3-minute preview · Hear the full audiobook in the app.
Adam is our opening voice — more natural narrators arriving in the app, insha'Allah.
What is Volume 1 of Al-Bidāya wal-Nihāya?
Al-Bidāya wal-Nihāya, "The Beginning and the End", is a history of the world written by Imam Ibn Kathīr in the 14th century. Volume 1 is where that history begins. It answers a simple question: how did everything start? Ibn Kathīr opens at the absolute beginning, with the creation of the Throne, the Pen, the Tablet, the heavens, the earth and the angels, and then follows the story of the early prophets down to Mūsā and the children of Israel after Pharaoh.
After the cosmology, the volume turns to the creation of the jinn, Iblīs and Ādam. Then comes the long chain of early prophets, one after another: Idrīs; Nūḥ and the flood; Hūd; Ṣāliḥ; Ibrāhīm and Nimrod; Lūṭ; Ayyūb; Shuʿayb; and Yūsuf. The volume ends with the life of Mūsā and what happened to the children of Israel after Pharaoh. Each story is told in order, so the listener moves through the first age of the world from one prophet to the next.
The volume opens with praise of Allah, the First and the Last, the Outward and the Inward, who knows the crawling of the black ant on solid rock in the dark night and the number of grains of sand. Ibn Kathīr then describes the heavens raised without pillars, the sun and the moon, and the great Throne carried by angels, with seventy thousand angels visiting the frequented house in the fourth heaven each day. Then the history begins. It asks the listener to start with wonder at the created world before following the prophets through it.
Is there an English audiobook of Al-Bidāya wal-Nihāya, Volume 1 (From Creation to Mūsā)?
Yes. Joyful Muslims publishes the complete Volume 1 — From Creation to Mūsā of Ibn Kathīr's Al-Bidāya wal-Nihāya as an English audiobook (about 18 hours), translated from the Arabic, with a word-synced bilingual transcript. It covers the creation of the heavens, the earth, the angels, the jinn and Ādam, and the early prophets through to Mūsā and the children of Israel after Pharaoh.
Is it free to listen?
The whole library is open to everyone. Every member gets five hours of listening free each month; Joyful+ removes the time limit.
How long is it?
About 18 hours in English. It runs from the creation of the Throne, the Pen and the Tablet through Idrīs, Nūḥ, Hūd, Ṣāliḥ, Ibrāhīm, Lūṭ, Ayyūb, Shuʿayb and Yūsuf to the life of Mūsā.
Last updated 2026-09-11
Inside the book.
Chapters
Word-synced with the narrator.
The first three minutes are transcribed here. In the app, the Living Manuscript scrolls through the entire book in rhythm with the audio — Arabic alongside English.
Living Manuscript
Listen to the full book in the app for the complete Living Manuscript.
The full, word-synced transcript in Arabic and English is in the app.
