Prophets in the Quran: Ibrahim II

Eman Mahmoud

10 Apr 2018

After surviving the great fire, Ibrahim’s fame grew bigger and reached, according to sources, Nimrod, the king of Babylon, who sent for him to question his words about Allah; Allah says “Have you not considered the one who argued with Abraham about his Lord [merely] because Allah had given him kingship? When Abraham said, "My Lord is the one who gives life and causes death," he said, "I give life and cause death." Abraham said, "Indeed, Allah brings up the sun from the east, so bring it up from the west." So, the disbeliever was overwhelmed [by astonishment], and Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people,” [Al-Baqarah, 258].

Prophet Ibrahim left Nimrod and continued his journey to call people to monotheism. It is believed that Sarah and his nephew Lot, before he became a prophet, were the first believers; but Lot settled in Sodom, while Ibrahim with his wife settled in Egypt. Ibrahim lived happily with his wife Sarah, but they did not have any children. He prayed to Allah to grant him a child; he said, “My Lord, grant me [a child] from among the righteous,” [As-Saffat, 100]. So, Sarah offered him to marry Hajar, her servant, and have his desired son because she was getting old. Ibrahim married Hajar and had Ismael, another prophet sent to guide humanity.

However, it was mentioned that Sarah got jealous of Hajar and her son and asked Ibrahim to take them away. Ibrahim took Hajar and baby Ismael to a place near the hills of El-Safa and El-Marwa, which had little access to food and water, and left them there as ordained by Allah. When Hajar finished all the food and water, she started to search for people; so, she moved between El-Safa and El-Marwa seven times until she got tired. This is how this action became a ritual during Hajj (pilgrimage). Allah then sent his angel Jibreel who created a spring for her called Zamzam, which still exists to date. The Prophet (PBUH) said, "May Allah bestow His Mercy on the mother of Ismael! Had she not hastened (to fill her water-skin with water from the Zamzam well). Zamzam would have been a stream flowing on the surface of the earth." Ibn `Abbas further added, "(The Prophet) Abraham brought Ismael and his mother (to Mecca) and she was suckling Ismael and she had a water-skin with her,' [Bukhari, 582].

Shortly, travelers tracked birds flying around the hills, so they assumed the existence of water. They reached the hills to find Hajar and her son, then they settled there and started to build a village. After a while, the number of people increased and they built a small town, which they named Mecca.

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