قص
Qaṣṣa
To relate reports or matters about earlier times, especially about earlier prophets.
What it means
Qaṣṣa is an Arabic verb meaning to relate, to tell a report or a matter, particularly one from earlier times. It is used of the telling of the stories of earlier prophets and peoples, and the Quran uses it of God Himself, who relates the best of narratives to Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the Quran (12:3). The related noun qaṣaṣ names the reports that are related. The root also gives qiṣṣah, a story, and the Quran adds that in the accounts of the earlier prophets there is a lesson for people of understanding (12:111).
Often misunderstood as
That the telling of prophetic history is idle story, when the verb carries a truthful reporting of the past.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 44, listed as QAṢṢA. The definition is restated here.