{"collection":"Islam","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/isl/pro/abr00.htm","path":"isl/pro/abr00.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/isl/pro/abr00.htm","text":"He is the second of the major prophets\nand one that had general religion and laws. God did say in the chapter\nof Al-Nahl: Lo! Abraham was a nation obedient to Allah, by nature\nupright, and he was not of the idolaters; Thankful for His bounties; He\nchose him and He guided him unto a straight path.(Al-Nahl:120-121).\nWhat is brought by some tidings about interpreting this holy phrase\nthat he (PUH) had a religion that no one else had so he was like a\nnation alone, and obedient means that he was obeying and faithful. And\nas reported from Al-K\u00e2thim (PUH): In all the world save but one\nthat was worshipping God, and if there were someone else with him then\nGod would add him in His saying \"Abraham was a nation\", and then God\nmade for him a company and gave him Ismael and Isaac, so they became\nthree, and God talked to His beloved the prophet Muhammad (PUH) and\nordered him to follow the religion of Abraham, and in some news from\nAl-Husain ben `Ali (PUH): None is following the path of Abraham except\nof us and our followers and all the people are astraying away from it.\nAbraham is the son of Terah (Tarah) [ Hebrew: Terach, Arabic:\nT\u00e2rih] ben Nahor ben Serug ben Reu [Arabic: Ar`u] ben Peleg\n[Arabic: F\u00e2lig] ben Eber [Arabic: `\u00c2bir] ben Salah [Arabic:\nSh\u00e2likh] ben Arfakhsha\u00f0 ben Shem ben Noah (PUT), as it is\nmentioned in Murooj Al-\u00d0ahab for Al-Mas`udi and some stories for\nAbdul-Wah\u00e2b Al-Najj\u00e2r go along with such chain of fathers\nalthough there are some differences in four names, but such differences\nnever harm. His birth took place in one of Kufa's villages in Iraq that\nwas called Ku\u00fe\u00e2r and some said it is called\nFad\u00e2n-Ar\u00e2m (Paddan-Aram) and his father was one of people\nof this village, and the mother of Abraham and the mother of Lot were\nsisters and they were daughters of L\u00e2hij and L\u00e2hij was a\nprophet but not a messenger, and Abraham got married to Sarah and she\nwas his maternal cousin and she owned many cattles and a large\nlandscape, and so then she had put all of that under the control of\nAbraham (PUH) and he worked on taking care of it all, and all of that\nis taken from a speech for Al-S\u00e2diq (PUH) and it is long.\nIt is also mentioned that Lot was rather the nephew of Abraham (son of\nhis brother) and there is no conflict in that since that Terah, the\nfather of Abraham, is the father of H\u00e2r\u00e2n (Haran), the\nfather of Lot, so then Terah and His son Haran married two sisters and\nthey are the daughters of L\u00e2hij and they gave birth to Abraham\nben Terah and Lot ben Haran (PUT) and so Lot is the maternal cousin for\nAbraham and his brother's son as well, be aware and you will\nunderstand, and we've come to mention before that Sarah was the\nmaternal cousin for Abraham and she is the sister of Lot but she was\nthe sister of Lot by the mother and not by the father [meaning: her\nfather is NOT Haran himself, but someone else], because Haran is the\nbrother of Abraham and so Abraham can't get married to his brother's\ndaughter, but after the death of Haran, the father of Sarah got married\nto her mother and she gave birth to Sarah, so obviously, Sarah is the\nsister of Lot by his mother and she is the maternal cousin of Abraham,\nand Lot is the nephew of Abraham and also his maternal cousin. It is\nreported from the book of Barnaba that Abraham was a lad from\nPaddan-Aram in Iraq, and his people were pagans and his father was a\ncarpenter that makes idols and sell it to whoever worships them, and\nthat Abraham was enlightened by God and guided by Him and knew that\nidols don't hear nor see, and they don't hear any call and can't answer\nany pray and don't harm nor give benefits, and this is also what was\nmentioned in Torah, and in Holy Quran it is mentioned in the chapter of\nAl-Anbiy\u00e2': And We verily gave Abraham of old his proper course,\nand We were Aware of him, When he said unto his father and his folk:\nWhat are these images unto which ye pay devotion?\n(Al-Anbiy\u00e2':51-52), and in the chapter of Al-An`\u00e2m:\n(Remember) when Abraham said unto his father Azar: Takest thou idols\nfor gods? Lo! I see thee and thy folk in error\nmanifest(Al-An`\u00e2m:74), and in the chapter of Al-Sho`ar\u00e2':\nRecite unto them the story of Abraham, When he said unto his father and\nhis folk: What worship ye? They said: We worship idols, and are ever\ndevoted unto them.(Al-Sho`ar\u00e2':69-71), and also: And forgive my\nfather. Lo! he is of those who err(Al-Sho`ar\u00e2':86).\nWhoever noticed the conversation between Abraham and his father Azar in\nthe holy book would see a man with great patience and passion and no\none is like him, and whenever his father steps away from him he goes to\nhim to guide him for he is afraid for him from the torture in the\nafter-life, while his father Azar exaggerated with his cruelty, but he\nwas trying to make him happy and loved by God, but Azar was escaping\naway from him and promising him the punishment of the idols and the\njudgement of Nemrud. Look by the eye of the heart to this conversation\nand to the passion of the friend of God and the cruelty of Azar from\nthe chapter of Mariam which tells the debate between a pagan that\ncouldn't catch happiness and a prophet and a messenger of God, Abraham\n(PUH), and God said in it (the chapter of Mariam): \nAnd\nmake mention (O Muhammad) in the Scripture of Abraham. Lo! he was a\nsaint, a prophet. When he said unto his father:\nO my father! Why worshippest thou that which heareth not nor seeth, nor\ncan in aught avail thee ? O my father! Lo! there\nhath come unto me of knowledge\nthat which came not unto thee. So follow me, and I will lead thee on a\nright path. O my father! Serve not the devil.\nLo! the devil is a rebel unto the Beneficent(Mariam:41-44), and his\nanswer to him was: He said: Rejectest thou my\ngods, O Abraham ? If thou cease not, I shall surely stone thee. Depart\nfrom me a long while!\nHe said: Peace be unto thee! I shall ask forgiveness of my Lord for\nthee. Lo! He was ever gracious unto me(Mariam:46-47).\nThen Abraham (PUH) disowned Azar and his deeds\nand did not like to live in his place and between his people so he left\nthem by an order from God to Palestine and Shaam [Shaam: Syria and the\nsurroundings], and Abraham was looking for guiding his father and his\nfather promised to follow him and for this he did pray for forgiveness\nfor his father but when he knew that he will keep on worshipping the\nidols and stay on the religion of his people he (Abraham) disowned him\nand his people and their worshipping, and this is testified by the\nchapter of Al-Tawbah: The prayer of Abraham for\nthe forgiveness of his\nfather was only because of a promise he had promised him, but when it\nhad become clear unto him that he (his father) was an enemy to Allah he\n(Abraham) disowned him. Lo! Abraham was soft of heart,\nlong-suffering(Al-Tawbah:114). In the stories of Abdul-Wahab\nAl-Najj\u00e2r: Then Abraham did travel to Palestine as a stranger\nwith his wife Sarah and his nephew Lot and his wife, God did say in the\nchapter of Al-`Ankaboot: And Lot believed him,\nand said: Lo! I am a fugitive unto my Lord. Lo! He, only He, is the\nMighty, the Wise(Al-`Ankaboot:26) and so they lived there and it was\nthe land of Canaanites and he (Abraham) lived in Shakim and it is now\nthe city of Nabulus but he didn't stay for long time but he kept on\nmoving to the south as denoted by some Toratic phrases about his\njourney to Egypt and to the land of Abi-M\u00e2lik (Abimelech)\n[Hebrew: Abiymelek]. There is a talk that has some conflicts, and the\none that quoted it is hesitated since the resources for this talk are\nthe Torah and the Bibles mostly, and still they have some opposition\nand conflicts in the same resource and also between each of them, so we\ndon't quote anything unless we make sure it coincide with what we are\nsure that it is been told by the holy prophet (PUH) and the holy quran\nby the way of his Household the purified, or whatever is close to that\nby the way of others which is accepted by the righteous mind and\nthought and logic.\nAl-Mas`udi announced in Muruj Al-\u00d0ahab [book's name: Plains of\nGold], that Azar is Terah the father of Abraham, and what is apparent\nis that Azar is a character (describtion) for Terah ben Nahor according\nto him (Al-Mas`udi), so he said about it this: and when God took the\nsoul of Nahor, his son Terah stood after him and he is Azar the father\nof Abraham and at his time lived the king Nimrod..etc [in the book it\nis Nimrod ben Canaan, but searching in the old testament the only trace\nI had is Nimrod ben Cush]. It is apparent that most of our brothers of\nIslamic scholars and historians believe that the father of Abraham was\na pagan, and one of them also Abdul-Wah\u00e2b Al-Najj\u00e2r, for\nthis is what is obvious from the holy phrases. After proving that Azar\nis Terah ben Nahor the father of Abraham, he (Abdul-Wah\u00e2b)\nmentioned some interpretations for the word \"Azar\" as being a\nsubstitute for the word \"father\" that was mentioned in quran, or it\nmight be a word for calling shame upon him (maybe because he stood\nbeside falsehood and paganism) [notice: \u00c2zar in Arabic means \"he\nhelped\"], or it might mean \"to restrain\", and Terah is his name but\nAzar is a character for him or an adjective.\nAnd Al-R\u00e2zi said in his interpretation for the holy phrase \"when Abraham said unto his father\nAzar\"(Al-An`\u00e2m:74): what this phrase shows is that Azar is the\nname of Abraham's father. And said Al-Zajj\u00e2j: there is no doubt\nthat his name was Terah. And some people that have no faith made this a\npoint of crack in holy quran, and there are some explanations been\nmentioned about this matter, one of them is that the father of Abraham\n(PUH) was Terah and Azar was his uncle, and the uncle could be called\nas \"father\" as it is mentioned by God in telling the story of the sons\nof Jacob when they said: We shall worship thy\nGod, the God of thy fathers, Abraham and Ishmael and\nIsaac(Al-Baqarah:133), and it is well known that Ishmael was an uncle\nfor Jacob but they called him as \"father\" and so it is the situation\nhere, and then said Al-Zajj\u00e2j: the Shiites said that none of the\nprophet's (PUH) fathers was a pagan or a disbeliever [meaning the\nprophet Muhammad] and they mentioned that Azar is his (Abraham's) uncle\nand they got the clues for it, so then he mentioned the point of views\nand the clues in a long speech and talk and it is well known for them\n(Sunnites) in their creed for whoever has the knowledge of it. One of\nthe point of views is God's saying: Who seeth\nthee when thou standest up (to pray),\nAnd (seeth) thine abasement among those who fall prostrate (in worship)\n(Al-Shu`ar\u00e2':218-219), meaning that his halo was moving from one\nto another among those who fall prostrate until it became to\n`Abdul-Muttalib [Grandfather of Muhammad PUH] and his son `Abdullah\n[father of Muhammad PUH] (PUH), so then it became to existance [meaning\nthe halo was moving from ancestors until it became apparent by the\nexistance of Muhammad PUH], and more explanations will become in the\nfuture by God's own will.\nIn summary, they don't believe that his (Abraham's) father was a\nfaithful, and accoding to their creed (Sunnites) is it not a shame and\naccepted for they don't believe in the condition of the infallibility\nand faithfulness of the ancestors of prophets and messengers, but our\nscholars according to their Imams, the Household of Muhammad (PUH)\ndon't say this, and they believe absolutely that the prophets and\nmessengers and their viceroys don't become to existance accept from\nholy and faithful and infallible ancestors,\u00a0 and since this is\npossible as well as their assumption and God is able to do it, then why\nnot believing in it, and how dare we say about a prophet or a messenger\nfrom God to His creation or even about their viceroys that were\nappointed by God also, how dare we say that he is a son of a pagan or a\nfallible person or a wicked man, and there is more to come about this\nmatter if God allowed that.\nNext: The Infallibility of God's Viceroys","title":"The Prophets, Their Lives and Their Stories: Abraham: Abraham The God's Friend (PUH)","type":"page"}