Of Pure Origin On the identity of Prophet Ibrahim’s father pdf download

Of Pure Origin On the identity of Prophet Ibrahim’s father by Muhammad Akhtar

OF PURE ORIGIN ON THE IDENTITY OF PROPHET IBRAHIM’S FATHER

Proofs From The Quran And the Position Of The Exegetes

There is corroborating proof in the Revelation [Quran] for those esteemed predecessors mentioned by Imam Jalal al-Din al-Suyati—may Allah have mercy upon him—as we shall soon explain, Allah willing. Before that, however, let us discuss a preliminary issue that will help us to clarify this issue further.

Allah Most High says: «And Ibrahim’s prayer for his father’s forgiveness was only because of a promise he made to him. But when it became clear to him that he was an enemy to Allah, he dissociated himself from him. Indeed, Ibrahim was most tender-hearted, forbearing» [al-Tawba: 114] And Allah related Ibrahim’s words: # Our Lord! I have settled some of my progeny in an uncultivated valley …

 Our Lord! Forgive me and my parents and the believers on the Day in which the account is established » (Ibrahim: 37] So here we have a few questions. Firstly, when did Ibrahim seek his father’s forgiveness? Secondly, when did it become clear to

him that his father was an enemy to Allah? Thirdly, our master Ibrahim @ informed us of his act of settling his progeny in Mecca, and that entails him informing us of his immigration to Mecca.

 Then he sought forgiveness for himself and his parents, as Allah revealed # Our Lord! Forgive me and my parents ».

It is clear that each of these events is interconnected so we must look into their exact chronological order and examine what came first from what came last.

We must ask: When did our master Ibrahim 3 immigrate to Mecca? When did he dissociate from his father? Did he dissociate from him after he was cast into the fire and after his father died prior to his migration to Mecca?

 If so, then for whom was Ibrahim %@ seeking forgiveness when he said: # Our Lord! Forgive me and my parents »? Was it the same man from whom he dissociated himself, or was it someone else?

 I don’t think anyone will choose the former possibility, therefore the second one must be correct: that Ibrahim %@ sought Allah’s forgiveness for another man after his migration to Mecca, and that this man was not the one from whom he dissociated before his migration, and that this man for whom he sought forgiveness after his migration was his real father. 

The one for whom he sought forgiveness before his migration was his uncle and not his father. And as Imam Jalal al-Din al- Suyati explicitly stated and proved, a paternal uncle can be figuratively called a father. Al-Suyiti said in his treatise:  So here are the statements of the Salaf from the Companions and the Followers regarding that.

It is also borne out by the narration reported by Ibn al-Mundhir in his exegesis with an authentic chain from the Companion Sulayman b. Sard said, “When they wanted to cast Ibrahim into the fire they began gathering firewood, and even elderly women would gather wood. When they were finally ready to cast him in the fire he said, ‘Allah is sufficient for me and He is the best disposer of affairs.’

When they cast him in Allah said, ¢ We said, ‘O fire! Be cool and fresh for Ibrahim’ » [al- Anbiya’: 69]. Ibrahim’s uncle said, ‘It was for my sake that the fire didn’t touch him,’ and so Allah cast upon him a burning ember

that landed on his leg, setting him ablaze.” In this report, he is referred to as Ibrāhīm’s uncle. This narration contains another benefit, for it mentions that he died during the time Ibrāhīm was cast into the fire.

In the Quran, Allah Most High informs us that Ibrāhīm ceased seeking forgiveness for him when it became clear that he was an enemy of Allah. The reports mention that this became clear when he died as an idolater and after that Ibrāhīm refrained from seeking forgiveness for him.

 This answers the questions we posed earlier and it is clear that it was not his father, but rather his uncle, who was figuratively called his father.

This also establishes the sequence of events and shows that the time he was cast in the fire and the death of Āzar both occurred before his emigration from the Levant to Mecca. It shows that Ibrāhīm would seek Allah’s forgiveness for Āzar when the latter was alive and that when he died upon idolatry it became clear to Ibrāhīm that he was an enemy of Allah and he dissociated himself from him.

The verse in which Ibrāhīm says. Our Lord! Forgive me non occurs after the verses detailing his act of settling his progeny in Mecca. According to the arrangement of these verses, it is understood that Ibrāhīm’s prayer was after he settled in Mecca, as is clear from the verse that states: 4 Our Lord! I have settled some of my progeny in an uncultivated valley . . . . Imam Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūtī commented:

After the event where he was cast into the fire, Ibrāhīm emigrated from the Levant, as Allah mentioned in the Quran. Long after his migration, he entered Egypt where the incident occurred between him and the tyrant [Nimrūd) due to Sāra, whereupon Ibrāhīm took Hājar as a handmaiden and returned to the Levant.

Then Allah ordered him to take her and her son Ismā’īl to Mecca, and so he took her and prayed: 6

Our Lord! I have settled some of my progeny in an uncultivated valley … Our Lord! Forgive me and my parents and the believers on the Day in which the account is established o.

He sought forgiveness for his parents and that was a long time after his uncle’s death. From all of this, we can infer that the one whom the Quran described with