Part 5: The Story of Ibrahim (AS)

When Ibrahim (AS) was going through this discussion with the king Namrud, and Ibrahim (AS) defeated him in this debate, Namrud posed a question that, “okay fine, you’ve proved your point, but have you ever seen how your lord brings dead people to life?” He said, rabbiyalladhee yuhyee wa yumeet. My lord is the one who gives life and takes it away. But have you ever seen him bring the dead back to life. So, at that point Ibrahim (AS) said, “No I haven’t seen it, I don’t need to see it.” But he felt that maybe Allah (SWT) will show him because he is already such a strong believer, and he has faced up against his family, his nation, the king. So, he made a request to Allah (SWT), rabbi arinee kayfa tuyhil,mawtaa. Can you show me how you bring the dead back to life? It wasn’t that Ibrahim (AS) had any doubts or that his belief was weak, he just wanted to see how it happened. So Allah (SWT) asked him awalam tu’min, have you not believed? In other words haven’t you believed that I am capable of doing this. He said balaa of course! Of course, I believe o Allah that you do this, and you can do this, just want to see how. Liyatmainna qalbee, I want my heart to be content. Not that his heart wasn’t content before, but rather he wanted to reach the next level of contentment where you have seen the power of Allah (SWT) at work. So Allah (SWT) said okay fine, you take 4 birds. Qaala fakhudh arba’ata minat-tayr. so which birds were there? Some narrations from Abdullah ibn Abbas (RA) and others that named those birds. For example, there was a dove, there was a crow, there was a swan, perhaps a rooster. 4 birds. “Take them and tame them. Tame them to the extent that when you call them, they respond.” So, he did this, and then he was told to slaughter them. Slaughter them and take the meat from all these birds and mix it all up. After mixing it all up, he was to take this pile of chopped up meat, divide it into 4 parts, and put it on 4 different hills, 4 different mountains., And then Allah (SWT) said once you’ve done that, you call them like you call them before like when you had tamed them. Thummaj’al ‘alaa kulli jabalim-minhunna juz’an thummad’oohunna ya’teenaka sa’yaa. Now you call them. So, he went through this exercise of getting the birds, taming them, then after they were tamed slaughtering them, cutting them up into pieces, and then taking all these mixed pieces and then putting them on 4 different mountains, climbing up the mountains, coming back, going up the next mountains, coming back. And then he called out to them. And when he started calling out to them, Allah (SWT) showed him that how the pieces of flesh and feathers and bones, everything comes together in midair, and the bird is formed and completed, and it comes flying right to Ibrahim (AS), and it comes and settles by him. So, Allah (SWT) showed him his power. Sometimes Allah (SWT) shows us his power. But if a person says, “no I need to say it to believe it,” then that’s not belief, that’s something you’ve seen. Our belief as Muslims is in ghayb, alladhina yu’minoona bil ghayb. We are from those people who believe just because Allah (SWT) has told us that this is happening, this has happened, this will happen. We say O Allah, we believe. That’s why it’s called belief. But then if you wait to see it and then believe then it’s not belief at all. That’s not called belief. In the case of Ibrahim (AS) he had perfect Imaan prior to this. So, Allah (SWT) showed him just to make him happy, make him content. But before that he was believing without seeing. And his belief was so strong that it enabled him to stand up to the whole world and present his faith to the whole world. So similarly, we also need to work on our yaqeen, our belief, our conviction in what Allah is, who he is, what he does, how he does things, how he works. We increase our faith in this. And there may be occasions in our lives where Allah (SWT) shows us his power. And that will be a source of contentment for us, a source of happiness, and it happens frequently to people. Allah (SWT) shows us something that increases their Imaan in what they already believe in. May Allah (SWT) strengthen our Imaan, and enable us to live with complete imaan, and leave this world with complete Imaan.