CD2- The Prophet Ibrahim and his son Isma'il

CD2
By: Imam Anwar Awlaki


Usually the authors who write about the Prophet Muhammad usually start with writing about what happened before him, about a few thousand years. Here we start from Ibrahim, and Ismai’l and Hajar, the ancestors of the Arabs.

The Prophet Ibrahim and his son Isma’il

Ibrahim and his wife Hajar and new-born son Isma’il traveled to Hijaz, and Ibrahim took them to present day Makkah. It was a dead valley then, but the place of Ka’bah was already holy and sacred since the world is created. They arrived and in the place where Zamzam is, Ibrahim left his wife and son with some water and a bag of dates. He then turned away and left. Hajar followed him and asked him three times: “Ibrahim, are you going to leave us in a place wherein there is no cultivation and no one living?” and when Ibrahim didn’t answer she asked: “Did Allah tell you to do so?” and Ibrahim said, “Yes.” So she said: “Then Allah will not neglect us. If this is a command from Allah, then I trust that He will take care of us.” Ibrahim left and when he reached to a place where they couldn’t see him anymore, he turned towards Al-Ka’bah and made dua’: “O Allah! I’m leaving my offspring in infertile land, next to your sacred House, so that they may establish prayer, put love in the hearts of people towards them, and provide them with fruits, so that they may be grateful.”

In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the foundation of the pyramid (basic human needs) has physiological needs (food and shelter) as the most important, then social needs (friends/belonging), then spiritual needs (religion), and at the end self-actualization. According to Ibrahim (as), the pyramid is inverted. The first thing he asked for is spiritual needs and then he asked for the social needs, and then physiological needs, but even when he asked Allah to provide them with fruits or worldly things, he also connected it to worship. And therein we find the true sense of self-actualization when Allah becomes everything for us and we do everything for His sake.

And then Ibrahim left and Hajar made use of the small amount of food until they ran out of food. She was breastfeeding Ismai’l and then her milk was drying up and Ismai’l started to cry. Hajar couldn’t stand seeing him in agonizing pain so she left him and started climbing a hill (As-Safa) to see if she can see anyone in the horizon, then she would climb down the hill until she reaches the valley and tuck up her clothes and ran to another hill (Al-Marwa) until she reached the top to also look for anybody. During this her son is still suffering, as she continued to go back and forth the hills until the seventh time, she reached the top and she heard a sound. To her amazement, she saw that the sound was coming from beneath the feet of Ismai’l. Jibril (as) descended and started digging the well of Zamzam and the water is coming from beneath Ismai’l’s feet. Seeing this, she made a pool around the water thinking that it would be absorbed by the desert if she didn’t do so. Rasul Allah (saw) said: “`May Allah have mercy on the mother of Ismail, if she had left the water alone, it would have been a flowing river.”

Think for a moment about the feelings of Hajar while she was going up and down the hills. Her heart must have been broken, crying because of the pain and suffering dying in front of her eyes. She was a believing and righteous woman and Allah was testing her and hiding for her something in the future. At that time, as a mother she was in extreme pain, but just imagine if Hajar was resurrected at the time of Hajj and she would have a chance to see what Muslims from all over the world are doing. Rasul Allah (saw) said: “And that is why we go between As-Safa and Al-Marwa.” So we are following her footsteps and if Hajar knew that she would’ve gone through everything with a smile on her face.

What we learn from this is that as believers, when we undergo certain trials we have a different mindset, a certain feeling, but we don’t know what Allah is hiding for us in the future. Just as Allah gave Hajar this honor in this dunya, we can just imagine what He will give her as a reward in al-Akhirah. So when we go through trials, we should always remember that Hajar went through this and honored her.

Similarly, Musa (as) also is narrated to have told his family when he saw that fire that he would go to it to bring them light and warmth and guidance since there would be people who could give them directions to Egypt. But Allah relates that when he went there Allah spoke to them, and rather than him going back with light for that night, he came back with light for humanity and guidance not to Egypt but to Jannah. He was given prophethood then and there. “I am Allah, there is no God besides Me, worship Me and establish prayer in My name.”

In the desert, when you have a source of water, different forms of life are attracted. There was a tribe called Jurhum, a nomadic tribe of that area. They come from Yemen, the birthplace of the Arab people and their language was Arabic. Their history relates back to when there were people who built the first dam in the world, and had a year-round source of water and source for irrigation. Because of their wealth, they didn’t feel any pain in traveling, wherever they would go there will be people. These people, due to their arrogance said, “we want to feel the pain of traveling like everybody else and make it difficult for us.” So Allah made it difficult for them, and for their rejection of Allah their dam was destroyed and so the people migrated to some other places and they were scattered all over. Jurhum was one of these tribes who moved out and went to Hijaz. They were familiar with the terrain of Makkah and knew there weren’t any water in the area. But when they saw there were birds hovering over the sky, they wondered what was going on in that particular area. Two men went and came back and reported that there is a well in that area. Now Jurhum went to the place where Zamzam was located and they asked Hajar: “Can we settle in this place?” and she said: “if you want to stay, I have a condition and that the water belongs to us.” They agreed and Rasul Allah said: “Deep in her heart she wanted them to stay since she was lonely.” And Jurhum ended up and settled there.

Ismai’l grew up with them and learned their language (Arabic), Ibrahim was from Iraq and spoke Aramaic. Ismail married a woman from among them and thus began the lineage of the Prophet Muhammad (saw).

Jurhum had the political leadership in Makkah, while the religious leadership belonged to Ismai’l and his descendants. Jurhum stayed in Makkah for 2000 and they became corrupt and tyrannical so Allah sent them Khuzaa’. And Khuzaa, also from Yemen and came to Hijaz, kicked them out of Makkah. Jurhum before they left did two things: First, they filled the well of Zamzam with sand and they erased all of its marks. Second, they stole all the treasures inside Al-Ka’bah. Khuzaa’ now became the new leaders of Makkah, while the descendants of Ismai’l already branched out and spread all over Arabia. But one branch remained in Makkah, the Quraish, who are also known as the descendants of Adnan.

The leader of Khuzaa’ was ‘Amr bin Luhyy al-Khuzaa’i and the leader of Quraish was Qusai bin Kilab. He was able to unify Quraish and to lead a revolt against Khuzaa’ and was able to drive them out completely from Makkah. Finally, a descendant of Isma’il now combine both the political and religious leadership in Makkah. Not only that but Qusai consolidated all the authorities and different aspects of power in his hands. He controlled Al-Hijaba, the guardianship of Al-Ka’bah, controlled siqayah and ifadah (providing food and water to the pilgrims), contolled an-nadwa (assembly or parliament of Quraish), held control over al-liwaa’ (banner) and had the power to declare war. He was the absolute ruler of Makkah.

When he died, these powers were split among his children. The grandson of Qusai, named ‘Amr ended up inheriting providing food and water to the pilgrims. He did something new in feeding the hujjaj. Instead of feeding them soup, he started crushing bread into the soup, an upgrade to their meals. The process of crushing the bread is called Hasham, and so he was called Haashim as a nickname and this was the great-grandfather of Rasul Allah (saw). Hashim married from Al-Madinah and went to Palestine to do business and died in Gaza. His wife became pregnant and gave birth to a child who was named Shaybah (old man), due to him being born with some grey hair. And they stayed in Madinah by his family there. One day, Al-Muttalib, Hashim’s brother, came to Madinah and claimed Shaybah his nephew. He wanted to take him back to Makkah, and convinced the family that he comes from a noble family of Quraish and that Shaybah has to come back and learn his heritage and responsibilities. Al-Muttalib brought Shaybah into Makkah and since he wasn’t seen ever in Makkah, they thought he was a slave and started calling him ‘Abd-ul Muttalib, the grandfather of the Prophet Muhammad (saw).

Three important events that occurred with Abdul Muttalib. First, the well of zamzam has been lost for over 300 years now ever since the Jurhum covered it before they got expelled from Makkah. So he saw a dream and tells him to “dig taibah (pure)”. The following night, the same voice tells him to “dig the precious”. The third night, the same voice tells him to “dig zamzam” and the voice told him “it will never fail or dry up, it will water the grand pilgrim, it lies between the dung and the blood near the nest of the crow with the white leg and the ants’ nest.” They were symbols and Abdul Muttalib was unable to decode all of these symbols. Then he went around the Ka’bah and saw dung and blood, a camel was slaughtered and was left with its insides and the blood and he saw a grow with a white leg in the same area and a colony of ants. And so he realized that this is where the well is. He called his son, Harith and started digging. Suddenly, the people heard Abdul Muttalib shout, praising Allah, and they found that he had uncovered the rim of zamzam. The Quraish then said that this well belongs to our father, Ismai’l and so we should all share. Abdul Muttalib said that he was the one who saw the dream, and he was the one who uncovered it and so it belongs to him and him alone. They said that we are all descendants and it belongs to all of us. When they were unable to solve the dispute and on the brink of war, someone suggested to go to the witch of Bani Sa’d for consultation. They searched for her in Syria and along the way they ran out of water. And so they went in different directions in search of water. After a short while, Abdul Muttalib found water, and they said that “If even in this barren desert Allah saved you, and you saw the dream and uncovered the well of Zamzam, this is surely an indication that it is a blessing for you and it belongs to you.” So they gave up all their claims and they went back.

Abdul Muttalib, since he only had one son at that time, prayed to Allah and said that if he was given ten sons, he will sacrifice one for His sake. And Allah blessed him with 10 male sons and 6 daughters. When he had 10, now it’s time for him to fulfill his promise. They had arrows next to Hubal and cast lots and leave their decisions in this random way. Abdul Muttalib had the names of his sons on all the arrows and it came upon Abdullah. The second and third time, it also came on Abdullah’s name. So Abdul Muttalib took his son, and took him next to Ka’bah to slaughter him but both sides of his family tried to convince him not to do it since it would become a sunnah thereafter since he was their leader. Abdul Muttalib said that this was a pledge that he made with Allah and that he cannot give it up.

To solve this dispute, they decided they had to go to the witch again. They went to the witch and told her the situation and she told them to come back the next day so she can consult her spirits. They came back the next day with an answer. She asked them what was the retribution that you pay to a person that was killed (diya). They said ten camels, and so she said to put 10 camels on one side, and Abdullah on the other and cast a lot. If it points towards the camels, slaughter them, and if it points to Abdullah, then add another ten camels. They agreed and went back and did it. They threw the arrows and pointed towards Abdullah until 100 camels were on one side and finally it pointed towards the camels. Abdul Muttalib wasn’t convinced and cast the lots second and third time until it was consistent on the camels. So he slaughtered 100 camels and refused to take any of the meat, and it was so much that it was enough to feed the humans and animals.

Now the people of the Quraish was right in saying that if Abdul Muttalib sacrificed his son the rest will follow because after that incident the diya was changed from 10 camels to 100. And this tradition is kept by Islam until this day, however, it is calculated in currency but based on that concept.

Abdullah and Aaminah were the parents of Rasul Allah (saw), and he was known to be the son of the two sacrificed ones, Ismai’l and Abdullah.