Al-Huda
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Newsletter for October 2016
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PROPHET IBRAHIM
By Syed Haider Hussain Shamsi
The Birth of Ibrahim
Ibrahim was born in the fifth
generation from Hud, and during the reign of a tyrant known as Namrood (Nimrod). Namrood, a powerful king, made his subjects bow to him as a god. One night he dreamt that a star rose from the horizon and its
brilliance eclipsed the moon and
the sun. He woke up
wondering about the
interpretation of his dream. He summoned the
astrologers and fortune tellers
to come up with the most
acceptable explanation of his
dream. They conferred with one another and
told him: 'A person will be born
in your kingdom who will wreck
your power and destroy your
influence.' He asked if that
person had actually been born or
would be born in the near
future. They told him
that he was not yet born. Upon hearing that, Namrood ordered a
ban on all marriages, separating
men from women and ordered the
killing of all new born.
Allah is All Powerful and All
Knowing. His intentions come to be whenever He deems them to be. The mother of Ibrahim successfully concealed her pregnancy. She went out of the city limits and gave birth to her child in a
cave. She stayed in that cave with her child until the senseless
slaughter of the new born had
come to an end and the king's
own fear of his destruction had
abated. By this time Ibrahim had grown up to be a tall and handsome lad. They returned to their ancestral home in the city of Ur.
His Intelligence, Cognition, and
Rejection of Idolatry:
In those days people believed in the
celestial bodies as their
deities. One night, Ibrahim also selected the brightest of all the stars for his observation. By the morning
its light faded and it disappeared. He thought that the most brilliant of the stars could not be the
creator as it faded away in the
brightness of another celestial
body. Similarly he noted that the moon changed phases, and was but a
shadow in front of the
brightness of the sun. He concluded that the moon could not be the creator either. He pondered if the sun were the
ultimate god, as he had also
noted people bowing in
subjugation to the sun. But the sun was out only for the duration of the day, and gave
way to the stars and the moon at
night. He reflected
upon this phenomenon and
concluded that the one who put
these celestial bodies in their
respective places has the
supreme power over them and must
be the God Almighty, even though
He were not visible or
physically tangible. He was pleased with this conclusion and enthusiastically began to
tell people how wrong they all
had been to ignore the obvious
power behind their daily lives,
the Supreme power of Allah. He invited them to give up their false gods and return to the
truth.
Some laughed at his idea, some
ignored him as he was only a
youth "with little knowledge of
life," while others were
offended and admonished him for
his lack of respect for their
gods.
T'hey invited him to come to the
annual festival and see for
himself how they had decorated
their gods along with fabulous
offerings brought over from far
and wide. Ibrahim excused himself and did not go to the festival. As the towns people had all gone to the fair grounds to indulge
in their festivities, Ibrahim
went to their temple, broke all
their idols and left his axe
hanging on the shoulder of the
biggest of them all in the
center of the temple.
Next day when people went to the
temple and saw what had happened
to their gods, they knew that
Ibrahim had done it, since he
had made no secret of his
dislike of those idols. The village chief asked Ibrahim if he knew who had broken their
idols. Ibrahim, pointing towards the big
idol said, "Why don't you ask
him?" The chief said, "How could
a stone idol do such a deed?"
There upon Ibrahim said, "If the
stone idol was incapable of
doing it, or protect itself and
the other idols, how could it be
a god, the provider and the
protectors " They obviously had
no answer to the logic of
Ibrahim. However, they
were not prepared to follow his
path. They wanted him punished
for being disrespectful to their
gods. They sent a
deputation to Namrood, their
god-king for a judgment against
Ibrahim.
Ibrahim was summoned to the court of
Namrood to answer his charges
and face the punishment.
When all the people had gathered in
the court, Namrood arrived. All subjects
bowed down to the ground for
their total submission except
for Ibrahim who remained upright
and did not bow to the
king-god. When asked why
he refused to bow to him,
Ibrahim replied that he
submitted only to his God, The
Creator, The Sustainer. This was
an open insult to the king who
commanded an absolute power over
his subjects and claimed himself
to be a god. By his act, Ibrahim had provoked the king's wrath. However, surprised at the courage of Ibrahim, the king decided to
question him.
Debate in the Court of Namrood on the
existence of Allah
The king asked Ibrahim to explain to
the entire audience who his god
was. Ibrahim said
that his God was one who gave
life and who took it away. The king said
that he did that every day!
Ibrahim said that his God brought
forth the sun from the east. He asked the
king that if he had the power,
could he cause the sun to rise
from the west! Clearly the king was unable to carry out such a feat.
The king then turned around and asked
Ibrahim why he had broken all
the idols in the temple. He gave the same reply to the king as he had given to the chief
of the village before. The king said to
Ibrahim that he knew that the
idols did not talk and yet he
kept on referring to the biggest
of them to answer the question
that actually pertained to him. Ibrahim said that since the king and all his subjects knew that
idols did not talk why then they
worshiped them as gods.
As there were no answers to the logic
of Ibrahim the king ordered his
courtiers to dig a large pit,
light a wood fire and throw
Ibrahim in it alive, to make an
example so that nobody would
again disobey or ridicule their
god-king.
The Miraculous escape of Ibrahim from
the fire
The pit was dug and a large fire was
lit in it. When it was roaring with flames and
the heat could be felt from a
distance, Ibrahim was thrown in
it. Ibrahim prayed to the true God, Allah, for His mercy in that hour
of trial. By the Grace of
Allah neither the fire nor the
heat touched Ibrahim. He walked around as if in a garden and left the pit totally
unharmed. This indeed was a
miracle that convinced some of
the onlookers who bowed to the
true God and accepted the true
religion of Allah and gave up
idolatory.
Ibrahim left his ancestral city of Ur
and migrated north to Haran
where he stayed for a short
period of time. Then he moved west to Kin'an (Canan in Torah), along with his
wife Sarah and nephew Lut (Lot
in Torah). After a while, Lut was appointed
messenger by Allah to the people
of Sidom and Gomorrah who lived
north of Kin'an.
The Progeny of Ibrahim
Before finally settling in Kin'an,
Ibrahim visited Egypt where the
king gave him a maiden
(according to some, his daughter) in marriage. Her name was Hajirah(Hager in Torah). Allah gave
Ismail as the first born child
to Ibrahim through his second
wife Hajirah at a old age of
eighty six years. Sarah was
infertile and became jealous of
Hajirah. Under
instructions from Allah, Ibrahim
took his son Ismail and his wife
Hajirah from Kin'an and brought
them down south in the land of
Arabia where they were left to
live for rest of their lives. Ismail grew up to be a handsome and
tall young man who had many
children and is popularly known
as the patriarch of the Arabs.
Back in Kin'an, after a few years,
Sarah who had grown old, and
given up hope of ever bearing a
child of her own, also conceived
and bore a son to Ibrahim named
Ishaq. It is worth noting here that Ibrahim had then turned ninety nine
years of age. Ishaq was a
great prophet of Allah in the
land of Kin'an. He remained
settled in Kin'an and had
several prominent prophets
amongst his progeny.
After the death of his wife Sarah,
Ibrahim took another wife named
Qutura from whom had many sons
and daughters. These children of Ibrahim settled and populated the lands of
Madain, Midyan and Saba.
The Trial of Ibrahim by Allah
One night Ibrahim saw in his dream
that he had sacrificed his son
Ismail to please Allah. He wondered over
this dream and pondered over its
meaning. He saw the same
dream on three consecutive
nights. He called his
son Ismail and told him about
his dreams. The son asked
his father to do exactly what he
had seen in his dreams, if that
was the wish of the Creator
Almighty, and that he would find
him patient. Ibrahim tied his son just as he would tie a sacrificial lamb, and
placed the knife on the throat
of his son to carry out the
sacrifice. The Sustainer of life and of all mankind sent the archangel
Jibril (Gabrial) with
salutations from Allah and told
the father and the son that
their belief in Allah and their
resolve to give their most
valued possession in life in His
way had pleased Him
greatly. Allah had sent a lamb
to be sacrificed in place of
Ismail. Ibrahim thanked
the Lord for the acceptance of
his service and returned home
with humility and gratitude
towards Allah. This act of
Ibrahim has been perpetuated by
Allah forever, and is celebrated
by Muslims all over the world
every year when they sacrifice a
lamb. This event is known as
Eid-al-Adha.
The Construction of Kalba and Hajj
Ibrahim and his son Ismail built the
Ka'ba and inserted the Black
Stone in one of the comers of
the building in accordance with
the Will of Allah. The ritual of
Hajj was initiated at that time
and has continued to this day.
Solution to the question of Death and
Resurrection
Once Ibrahim asked Allah how would He
bring them to life again when
the living had died and
perished. Allah asked Ibrahim if he had doubts over that question. He said he had no doubt about the absolute powers of his Lord but
he wanted to satisfy his
curiosity over the mechanism of
resurrection.
Allah instructed Ibrahim: 'gather
four birds, let them become
familiar with you, then
sacrifice them, mix their meat
and scatter it on four hills
across from one another. Then call the birds by their names, and they will come to you.'
Ibrahim did as instructed, and
verily the same happened as
predicted by the Supreme One,
Allah. Thus Ibrahim
solved the riddle of
resurrection of the dead on the
Day of Judgment. Allah will call His creation as He Wills, and they will all rise
from their graves.
The Ritual of Circumcision
When Ibrahim turned ninety nine years
of age, Allah ordained that he
himself, his male progeny, and
all believers be circumcised. The divine order was obeyed. It might be noted here that Ishaq was born to Ibrahim at that old
age and after the ritual of
circumcision. This ritual is practiced by the Muslims and the Jews, the
followers of Ibrahim, and all
those who recognize the hygienic
advantages of circumcision.
The Death of Ibrahim
This great prophet and a friend of
Allah, also known as the
patriarch of all subsequent
prophets, died at the age of one
hundred and seventy five years.
Major Lessons from the Life of Ibrahi
1. Do not remain
ignorant about religion, nor be
stubborn about the old ways of our forefathers. Seek the truth. Accept it when
discovered.
2. Do not associate any thing or any one with The Creator. Nothing
can share with Him the glory of
His Oneness.
3. Submit to Allah in total submission to enjoy His bounty and
benevolence.
4. When it is difficult to practice your faith in safety and in
peace, move to another place,
for His territory is vast and
His bounty limitless.
5. Whenever
occasions arise requiring
sacrifice to preserve or protect
Faith, do not hesitate, for all
we have, came from Him. We are
independent owners of nothing in
this world.
References: al Qur'an: Sura
Baqra, ale Imran,
Nisa', An'am, Taubah, Lud,
Yusuf, Ibrahim, Hajar, Nahl,
Mariyam, Anmbiyaa, Hajj, Shu'raa,
Ankaboot, Sa fat, Jinn, Zakhraf,
Hadeed, Mumtahna, Zariyat, Najam,
Taha. |
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