人们都喜欢以故事的形式听取信息。人的心灵似乎在叙事所营造的心理环境中得以放松并感到舒适。因此，故事及其作者在世界各地的社会中一直备受推崇。社会批判往往通过故事这一载体获得最广泛的受众。例如，查尔斯·狄更斯在《大卫·科波菲尔》中抨击了维多利亚时代社会对儿童的剥削；同样，乔治·奥威尔在《1984》中评论了国家对公民生活的干预。关于过去的人物和文明的故事尤其引人入胜，因为它们对当代人而言是一个个谜。因此，《古兰经》在许多地方采用了叙事（qissah）的形式，以引人入胜的方式向人类传达其信息。《古兰经》中的故事也使先知（ﷺ）及其追随者确信真理终将战胜谬误，并且今天它们对信徒仍发挥着同样的作用。然而应当指出，虽然许多最流行的叙事是由其作者编造的，但《古兰经》中的故事都是真实的。它们并非安拉为传达其信息而编造，而是确实存在的历史实例，用以体现这一信息。《古兰经》中有多处经文强调了这一事实，安拉以真理的化身自居，经文说：

Everyone likes to hear information conveyed in the form of a story. The human mind seems to relax and be comfortable in the psychological environment created by narratives. Conse-quently, stories and their authors have always been held in high esteem by societies throughout the world. Oftentimes, social criticisms have found their widest audiences through the vehicle of the story. For example, in David Copperfield, Charles Dickens attacked the exploitation of children by Victorian society; likewise, in 1984, George Orwell commented on state interference in the lives of its citizens. Stories about people and civilizations of the past are especially interesting because they represent mysteries to the people of the present. Hence the Qur’aan has, in a number of instances, employed the narrative (qissah) format in order to convey its message to man in an intriguing manner. Qur’aanic stories also served to reassure the Prophet (ﷺ) and his followers that the truth would eventually win out over falsehood, and they continue to serve the same purpose for believers today. It should be noted, however, that while many of the most popular narratives are made up by their authors, the Qur’aanic stories are all true. They are not made up by Allaah to convey His message, but are in fact true historical examples of the message. This fact has been emphasized in the Qur’aan in numerous passages by Allaah, Who refers to Himself as the embodiment of Truth: