The most apparent of
all is from throwing Abraham in the fire and breaking the idols, Nimrod
threw him into the fire to let him back from his religion, but since
his faith was strong against all odds and never shaken, he did not care
about anything, nor about any torture that meant to let him disbelieve,
and for such a deed (breaking the idols) from the friend of God, their
corners were shaken and the beards of their youngs had been white, and
by this deed the Throne of the Exalted became filled with happiness and
mountains been amazed and proud and close angels did bend in a sign of
respect, and the whole universe smiled to him, for he is alone in the
face of a tyrant that does not believe in the judgement day and all the
creatures are afraid of him, so one could do such a thing except
someone that is in deep faith into God and does not see any goal in
this life except to obey his Lord even in the hardest moments, and He
is the One that will bring victory to him, and for this He made the
fire to be coolness and peace thus he was not touched by it, and when
he was thrown into the fire Gabriel (PUH) met him in the air while he
was falling and said to him: need anything? So he answered: to you no,
but to my Lord yes, so he was saved from their evil and fire by his own
faith in his Lord.
He broke their idols and made them into pieces except the biggest of
them for a sermon and we've explained it and so the king was not brave
enough to kill him, and Abraham was alone without anyone to bring him
victory, but only God saved him and ordered him to travel out of their
lands, and if anyone meditated in this he would find this amazing thing
is only because he (Abraham) believed in his Lord, and by his faith he
despised the fire, meditate in these honorable situations which have
the sermons for the nations and generations for the coming days and
times.
Abraham was guided by intuition to the faith, and born with faith being
side by side to him, as been told by our prophet (PUH): every child is
born with intuition but his parents may make him a christian or a jew.
So the faith of Abraham had never been corrupted, and he grew up
seeking and getting inspired for the clues of unification by the traces
of the One, so he guided himself to the Creator by His creation, and to
the Eternal by what is mortal. Then he looked to this human that
was created out of nothing while he worships something he made by his
own hands, then he (Abraham) gradually tried to make them conclude the
truth and stop worshipping the idols, then he looked at the planets and
they were with him and said: they worth worshipping more than woods and
other stuff that are made by our own hands, and when planets
disappeared and he knew that they were created as well he said:
Lo! I have turned my face toward Him Who created the
heavens and the earth, as one by nature upright, and I am not of the
idolaters(Al-An`âm:79).
So Abraham (PUH) did not deny their gods from the first glance, but he
made them gradually admit that these are not gods since they don't have
feelings or senses, then he tested their gods one after the other by
many ways that would be enough for them to stop worshipping them, and
he showed how their gods were unable to do a thing and how they do not
deserve to be gods.
Yes, and Abraham (PUH) was patient with a great patience, and not
in a hurry to call all the creatures to know the Creator, and this is
obvious in his answer to his father Azar when he said to him: If thou cease not, I shall surely stone thee. Depart
from me a long while!(Mariam:46), so Abraham answered: Peace be unto thee! I shall ask forgiveness of my Lord
for thee. Lo! He was ever gracious unto me(Mariam:47), and in other
holy phrase: And forgive my father. Lo! he is of
those who err(Al-Shuàrâ':86) and so on. It is true what
some historians said about this matter, when they said: it is true that
when a truthful belief gets deep into the soul and the heart then it
will occupy the mind of the man and own his heart. The revolution of
Abraham (PUH) against the idols and its worshipping was not only
talkative revolution but also a practical one, and so he made their
idols into pieces except the biggest one and made this deed as a way to
argue with them until he made them into silence, so they came to treat
him hard and threw him into the fire, but she was coolness and peaceful
upon him. Then he thanked God for saving him and never kept a single
way that he did not take to call for the righteous path and he was
indeed as been told by God: That is Our
argument. We gave it unto Abraham against his folk(Al-An`âm:83),
and he was arguing with the tyrant, Nimrod, with carelessness toward
his power until he made him shame of hisself and prove him wrong, so
God said: Bethink thee of him who had an
argument with Abraham
about his Lord, because Allah had given him the kingdom; how, when
Abraham said: My Lord is He Who giveth life and causeth death, he
answered: I give life and cause death. Abraham said: Lo! Allah causeth
the sun to rise in the East, so do thou cause it to come up from the
West. Thus was the disbeliever abashed. And Allah guideth not
wrongdoing folk(Al-Baqarah:258).
Then presenting his only son Ishmael to be slain as God ordered him in
his dream is the ultimate clue for his faith in God, and he prepared
everything to give his only son as a gift until God ransomed him
with a great victim. He (Abraham) was also a man of diginity and
purity, and he never asked someone else except God and never refused
anyone came to him for a purpose, and he was a man of hospitality and
was the first to command for hospitality, and used to prostrate a lot
on the ground for God only, and used to pray a lot for Muhammad and the
Household of Muhammad (PUH), and in some speeches that God did not
consider Abraham as a friend except for feeding people and praying at
night while people are sleeping, and he was a man of jealousy as well
and whenever he goes out he locks the door behind him and took his
keys, and for many good virtues and deeds that Abraham had, he was
given the title of friend of God.
As reported from Al-Sâdiq (PUH) that he said: Abraham once had a
hard time so he went to his people but they were in a condition of a
drought so he went back as he came, and when he was close to his home
he came down from his ass and filled his bag of sands just to calm down
his wife Sarah, so when he went inside he took off the bag down from
his ass then Sarah came and opened it and found it was full of flour
and so she made some bread and then she said to Abraham (PUH): finish
your pray and come eat, so he said to her: from where did you get
this? She answered: from the flour in that bag, so then Abraham lifted
his head towards the sky and said: I testify that you are the Friend.
It is more probable that God had Abraham as a slave before He makes him
a prophet, and made him a prophet before He make him a messenger, and
made him a messenger before He makes him a friend and had him as a
friend before He makes hima leader, so when God gathered all these
characterestics for him He told him:
Lo! I have
appointed thee a leader for mankind, so then said Abraham: And of my offspring? He answered: My
covenant includeth not wrong-doers. This story had been mentioned
before and been explained for its purposes, and for the high place of
Abraham in faith, and for his love to know things deeply, he asked God
to show him how He ressurects the dead to make his heart more
faithful by looking at what humans do not believe in except by looking
at. Quran had described his request, so God said:
And
when Abraham said (unto his Lord): My Lord! Show
me how Thou givest life to the dead, He said: Dost thou not believe ?
Abraham said: Yea, but (I ask) in order that my heart may be at ease.
(His Lord) said: Take four of the birds and cause them to incline unto
thee, then place a part of them on each hill, then call them, they will
come to thee in haste, and know that Allah is Mighty,
Wise(Al-Baqarah:260). What is apparent from the holy phrase is what we
mentioned before about the love of knowing things deeply, and so the
answer came to him to distribute the parts of four birds on certain
hills and not every hill on earth, and the interpretation of such
phrase can be only attributed to the prophet and his Household (PUT).
They (the Household) (PUH) said what is in general meant that God
ordered Abraham to slay four kinds of birds: a peacock, an eagle, a
cock and a duck. The peacock is meant to be the ornaments of this life,
and the eagle is meant to be the long hope, and the duck is meant to be
caution, and the cock is meant to be the lust, so the total meaning
that God desired and He knows better, that if you want to be with Me
then cut out these four things, and if any of these were in one's heart
then he is never with Me. This interpretation had been told in
different ways but the general meaning is the same, for the knowledge
of things in deep is something that only God can do and He is far from
the human thought about Himself.
Maybe it is thought that God could make him able to understand such
matter, the answer would be yes, but maybe the thing that prevents that
is the inability of creature and not God, as it is in the case of
letting a camel into the needle's eye, so the fact of resurrection is
one of the facts that can not be sensed by the human beings' senses,
but only some of its reason can be sensed like killing, burning,
medicine, food..etc, and for this matter there is an investigation by
itself. Abraham slain the birdsand distributed their parts over the
hills then he called them back and they came together again and
combined as they were before slaying them by the commandments of God,
for He is who resurrect bones after beingrotted away. Some scholars
said: Abraham wanted to know this by eyes after he knew it by heart.
Another reason was mentioned for this request is that was after the
argument of Nimrod with him about resurrection when Nimrod said: I give
life and death, and so then he released a prisoner and killed another,
then Abraham said: this is not giving life (resurrection), so then
Nimrod warned him and threatened him if God did not resurrect for him
the dead, so then he requested from God to resurrect them and God told
him what to do to let Nimrod know that and for this he said "in order that my heart may be at ease."
For the patience of Ishmael ben Abraham (PUT) troubles come so small,
and he was so patient and no one was like him in his patience, he was
driven away from his family and homeland when he was a child, and no
one was with him except his pureified mother Hagar, and he opened his
eyes and did not find anyone to keep him a company from his relatives
except his mother Hagar, and found himself alone in a land without
plants or buildings or animals except of the beasts and insects for
a while, until God drove by His mercy some of His creation that were
different from them and they were the tribe of Jorhom and the Giants,
and so Hagar said when Abraham brought her and wanted to leave at once:
you left us in a land that has no water or plants or a living thing,
God ordered you so? So he said: yes, so she said: if God ordered you so
then we not lost and He shall take care of us.
Ishmael the only that was born for his mother and father and the
stranger from his family and homeland been told then by his father in a
surprise:
I have seen in a dream that I must
sacrifice thee. So
look, what thinkest thou ? He said: O my father! Do that which thou art
commanded. Allah willing, thou shalt find me of the steadfast, and that
was when he was not yet a man, but he answered without complaining, and
what a patience could a child have except for him, and kids have long
hopes in this life, but Ishmael presented himself to be slain with a
complete acceptance, and so no one like him from the generation that is
like him or from the people before, and such a deed issued by him (PUH)
is something holy and great, so then Ishmael is the sincere servant of
God the one that made his life for God, and we can not imagine a
soul purer than his nor someone closer to God more than him and no
creature did good to his parents more than Ishmael did, the one that
gave himself for sacrifice, when his fatherlaid himon his side witha
knife in his hand over his neck, then Gabriel flipped it by a
commandment of God and ransomed him with a great victim, and this story
has its pains in the heart of the believers, and its main character
deserves every word of beauty, because being patient for troubles is
not something that everyone can do, [then comes a line that seems
to have printing mistakes].
Isaac and Lot, both of them were in stand and ready to serve God
without complaining, with patience and thanks to God and such
characteristics now are rare in people, and the stories of Lot points
out how much generous he was with hospitality to both neighbours and
guests, and he struggled against the disbelievers to keep their harm
away, for they used to attack the guests and defame him and take his
money away, and Lot used to protect them (guests) and wanr them against
the treatment of his people and he faced many harms from them (his
people) and none were there to protect him among them, and the most
harmful person to him was his wife for she was an eye for her people
over her husband, and she was a disbeliever and did notbelieve in God
and for this god destroyed her with them, so Lot was a man of great
faith and how come not that to be and he is a generous prophet,
and he travelled with his uncle Abraham from the land of Iraq to the
lands of Shem leaving his homeland and his family and his tribe for the
sake of his religion and got far away from his people. God said: And Lot believed him, and said: Lo! I am a fugitive
unto my Lord(Al-`Ankabut:26) and this is the last thing we would like
to mention about the stories of Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac and Lot, and
peace may be upon our prophet and his Household (PUT) and thanks be to
God alone.