High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The "Qasas Al-Anbiya" ( ) or Stories of the Prophets refers to various collections of tales adapted from the Quran. One of the best-known is that composed by al-Kisai in either the 6th or the 13th century; others include the Ara'is al-majalis by al-Tha'alabi (d. 427 AH) and the Qasas al-anbiya by Ibn Kathir (d. 774 AH). Because the lives of biblical figures ("prophets," in the Muslim tradition) were covered only briefly in the Quran, scholars, poets, historians, and storytellers felt free to elaborate, clothing the bare bones with flesh and blood. Authors of these texts drew on many traditions available to medieval Islamic civilization such as those of Asia, Africa, China, Europe. Many of these scholars were also authors of commentaries on the Quran; unlike Quran commentaries, however, which follow the order and structure of the Quran itself, the Qisas told its stories of the prophets in chronological order.