Love Stories from the Qur'an

by Yahya Adel Ibrahim

All of the love stories from the Quran have the connotation of birr, of protection, of qawwam, of endearment, of sacrifice, of acceptance, of allowing redemption and return after sin, of opening what others closed and uplifting those who others pushed down, to be the opposite of what is conventional, to be the oxymoron of the sinfulness that others display, and be the righteous rain of barakah into the heart and mind of those who are distant form Allah.

Genres: Islam, Love, Religion

134 pages, Paperback

Published November 6, 2020

Reviews

[Marwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not exactly what you’d expect from a book on ‘love stories’, but I think that’s the point. Love is a lot richer than just romance. This beautifully and concisely written book gives a brief overview of important lessons (on love) derived from stories of the prophets. I read it all today 😊. It’s not long at all. Indeed it is not exactly a kitab but a kutayeb 😁.

[Narmeen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shaykh Yahya Ibrahim is the kind of person I would love to get advice from on my day to day worries. Not only does he make beautiful duas that cover everything one could ask from Allah but he also has the ability to give advice on issues while also validating the human emotion.

I adore this book. The lessons after the prophets' stories were profound and just what I needed to hear. I wish someone taught me about true love when I was a lost teen seeking validation from the wrong sources. Alas, everything that happens to us is divine decree so I was meant to learn from this book at this exact time, as a 29 year old and not as a 19 year old.

I loved that these love stories were about ALL relationships. Love between parents and children, love between siblings and love between spouses. This is how we fully connect to our soul by connecting through all our relationships in a way that is pleasing to Allah.

[Zenubia Arsalan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sloppy.

Seems like someone transcribed a lecture and published it without bothering to edit. The tenses are all over the place, sentences are abrupt and at times incoherent. Someone ran a spellcheck but didn’t manually check the homonyms. Wandered is written wondered.
The title is Love Stories from the Quran, but the slug on the top of the page says Love Story from the Quran.


The book gives much detail without citing any sources. And gets many things wrong. Zulekha later married Yousuf AS. The books claims that when two men appeared before Dawood AS disputing over livestock, they were actually talking about women. The books turns a simple Quranic story warning us against hastily judging the poor to oppressed and the rich to be the oppressors, into a story of Dawud As’s alleged lust. May Allah protect us from flinging allegations upon His prophets.

Regarding the story of Ibrahim AS and his sacrifice, the book makes the fatal mistake of attributing to Allah the command to kill his son. Allah NEVER commands anyone to sin, even by means of a test. Free is He from all falsities and lies they attribute to Him. If you look carefully at the verse it says that Ibrahim saw a dream and he discussed it with his son and they THOUGHT that it meant that Allah wants Ibrahim to sacrifice his son. Human sacrifices were common at that time and Ibrahim mistakenly thought that this is what Allah wanted. By saving his son, Allah made it clear, set a clear precedent that He does not want human sacrifices. Neither their blood nor their flesh reaches Allah, He is free from need.

The book is replete with many mistakes like this, that come from parroting past commentaries without critically thinking about them.


There are no references for any ahadith or Quranic verses.
I wonder how someone can actually publish a book with
words attributed to Allah, featured in direct quotes that are nowhere in the Quran. I know the author intended these words by way of explanation, but these should not have quotation marks. This is not carelessness, this is criminal.


Is there something good in the book? Yes it’s an easy read and it talks about love, lust and relations but the mistakes are so numerous that it’s distracting.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love as you’ve never known it. The stable love, that runs deep. Unconditional, yet never obsessive. Love as it should be, as He decreed. This book is a treasure.

[Rabia · Rating 5 out of 5]

تبصرہ

یہ کتاب نہ صرف میاں بیوی کے درمیان محبت کے بارے میں ہے، بلکہ اس میں قرآن مجید میں دو ماؤں کی محبت کی کہانی بھی شامل ہے، ہم ان دونوں کو حضرت موسیٰ علیہ السلام کی کہانی میں تلاش کر سکتے ہیں۔ دو مختلف کہانیوں میں دو والد گرامی کی محبت کی داستان موجود ہے۔ جن میں حضرت نوح علیہ السلام اور حکیم لقمان کی کہانی موجود ہے۔

یہ کتاب انتہائی متاثر کن اور مجھے اس بات پر غور کرنے پر مجبور کرتی ہے کہ میں انبیاء کی کہانیوں کے بارے میں کتنا کم جانتی ہوں۔ واقعی سب کے لیے، ہم میں سے ہر ایک کے لیے ایک کہانی ہے۔

ہر کہانی کو سبق کے ساتھ شامل کیا گیا ہے۔ اسباق اور اختتام سادہ اور مختصر ہے۔ اگر آپ کچھ ہلکا پڑھنے کی تلاش کر رہے ہیں تو میں اس کو ریکمنڈ کروں گی ۔

[Khairun Atika · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Love begins as a tiny speck - a seed that is buried deep in the folds of a receptive heart, carrying the potential of stunning beauty, nourishing sustenance, exotic delicacy, wealth of commodity, shading shelter, and resurgent growth that is stabilised through deep roots that withstand trauma." - Love Stories from the Quran by Yahya Ibrahim

Love Stories from the Quran, is, as the title says, a collection of parables from the Quran that encapsulate the different layers and versions of love. Yahya Ibrahim clarifies that the love stories in the birr have the connotations of birr: protection, qawwam, endearment, sacrifice, acceptance, allowing redemption and return after sin, opening what others closed and uplifting those who others pushed down.

Each chapter is dedicated to the different connotations of love. For example, the book starts off with the first love story - that of Adam a.s. and Hawwa, while also touching on the love and tests of Daud a.s., and the love of the two mothers of Musa a.s. Yahya Ibrahim provides his own interpretation and explanation on the different forms of love found in the Quran, though the encompassing theme revolves around the love of Allah to His servants, and vice versa.

While the explanations are concise and rather comprehensive, they seem a little fragmented and abrupt at times. I do wish that there are further elaborations to the lessons to each love story. However, this is a particularly quick read, and it does provide many enlightening reminders that one can easily comprehend, and apply.

[Ifrah Maskan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me revive my dormant Goodreads account just so I could come here and write a review.
I found it randomly while shopping for other books online and ordered it with zero expectations. It turned out to be a wonderful surprise. The title makes you think it’s about romantic love, but it’s really about love in all its forms: between spouses, with parents, with children, within the community, and most importantly, with Allah.
I loved it even more because the Quranic stories felt so nostalgic. I remembered reading many of them as a child in my Islamiyat textbooks, and revisiting them in this way felt comforting and familiar. I also appreciated how each chapter is structured: first the story, then the lessons drawn from it. I underlined so many passages, and I know I’ll keep coming back to reread it.
One line that truly captures the essence of Islam, and is rightly highlighted as one of the book’s lessons, is: 'Everything in our deen is about learning to wait.' That felt like Islam distilled into a single sentence.
As I was reading the last page, I thought to myself that this book would make the perfect gift for someone you love, simply because it makes you want to be a better person, and a better Muslim.

[Amira Zuhapri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Stories from the Quran - Yahya Ibrahim

This book is not only about the love between a husband and wife, but it also covers the stories in the Quran of the love of two mothers where we can find it in the story of Prophet Musa a.s., the love of a father in the story of Luqman al-Hakim and many more.

Every stories are included with lessons to be taken. The lessons and conclusion were simple and brief which I had to take a longer time for me to almost entirely relate them with my life to inshaAllah fully gained the khayr from them.

If you are looking for a light reading, I would recommend this one. ☺

🌟🌟🌟

#mirazhpreads 📚

[ellie h · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up thinking it would be more focused on the romantic relationships in Islam but I was surprised to see it touched on all types of relationships: friendships, marriages, parents and children which shows that love is not only experienced in romantic relationships alone. This was really helpful as it not only gave scripture as evidence but also ways this scripture can be interpreted to understand it well.

It’s pretty short and I read it fairly quickly but the lessons it taught me are very impactful and can be quite easily implemented in day to day life.

[Nafisa Umar · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love this book and the intention behind it and the many lessons one could take from it but I was made uncomfortable by the lack of sources and what came across as reinterpretations of certain stories and lessons from the qur'an.

I would give it a higher rating if it had more sources that I could cross check. Because it doesn't, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I enjoyed reading it though and it gave me a lot to think about.

[Dana Alkooheji · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book is overall confusing , most of the texts and translations are inaccurate and misleading or misinterpreted. The Arabic quotations are mainly unheard off with no clear citations that relate back to the sayings of the prophet Mohamed (peace be upon him) or the Quran, the paragraphs have little to do with the titles and are written in a manner that’s hard to comprehend.

[sha · Rating 5 out of 5]

First read of 2024 and from start to finish I fell in love with significant figures of Islam that I grew up hearing about from a whole new perspective. Prophet Musa's story of his 2 mothers profoundly moved my cold little heart and is slowly switching the views I had towards how women are treated in Islam. Bite-sized and simple joyful reads to and from work. I love Love.

[Alisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a nice little read. I learned about prophets I had forgotten about, or never heard of, and the lessons were ones that I felt could relate to my personal life. This is certainly a book that I will need to reference multiple times to get more knowledge from again and again.

[samihah ★ · Rating 5 out of 5]

🥺🥺💕✨ a really short and beautiful book

[Plainqoma · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very easy and fast read. Beautifully written.

[Safwan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book to read, the author picks out moments from the life of Prophet Muhammad (SAW). However I read the 1st draft version, therefore the books contains spelling mistakes etc.

[Dhanak · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a truly beautiful book to understand the real meaning of love. Jazakh Allah.

[Muhammad Faizuddin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short but sweet. Felt content after reading this. Definitely gonna read this book again.