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Prophet Ibrahim [PBUH] 6

The father of Prophets and the second of the four Messengers with Will

Sayydi Ibrahim [PBUH] went back leaving behind sayyda Hajer [AAH] and sayydi Ismail [PBUH]. He was completely assured and knowing what is going to happen to them. Allah said [Our Lord! I have made some of my offspring to dwell in a valley without cultivation, by Your Sacred House, our Lord, that they may establish regular prayer. So incline the hearts of some people that they may yearn toward them, and provide them with fruits, that they may be thankful] Ibrahim 14:37. We find that al-Khalil [Ibrahim] [PBUH] said [Our Lord! I have made some of my offspring to dwell], he did not say left or any other word meaning any fear for them, which means that he [PBUH] was reassured about them.

Allah, Almighty, said [Oh, my Lord, grant me of the righteous ¤ So We gave him the glad tiding of a forbearing boy] as-Saffat 37:100-101. After the prayer of sayydi Ibrahim [PBUH], the Lord, Almighty, brought him the glad tidings of a tolerant boy and gave him sayydi Ismail [PBUH]. After that, was their dwelling in Mecca, the appearance of Zamzam, and the settling of the Garham tribe with them. Sayydi Ismail [PBUH] grew up among the people of this tribe and learned the hunting. It was not long before sayyda Hajer [AAH] died, and sayydi Ismail [PBUH] got married. Sayydi Ibrahim came to Mecca and went to his son’s house and he knocked at the door. His son’s wife came out to him. He asked her about sayydi Ismail [PBUH]. She said: He is absent. So he asked her about their conditions and livings. She said: We are in the worst conditions and the hardest living. He said to her “when your husband comes tell him that I saluted him, and tell him: Change your door step”.

When sayydi Ismail [PBUH] came back and she told him what happened and what was said. He said to her: That was my father and he ordered me to leave you, so go back to your people. Then sayydi Ismail [PBUH] got married again. After a while sayydi Ibrahim [PBUH] came to the house of his son. The second wife came out to him. Sayydi Ibrahim [PBUH] did not dismount the back of his camel. She asked him to get down and rest from the fatigue of the  travel, so that she can rightly welcome him and give him the duties of hosting. He did not accept, so she went in and got some water and washed his head and face from the troubles of the travel. He had asked her about her husband before, so she said: He is absent. So he asked her about their living conditions. She said: We are alright, thanks to Allah. He said: What is your food? She replied: Meat and milk. He said: What is your drink? She said: Zamzam’s water. He said: O, Allah, bless their meat, milk, and water. Then he said to her: Give my salute to your husband, and tell him: Fix your door step. Then he left her and went back.

When her husband came back she told him that a man came to see him. She described him and praised him a lot, then she told him what he said about his door step. He said to her: That was my father came to visit us. When Allah, Almighty, commanded sayydi Ibrahim [PBUH] to build the House, sayydi Ibrahim [PBUH] became confused as to where to set its basis. Allah informed him with its where about by a wind, He sent it, that is called al-Khagog, which swapped the place of the House. They also say that it was a cloud exactly equal to the size of the House and it talked to him and said: Build according to my size. In all cases, It was Allah who appointed the place of the House and showed it to Ibrahim [PBUH], as Allah said in Qur'an [And when We showed Ibrahim the site of the House "Associate not anything with Me, and sanctify My House for those who circumambulate it, and those who stand up for prayer, and those who bow, and make prostration"] al-Hajj 22:26.

It was narrated that the honored Ka'ba was built six times. In one of them, the angels built it from a red ruby, and it was taken up during the cataclysm. The second time was by the tribe of Garham, then it was demolished, and that is how the people of Aad took refuge in it when they had the drought. That was before sayydi Ibrahim [PBUH]. The third time was by sayydi Ibrahim [PBUH]. The forth time was by Quraish and was attended by the Messenger of Allah [PPBUH]. The fifth time was by sayydi Abdullah ibn az-Zubair [AAT]. The sixth time was by al-Hajjaj.

When sayydi Ibrahim [PBUH] knew the place of building, he went to sayydi Ismail [PBUH] and said to him “O, my son! Allah commanded me to build a house for Him over that red hill. So you be my aid for that!” When sayydi Ibrahim [PBUH] commenced the building, sayydi Ismail [PBUH] was bringing him the stones until the building was raised. Sayydi Ibrahim [PBUH] used to stand on a stone during the building process, so the stone used to go up when building becomes high, and go down when sayydi Ibrahim [PBUH] wants to go to the ground. This stone is known now as “the stand of Ibrahim”. When sayydi Ibrahim [PBUH] completed the building of the House, Allah revealed to him [And proclaim (make Azan) to mankind the Hajj (pilgrimage)] al-Hajj 22:27. He asked "how would this proclamation reach mankind?" Allah revealed to him [You do the proclamation, and We make it reach them]. Sayydi Ibrahim [PBUH] called with his highest voice "O, people! Allah has built you a House, so you come do Hajj in it". Whoever answered his call was meant to do the Hajj.

Allah said [So We gave him the glad tiding of a forbearing boy ¤ And, when he was old enough to walk with him, he said “O my son! I have seen in a dream that I am slaughtering you, so look what you think!” He said “O my father! Do that which you are commanded. Insha' Allah, you shall find me of the patient ones”] as-Saffat 37:101-102.

Ibn Abbas [AAT] said that sayydi Ibrahim [PBUH] had vowed to Allah within himself that if he was to be given a son, he would slaughter him as a sacrifice to Allah, Almighty. But as time went by he forgot his vow. Then while he was asleep, he saw in a dream a speaker telling him “O Ibrahim, Allah commands you to fulfill your vow and slaughter your son with your hands”. Sayydi Ibrahim [PBUH] woke up terrified. They say that he saw this vision seven nights in a row, and then he decided to slaughter his son. He called his son, sayydi Ismail [PBUH], and said to him "O Ismail! Take a rope and a knife with you!" Sayydi Ismail [PBUH] said “what are going to do with it, O father?” sayydi Ibrahim [PBUH] replayed "I will slaughter a sacrifice for Allah". So they went up a mountain pass, by the valley of Mena. As they were walking the damned Satan came, in the picture of an old sheikh, and stopped sayydi Ismail [PBUH] and said to him: Where are you going Ismail? He said: where my father would offer a sacrifice to Allah, Almighty. Satan said: Do you know what sacrifice your father is offering? He said: No. Satan said: He wants to slaughter you, and I am advising you. Ismail [PBUH] said: Does he want to do that, to me, of his own or by the command of his Lord? Satan said: No, by the command of his Lord. Sayydi Ismail [PBUH] said: “If the slaughtering is by the command of Allah, then how can I disobey”.

Satan went back frustrated, and every time he tried to follow sayydi Ismail [PBUH], sayydi Ismail [PBUH] threw him with pebbles. He did that to Satan seven times. That is how the throwing of the pebbles became Sunna in Hajj. When sayydi Ibrahim and sayydi Ismail [PBUT] reached the mountain pass, sayydi Ibrahim said to sayydi Ismail [PBUT] “Allah revealed to me to slaughter you. I have seen it in my dream seven times in a row”. Sayydi Ismail [PBUH] said to him [“O my father! Do that which you are commanded. Insha' Allah, you shall find me of the patient ones”]. Sayydi Ibrahim [PBUH] laid his son down on his right side and tied his hands and legs with a rope, but sayydi Ismail [PBUH] said to him “O my father! Do not tie my hands and legs with the rope, so that the angels would not say that I was dreaded by my Lord’s command”. Sayydi Ibrahim [PBUH] untied him, and sayydi Ismail [PBUH] stayed down on his side without tie.

Sayydi Ibrahim [PBUH] tried to slaughter his son, and kept pressing the knife blade against his neck several times, however it did not affect it. Sayydi Ismail [PBUH] said to him “O my father! Lay me face down, as maybe your are having mercy over me because you see my face”. Sayydi Ibrahim laid him on his face, and tried to cut him with the knife. Still it did not work. So Allah said [We called unto him “O Ibrahim! ¤ You have indeed fulfilled the vision. Surely thus do We reward the doers of extreme good ¤ Most surely this is a manifest trial ¤ and we ransomed him with a great sacrifice] as-Saffat 37:104-107. Then Gabriel [PBUH] came down with a good sheep and told him to slaughter it instead of sayydi Ismail [PBUH], as a sacrifice. They say that this sheep was the one offered by Habiel, son of Adam, and that Allah saved it for this, so that His servants would know that the good deeds of ancestors would benefit their descendants. They also say that the [great sacrifice] that was offered for sayydi Ismail [PBUH] is his grand son sayydi Imam al-Husain [AAH], as he the one who deserves to be described as [great] not the sheep, but that is another story. This happened in Mena, so it became the place of sacrifice for Hajj every year.

Written by Ahmed Abbas

Translated by Sameh