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Fatwa CenterWriting a story about the boy and the king for children
Question
Assalamu Aleykum, I am planning to write a story about the boy and the king for children of the age 10+ I have in the past authored Islamic books for children, but they were all fictional stories that I have made up. That's why I'm a bit weary writing this one as it was a related Hadith from the prophet (saw). I do not want to do anything that is not in line with or not approved by the Islamic teachings or rulings. I would greatly appreciate if you could answer the following questions for me: 1. Is it possible to fictionalised the settings of the story? My research of the Hadith pointed out that the story actually happened in Yemen. Using that information is it possible to write the setting using my imagination, as I believe that this will help the readers visualise the surroundings. This includes also incluse the clothes they wear and the king's palace. 2. In the Hadith it's says that the boy passed by a monk/priest and was fascinated by what he was hearing. It says the priest was talking about tawheed, is it possible for me to elaborate on that in my story, for example, the priest could be saying something along the lines of " Allah is the One and only. He created us from..." it says that the boy takes lesson from the priest everyday . Can I write about those lessons and make them up? For example the lessons can be Jannah and Naar, the prophets, shaytan and his trickery? 3. The animal/beast that blocked the way of the people, can I also describe him in the story using my imagination? I really do love this story and would love to write about it. Despite its sad ending there are a lot of lessons to be learned, and I think children would also love it and can take away many lessons from it. But I don't want to break any rules about Hadith and do anything that might go against me in akhirah, my intentions are simply to portray these beautiful stories in our is Amic history so that our children can relate to and learn from them. JazakAllah Khair.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
First of all, we thank you for being keen on spreading Islamic culture and for educating young people according to Islam by writing purposeful stories, so may Allaah reward you and increase your zeal in doing so. We also thank you for being careful not to do anything that contradicts Islam and its rulings.
With regard to what you described as imagining the setting of place and time for this story that is reported in the Prophetic Sunnah by describing the time, place and clothes of the characters of the story or elaborating on some expressions in the story, like the example you had given regarding the interpretation of At-Tawheed (monotheism) and the like, then it appears – Allaah Knows best – that this is permissible provided that you distinguish between your statements and the wordings of the Hadeeth of the Prophet 
that is mentioned in the story so that the children and the readers will have no ambiguity regarding the two texts.
Besides, you should give the appropriate and correct meaning of the text of the Hadeeth that you want to clarify and explain. This requires that you refer to the interpretations of the Hadeeth in reliable sources and you should be very careful in doing so.
For more benefit about the Islamic requirements that should be met for writing a story that reflects Islamic values, please refer to Fataawa 86872 and 83691.
May Allaah enable us and you to do that which He loves and that which pleases Him.
Allaah Knows best.
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