Part 2: The Story of Ibrahim (AS)

Yesterday we talked about the story of Ibrahim (AS) and some of the sacrifices that came along the way. One of the first and foremost sacrifices of Ibrahim (AS) was to accept for himself that what the people around him were doing was wrong, and then convey that to them. When a person is in an environment, whether it is a family environment or a social environment, one of the hardest things to do is to put yourself at odds with the people that are close to you. In other words, to tell them that what they are doing is incorrect. Because a person knows that the moment they do that, these people are going to stop liking them. They will say something that is unpleasant, something they do not agree with, and they will have to deal with their reactions and their responses. It can be a very frightening thing. Especially for a young person who is growing up and wants to be loved and liked by everyone. Who does not want to be liked? Everyone wants to be liked, and everyone wants to be loved by everyone. But there comes a time when you choose your love for what is right. Your love for the ultimate truth becomes stronger than your love for yourself. You become so attached to the truth. They say, “Well, the truth is more important than I am.” And in this case, when the truth is Laa ilaaha illallah. Anyone who believes in that will be ready to sacrifice anything for it because they know it to be the ultimate truth. That is the most important truth. And Allah (SWT) says, “As long as Allah (SWT) is loving me, then I am okay.” So, Ibrahim (AS) spoke to his people in different ways. Another example is when he spoke to his father and his people, and he asked them, “What is this that you worship?” Idh qaala li abeehi wa qawmihi ma ta’budoon. “What is this? Explain to me this worship, maybe you can make me understand what it is that you are doing.” Qaala na’budu lahaa asnaaman fa athalluu lahaa ‘aakifeen. They said, “Well, we worship these statues, these idols, and that is why we stand in front of them all the time, we keep ourselves in front of them.” ‘Aakif’ is someone who withholds themselves, keeps themself like in I’tikaaf, I’tikaaf is derived from the same word. You keep yourself in the masjid. They say, “Well, we keep ourselves in front of these idols. Worshipping them all the time. Bowing to them, prostrating to them, spreading our hands out in front of them, begging them, making offerings to them. We keep ourselves with these idols.” So, Ibrahim (AS) asked them a few questions. And these questions can be asked about anyone who worships anything. Hal yasma’uunakum idh tad’oon. So, all these prayers, these du’as that you are making to these gods, can they actually hear you? Can they hear any of it? And the question would be, if something that you created with your own hand, you carved it, how could it all of a sudden have the ability to hear? If it was made of rock, it was a rock just lying there. Now you have carved it into a specific shape, so where did the power of hearing come from? If it was made out of wood, if it was a tree before, it was chopped down, and now you have carved it into this intricate shape, what gave it the power to hear all of a sudden? Hal yasma’uunakum idh tad’oon, can they hear you when you call out to them? Aw yanfa’uunakum aw yadhurroon. Can they help you in any way? Is there anything these statues can do that will actually do something for you? Give you something that you do not have? Remove a problem that has fallen? Provide you with rizq? Protect you? Something? Can they help you in any way? w yadhurroon. Can they hurt you in any way? Does this God have the power to strike you down? Take you to account? Do something? Take away something that you cherish? When Ibrahim (AS) posed these questions to his people, they started thinking, and they asked themselves, “Why do we worship?” Because no, in fact, we do not believe that the statue itself can hear us. We do not believe that the statue itself can help us because the statue stays where it is. And we do not believe that the statue, the monument, the carved piece of wood, or metal, or clay, or whatever they were made of, we do not believe that object itself can hurt us because it stays where it is. So then why do we worship them? We do not really know Ibrahim, but wajadnaa aabaa’anaa kadhaalika yaf’aloon. This is how it has always been in our society. Our fathers, their fathers have always worshipped these idols. And that is as far back as we can remember that is how it has always been. So why break the tradition? If our forefathers believed that these idols were worthy of worship, then we feel we should continue that. Look at what Ibrahim (AS) was doing. He was not only forcing them to think about what they were worshipping, but he was forcing them to think about why. And he was forcing them to think of why their forefathers might have done something like that. Because in all honesty, it did not really make sense to them. Then he said, “All of these things that you worship, and your forefathers worshiped, I am at odds with all of them.” Afaraaytum-maa kuntum ta’budoon, antum wa aabaaukumul aqdamoon, fa innahum aduwwull-lee illaa rabbal ‘aalameen. All of these, I am denouncing them, I am calling them my enemies. Enemies in the sense that they will never be my friends. I will never take them as my friends. I will never take them as my helpers. I will definitely never take them as my gods. Yes, amongst all these gods, I know that you also believe somewhere, you believe in Allah (SWT). So yes, aside from Allah (SWT), who is rabbul ‘aalameen, I denounce all of them. And then he started giving dawah towards Allah (SWT). Look at how dawah is inserted into the message. First force people to think, to take an assessment of what it is that they are doing, and then introduce them to Allah (SWT). This was the method used here. And he said look alladhee khalaqanee, the first thing that Allah (SWT) did for me is he brought me into existence. No statue has the ability to bring something into existence. Alladhee khalaqanee fahuwa yahdeen. And he is the one who has guided me. He is the one who gives me understanding. He is the one who gives me intelligence. And Allah (SWT) does this for every single creation. Alladhee a’taa kulla shay’in khalqahu thumma hadaa. Allah (SWT) gives everything its existence. He then gives it its shape, and then Allah (SWT) puts intuition inside it. The ability to navigate, the ability to think, the ability to plan, the ability to live life. And Allah (SWT) says I have done this for everything that I have created. This is the programming that Allah (SWT) creates every creation with. The Sun is a creation of Allah (SWT), but it has also been programmed to do certain things. To rise and set in a certain way, to give a certain intensity of heat and light, it has been programmed like that by Allah (SWT). And so has the moon, and so have the stars, and so has the sky, and so has the earth. Every single thing that Allah (SWT) creates: every bird, every fish, every insect. It does not just have an existence, but it is programmed to do certain things. So is a human being. Allah (SWT) has given me that intuition, that programming. But the programming of a human being is much more sophisticated because it comes with intelligence. That you can actually choose what to do and how to do it. And he is the one who gives me, provides for me food and drink. Ibrahim (AS) is telling them all the things that their gods cannot do. Walladhee huwa yut’imunee wa huwa yuqeen. And you know what sometimes as a human being when I fall sick, wa idhaa maridhtu fahuwa yashfeen. Then the cure also comes only from Allah (SWT). And in fact, even beyond this life, this life comes to an end because Allah (SWT) causes it to end. Walladhiee yumeetunee, he is going to give me death, thumma yuhyeen, and he is going to bring me back to life. Simple statements are such simple words, but such a powerful invitation to those people that Ibrahim (AS) should have been afraid of more than anyone else. His father, his community, and his relatives, openly announcing this was the first of the great sacrifices of Ibrahim (AS). He did not get rewarded for it right away; he did not get praised for it. There was no one to praise him, there was no one to acknowledge him, there was no one to accept what he was saying. In fact, that was when the next big test came, when everyone became his enemy, and the story continues from there.