Al-Huda
Foundation, NJ U. S. A
the Message Continues ... 5/116
Newsletter for April 2011
Article 1 - Article 2 - Article 3 - Article 4 - Article 5 - Article 6 - Article 7 - Article 8 - Article 9 - Article 10 - Article 11 - Article 12
PROPHET IBRAHIM
by Dr. Haider Hussain
Shamsi
The Birth of Ibrahim
Ibrahim was bom 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 ancestoral
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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