The Quran, Pioneer in Very Short Stories: the Case of Ayahs 58 and 59 of Surah An-Nahl

Today it is observed that cultural and Islamic civilization heritage has been given a new form and represented, within the modern framework, as the innovations of the Western world and the result of Western scholars and theorist's thought. However, studies show that part of what is called the Western innovation is our own Islamic heritage clothed anew and returned to us. One such case is 'very short story' which is considered the product of the Western literature in the contemporary era. According to the common belief, very short stories are a response to the conditions in the closing years of the twentieth century in the Western literature and Formalism made the first remarks about very short story. Then, writing very short stories crossed the borders of other nation's literatures. These are while we can see a number of examples with features of very short stories in the Holy Quran. Such stories are sometimes a part of prophet's lives and sometimes they capitalize on a certain social phenomenon, thereby pursue educational and guiding aims. One Quranic example of such stories is in Surah Nahl, ayahs 58 and 59, where the evil practice of burying girls alive is heavily criticized in a very short story in fewer than two lines. The existence of such fine examples of very short stories totally undermine the claim that such stories are innovative and have their roots in the Western literary tradition.