Author: M. Asim Ismail Zahi
The Wisdom and Philosophy of Hajj and Its Hidden Secrets (Part Five)
The Story of Prophet Abraham (PBUH) in the Quran and its Connection with the City of Makkah
Prophet Abraham (PBUH) was born in the house of one of the greatest priests of the temple; a priest who carved and sold idols and was responsible for the great temple and was dependent on it in terms of belief and faith as well as through work and profession. When belief becomes dependent on profession, and religious feeling is combined with financial gain, what big problem and complicated knot does it become?
And there is no hope of awakening faith and enthusiasm and rebelling against these superstitions and idolatry in this dark and gloomy atmosphere; but there is a healthy heart that is prepared for prophecy to build a new world.
(وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا إِبْرَاهِيمَ رُشْدَهُ مِن قَبْلُ وَكُنَّا بِهِ عَالِمِينَ) Translation: “Indeed, we gave Ibrahim his growth and perfection before this, and We were well-acquainted with him”.
He begins his revolution from a point that perhaps even the greatest revolutions have not reached and do not understand, and that point is the stage of family life; it is a stage that begins with the home; the home in which man is born and lives, and all that the Quran has narrated in its miraculous and clear way all occur; Such as the breaking of idols by Ibrahim (PBUH), the anger of their worshippers, their amazement, wandering and revenge on the rebellious young man, the kindling of fire and its transformation into cold and health, and the final debate with the tyrant king, and this revolution ends in such a way that the land with its vastness becomes too narrow for him, and society revolts against him and his government pursues him; but he does not care about these matters and does not pay attention; it is as if he has been expecting such a day and as if this is the natural result that he expects; therefore, he leaves his land with joy and contentment; because he has saved his capital, which is faith, and he wanders alone in the land and does not know anyone else; while all lands are equal in idolatry, superstition and worship of false gods and lusts; Until he lands in Egypt and faces trials and humiliation there. At the end, he saves his wife, whom the king had in mind, and is freed from her clutches. He takes refuge in the land of Syria and settles there. He plants a valuable sapling and calls for abandoning idols and worshiping the One God (Allah). He finds it pleasant to live in the land of Syria, where there is plenty of food and sustenance, and the beauty of nature is evident.
Not long after, he is commanded to head to a land that is completely different and opposite to the land of Syria in terms of food and water. Ibrahim, (PBUH), does not consider himself entitled to any land or homeland; he listens to the command and considers the whole world to be his land and the human race to be his family. He is commanded to migrate there with his wife “Hagar” and his newborn child.
He is commanded to abandon his helpless wife and newborn child here, in a narrow valley surrounded by mountains on all sides, with a dry air, no water, no help, and a place devoid of tranquility, relying on Allah Almighty, carrying out His command, and submitting to Divine destiny. Here, there is no more impatience, apprehension, compassion, caution, fatigue, sadness, weakness, and doubt in the Divine promise; but rather, rebellion against experience, opposition to nature, severance from the means of belief in the unseen, and trust in Allah Almighty is realized, when suspicion arises toward Him and the steps tremble.
And the truth that was feared comes to pass, the child becomes thirsty, and this doubles the mother’s thirst, and there is no hope, even for a small hole with water in it to quench their thirst. This is where maternal affection, love, and compassion for the newborn child boils over, and the mother goes out in search of water or a caravan that carries water, running between two mountains in a panic and confusion. The child’s love and compassion bring him back to her to be sure of his life, and the fear of losing the baby again overwhelms her, and she runs in a hurry searching for water or human footprints.
On the one hand, she is anxious and worried due to her human nature, and on the other hand, she is calm due to her faith and trust; because she is the wife of the Prophet and she knows that searching for means is not incompatible with faith and trust in Allah Almighty; therefore, she is anxious and worried; but she is not hopeless, she has faith; but she does not sit inactive and does not express weakness and despair, a scene is created that the sky has never seen before, divine mercy boils and water boils miraculously; eternal and blessed water; it neither subsides nor ends and encompasses all creatures and mountains; it is the water of all ages and all nations, in which food, healing, blessings and rewards lie. Allah Almighty immortalizes this urgent movement of this faithful and sincere lady and turns it into a voluntary movement that the greatest wise men, philosophers, geniuses, kings and educated people in every age and generation are obliged to do, and their worship is not complete except by running between these two mountains, which are the meeting place of every beloved and obedient. This effort and running are the best Indicators of a Muslim’s position in this world, because he has intellect, emotion, feeling and belief. He uses intellect in line with the interests of his life; but sometimes he obeys emotion and feeling, which are deeper than intellect. He lives in a world that is covered with desires and is full of ornaments and deceptive appearances; but among these, he is like someone who runs between Safa and Marwa and passes by them, paying no attention to anything and not considering himself bound by them. His goal and thought is his future and he considers his life to be a few limited cycles that he will walk through according to his obedience to Allah and acceptance of his religion. His faith does not stop him from searching and striving, and his striving and effort do not prevent him from relying on Allah and trusting Him. Freedom is the value and spirit of life, and its message is love and submission. The child grows up and reaches an age when the father’s affection for him is strengthened and he strives with his father. His noble father, who is full of human affection and whose nature is imbued with love and compassion, feels a strong desire for his beloved (his son) and that is the crux of the matter! Because his heart is a healthy heart that is dedicated to the love of Allah. That heart is not like the heart of other people; that heart is the heart of the “Khalil-Al-Rahman”; Love also knows no partner and accepts no counterpart. And if that love is divine love, how would this be?
Meanwhile, Abraham (PBUH) receives a hint in a dream about the slaughter of his beloved son, and the dream of the prophets is like a revelation, and this dream is repeated, and Abraham (PBUH) realizes that this is a decree that has been decided and a work that must be carried out, and he tests his son, because this work cannot be done without his consent and patience, and after testing him, he finds him to be ultimately good, noble, selfless, and submissive to the divine command, and why not; when he is a prophet, the son of a prophet, and the grandfather of a prophet?
(قَالَ يَا بُنَيَّ إِنِّي أَرَى فِي الْمَنَامِ أَنِّي أَذْبَحُكَ فَانظُرْ مَاذَا تَرَى قَالَ يَا أَبَتِ افْعَلْ مَا تُؤْمَرُ سَتَجِدُنِي إن شَاء اللَّهُ مِنَ الصَّابِرِينَ) Translation: “He said: O my son, I see in my dream that I am slaughtering you, so see what you think? He said: O my father, do what you have been ordered, you will find me (if Allah wills) one of the patient ones”.
This is where something happens that the intellect does not believe; The father goes out with his beloved son to slaughter his son, and the son obeys his Lord and his father, and both are obedient and submissive to their Lord. Meanwhile, Satan appears to them (the one who is responsible for misleading and preventing people from happiness) and tries to dissuade them from doing this, making disobedience seem attractive to them, and encouraging them in life. But they resist and do not accept anything other than carrying out the divine command. This is when something happens that the angels are terrified, humans and jinn are terrified, and the son lies down to be slaughtered, and the father puts the knife to his throat and tries with all his might to slaughter him. But the will of Allah the Almighty is fulfilled, and it becomes clear that the goal was not to slaughter Ismail (PBUH); rather, the goal was to slaughter his love. A love that competed with divine love, and this love was slaughtered by putting a knife to its throat. Ismail (PBUH) was born to live and flourish, and his lineage continued, and from his lineage the last prophet and master of the prophets was born; so how could he be slaughtered and die before the will of Allah Almighty were fulfilled? Allah Almighty sent a ram from Paradise as a ransom in place of Ismail (PBUH) to be slaughtered in his place, and made it a permanent tradition among his descendants and followers to sacrifice during the days of Hajj, to renew the memory of this great sacrifice, and to sacrifice in the way of Allah what they had bought with their wealth.
(فَلَمَّا أَسْلَمَا وَتَلَّهُ لِلْجَبِينَ * وَنَادَيْنَاهُ أَنْ يَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ * قَدْ صَدَّقْتَ الرُّؤْيَا إِنَّا كَذَلِكَ نَجْزِي الْمُحْسِنِينَ * إِنَّ هَذَا لَهُوَ الْبَلَاءُ الْمُبِينُ * وَفَدَيْنَاهُ بِذِبْحٍ عَظِيمٍ * وَتَرَكْنَا عَلَيْهِ فِي الْآخِرِينَ سَلَامُ عَلَى إِبْرَاهِيمَ) Translation: “So when they both submitted, he threw him on his face and We called out to him: ‘O Abraham, you have indeed fulfilled your dream. Thus, do We reward the doers of good. Indeed, this is a clear trial. And We sacrificed for him a great sacrifice and left for him a good name among the people. Peace be upon Abraham.”
And Allah, the Exalted, immortalized the story of Satan with Abraham, and made stoning him in places where he used to bother and hinder him an act that is repeated every year and its story is shown on the best days; so that Satan’s anger and hatred are aroused and rebellion against him are revealed.
And this is an action in which the believer feels pleasure, life and love; If his faith is sincere, his understanding is correct, and his obedience to the divine commands is complete, and he knows that he is in a constant battle with the forces of corruption and evil, and a constant struggle with Satan and his armies, and he knows that there is nothing for Satan but stoning and humiliation from him. The wheel turns and the child Ismail becomes a strong youth, to whom Allah Almighty grants prophet hood and sovereignty, and the call of Abraham (PBUH) results and expands, and it must inevitably have a base to which it is relied on; while the palaces of kings and the temples of the tyrants are very expanded, and desires and whims are obeyed, and Satan is worshipped in them, and there is no mosque that is dedicated to the worship of Allah Almighty and is purified for its pilgrims and worshippers on the earth with its vastness.
After the religion gains strength and the core of the Muslim nation is formed, Abraham (PBUH) is commanded to build a house for Allah Almighty, to be a base and a source of security for the people and a place of worship for Allah Almighty. Father and son cooperate in building this simple house, which is humble in appearance but of great grandeur, and they lift the stones and erect the building.
(وَإِذْ يَرْفَعُ إِبْرَاهِيمُ الْقَوَاعِدَ مِنَ الْبَيْتِ وَإِسْمَاعِيلُ رَبَّنَا تَقَبَّلْ مِنَّا إِنَّكَ أَنتَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ * رَبَّنَا وَاجْعَلْنَا مُسْلِمَيْنِ لَكَ وَمِن ذُرِّيَّتِنَا أُمَّةً مُّسْلِمَةً لَّكَ وَأَرِنَا مَنَاسِكَنَا وَتُبْ عَلَيْنَا إِنَّكَ أَنتَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ) Translation: “when Abraham and Ismail carried the pillars of the Kaaba, (saying): “Our Lord, accept from us, for You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing. Our Lord, make us two obedient to You, and from our offspring a group of obedient to You, and show us our religion, and accept our repentance, for You are most repenting, the Most Merciful.”
And the Kaaba is built on the basis of faith and sincerity that has no equal in the world, and Allah, the Most High, accepts it well, decrees its permanence, dresses it in a garment of beauty and splendor, and draws hearts and souls towards it, and makes it a place of attraction and magnet for hearts and souls, so that people rush towards it, sacrificing their lives and wealth to reach it. However, that house is devoid of manifestations that steal hearts and attract attention, and it is located in a city far from the beauty of nature and the adornment of civilization, and when this matter was completed, a call came to Ibrahim, PBUH, saying: (وَأَذِّنَ فِي النَّاسِ بِالْحَجِ يَأْتُوكَ رِجَالاً وَعَلَى كُلِّ ضَامِرٍ يَأْتِينَ مِنْ كُلِّ فَجٍّ عَمِيقٍ لِيَشْهَدُوا مَنَافِعَ لَهُمْ وَيَذْكُرُوا اسْمَ اللهِ فِي أَيَّامٍ مَعْلُومَاتٍ عَلَى مَا رَزَقَهُمْ مِنْ بَهِيمَةِ الْأَنْعَامِ فَكُلُوا مِنْهَا وَأَطْعِمُوا الْبَائِسَ الْفَقِيرَ ثُمَّ لْيَقْضُوا تَفَثَهُمْ وَلْيُوفُوا نُذُورَهُمْ وَلْيَطَوَّفُوا بِالْبَيْتِ الْعَتِيقِ) Translation: “And proclaim among the people for Hajj, that they may come to you on foot and on every lean camel that they may come from every distant place, that they may witness the benefits that are for them, and that they may mention the name of Allah on known days over what He has provided them of the cattle that are tied to their tongues. So, eat of it and feed the needy. Then let them purify themselves and fulfill their vows and circumambulate the pure House.”
The world at the time of Prophet Abraham (PBUH) had become envious of the causes and relied too much on them; in such a way that it considered them to be inherently and independently effective and they had become separate gods other than Allah Almighty. And this submission to the causes and considering them sacred and relying on them was another form of idolatry; other than the idolatry in which they had gone too far and immersed themselves, which was the worship of false idols and gods. The life of Prophet Abraham (PBUH) was a revolution against the idolaters and a call to pure and sincere monotheism and to realizing the power of Allah Almighty that encompasses all things; calling to the fact that Allah Almighty has created all things from nothing and has the ability to separate the causes from the causes and take the properties of things and their nature from them and can bring out from them the opposite of their nature; He can subjugate him whenever He wants and for whomever He wants. The people lit a fire to burn Prophet Abraham (PBUH) and said: (حَرِّقُوهُ وَانصُرُوا الهَتَكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ فَاعِلِينَ) Translation: “Burn him and help your gods if you are the doers.”
But Abraham (PBUH) believed that fire submits to the will of Allah Almighty and burning is not its permanent nature that it will never be separated from; rather, it is a borrowed nature that lies within him and when Allah Almighty wills, He releases its reins and if He wills, He holds its reins and transforms it into coolness and a source of peace. He immersed himself in it with faith, confidence and trust, and this truth was also revealed.
(قُلْنَا يَا نَارُ كُونِي بَرْدًا وَسَلَامًا عَلَى إِبْرَاهِيمَ * وَأَرَادُوا بِهِ كَيْدًا فَجَعَلْنَاهُمُ الْأَخْسَرِينَ) Translation: “We said, O fire, be cool and peace to Abraham.” And they intended a conspiracy for him, but We made them the losers.”
At that time, people believed that life was impossible without food, provisions, and water resources, and they were always looking for places with plenty of food and water for their families and children, where trade and industry were abundant, and they chose such lands. However, Abraham (PBUH) rebelled against this common custom and tradition of relying on material things, and for his small family, which consisted of a mother and child; He chose a waterless valley, unfit for cultivation and trade, far from the world, commercial centers, and places of prosperity and wealth, and he asked Allah Almighty to provide for them, turn their hearts towards them, and provide them with fruits without any apparent reason or known way. He said: (رَبَّنَا إِنِّي أَسْكَنْتُ مِنْ ذُرِّيَّتِي بِوَادٍ غَيْرِ ذِي زَرْعٍ عِنْدَ بَيْتِكَ الْمُحَرَّمِ رَبَّنَا لِيُقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ فَاجْعل أَفْئِدَةً مِنَ النَّاسِ تَهْوِي إِلَيْهِمْ وَارْزُقْهُمْ مِنَ الثَّمَرَاتِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَشْكُرُونَ) Translation: “Our Lord, I have settled some of my descendants in a barren valley near Your House, which You have guarded, that they may establish prayer. So, turn hearts of people who are inclined towards them and provide them with fruits that they may be grateful.”
And Allah, (SWT), answered his prayer, and provided them with provision and security, and made their city a place of goodness and fruits.
(أَوَلَمْ نُمَكّنْ لَهُمْ حَرَمًا آمِنًا يُجْبَى إِلَيْهِ ثَمَرَاتُ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ رِزْقًا مِنْ لَدُنَّا وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ) Translation: “Didn’t we place them in a safe sanctuary that is brought to those crops of everything while there is sustenance from us?” But most of them do not know.”
(فَلْيَعْبُدُوا رَبَّ هَذَا الْبَيْتِ الَّذِي أَطْعَمَهُمْ مِنْ جُوعٍ وَأَمَنَهُمْ مِنْ خَوْفٍ) Translation: “So let them worship the Lord of this House, who fed them against hunger and made them safe from fear.”
And he left his family in a land where there was not a drop of water to quench their thirst or to moisten their throats. But suddenly water gushes out from the sand and flows without interruption, and people drink and take it to their lands. He also left his family in a dry land where no human being lived; and suddenly it becomes a place where people come from all sides.
And thus the life of Prophet Ibrahim (PBUH) was a challenge to the rebellious materialism that was prevalent at that time, it was also a challenge to the worship of objects and their idolization, and it was an example of faith in Allah Almighty and His supremacy, and the divine tradition with him was such that He subjected objects to him and created for him things that have astonished the minds.
Continues…
By admin2