Page 68 - General Knowledge from the Qur'an

66 GENERAL KNOWLEDGE FROM THE QUR'AN

with Isma'il: 'Our Lord, accept this from us! You are the All-Hearing,
the All-Knowing. Our Lord, make us both Muslims submitted to You,
and our descendants a Muslim community submitted to You. Show us
our rites of worship and turn towards us. You are the Ever-Returning,
the Most Merciful. Our Lord, raise up among them a Messenger from
them to recite Your Signs to them and teach them the Book and Wis-
dom and purify them. You are the Almighty, the All-Wise.' (Surat al-
Baqara, 124-129)
Ibrahim directed his sons to this, as did Ya'qub: 'My sons! Allah has
chosen this religion for you, so do not die except as Muslims.' (Surat al-
Baqara, 132)
Verses in which the Prophet Isma'il (as) is Cited
Mention Isma'il in the Book. He was true to his promise and was a
Messenger and a Prophet. He used to command his people to perform
prayer and give the welfare tax and he was pleasing to his Lord.
(Surah Maryam, 54-55)
And Zakariyya, Yahya, 'Isa and Ilyas. All of them were among the
righteous. And Isma'il, al-Yasa', Yunus and Lut. All of them We
favoured over all beings. (Surat al-An'am, 85-86)

THE STORY OF THE PROPHET YUSUF (AS)
We have sent it down as an Arabic Qur'an so that hopefully you will
use your intellect. We tell you the best of stories in revealing this
Qur'an to you, even though you were unaware of it before it came.
When Yusuf told his father, 'Father! I saw eleven bright stars, and the
sun and moon as well. I saw them all prostrate in front of me.' He said,
'My son, don't tell your brothers your dream lest they devise some
scheme to injure you, Satan is a clear-cut enemy to man. Accordingly
your Lord will pick you out and teach you the true meaning of events
and perfectly fulfil His blessing on you as well as on the family of
Ya'qub as He fulfilled it perfectly before upon your forebears, Ibrahim
and Ishaq. Most certainly your Lord is Knowing, Wise.' In Yusuf and
his brothers there are Signs for every one of those who wants to ask.
(Surah Yusuf, 2-7)