DISCOVERING ALLAH

Islamic Scripture, stories and religious teachings convey devotional life lessons in this illustrated children’s book for ages 8 and up.

Abidi’s slender book, the first in a series, offers up a handful of homilies on religious principles, each comprising a Quranic verse, a brief parable showing it in action, and a concluding, traditional saying from the Prophet Muhammad or an imam. For example, the lesson “Allah Watches Us” is taught with the story of three brothers who ignore their father’s dying injunction to give to the poor; they eventually get their comeuppance, setting up an imam’s admonition that “You will never escape from Allah’s sight, so be careful about how you behave.” The lesson “Be Happy With Allah’s Decisions” cues the tale of a man whose oldest daughter asks him to pray for rain so that her husband’s crops can flourish; his second daughter, however, asks him to pray for no rain so that her husband’s pottery can dry in the sun. He settles the conundrum by leaving it all up to Allah; the moral, according to an imam, is to “Be content (with what you have), and you will be at peace.” Each parable is illustrated with  winsome but uncredited, mostly static color images of various characters done in pastels, and a quiz at the end of the book aims to test youngsters’ comprehension. Abidi’s lessons all resolve in simple, straightforward sermons, but they also touch on profound religious themes, as when a character asks, “If we can’t see Allah, how do we know that He is there?” The answers to such questions are safely orthodox, but the stories are all well told and present compelling problems. Overall, the book may provide young readers, parents, and teachers with intriguing fodder for discussion and prompt further exploration of sacred literature.

Conventional but engaging instruction in precepts of Islam.