Abraham (a): Difference between revisions

Abraham (a) is mentioned sixty nine times in the Qur'an. A [[sura]] in the Qur'an is called “Ibrahim” because it is concerned with the life of Abraham (a). The Qur'an refers to Abraham's [[prophethood]], his invitation to [[monotheism]] his [[imamate]], the slaughtering of his son, the [[miracle]] of the revival of four dead birds, and the miracle of the fire being cool.

In a number of Quranic verses, Abraham's prophethood and his invitation to monotheism are mentioned. Moreover, verse thirty five of [[Qur'an 46]] talks about [[Ulu l-'Azm prophets]], which according to hadiths, include Abraham (a) as the second such prophet after [[Noah (a)]]. According to verse 124 of [[Qur'an 2]], God appointed Abraham (a) as an [[Imam]] after a number of tests. According to [['Allama Tabataba'i]], the position of imamate here refers to inner guidance, which requires an existential perfection and a peculiar spiritual status that can be obtained after a lot of struggles.

According to Quranic verses, God selected Abraham (a) as His friend (Khalil). Thus, he came to be called “Khalil Allah.” According to hadiths cited in ''[['Ilal al-shara'i']]'', he became God's friend because he prostrated so frequently, he never rejected anyone's request, he never requested anything from anyone except God, he gave food to the poor, and he worshiped at night.

According to the Qur'an, Abraham was the ancestor of a number of his subsequent prophets. Thus, he came to be known as Abu l-Anbiya' (the Father of Prophets). His son, [[Isaac (a)]], was the ancestor of the [[Children of Israel]], in whose progeny there were prophets including [[Jacob (a)]], [[Joseph (a)]], [[David (a)]], [[Solomon (a)]], [[Job (a)]], [[Moses (a)]], [[Aaron (a)]], and other prophets. Moreover, Jesus's lineages goes through his mother, [[Mary (a)]], back to Jacob (a) the son of Isaac (a). According to Islamic narratives, the lineage of [[Muhammad (s)]] goes back to Ishmael (a).

According to Quranic verses, [[miracle]]s of Abraham (a) included the cooling of fire and the revival of four birds:

*'''The cooling of fire:''' according to verses fifty seven to seventy of [[Qur'an 21]], when Abraham saw that his people do not stop worshiping idols, he broke the idols and attributed the act to the great idol, saying that “if the idol talks, then ask him who did this.” Idol worshipers were speechless, but they did not abandon their beliefs, throwing him into fire because of breaking the idols. The fire was, however, cooled at the command of God.

*'''The revival of four birds:''' according to verse 260 of [[Qur'an 2]], in response to Abraham's request of seeing how the dead come back to life, God commanded him to slaughter and then mix four birds, and then put parts of the mixture on top of different mountains. He did so and then called the birds. The birds came back to life and flew towards him.

Verse seventy one of Qur'an 21 says about Abraham (a): “We delivered him and Lot toward the land, which We have blessed for all nations.” Some Quranic exegeses take the land referred to in this verse to be [[Syria]] or [[Palestine]] and [[Jerusalem]]. In a hadith from [[Imam al-Sadiq (a)]], Jerusalem is said to be the place Abraham (a) immigrated to.

According to verse 127 of Qur'an 2, Abraham (a) and his son, Ishmael (a), constructed the [[Ka'ba]], and then at the command of God, he called people to [[hajj]] rituals. According to hadiths, the Ka'ba was first constructed by [[Adam (a)]] and then reconstructed by Abraham (a).

In one divine test, Abraham (a) was ordered to slaughter his son. According to the Quranic account, Abraham (a) saw in his dream that he was slaughtering his son. He told his son about the dream and the son asked him to comply with God's command. However, when Abraham (a) laid his son in the altar in order to slaughter him, there was a call: “O Abraham! You have indeed fulfilled your vision! Thus indeed do We reward the virtuous! This was indeed a manifest test.’ Then We ransomed him with a great sacrifice.”<ref>Qur'an 37:101-108</ref>

The [[Qur'an]] does not name Abraham's son whom he was ordered to slaughter. There is a dispute over this between [[Shi'a]]s and [[Sunni]]s. Some people say that it was Ishmael (a) and others take him to be [[Isaac (a)]]. [[Al-Shaykh al-Tusi]] maintans that Shiite hadiths imply that it was Ishmael (a). In his commentary on ''[[Furu' al-kafi]]'', [[Mulla Salih Mazandarani]] takes this to be the predominant view among Shiite scholars.