{"collection":"Islam","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/isl/pro/abr10.htm","path":"isl/pro/abr10.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/isl/pro/abr10.htm","text":"Sacred Texts\u00a0\nIslam\u00a0\nIndex\u00a0\nPrevious\u00a0\nNext\u00a0\nThe Trial of Abraham (PUH) to Slay His Son Ishmael (PUH)\nIn the chapter of\nAl-S\u00e2ff\u00e2t there are some phrases that talk about Abraham\n(PUH) and his prays to his Lord and his requests for guidance and the\nfaithful descendants. Then God answered his calls and prays and gave\nhim what he desired and gave him a faithful servant (son) but He put\nhim under the test to show people how sincere he is to his Creator, the\nExalted said: So We gave him tidings of a gentle\nson.\nAnd when (his son) was old enough to walk with him, (Abraham) said: O\nmy dear son, I have seen in a dream that I must sacrifice thee. So\nlook, what thinkest thou ? He said: O my father! Do that which thou art\ncommanded. Allah willing, thou shalt find me of the steadfast\n(Al-S\u00e2ff\u00e2t:101-102). So the gentle son had nothing but to\nobey with happiness and sincere desire the commandments of God, and His\nmessenger.\nWe have no doubt that everything a prophet, a messenger, or a viceroy\nwould do or avoid is decided by God, and his deeds are done only by\nwhat is allowed and what gives benefits, however people liked it or\nnot. Then, the duties that are assigned by God for people are not\ntransfered except by prophets of human beings, and so for this\ninfallibility is granted for them. We've pointed out before that a\nprophet or a messenger and their voiceroys must be described with the\nhighest of manners and so they should not be asked or opposed for what\nthey are doing. For this, Ishmael did not refuse or deny what his\nfather asked him for his manners and infallibility and he knew what\nwould happen and said to his father: O my\nfather! Do that which thou art commanded. Allah willing, thou shalt\nfind me of the steadfast.When Abraham was about to do what he was\ncommanded, and Ishmael had no opposition, and God knows their faith and\ntheir belief, and God then told them that it was His command to do so\nas to test them and gave them a ransom, and the Exalted said: We called unto him: O Abraham!\nThou hast already fulfilled the vision. Lo! thus do We reward the good.Lo! that verily was a clear test.Then\nWe ransomed him with a tremendous victim(Al-S\u00e2ff\u00e2t:104-107).\nScholars differed in the one that had been ransomed for , some said it\nis Isaac ben Abraham, and this opinion is favored by many muslim\nscholars, while Imamite scholars agreed that\u00a0 the one ransomed for\nwas\u00a0 Ishmael ben Abraham (PUT). Al-Mas`udi said: people\u00a0\nargued about who was to be ransomed for , some said he is Isaac and\nothers say he is Ishmael , and if the commandments took place in the\nland of Hij\u00e2z, then Ishmael is the one because Isaac did not go\nto Hij\u00e2z before, but if the commandment took place in\u00a0 the\nlands of Shem, then Isaac is the one, because Ishmael did not go the\nlands of Shem after getting out of it. We say that tidings from the\nHousehold (PUT) been reported that their grandfather the prophet (PUH)\nsaid: I am the son of the two ransomed for, and they interpret this\nsaying by saying that these two are his father `Abdullah ben `Abd\nAl-Muttalib, and his grand grandfather Ishmael (PUH), and they\nmentioned other things about their details.\nMaybe the source of such debate is that\u00a0 quran did not mention the\nname of the one that was ransomed for, but it is obvious for\u00a0\nanyone that meditated in the holy phrases from the chapter of\nAl-S\u00e2ff\u00e2t that he is Ishmael (PUH) by clues that are so\nclear and no way to interpret them, go through\u00a0 their order and\nyou will get the exact situation. After telling the story of the event\nand God's rewards to Abraham by saying: Lo! he\nis one of Our believing slaves(Al-S\u00e2ff\u00e2t:111), then after\nthat comes the happy tidings to Abraham from God about Isaac and\nletting him to be a faithful prophet later on, so God said: And we gave him tidings of the birth of Isaac, a\nprophet of the righteous. And We blessed him and\nIsaac. And of their seed are some who do good, and some who plainly\nwrong themselves(Al-S\u00e2ff\u00e2t:112-113).\nThen the tidings about Isaac came after telling the story of the dream\nof Abraham, and this is a great clue for that the son meniotned is not\nIsaac, because telling the name of Isaac gives an obvious clue that\nIsaac and the one that was ransomed for are different apparently.\n\u00a0Saying \"And we gave him tidings of the birth of Isaac\" and it is\nconnected by \"and\" to the person in the previous story, then for sure\nit is not Isaac and it is Ishmael without a doubt. Abdul Wah\u00e2b in\nhis tales said: The main character in this story for jews in Torah is\nIsaac, then he said: and I think that the name of Isaac was put in(by\nthem) between the lines of the story for they are cautious and careful\nto make their grandfather is the one that gave his life for God since\nhis childhood, then he said: and my clue that the one who sacrified\nhimself for God is Ishmael is derived from Torah itself when it comes\nto mention that the child is the only child for Abraham that he has no\none else except him and it is a clue for Abraham's ultimate faith in\nGod, so much that he gave his only child to sacrify with, but if we\nconsidered Isaac we see that he was never alone because he was born and\nIshmael was fourteen years old as it is mentioned in Torah itself also\nand Ishmael stayed until the death of his father and he was near him\nwhen he died and buried him. We say that this is a strong prove and the\ntruth is what had been said (by Abdul-Wah\u00e2b) and he has many\ncorrect opinions.\nThey say that when he was to be sacrified with, he was thirteen years\nold and it is the age of an adult, and he had became able to do what\nhis father can do and he had to help him and work for God and worship\nHim, and he reached the ultimate level of thought and sense, so this is\nwhy he obeyed the commandment of God with his father. When his father\nlaid him on the ground on his side to slay him and God knew how sincere\nthey are, and both of them decided to and showed the deed in public,\nand when they reached the level of doing, God showed the secret for\nwhat they were commanded to do so, and that He did not desire the deed\nitself but it is a test and thus God gave the ransom, so God said \"Then We ransomed him with a tremendous victim\" and they\nsay it was a great ram, and as reported by Ibn `Abb\u00e2s, it is the\nsame ram that God accepted from Abel, and for saying \"tremendous\nvictim\" it is because it (the ram) grazed in paradise for fourty years.\nFrom the interparetations of `Ali ben Ibr\u00e2him in a long speech\nattributed to Al-S\u00e2diq (PUH) which included that when Ishmael\ngave hisself to be sacrified with and when Abraham wanted to slay him,\nand old man came and said: O Abraham, what do you want from this boy?\nHe answered: I want to slay him, so he said: O God, a boy that never\ndid wrong to God, so said Abraham: God ordered me to do so, so he\nanswered: God denies this but it is something from Satan, then said\nAbraham: woe unto you! The One who made me reach this high level\nordered me to do so, then the old man said: O Abraham you are a great\nman and people follow you and if you killed your son now they will\nfollow you by killing their children, but he did not answer him and he\nasked his son about slaying him, and when all surrended to the\ncommandments of God, the boy said: O father, tie me and cover my face,\nso then said Abraham: O son, the tie and the slay? No I sweat that I\nwill not do them to you, then he laid him and put the knife over his\nneck and lifted his head to the sky and ran the knife over his neck,\nbut Gabriel flipped the knife and pulled the great ram and made him in\nthe place of the boy, then he (Abraham) was called from the side of the\nmosque \"Thou hast already fulfilled the vision.\nLo! thus do We reward the good.\"\nIt is mentioned also that he said to his father: slay me while i am\nprostrating so you won't see my face and have mercy on me, it is also\nmentioned that he said: tie me tightly father so I won't become nervous\nand keep your clothes away from me so that my blood shall not reach\nthem and then my mother would see it and sharpen your knife and run it\nfast on my neck to make it easier for me because death is hard, then\nAbraham said: What a help you are for God's commandment. In some\ntidings it is included that God inspired unto Abraham and He knows what\nis in the mind afore: what creation is beloved to you more than\nanything else? He answered: Your beloved Muhammad, for You did not\ncreate a creation that is more beloved to me than him, so god said\nthen: is he beloved more than yourself? So said Abraham: he is beloved\nmore than myself, then God said: are his children beloved to you more\nthan your own children? He said: his children are, so God said then: is\nkilling his children by their enemies more hurtful to your heart or\nkilling your own son for My commandments? He answered: It is killing\nhis children bytheir enemies that is more hurtful to my heart, then God\nsaid: O Abraham, there will be a group that claim to be followers for\nMuhammad, they will kill Al-Husain after him for no rights and they\nwill slay him as for slaying a ram and thus they will deserve My anger,\nthen Abraham got shocked and so sad and started crying. There are many\ntales and speeches about this matter but we did not come to mention\nthem for it might be so boring.\nThere are also some tidings that mention the prophets' stops in Karbala\nbefore the massacre and their passing through the location of death of\nAl-Husain ben `Ali and the son of F\u00e2tima the daughter of the\nprophet (PUT), and their crying for him after telling them about his\ntrouble and the massacre by Gabriel (PUH). Such tidings were told by\nGabriel to every messenger and prophet since the time of Adam (PUH)\nuntil the time of Jesus ben Mary (PUH) and all of them used to cry and\nhave pains for it. [some lines come here but add nothing to the matter\nand complicated somehow to translate].\nNext: A Completion With The Ancestry of The Prophet (PUH)","title":"The Prophets, Their Lives and Their Stories: Abraham: The Trial of Abraham (PUH) to Slay His Son Ishmael (PUH)","type":"page"}