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Prophet Ibrahim (AS)
English
Translation by
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 bom
in your kingdom who will wreck
your power and destroy your
influence.' He asked if that
person had actually been bom or
would be bom in the near future. They
told him that he was not yet
bom. Upon
hearing that, Namrood ordered a
ban on all marriages, separating
men from women and ordered the
killing of all new boms.
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 boms 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 Idolatory:
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 celetial
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 cheif 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 judgement
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 bom
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 for ever,
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 Judgement. 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 bom 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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