The Children’s Digital Museum of Sufi Stories and Art

Transcribed story

Title: Untitled Story

It all started on Friday, when I was on my way home from Jumu’ah, when two guys grabbed me. I recognized them from one of our previous encounters. Last time we met, I was running for my life away from them.

I could understand why they would come back to get me, because of something I did to them not worth mentioning here. As they put a sack over my head, I thought back to what I heard in the Jumu'ah khutbah.

*        *        *        *        *        *

“Reading dua is one of the ways to gain closeness to Allah. Duas can help you through everyday difficulties, and some, such as the dua before leaving the house can protect you. They can sometimes change people’s lives.”

I wanted to change. After all, I was just another Muslim schoolboy, another Yunus in the world. I wanted to be closer to Allah, especially after all the things I’ve done in the past. So I decided to start with dua. So I said the dua before leaving the house (because that was the only dua I knew), trusted in Allah, just like the Imam said “Tie your camels and trust in Allah” and left for home, and that’s when the incident happened.

*        *        *       *        *        *

At first, I was panicking and didn’t know what to do, but then I called down and trusted Allah. All of a sudden, I couldn’t feel their harsh grip on my arms, and the sack flew off to the ground, where I saw the two men, lying there, unconscious. I tried looking around to see who helped me, but all I saw was a man walking away. I tried to catch up with him, but he turned the corner and disappeared. I realized that it was Allah who helped me, by making that man come to save me. After that, I always trusted in Allah and read duas.

Curatorial Note:

This piece was created by Participant A, a 12-year-old boy based in the UK, during an individual Story Design Workshop conducted as part of the Sufi Storytelling Project at the University of Edinburgh.

The young storyteller described what he wished to narrate:

What I really want to narrate it is that, if you really trust in Allah, you can do like anything and you'll always be protected by Allah. And of course, reading duas [prayers] is one of the ways to gain closest to Allah. And yeah, and if you want to change and you can change, anything is possible even if you're getting, like kidnapped, you can always be saved. That's what I'm trying to say. (…) So like I imagined it in my head, like, what would happen? And I thought like this, this would happen, then it would be like a good way to make him, like become closer to Allah like through this event, this test that happened to him.

Themes:

Environment, Islam, Dua (Prayer), Trust

Citation:

Participant A. (2025) Untitled Story. In: Digital Museum of Sufi Stories and Art by Children and Families (curated by H.E. Üzümcü). University of Edinburgh. DataShare Repository. https://doi.org/10.7488/ds/8172.

Copyright & Licence Statement:

© 2025 Participant A. This work is published in anonymised form with the consent of the participant and his caregiver as part of the Digital Museum of Sufi Stories and Art by Children and Families, University of Edinburgh. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) licence. You may share and adapt this work for non-commercial purposes, provided appropriate attribution is given. 

Transcribed story

Title: Tree of Mankind

It starts out with this man that goes to the park. And he sees a tree. A leaf falls down. A very green leaf. He picks it up and he thinks, “this tree is a bit like a person. Because his knowledge in Islam is like growing. That’s why the leaves are green.” But then they go brown and they fall off. He comes back in winter and says, “Winter is a bit like a turning point. There are no leaves on the tree. We don't know what to believe. But then we have to wait until spring, because that's when guidance happens and the greenery of the trees come back.”

So, you just have to be a bit patient to understand what's going on.

Curatorial Note:

This piece was created by Participant C, a 13-year-old boy based in the UK, during an individual Story Design Workshop conducted as part of the Sufi Storytelling Project at the University of Edinburgh.

The young storyteller described what he wished to narrate:

Participant C: “First of all, like you know, when you sometimes, when you like, sometimes you're a bit lost and you don't know what to believe in Islam, right? If you know what I mean. And I think it happens to a lot of people. But like, like, you know, you have to search for guidance. You know, you have to be patient and insha’Allah very soon it comes back to you and you understand a lot more about Allah and you know, just like happiness spirituality.”

Researcher: “How do you engage with the concept of imaginal?”

Participant C: “So, like you know, I just think that insha’Allah I have a good like time ahead of me, like I have things planned for my future and stuff. But like, you know, you never know when something might go wrong, and you just need to be patient and remember to pick yourself back up again, you know.”

Themes:

Environment, Islam, Sabr (Patience), Knowledge

Citation:

Participant C. (2025) Tree of Mankind. In: Digital Museum of Sufi Stories and Art by Children and Families (curated by H.E. Üzümcü). University of Edinburgh. DataShare Repository. https://doi.org/10.7488/ds/8174.

Copyright & Licence Statement:

© 2025 Participant C. This work is published in anonymised form with the consent of the participant and his caregiver as part of the Digital Museum of Sufi Stories and Art by Children and Families, University of Edinburgh. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) licence. You may share and adapt this work for non-commercial purposes, provided appropriate attribution is given. 

Transcribed story

Title: Untitled Story

Karim, a young boy, born in Morocco, grew up but on his way of becoming an adult, he grew tired of the wasteful streets with rubbish scattered across each village road. Growing up in Sufism, his mother expressed passion to not ruin the environment and God’s creation. But in his mind, it had become normalised. Though it was normalised, Karim never did it as he was never prepared for the scolding his Mum would give him.

One day Karim was out with his best friend, Hadi and they had just finished eating their kebabs after playing football and were heading home. Karim put his kebab [wrapper] in the bin, but Hadi decided to throw it and missed, which then landed on a small bird’s face and as he was crossing the road, it blocked his view and a large van drove over it neglecting what it had done. This caused a terror in Karim’s eyes, shocked at what he had just seen when he got home, it was a trouble to his mind, pacing up and down the corridor. As he paced up and down, he thought to himself how such a little thing in life like not putting a wrapper in the bin can affect the world and mainly God’s creation. So, he thought to himself that if no one would act on it, he would act on it.

Karim had fire in his eyes and God’s creation in his heart as passionately forced his neighbours and locals out their house each individually telling him to change.

Curatorial Note:

This piece was created by Participant D, a 14-year-old boy based in the UK, during an individual Story Design Workshop conducted as part of the Sufi Storytelling Project at the University of Edinburgh.

The young storyteller described what he wished to narrate:

Participant D: “It kinda means like, you might not think it's such a big deal or it's not a problem for you. But it will be a problem for something else and it might impact something greater and you never know. Like just, yeah, this, if it's a small thing, you should take care of it.”

Researcher: “How does the Sufi dimension come into play in this?”

Participant D: “Sufis, like, believe, like, you should be, like, loving to everything and careful of what you do. And yeah, that's what I believe how it comes into play.”

Themes:

Environment, Islam, Care, Creation

Citation:

Participant D. (2025) Untitled story. In: Digital Museum of Sufi Stories and Art by Children and Families (curated by H.E. Üzümcü). University of Edinburgh. DataShare Repository. https://doi.org/10.7488/ds/8175.

Copyright & Licence Statement:

© 2025 Participant D. This work is published in anonymised form with the consent of the participant and his caregiver as part of the Digital Museum of Sufi Stories and Art by Children and Families, University of Edinburgh. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) licence. You may share and adapt this work for non-commercial purposes, provided appropriate attribution is given. 

Transcribed story

Title: Untitled Story

One day, 3 men were on their way to work when they each came across a poor cat with a missing leg and a wound in its side. The poor animal was lying on the floor in desperation and agony, hoping somebody would help it.

The 1st man encountered the cat, but didn't do anything as it wailed in pain. He carried on the rest of his day as normal and almost instantly forgot about his encounter with the cat.

The 2nd man came and found the cat lying on the floor. He decided to help it by taking it out of the area, which was almost isolated and put it in a busy street for someone else to find and help it. He then left and carried on with his day however he did in fact feel a slight sense of guilt throughout his day.

The 3rd man came across the cat and decided to pick it up and take it to the vets without thinking twice. After a while he also called the animal services and told them he had found a lost cat. Fortunately, the animal service found out who the cat’s owners were and immediately informed them.

The owners were that grateful for the man finding the cat that they rewarded him with £300. Out of gratitude, the man donated £100 to the animal shelter and kept the rest.

Now perhaps if the 1st man had helped the cat, things would have gone differently. He would have £300 and perhaps if he earned the money it would have helped him a great deal as the first man was really poor and could only afford 1 meal a day. But the poor man didn't get that money, so he ended up going to sleep hungry that night, not knowing what he missed out on.

Or perhaps the 2nd man could have made the money if he didn't hesitate before helping the cat, only to a certain extent. Perhaps if the man helped the cat to his maximum capacity, he would have made £300 to put into the business he wanted to start, but did not have the funds to achieve his goal.

The man who was, in fact, most comfortable with the money and had never gone a day without food, earned the money all because, he did the most he could to save the cat from its terrible conditions.

The moral of the story being that if one is capable of doing an act of kindness, his maximum capacity, he shall then be rewarded. But this reward may not always be in money. It could also be in the afterlife.

For example, the second man still felt a guilty conscience despite already helping the cat, because he knew he had not actually taken the cat to safety, because of this, Allah may have rewarded him with good deeds, as not all rewards have to be a materialistic asset.

If one is able to help himself, he should also be able to help others.

Curatorial Note:

This piece was created by Participant E, a 13-year-old girl based in the UK, during an individual Story Design Workshop conducted as part of the Sufi Storytelling Project at the University of Edinburgh.

The young storyteller described what she wished to narrate:

Researcher: “How about the imaginal? Do you think there are connections there?”

Participant E: “I think I did it so like it would actually be like a realistic situation and it's not something like completely imaginary like something that would definitely not happen.”

Themes:

Environment, Islam, Kindness, Reward, Good Deeds

Citation:

Participant E. (2025) Untitled Story. In: Digital Museum of Sufi Stories and Art by Children and Families (curated by H.E. Üzümcü). University of Edinburgh. DataShare Repository. https://doi.org/10.7488/ds/8176.

Copyright & Licence Statement:

© 2025 Participant E. This work is published in anonymised form with the consent of the participant and her caregiver as part of the Digital Museum of Sufi Stories and Art by Children and Families, University of Edinburgh. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) licence. You may share and adapt this work for non-commercial purposes, provided appropriate attribution is given.

Transcribed story

Title: Islam and Environment

One day, the same as every day, I walk past the waterfall. It's past a beautiful yard of flowers and trees grown up in nature. The water is older than me and so are the trees. Somehow the water still looks fresh, and the leaves are still bright. Each element plays a roll in the everyday life, providing a purpose to the world. Even if you don't know what it is. It was made by the All-Knowing for a reason.

For example, the ant. It’s living on the trees, eating the leaves and drinking water from the puddles. I walk past the ants on my way but they still get in my way. It’s annoying but instead of stepping on them. I wait for them to move. Because they are just like us, except they are a different size, and a different shape. The ants were made by Allah with a purpose like us, they worship Allah like us. Then who are we to kill such a little being made to worship Allah just like we do?

Curatorial Note:

This piece was created by Participant F, a 14-year-old girl based in the UK, during an individual Story Design Workshop conducted as part of the Sufi Storytelling Project at the University of Edinburgh.

The young storyteller described what she wished to narrate:

Participant F: “I guess, don't kill, but maybe just because it's like, I remember, I heard once it's like not good to kill them, because they also worship Allah and they also all do their own type of worship to the same God. So, it's not good to kill them.”

Researcher: “Can you tell me how you have engaged with the concept of imaginal there?”

Participant F: “I guess. Talking about an ant. I don't really know how I did. I don't walk past. I think, it's, like I said that I walk past the waterfall, but I don't do that, like I don't walk past the waterfall every day. So it's just like an example to, I don't know, to make it seem more realistic. I don't know how else like. Like I talk about the. I tried to make the ants seem more realistic by saying how it eats. I don't know if that's about it's imaginal, though. It's like, to make you feel more connected to the ant. So you think, you feel like it's more of a person than just “Oh, it's an ant.””

Themes:

Environment, Islam, Purpose, Worship

Citation:

Participant F. (2025) Islam and Environment. In: Digital Museum of Sufi Stories and Art by Children and Families (curated by H.E. Üzümcü). University of Edinburgh. DataShare Repository. https://doi.org/10.7488/ds/8177.

Copyright & Licence Statement:

© 2025 Participant F. This work is published in anonymised form with the consent of the participant and her caregiver as part of the Digital Museum of Sufi Stories and Art by Children and Families, University of Edinburgh. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) licence. You may share and adapt this work for non-commercial purposes, provided appropriate attribution is given. 

Transcribed story

Title: The Farm Thief

Sofina was one of the most compassionate people on the earth. She was Sufi, but she spent more time religiously wise at home. She was an orphan and she had taken over her father's farm, when he died.

She had no siblings, no help, no family. She was only 17. But she was steadfast in her beliefs. She spent her days tending to the animals, doing chores, and caring for her beloved father's fields. All weekends were dedicated to worship of the Divine Allah. She was often seen by other farmers deep in prayer.

One day, she saw a boy her about her age, picking up the ripe fruit from her father's beloved trees and taking vegetables.

She walked over to him and just said, “Why have you not asked for this?”

He said, “I stole from you, because my father is gravely ill. We are poor and I must steal, so we can eat. He needs it now more than ever.”

Sofina was so compassionate that she said, “I feel sorry for you. Your life seems hard. I understand your pain and suffering. I too have gone through much. Move here and tend to the animals and I will carry on tending to the crops. It is easy for me and we will share your pain. There will be plenty of food and it's honourable work helping to make food for people.”

She did not need to do this, and it would affect her, but she took into consideration how she was stopping others suffering.

He was standing in silence. No one had ever shown him such kindness.

“I'll take that as a yes then. You start on Monday, so you have a week to move in. The house is big enough.” And with that, she just went inside.

Ten years later they got married and were forever happy.

Curatorial Note:

This piece was created by Participant G, a 11-year-old girl based in the UK, during an individual Story Design Workshop conducted as part of the Sufi Storytelling Project at the University of Edinburgh.

The young storyteller described what she wished to narrate:

“OK, basically, it was about how, like, even though he stole the fruit and the vegetables, and those were literally her father's crop… Most people would fly to rage and do something else. But, she didn't. And she literally like, gave him a job and a living.”

Themes:

Environment, Islam, Compassion

Citation:

Participant G. (2025) The Farm Thief. In: Digital Museum of Sufi Stories and Art by Children and Families (curated by H.E. Üzümcü). University of Edinburgh. DataShare Repository. https://doi.org/10.7488/ds/8178.

Copyright & Licence Statement:

© 2025 Participant G. This work is published in anonymised form with the consent of the participant and her caregiver as part of the Digital Museum of Sufi Stories and Art by Children and Families, University of Edinburgh. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) licence. You may share and adapt this work for non-commercial purposes, provided appropriate attribution is given. 

Transcribed story

Title: The Birthday

Sofina wanted to go to the zawiya that Friday. A big spiritual workshop was coming up. She loved to listen to that Sufi stories told at the workshop, and a special storyteller was coming. Even though she was only 16, she was deeply rooted in her faith, as her parents had brought her up in a very religious way. However, her friends were planning a big surprise birthday celebration for their friend, Siana, who is having her Sweet 16 that Friday.

Siana was not really interested in her Sufi roots like Sofina was, and she would be hurt if she found out Sofina hadn't come. This was a hard decision and as Sofina was so considerate, she decided she would go to the birthday, but spent all her weekend in deep devotion and worship.

On Saturday she woke up at 6:00 AM and left zawiya. This is what she did, instead of just two days there, she spent doing lots of prayers and over 1000 duas.

She strived to be even more compassionate and spent her lifetime deep in worship.

Curatorial Note:

This piece was created by Participant G, a 11-year-old girl based in the UK, during an individual Story Design Workshop conducted as part of the Sufi Storytelling Project at the University of Edinburgh.

The young storyteller described what she wished to narrate:

Participant G: “Well, there was two things. It wasn't really like religion or this birthday party. It was more like, do I do this for my friend? Do I do this for myself? So, then she picked actually would do both, but she would delay the thing for herself and miss the bigger one.”

Researcher: “Have you or whether you see connections with the concept of imaginal?”

Participant G: “I think they're both linked to that topic like, thinking before others before yourself and, like yes.”

Themes:

Environment, Islam, Spirituality, Worship, Compassion

Citation:

Participant G. (2025) The Birthday. In: Digital Museum of Sufi Stories and Art by Children and Families (curated by H.E. Üzümcü). University of Edinburgh. DataShare Repository. https://doi.org/10.7488/ds/8179.

Copyright & Licence Statement:

© 2025 Participant G. This work is published in anonymised form with the consent of the participant and her caregiver as part of the Digital Museum of Sufi Stories and Art by Children and Families, University of Edinburgh. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) licence. You may share and adapt this work for non-commercial purposes, provided appropriate attribution is given.