Verses 71–113
The previous verses refuted how they assigned partners to God and denied the signs of God, and threatened them with severe punishment. Following on from that, these verses assert that the majority of the ancients erred just as they [the contemporaries of the Prophet] err. Furthermore, the majority of the ancients denied the messengers just as they are denying the messengers. To bear witness to this, stories of yore are brought in such as the stories of Noah, Abraham, Moses, Aaron, Elias (Ilyās), Lot, and Jonah. This particular set of verses alludes to parts of the story of Noah and summarizes the story of Abraham.
Commentary
وَلَقَدْ ضَلَّ قَبْلَهُمْ أَكْثَرُ الْأَوَّلِينَ ٧١ وَلَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا فِيهِمْ مُنْذِرِينَ ٧٢ فَانْظُرْ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الْمُنْذَرِينَ ٧٣ إِلَّا عِبَادَ اللَّهِ الْمُخْلَصِينَ ٧٤
(37:71–74) And, before them, most of the ancients went astray, although We sent warners (mundhirīn) among them. So see the end of those who were warned (mundharīn)—except for Allah’s purified servants.
This is in the context of warning the polytheists of this nation [that is, at the time of the Prophet, or among later Muslims] by urging them to reflect upon how those who came before them were obliterated. Most of the ancients went astray like these people [the Meccan polytheists] went astray. Messengers were sent to them to warn them just as a messenger [the Prophet] was sent to warn these people, but they called them liars. Thus, all of them were destroyed, apart from those who were purified and sincere.
The particle la- in went astray (la-qad ḍalla) is for swearing an oath. La- is used for the same reason in We sent warners (la-qad arsalnā). Warners (mundhirīn, with an i) means “messengers”. Mundharīn with an a refers to the ancient peoples [who were warned].
Except for Allah’s purified servants: The exception here can be taken one of two ways based on how one understands Allah’s purified servants. If Allah’s purified servants speaks of God’s purified servants living among the various nations throughout history, then the exclusion is inclusive [muttasil; that is, the servants are part of their respective peoples, but did not go astray]. If Allah’s purified servants include the prophets as well, then the exclusion is exclusive [munqaṭiʿ; that is, it treats Allah’s purified servants as a separate group] unless it is taken as an umbrella expression to include prophets in those who were not prophets [that is, via taghlīb]. In any case, the meaning is clear.
وَلَقَدْ نَادَانَا نُوحٌ فَلَنِعْمَ الْمُجِيبُونَ ٧٥
(37:75) And Noah called upon Us (wa laqad nādānā), and how excellent are those who respond (fa-la-niʿm al-mujībūn).
The particle la- in laqad and la-niʿm conveys an oath. It demonstrates the perfect care and attention given to Noah’s call and God’s response. God lauds Himself in responding, for the implied actor in how excellent are those who respond is “we” [meaning, “how excellent are We who respond”]. Those who respond is in the plural [mujībin instead of mujīb] to demonstrate [God’s] greatness. These verses show that Noah’s call here was his imprecation again his people and his plea to his Lord, as mentioned in:
And Noah said, “O Lord! Do not leave standing upon the earth a single house of these deniers.” ()
And he [Noah] called out to his Lord, “I am overwhelmed. Help me!” ()
وَنَجَّيْنَاهُ وَأَهْلَهُ مِنَ الْكَرْبِ الْعَظِيمِ ٧٦
(37:76) And We delivered him and his people (ahlahu) from the great calamity (karb).
According to al-Rāghib, karb means “an intense sadness”. Here, it speaks of the great flood or the way Noah’s people harassed him. Ahl here includes his household as well as the people around him who believed. [This is reinforced by what] God says in Sūrah Hūd:
We said: Bring on board [the ship] two of each pair, and your people, except for those whom the decree has passed against, and whomever has believed. ()
Ahl can be used to refer either to a man’s wife and children or to whoever has some sort of similarity or affiliation with that person.
وَجَعَلْنَا ذُرِّيَّتَهُ هُمُ الْبَاقِينَ ٧٧
(37:77) And We made his offspring endure.
Meaning, they have continued to live among humankind even after Noah’s era. We delved more into this concept in the exegesis on the story of Noah in Sūrah Hūd.
وَتَرَكْنَا عَلَيْهِ فِي الْآخِرِينَ ٧٨
(37:78) And We perpetuated [this blessing] (taraknā) among them in the later generations (al-ākhirīn).
Taraknā here means “making it last”. Al-ākhirīn (lit. “the later ones”) speaks of the bygone peoples who came after the first generations. This sentence recurs in this sūrah in the story of Abraham; in Sūrah al-Shuʿarāʾ, it says instead:
And ordain for me a goodly mention among later generations (al-ākhirīn). ()
Here, we have taken into consideration that the intent behind a goodly mention (lisān ṣidq) is that, after him, God would bring about someone who would uphold his mission and call people to his faith, the religion of divine unity.
This is reinforced by the fact that the intent behind “perpetuating among the later generations” is God’s reviving Noah’s call to divine unity and his efforts in the way of God, era after era, generation after generation, until the Day of Resurrection.
سَلَامٌ عَلَىٰ نُوحٍ فِي الْعَالَمِينَ ٧٩
(37:79) Peace be upon Noah, throughout the worlds (al-ʿālamīn)!
Here, by the worlds is meant all of them, because al-ʿālamīn is a generalized plural beginning with al-. Seemingly, the worlds refers to human “worlds”—that, is, how all peoples and nations will be gathered on the Day of Resurrection. God has gifted Noah this blessing before all human peoples, for no good belief or act can transpire among them without him having enacted it first, in his stance for calling to the oneness of God, refuting polytheism (shirk), carrying out the deeds that naturally follow from those, and suffering the severest trials. For almost a thousand years, he never associated anyone with God. Thus, he has a share in all good deeds enacted until the Day of Resurrection. Such an expansive blessing of peace is not found on anyone else in the Qur’an.
Some say that the intent behind the worlds (al-ʿālamīn) is the worlds of the angels and the twin creations of jinn and man.
إِنَّا كَذَٰلِكَ نَجْزِي الْمُحْسِنِينَ ٨٠
(37:80) Thus do We recompense the virtuous.
This explains why these honors were bestowed upon him, such as responding to his call, saving him and his people from the great calamity, perpetuating his progeny among the later generations, and sending the benediction of peace upon him in all the worlds. His reward is likened to that of righteous people in general with respect to the basic principle of a goodly reward, not that they all have his reward. That is, it is not saying that all righteous people must necessarily share the same reward as him; this is clear.
إِنَّهُ مِنْ عِبَادِنَا الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ٨١
(37:81) He was one of Our faithful servants.
This explains what it means for him to be righteous, as implied by the previous sentence. Namely, he is considered “righteous” because he was a true servant of God in the true sense of the word. He only wished or did anything if it was the will of God. He was one of the true faithful; he only held true beliefs, and these pervaded all aspects of his existence. When a person is like that, nothing will emanate from him other than handsome goodness; thus, he was one of the virtuous.
ثُمَّ أَغْرَقْنَا الْآخَرِينَ ٨٢
(37:82) Then We drowned the others.
Then (thumma) here indicates sequential actions rather than a lapse in time. The others (al-ākhirīn) speaks of his people who were polytheists.
وَإِنَّ مِنْ شِيعَتِهِ لَإِبْرَاهِيمَ ٨٣
(37:83) And Abraham was one of his followers (inna min shīʿatihi la-ibrāhīm).
A shīʿah is a group of people who follow someone other than themselves, footstep by footstep. In short, any person who accepts to follow someone else’s path is one of his shīʿah, even if that person lived before them or after them. God says:
And a barrier shall be placed between them and that which they desire, as was done with the likes of them (bi-ashyāʿihim) before: they are in a disquieting doubt. ()
The verses indicate that the pronoun his in his followers (min shīʿatihi) refers to Noah, meaning that Abraham was one of those who concorded with Noah on his religion; that is, the religion of divine unity. Some exegetes say that the pronoun his refers to Muḥammad, but there is no evidence for this from the text.
Some exegetes observe that there is a beautiful stylistic parallel between the stories of Noah and Abraham, which is conveyed by putting the story of Noah right before the story of Abraham. While Noah was a second Adam, the father of humanity, Abraham was the father of the prophets, for all their lines go back to him, and all of the surviving religions centred on divine unity—like the religions of Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad—are traced back to him. Also, God saved Noah from drowning and saved Abraham from burning.
إِذْ جَاءَ رَبَّهُ بِقَلْبٍ سَلِيمٍ ٨٤
(37:84) When he came to his Lord with a sound heart.
“Coming to his Lord” is a figure of speech indicating that he believed in Him and had faith in Him. This understanding is reinforced by the fact that the intent behind “soundness of heart” is that it is devoid of anything that would hinder its belief and faith in God (exalted be He)—such as associating partners with Him openly or secretly, unbecoming behavior, the effects of sins, or anything else that would incline a human being to other than God or interfere with purely turning to Him alone.
From this, it is clear that “a sound heart” is “that which does not incline towards anything other than God”, as is said in hadith which will be discussed in the section on narrations, God willing.
Some exegetes say that “a sound heart” means “a heart free from associating others with God”; this meaning can essentially be seen in what we said initially. Some exegetes say that it means “a sorrowful heart”, but this is as you can see [namely, that it is unsubstantiated].
The particle idh (“when”) in this verse relates back to the expression min shīʿatihi in the previous verse, and grammatical rules that could not be overlooked elsewhere could be overlooked in adverbs. Some say that it goes back to the implied word “remember (idhkur)”.
إِذْ قَالَ لِأَبِيهِ وَقَوْمِهِ مَاذَا تَعْبُدُونَ ٨٥
(37:85) When he said to his father and people, “What are you worshipping?”
Meaning, “What thing are you worshipping?” He asked them about what they were worshipping because he was astonished and amazed that they were worshipping idols.
أَئِفْكًا آلِهَةً دُونَ اللَّهِ تُرِيدُونَ ٨٦ فَمَا ظَنُّكُمْ بِرَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ٨٧
(37:86–87) “False gods (a-ifkan ālihatan) other than Allah—is this what you desire? What is your idea about the Lord of the worlds?”
Meaning, do you want false and invented gods, not God? Ifk (lie, falsehood) and ālihah (gods) are put at the beginning of the sentence for emphasis [even though, typically, they would follow the verb, not precede it].
فَمَا ظَنُّكُمْ بِرَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ٨٧ فَنَظَرَ نَظْرَةً فِي النُّجُومِ ٨٨ فَقَالَ إِنِّي سَقِيمٌ ٨٩
(37:88–89) Then he glanced up at the stars, and said, “I feel ill.”
There is no doubt that these two verses—at least according to their straightforward meaning—link Abraham’s feeling ill with his looking up at the stars. Possibly, it was because, through looking at the stars, he ascertained the time, like someone affected by a recurring fever who knows that it will return at a specific time or when a specific star rises or sets. Or, it may have had something specifically to do with the stars. It could also have had something to do with future events that astrologers had predicted via the stars. The Sabians gave heavy importance to this, and Abraham lived in the time of many Sabians.
This leads to two views:
- When the people of his city wanted to head out en masse to celebrate their festival, Abraham looked to the stars and then told them that his illness would soon recur; therefore, he could not go with them.
- When Abraham looked to the stars, he did so in the manner of astrologers and told the people that the stars indicated that he was about to fall ill; therefore, he could not go with them.
The first of these two views is more appropriate for Abraham. For Abraham stood at the pinnacle of belief in divine unity; he did not hold that anything other than God had any influence over events.
However, we do not have any solid evidence that he was not actually ill. The Qur’an—which is the divine word—says that he said he was ill, and that he came to his Lord with a sound heart, so it is inconceivable that he would lie or exaggerate.
Exegetes have also put forward other views on these verses. The most apt of them is that when Abraham looked to the stars and told them he was ill, he was speaking evasively whereby he said something true but in such a manner that others would not understand what he really meant and instead think he was saying something else. Perhaps, for instance, he looked to the stars with the gaze of a monotheist beholding the divine creation and beheld how the divine creation evidences God’s existence and oneness; however, the people assumed he was looking to the stars as an astrologer would to determine future events. Then, he said, “I feel ill,” meaning what he would eventually fall ill sometime in his life, for no human being is ever free from illness; as Abraham says in the Qur’an, “And when I am ill, He cures me” (). However, they took this to mean that he had an impending illness that would strike on the day they went out. Therefore, he would be able to stay back on that day and be alone in the city and carry out his plan to break their idols.
However, this view is based on the premise that he was healthy, not ill, on that day, whereas we have already mentioned that there is no evidence specifying that.
Also, it is not acceptable for prophets to speak evasively or deceptively because it would endanger people’s trust in them.
فَتَوَلَّوْا عَنْهُ مُدْبِرِينَ ٩٠
(37:90) They turned their backs on him.
The plural pronoun they refers to Abraham’s people. The singular pronoun him refers to Abraham. It means that they left their city without him.
فَرَاغَ إِلَىٰ آلِهَتِهِمْ فَقَالَ أَلَا تَأْكُلُونَ ٩١ مَا لَكُمْ لَا تَنْطِقُونَ ٩٢
(37:91–92) And so he went quietly (rāgha) to their gods and asked them, “Won’t you eat? What is wrong with you—why don’t you speak?”
The verb rāgha means “inclining” or leaning towards something”. Some say that it originally meant “leaning to one side to deceive someone”.
“Won’t you eat?”: This reinforces what was has been said—that the polytheists served their idols food on their holidays.
“Won’t you eat? What is wrong with you—why don’t you speak?” He is speaking to the idols although they are inanimate objects, and he knows that they are not going to eat or speak. However, his outrage led him to treat them as if they were sentient beings, as the wrongdoers did, and to reprove them as if they were sentient beings.
He looks at them and sees that they have bodies shaped in such a form that they should eat, and that they have food, and so he is filled with anger and exclaims, “Why don’t you eat?” When he does not hear a reply, he exclaims, “What is wrong with you—why don’t you speak?” It is as if he says, “And you are the gods whose worshippers swear that you are sentient, able to look after their affairs,” and when he does not hear a single peep back from them, he strikes them with his right hand.
فَرَاغَ عَلَيْهِمْ ضَرْبًا بِالْيَمِينِ ٩٣
(37:93) Then he turned upon them and struck them with his right hand.
After speaking, he leaned towards the idols and struck them [literally] with his right hand, or with a strong blow which [metaphorically] was as if it had the force of his right hand.
Some exegetes take “right hand” to mean “an oath”, meaning that he struck them because of an oath he had previously taken, as mentioned in Sūrah al-Anbiyāʾ: By Allah, I shall plot against your idols (). However, this is farfetched.
فَأَقْبَلُوا إِلَيْهِ يَزِفُّونَ ٩٤
(37:94) So the people approached him, hastening (yaziffūn).
Yaziffūn means “to walk quickly”, meaning that they rushed to Abraham because of what had happened, and because they suspected him of doing it.
This sentence omits what happened previously: namely, they returned to their city and discovered what had been done to their idols, then suspected him, as is mentioned in Sūrah al-Anbiyāʾ.
قَالَ أَتَعْبُدُونَ مَا تَنْحِتُونَ ٩٥ وَاللَّهُ خَلَقَكُمْ وَمَا تَعْمَلُونَ ٩٦
(37:95–96) He said, “Do you worship what you yourselves have hewn? And Allah has created you and what you craft.”
Here, the narrative also skips some events—namely, that they captured Abraham and brought him before the people to question him [which is when he said this].
Abraham is asking a rhetorical question to criticize them. He is also presenting an argument for why their customs were baseless. He is saying, “It is not right for a person to hew something with his own hands and then worship it as his lord, while God, the Exalted, is the one who created the human being and what he fashions. The act of creation is inseparable from divine management and oversight. So He is the Lord of humankind, and it is foolish to abandon Him and worship these man-made idols instead.”
This is clear because the pronoun mā in what you yourselves have hewn is a relative pronoun and refers to the thing they hew; there is a similar usage of mā in what you craft. Some exegetes have allowed for the possibility that mā here actually introduces a gerund phrase, but this is deeply unlikely.
There is no harm in treating what human beings create as part of the creation of God, for God is the one who granted human beings free will to do this [even if human beings use their free will to create idols]. It does not mean that God is actually taking part in it; rather, here, God does not interfere with mankind’s free will. Were this not the case, people would merely be predestined puppets.
If the intent here were to say that God created their actions directly, with no intermediary such as free will, then this would necessitate predestination. As a result, the verse would act as an excuse for them rather than as a criticism; it would be an argument for them, not against them.
قَالُوا ابْنُوا لَهُ بُنْيَانًا فَأَلْقُوهُ فِي الْجَحِيمِ ٩٧
(37:97) They said, “Build a structure (bunyānan) for him then cast him into the fire (jaḥīm).”
Bunyān is a verbal noun from the word root b-n-y (“build”) and means “something built”. Jaḥīm is intensely burning fire.
فَأَرَادُوا بِهِ كَيْدًا فَجَعَلْنَاهُمُ الْأَسْفَلِينَ ٩٨
(37:98) They desired to scheme (arādū kaydan) against him, but We brought them low.
Kayd is a plot. It means that they plotted to destroy him and burn him in the fire.
We brought them low portrays an image of how Abraham was above them, untouched by their plot. God says:
O fire! Be a source of coolness and safety for Abraham! ()
Thus, this chapter of the story of the life of Abraham closes with him standing up against idol-worship and arguing against the idol-worshippers. In the end, they cast him into the fire, but God makes their plot fail.
وَقَالَ إِنِّي ذَاهِبٌ إِلَىٰ رَبِّي سَيَهْدِينِ ٩٩
(37:99) He said, “I am going to my Lord; He will guide me.”
This begins a new chapter in the story of the life of Abraham. It tells of how he resolved to migrate away from his people and how he sought a righteous son from God. It tells of how God granted his request but then commanded him to sacrifice that son, and how a substitute sacrifice was sent down instead.
It is as if Abraham’s words here are a fulfillment of the vow he made to Āzar [in Sūrah Maryam]:
And I will withdraw from you and what you call on besides Allah, and I will call upon my Lord; perchance I shall not remain unblessed in calling upon my Lord. ()
From this, it can be deduced that “going to his Lord” meant that he was going to a place dedicated to worshipping God and calling upon Him; namely, the Holy Land.
Some exegetes say that “going to his Lord” meant (a) “going to the place that my Lord ordered me to go”, or (b) “dying”—that is, when he was cast into the fire and was about to die, he meant that his Lord would guide him to the garden. However, there is no evidence to support these views. Furthermore, these interpretations clash with the two sentences: “My Lord, grant me one of the righteous [as a son], so We gave him glad tidings of a son ().
رَبِّ هَبْ لِي مِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ ١٠٠
(37:100) “My Lord, grant me one of the righteous.”
This tells of how Abraham prayed for a child and specified that the child should be among the righteous.
فَبَشَّرْنَاهُ بِغُلَامٍ حَلِيمٍ ١٠١
(37:101) So We gave him glad tidings of a son (ghulāman) ready to endure and forebear.
Meaning, We gave him the glad tidings, “I am going to grant you a son ready to endure and forebear”; this phrasing [that is, the use of the word ghulām] implies that the child would be male and would reach the threshold of manhood. In doing so, it shows that he had reached a level of maturity and inner purity—namely, the forbearance which God had instilled in him—which showed when he said: “My father, do as you are commanded; you will find me—if Allah wills—one of the patient” ().
The Qur’an does not describe any other prophets as “forbearing (ḥalīm)” except for him and his father. God says:
“Most surely Abraham was forbearing, tender-hearted, oft-returning [to Allah]” ().
فَلَمَّا بَلَغَ مَعَهُ السَّعْيَ قَالَ يَا بُنَيَّ إِنِّي أَرَىٰ فِي الْمَنَامِ أَنِّي أَذْبَحُكَ فَانْظُرْ مَاذَا تَرَىٰ ۚ قَالَ يَا أَبَتِ افْعَلْ مَا تُؤْمَرُ ۖ سَتَجِدُنِي إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ مِنَ الصَّابِرِينَ ١٠٢
(37:102) And when he reached the age of work, he said, “My son! I had a dream that I should sacrifice you; what do you think?” He said, “My father, do as you are commanded; you will find me—if Allah wills—one of the patient.
The conjunction fa- [which opens the verse, here, translated as “and”] is a rhetorical device showing the passage of time and events which have been left unmentioned—for instance, that he was born, grew up, and reached the age of work. The “age of work” is the age whereby one can generally handle their own needs in life; namely, puberty. It means, “And when he was no longer a child, his father said to him, ‘O my son….’”
He said, “My son! I had a dream that I should sacrifice you; what do you think?” This is Abraham’s dream in which he sacrificed his son. His words I see indicate that this was a recurring dream, as in:
And the king said: I see seven fat cows which seven lean ones devoured, and seven green ears and [seven] others dry. O chiefs! Explain to me my dream, if you can interpret the dream. ()
What do you think (fa-unẓur mādhā tarā)?: Here, the verb tarā means “what do you think about what I said?” and “tell me your view about it” [rather than “seeing”, which is the literal meaning]. This sentence shows that Abraham understood that his dream was a command from God to sacrifice his son; the dream portrayed the final result of the command [namely, the act of sacrifice]. For that reason, he sought his son’s view about it and was testing him to see how he would respond.
He said, “My father, do as you are commanded”: This is the response of his son. Do as you are commanded shows that he accepted being sacrificed when it was a divine command. He says “do as you are commanded” not “sacrifice me” to show that his father was commanded and that a divine command must be obeyed.
“You will find me—if Allah wills—one of the patient”: He says this to gladden the spirit of his father so that his father would not be distressed or pained upon seeing his son drenched in blood. These words convey an even loftier aspect of his inner refinement, for he makes his promise contingent on God granting him patience. This shows that he understands that he does not own or control this trait himself; rather, it is a gift from God, who may grant or deny it as He wills.
فَلَمَّا أَسْلَمَا وَتَلَّهُ لِلْجَبِينِ ١٠٣
(37:103) So when they had both submitted (aslamā) and he had flung him down upon his forehead (tallahu lil-jabīn).
Aslamā here means “being content with” and “surrendering”. Talla means “to throw down”, and the jabīn is one of the two sides of the forehead. Jabīn is prefixed by the preposition li- to indicate that it shows what he fell upon when he was thrown down. It is similar in usage to the verse:
And they fall on their faces (lil-adhqān) in prostration ().
It means, “When Abraham and his son had surrendered to the divine command and were content with it, and Abraham threw him down on his forehead.” What happens after “when” is omitted to signify the severity of the distress and the bitterness of the experience.
وَنَادَيْنَاهُ أَنْ يَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ ١٠٤ قَدْ صَدَّقْتَ الرُّؤْيَا ۚ إِنَّا كَذَٰلِكَ نَجْزِي الْمُحْسِنِينَ ١٠٥ إِنَّ هَٰذَا لَهُوَ الْبَلَاءُ الْمُبِينُ ١٠٦
(37:104–106) And We called out to him, “O Abraham! You have fulfilled the vision!” Thus (ka-dhālik) do We reward the virtuous. This (hādhā) is a manifest trial.
This is appended to the resulting clause (after “when”) that is omitted.
You have fulfilled the vision means “you have handled it truthfully and sincerely, and carried out the order which We gave you in order to test you. You have honored this command sufficiently.”
The pronouns ka-dhālik [here, rendered “thus”] and hādhā (this) refer to the story of the sacrifice of Abraham’s son—how it was a bitter test and dire trial. Hādhā (this) also indicates the severity of the matter.
It means, “This is the way in which We reward the righteous. We try them with that tests that appear to be severe but are easy in reality. When they have passed these tests, We reward them with the best reward in this world and in the hereafter. This is because We tried Abraham with a clear test.”
وَفَدَيْنَاهُ بِذِبْحٍ عَظِيمٍ ١٠٧
(37:107) And We ransomed him with a tremendous sacrifice.
Meaning, “We freed his son in exchange for a tremendous sacrifice.” According to narrations, this ransom was a sheep which Gabriel (Jibraʾīl) brought from the divine environs. The ransom is described as “tremendous” because it came from God; God is the one who provided the ransom.
وَتَرَكْنَا عَلَيْهِ فِي الْآخِرِينَ ١٠٨
(37:108) And we kept his praise alive among later generations.
This has already been discussed in this exegesis.
سَلَامٌ عَلَىٰ إِبْرَاهِيمَ ١٠٩
(37:109) Peace (salāmun) be upon Abraham.
This is a divine salutation upon him. Peace is in the indefinite form to express its magnitude.
كَذَٰلِكَ نَجْزِي الْمُحْسِنِينَ ١١٠ إِنَّهُ مِنْ عِبَادِنَا الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ١١١
(37:110–111) Thus do We reward the virtuous. He was one of Our faithful servants.
These two verses have already been explained.
وَبَشَّرْنَاهُ بِإِسْحَاقَ نَبِيًّا مِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ ١١٢
(37:112) And We gave him glad tidings of Isaac, a prophet and one of the righteous.
The pronoun him refers to Abraham.
Behold how this verse overflows with glad tidings of [the birth of] Isaac, and how it comes after the previous delivery of glad tidings (And We gave him glad tidings of a son ready to endure and forebear, , followed by And when he reached the age of work [] and the rest of the story).
It is clear from this that the son whom Abraham was ordered to sacrifice was not Isaac; rather, it was Ishmael. We discussed this in our discussion of the story of Abraham in Sūrah al-Anʿām.
وَبَارَكْنَا عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَىٰ إِسْحَاقَ ۚ وَمِنْ ذُرِّيَّتِهِمَا مُحْسِنٌ وَظَالِمٌ لِنَفْسِهِ مُبِينٌ١١٣
(37:113) And We blessed him (bāraknā ʿalayhi) and Isaac. And from his progeny are the virtuous and those who clearly wrong themselves.
Bāraka ʿalā means “to make something good, fruitful, and lasting”. Here, it means, “We made what We gave Abraham and Isaac good, lasting, and fruitful.”
Possibly, We blessed is in the context of and from his progeny are the virtuous and those who clearly wrong themselves—meaning “granting the blessing of multiplying his children and Isaac’s children”. The rest of the verse is clear.
Examining Narrations
- Tafsīr al-Qummī says regarding “a sound heart” ():
A “sound heart” (qalb salīm) is one which encounters God, the Mighty and Glorious, with nothing in it but Him.
It also says:
A “sound heart” is one free of doubt.
- In Rawḍat al-Kāfī, it is related via a chain of narration from Ḥujr that Imām al-Ṣādiq said that Imām al-Bāqir said:
He disgraced their gods, then glanced up towards the stars and said, “I feel ill” (). By God, he was not ill, nor did he lie.
Author’s comment: Other narrations with the same meaning—that is, that Abraham neither lied nor was ill—have been related, meaning that he was sick of the local religion and rejected it. [That is, he felt unwell on the inside.]
Narrations telling of the arguments that Abraham put forward to his people, his breaking of the idols, and his being thrown in the fire were mentioned in the sections of this exegesis on Sūrah al-Anʿām, Sūrah Maryam, Sūrah al-Anbiyāʾ, and Sūrah al-Shuʿarāʾ.
- In al-Tawḥīd [by Shaykh al-Ṣadūq], it is related in a narration:
A man asked the Commander of the Faithful about the allegorical or ambiguous (mutashabih) verses of the Qur’an.
He [Imām ʿAlī] said, “Have I not told you that sometimes the outer meaning (tanzīl) of a thing in the book of God—the Mighty and Glorious—differs from its inner meaning (taʾwīl). It is not like human speech. I shall tell you a bit about this that shall suffice, God willing.
An example is what Abraham said: “I am going to my Lord; He will guide me” (). “Going to his Lord” meant “turning to Him in worship, striving [in His way], and coming near to God, the Mighty and Glorious”. Do you not see that the inner meaning differs from the outer meaning?
- In al-Tawḥīd [by Shaykh al-Ṣadūq], it is related with a chain of narration from al-Fatḥ ibn Yazīd al-Jurjānī from Imām Riḍā:
He [Imām al-Riḍā] said: “O Fatḥ, God has two forms of will (irādah) and two forms of volition (mashīʾah): an irrevocable will (irādah ḥatm) and a divine intent (irādah ʿazm). Sometimes He may forbid something but intend it to happen, or command something but intend it not to happen.
“Have you not seen that He forbade Adam and his wife from eating from the tree but actually intended for them to eat from it? Had He not intended that, they would not have eaten from it; if He had not intended it and they had eaten from it, their cravings would have gotten the best of God’s will.
“And He commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael but intended that Abraham not sacrifice him. Had He not willed that Abraham not sacrifice him, Abraham’s will would have overpowered God’s, the Mighty and Glorious.”
I said: “You have gladdened me; may God gladden you.”
- In the Amālī of al-Shaykh [al-Ṭūsī], it is related with a chain of narration leading to Sulaymān ibn Yazīd:
ʿAlī ibn Mūsā [Imām al-Riḍā] told us: “My father related from his father from Imām al-Bāqir from his father from his forefathers who said, ‘The sacrifice was Ishmael.’”
Author’s comments: A similar thing has been related in Majmaʿ al-Bayān from Imām al-Bāqir and Imām al-Ṣādiq. Many other narrations with this meaning have been related from the Imāms of Ahl al-Bayt. While some narrations say it was Isaac, they are discarded because they contradict the Qur’an.
- It is related in Man La Yaḥḍuruhu al-Faqīh: Imām al-Ṣādiq was asked who was sacrificed.
He said, “Ishmael, because God tells his story in His book, then says: ‘And We gave him glad tidings of Isaac, a prophet and one of the righteous’” ().
Author’s comments: This is what was mentioned in the explanation of the verse—that the sequence of the verses clearly indicates that it was Ishmael.
- In Majmaʿ al-Bayān, it is related from Ibn Isḥāq:
When Abraham used to visit Ishmael and Hājar, he was borne upon the Burāq. He would leave Shām in the morning and be in Mecca by the afternoon. Then, he would leave Mecca in the evening and spend the night back in Shām.
This continued until Ishmael matured, and Abraham had a dream that he was sacrificing him. He said to him, “O my son, take this rope and this knife, then come with me to this ravine to collect firewood.”
When Abraham was alone with his son in the ravine [in the] Thabīr [mountains], he told him what God had conveyed to him.
Ishmael said, “O my father, tie my bonds tight so that I do not quaver, and keep your outer robe away from me so that my blood will not splatter on it, lest my mother see it. Sharpen your blade, and hasten the cut of your knife along my throat so that it will be easier for me, for death is a heavy thing.”
Abraham said to him, “You are the best helper, O my son, with what God has commanded.”
Ibn Isḥāq continues the story until he reaches this point, where he says:
Abraham had bent over him with the knife, when Jibraʾīl deflected the knife, brought a sheep from the Thabīr [mountains], pushed Ishmael aside, and put the sheep in place of the boy. A call rang out from the left side of the Khayf Mosque: “O Abraham! You have fulfilled the vision!” ().
Author’s comments: There are many narrations telling this story, although there are some contradictions between them.
- In Majmaʿ al-Bayān, it is related from al-ʿAyyāshī via a chain of narration from Burayd ibn Muʿāwiyah al-ʿIjlī that Burayd said:
I asked Imām al-Ṣādiq, “How much time passed between the glad tidings Abraham received of Ishmael and Isaac?”
He [Imām al-Ṣādiq] said, “Five years passed between the two announcements of glad tidings. God, the Exalted, says, ‘So We gave him glad tidings of a son ready to endure and forebear’ (), meaning Ishmael; he was the first son whom Abraham received glad tidings of from God.”
Note that the explanation of verse 87 is not given in the original text. We assume that the meaning is very clear. [Pub.] ↩︎
This is a tacit refutation of what is related in Sunni hadith; for instance, in Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī (vol. 4, book 55, no. 578), which says that Abraham only lied on three occasions, one of which was when he said he was sick. ↩︎
ʿAllāmah’s intent here is to say that the sequence of events (speaking->hitting) is indicated by the letter fa-, translated as “then”. One of the interesting characteristics of this exegesis is the meticulous attention given to the uses of the grammatical conjunction fa-. [Trans] ↩︎
That is, it is a mā mawṣūlah, as opposed to other uses of mā, and there is an implied pronoun at the end of mā tanḥitūn, as if it were saying mā tanḥitūnahu. [Trans.] ↩︎
That is, the verses are structured along the lines of “when Abraham did that, something unspeakable happened, and God called out….” [Trans.] ↩︎
This comment from ʿAllāmah may seem redundant today since Muslims unanimously (or near-unanimously) hold that the son whom Abraham was ordered to sacrifice was Ishmael. However, apart from the fact that, in the Judaeo-Christian tradition, it is Isaac, the reality is that the Qur’an does not specify the name of the son who was to be sacrificed. For this, narrations must be consulted. While the majority of narrations do identify this son as Ishmael, a minority (probably inauthentic narrations drawing on the Judaeo-Christian tradition) identify him as Isaac; hence, there is value to this discussion. For more information, see ʿAllāmah’s discussion of the matter. [Trans.] ↩︎
Referring to Qur’an 3:7: He is the one who sent down to you the book. It has verses that are clear (muḥkam) that are the basis of the Book, and others which are allegorical or ambiguous (mutashābih)…. ↩︎
The winged horse that is said to have carried the Prophet Muḥammad on his night ascension to the heavenly realms. [Trans.] ↩︎
Syria, the Levant, and its environs. [Trans.] ↩︎