Why did Allah swt narrate Bani Israel's stories in Quran?

Subhanallah have we ever wondered why this Quran is filled with so many stories of Bani Israel (descendants of Yaqub A.S)? What do we have to do with what Bani Israel did?

Bani Israel were the chosen people of their time. Allah swt blessed them with numerous worldly blessings (freedom them from the enslavement of Pharoah, lands, kings, etc.) and religious blessings (religious scriptures, prophets, religious supremacy, etc.). But they were not grateful to Allah swt, were arrogant, disobeyed Allah swt and His messengers, killed some of the messengers (Yahya a.s. and Zakariyah a.s.) and conspired to kill Eesa a.s. This is why Allah swt took away their religious supremacy from them and sent the last messenger (Prophet Muhammad saw) from the descendants of Ismael a.s.

In the same way as Bani Israel were the chosen people of their time, we (Muslims) are the chosen people of this time We have the blessings of Islam, Quran and Sunnah. All these stories of Bani Israel in Quran are there to teach us lessons so that we take heed from them and do not repeat the same mistakes which they did. We should check ourselves how grateful are we to Allah swt for this blessing of Quran. Subhanallah, we place Quran on the highest shelves but it ranks the lowest in our lives! Do we use Quran to obtain guidance from it or just consider it as a means of adding barakah in our lives. We get so furious when somebody attacked the honour of our Prophet saw but do we really implement his Sunnah in our daily lives? What about our Salahs? We perform them as chores without feeling any connection with Allah swt. Despite doing all this we complain Allah swt for inflicting all these trials on the Muslim Ummah. These trials are in fact, the wake-up calls for us. Allah wants to give us a second chance to realize our sins, seek sincere Tawbah and reform ourselves by connecting ourselves directly with the book of Allah swt. We can only seek guidance from Quran if we will try to understand it and implement it in our lives.

May Allah swt enable us to become His grateful and obedient servants and make all the trials as a means of getting closer to Him, Aameen!

Surah Baqarah verses Ayahs 30-39

And [mention, O Muhammad], when your Lord said to the angels, "Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority." They said, "Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood, while we declare Your praise and sanctify You?" Allah said, "Indeed, I know that which you do not know."

And He taught Adam the names - all of them. Then He showed them to the angels and said, "Inform Me of the names of these, if you are truthful."

They said, "Exalted are You; we have no knowledge except what You have taught us. Indeed, it is You who is the Knowing, the Wise."

He said, "O Adam, inform them of their names." And when he had informed them of their names, He said, "Did I not tell you that I know the unseen [aspects] of the heavens and the earth? And I know what you reveal and what you have concealed."

And [mention] when We said to the angels, "Prostrate before Adam"; so they prostrated, except for Iblees. He refused and was arrogant and became of the disbelievers.

And We said, "O Adam, dwell, you and your wife, in Paradise and eat therefrom in [ease and] abundance from wherever you will. But do not approach this tree, lest you be among the wrongdoers."

But Satan caused them to slip out of it and removed them from that [condition] in which they had been. And We said, "Go down, [all of you], as enemies to one another, and you will have upon the earth a place of settlement and provision for a time."

Then Adam received from his Lord [some] words, and He accepted his repentance. Indeed, it is He who is the Accepting of repentance, the Merciful.

We said, "Go down from it, all of you. And when guidance comes to you from Me, whoever follows My guidance - there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve.

And those who disbelieve and deny Our signs - those will be companions of the Fire; they will abide therein eternally."

 

 In these verses, Allah swt tells us the story of the creation of Adam a.s and makes us aware of our biggest enemy. The story of the creation of Adam as is full with lessons for us. I will share some of the lessons here:

1) When Allah swt told angels that He is about to create human beings, angels did not understand the purpose of creation of mankind and asked Allah swt about the purpose/ benefit of this new species which might create corruption on earth because of their free-will. But Allah swt told angels that I am well aware of the benefit of creating mankind, which you cannot understand. 

From this we understand that:

a) Even angels are not aware of unseen and they only know what Allah swt tells them. 

b) According to authentic tafseers, Allah knew that the mankind will create corruption on earth but among them, there will be righteous, pious, martyrs, prophets and truthful. Although the angels do tasbeeh of Allah swt all the time, the tasbeeh or the righteous deeds done by humans despite their free-will is superior in the eyes of Allah swt. This is so because angels are programmed to do tasbeeh and obey Allah swt but humans have been given freedom to make their own choices. Moreover, human are constantly influenced by the evil of their nafs and the whisperings of Shaitaan. Therefore, if humans are able to obey Allah swt overcoming all these challenges, Allah swt values their efforts and reward them immensely. Subhanallah!

2) Allah swt taught Adam as names of all the things relevant to him and his progeny and told him to tell these names to angels who did not know them. In this way Allah swt have made us superior to angels by granting us knowledge to ponder, to recognize Allah swt, to distinguish between right and wrong and to make correct choices. Also by asking all the angels to prostrate Adam as, Allah swt further established the superiority of knowledge.

 

3) When Allah swt asked all the angels to prostrate Adam A.S., all the angels prostrated except Iblees. Iblees was a Jinn, a devout worshipper who used to stay in the company of angels. He disobeyed Allah swt because of his arrogance. He thought he was superior to Adam A.S as he was made out of fire. This single act of disobedience expelled him from the mercy of Allah swt.

From this we learn:

a) We should constantly check ourselves if we feel arrogant of our knowledge and worship because arrogance wastes all our good deeds.

b) Shaitan refused to do one sajdah to a man and as a result, he was cursed by Allah swt. Think about how many sajdahs do we deny to Allah swt. How many Salahs do we skip and miss just because of our procrastinationa and involvement in worldy matters? Imagine how much sins are we accumulating by not guarding our prayers! 

c) Shaitan thought that he was superior than Adam as because he was made of fire while Adam as was made of clay. This is why Shaitan lost his high status with Allah swt. We should know that it is not our race, color, tribe or country of origin which makes us superior over other. Rather, it is taqwa which makes one superior in the eyes of Allah swt. Only Allah knows how much taqwa a person has.

 

4) Shaitan misled Adam as and his wife in Jannah by first assuring them that he is their well-wisher and he can guide them to attain eternal life and possessions that will never deteriorate. This is how Shaitan made Adam a.s and Hawwa a.s to disobey Allah swt and as result, they were sent down to earth from Jannah. 

a) We should be aware of Shaitan's tactics and whispering to mislead us. SHaitan comes to us as a well-wisher. remember that any thoughts of disobedience to Allah swt are from Shaitaan. Indeed Shaitaan is our biggest enemy so we should take him as an enemy. may Allah save us all from the whispering of Shaitaan.

b) As Adam as was removed from Jannah due to his fisobedience, we should know that disobedience to Allah swt results in blessings of Allah swt being taken away from us. Therefore, in order to guard our blessings, we should obey Him and be grateful to Him.

5) After realizing his mistake, Adam as immediately repented to Allah swt and Allah swt taught him this beutiful dua:

 

 

 

 

“Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves, and if You do not forgive us and have mercy upon us, we will surely be among the losers.”

 

a) Due to Adam as's sincere dua, Allah swt forgave him. This is how Adam as was different from Shaitaan. Shaitaan disobeyed Allah swt but he never asked for repentance. However, Adam as immediately accepted his mistake and asked for repentance.  So, we should never become hopeless of Allah swt's mercy. If we will sincerely ask for his repentance, he will forgive us, inshallah.

b) Ability (tawfeeq) to repent also comes from Allah swt as do the acceptance of repentance.

c) Indeed, salvation lies in turning to Allah swt.

 

In the end, Allah swt, explains us the true purpose of our life. Indeed, we are here in this world to live and enjoy for a short period of time. In this life, we all will be tested in various ways. In order to pass all the tests successfully, we should all follow all the commands of Allah swt. Whoever will accept the guidance given by Allah swt and lead his/ her life according to Allah's will, there will be no fear (of future) or grief (of past) for him/her in this world as well as in the Hereafter.

I will end this post with a portion of a masnun dua:

" O Allah make the Holy Quran the delight of my heart, the light of my soul and the relief of my sorrows and griefs" Ameen!