story touches worship or a ruling, we keep to the character in it. Questions about rulings are for a recognised asatizah.

Pictures

No prophet, companion or person is ever pictured. Each story is shown through objects and places: the big fish, the basket of fruit, the elephant. The dino is the storyteller beside the story, and never plays anyone in it.

Stories we leave out for now

A few stories need a teacher to tell them well to young children: the people of Lut, the people of the ditch, the Sabbath-breakers, Musa and the man he struck, and Ibrahim and the sacrifice of his son. They wait for our asatizah's advice.