Part 7: The Story of Ibrahim (AS)

Ibrahim (AS) has left Egypt. The king of Egypt has married his daughter, whose name was Hajar, to Ibrahim (AS). Ibrahim (AS) settles in Palestine, close to the area called Al-Quds or Baitul Maqdis. He has decided that he will spend the rest of his life inviting the people of that region to Allah (SWT), worshipping Allah (Azza wa Jall), and establishing this place called Baitul Maqdis.

Shortly after, Ibrahim (AS) is blessed with a child, and he had been making a lot of du’a to Allah (SWT) for this child. So, Allah (SWT) told him that his prayers had been heard. He then decides to name this child Isma’eel. Isma’eel, in that language, actually means that God has listened—God has heard. “Eel” in the Aramaic language meant Allah (SWT), God, and “samaa’a” or “shamaa’a” means heard. The Hebrew language is also derived from the same roots—many of these languages have common origins and etymology. So, Isma’eel means “God listened” or “God accepted the prayer.”

Now, Isma’eel (AS), this newborn baby, is there, and in the middle of all of this, Allah (SWT) gives Ibrahim (AS) the instruction to take Isma’eel (AS) and his mother, Hajar, to Makkah. But he is not just to take them to Makkah—he has to leave them there.

Ibrahim (AS) is going through one test after another. Allah (SWT) says in the Quran:

“Wa idh ibtalaa Ibraaheema rabbuhu bi-kalimaatin fa-atammahunna.”
“And [mention] when Ibrahim was tried by his Lord with commands, and he fulfilled them.”

Allah (SWT) tested Ibrahim (AS) with many instructions—”kalimaat.” Fa atammahunna—he completed and perfected every single one. Think of it as levels in a challenge: you complete one level, and you move to the next. Ibrahim (AS) kept passing every level of challenge and every test, so he kept moving forward. And each level became more and more difficult.

Now, this was possibly the most difficult test yet. He had faced off against his family, his nation, his people, and the king. He had been thrown into the fire. He had to leave his homeland. He had gone into a foreign land where his wife had been taken captive—then had been saved. And now, after so many years of making du’a for a child, he was being told to take his beloved wife and his beloved son and leave them in an uninhabited desert.

So, he takes his family and crosses the deserts and mountains. Some narrations mention that he only took one waterskin filled with water and a little bit of food for himself and his family. It was only a matter of time before all of it ran out, and the hardships of the journey began. They would go long hours and days before finding food. The journey was very perilous.

After this long, difficult journey, he finally reached the place. Between the black mountains of Makkah, surrounded by a dry and rocky desert—bi waadin ghayra dhee zar‘in—a valley with no vegetation. There, at the very spot where the Ka’bah stands today, Ibrahim (AS) lays down his son and turns around to walk away.

He is not given the instruction to explain to his wife what he is doing, which makes it even more difficult. He begins walking away, and she keeps asking, “Where are you going? How can you leave us here? What’s going on?” But he looks away and does not reply.

After asking a few times, Hajar (AS) finally asks him, “Allahu amaraka bihadha?”—”Has Allah commanded you to do this?”

He simply nods his head.

At that moment, she cries out: “Idhan, laa yudayi‘unaa.”—”If that’s the case, then Allah (SWT) will never let us go to waste. He will never ruin us.”

She also had that iman, that strength, to understand that if an instruction comes from Allah, it is not meant to make us miserable or cause us loss. That instruction is actually meant to give us something greater than what we have right now. And every commandment of Allah is like that. Every commandment of Allah that He gives us is meant to grant us something beyond what we already possess.

Imagine if we started viewing our deen in this way. If we started seeing all the commandments in the Quran and all the instructions given to us by Rasulullah (SAW) in this way—that Allah (SWT) wants to give me something through this, something I cannot attain without fulfilling this command—we would stop seeing our deen as just a to-do list: “I have to do this, I have to do that.”

We would stop seeing it as a burden. And the things Allah (SWT) has told us to stay away from—we would stop seeing them as restrictions. Every one of those restrictions would become a gateway for us: “Through this, I am going to receive something even greater than what I have now.”

That was the mindset of this brave woman who uttered those words—without knowing what was about to happen. Having absolutely no clue what would occur. She had no resources in her hands. No means of survival. No food. No drink. No people for support. No shelter. There, under the scorching sun, in the intense heat, surrounded by mountains in the middle of a barren desert—she said, “Allah will never waste us.”

Sometimes, we face uncertainty when fulfilling an instruction of Allah. We may not know exactly what is going to happen. But that’s the beauty of it—you don’t have to know what will happen. All you need in that moment is faith—the certainty that the outcome will be good.

Yes, there might be trials, and yes, there might be tests. But as long as I am doing what Allah (SWT) wants me to do, the outcome can only be good. There is no such thing as a bad consequence when obeying Allah. There is no such thing as a loss that comes from following a commandment of Allah (SWT).

May Allah (SWT) grant us all this understanding.