ABSTRACT
The stories of the prophets were available in many different versions in the classical Muslim world but all served essentially the same purpose. They were designed to fill in the gaps in the Qurʾānic rendition of the stories, so it would not be necessary for Muslims to refer to the Bible or to ask Jews and Christians for clarification of the stories. Al-Ṭarafī provides one such version. Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Muṭarrif al-Ṭarafī was born in 387/997 in Cordova. Little is known of him other than that he was a religious scholar, especially devoted to the study of variant readings of the Qurʾān about which he wrote two books. He was famous among his contemporaries for his memory. He died in 454/1062.
