Surah As-Saffat, Ayah 100

Ibrahim's Emigration, the Test of the Sacrifice of Isma`il, and how Allah blessed Him

Allah tells us that after He helped His close friend Ibrahim, peace be upon him, against his people, and after Ibrahim gave up hoping that they would ever believe despite all the mighty signs that they had witnessed, he emigrated away from them, and said:

وَقَالَ إِنِّى ذَاهِبٌ إِلَى رَبِّى سَيَهْدِينِ - رَبِّ هَبْ لِى مِنَ الصَّـلِحِينِ

(Verily, I am going to my Lord. He will guide me! My Lord! Grant me (offspring) from the righteous.) meaning, obedient children, in compensation for his people and relatives whom he had left. Allah said:

فَبَشَّرْنَـهُ بِغُلَـمٍ حَلِيمٍ

(So We gave him the glad tidings of a forbearing boy.) This child was Isma`il, peace be upon him, for he was the first child of whom glad tidings were given to Ibrahim, peace be upon him, and he was older than Ishaq. The Muslims and the People of the Book agree, and indeed it is stated in their Book, that Isma`il, peace be upon him, was born when Ibrahim, peace be upon him, was eighty-six years old, and Ishaq was born when Ibrahim was ninety-nine years old. According to their Book, Allah commanded Ibrahim to sacrifice his only son, and in another text it says his firstborn son. But here they falsely inserted the name of Ishaq. This is not right because it goes against what their own Scripture says. They inserted the name of Ishaq because he is their ancestor, while Isma`il is the ancestor of the Arabs. They were jealous of them, so they added this idea and changed the meaning of the phrase "only son" to mean `the only son who is with you,' because Isma`il had been taken with his mother to Makkah. But this is a case of falsification and distortion, because the words "only son" cannot be said except in the case of one who has no other son. Furthermore, the firstborn son has a special status that is not shared by subsequent children, so the command to sacrifice him is a more exquisite test.

He said: رَ‌بِّ هَبْ لِي مِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ (0 my Lord, bless me with a righteous son."- 100). His prayer was answered and Allah Ta’ ala gave him the good news of the birth of a son.

Abraham (Ibrahim) was of the same religion as Noah. All the Prophets were sent so that man can be made aware about the creation plan of God and be given the aim of purifying himself during his pre-death period. God created man and sent him into the world with a righteous nature. He must pass the test of resisting the inducements of this world and go before God having kept himself free of all the base desires of self and satanic defilement. Such souls will be welcomed into Paradise. To ascribe partners to God (shirk) amounts to belittling God. In this case, man does not discover God as the greatest Being and that is why he is lost in other so-called forms of greatness and stoops to worshipping them.