These 11th-century tales, written in many different languages and well known throughout the Muslim world, have been read and studied through the years. This is, however, the first complete translation of the Arabic text into English, from the story of the creation of the world to the time just before the coming of the Prophet Muhammad and the revelation of Islam. It includes tales of prophets who are Biblical figures, but also of others not considered prophets in other traditions, and contains tales too like The Thousand and One Nights, with no prophetic content. In the Islamic world, this work has been and is still read and enjoyed, both as a source of religious study and for simple pleasure.