Anger was burning in their hearts. They decided to throw Abraham into the biggest fire they could build. According to Shu'ayb al-Jaba'i, the name of the man who offered to burn Abraham was Hayzan, and Allah caused the earth to swallow him up. He will be tossed around therein until the.Day of Resurrection. Then all the citizens were ordered to gather wood as a service to their gods. Ignorant, sick women vowed that if they were cured they would donate so much wood to burn Abraham. For several days they collected fuel. They dug a deep pit, filled it with firewood and ignited it.
They brought manzaniq (a catapult) with which to cast Abraham into the fire. Abraham was put on the catapult, his hands and feet were tied. The fire was ready with its flame reaching the sky. The people stood away from the pit because of the great heat. The force of its heat got so much that a bird passing over it would have been burned. then they brought Abraham and set him on the catalput. Gabriel came to Abraham while he was being tied up and shackled to be thrown into the fire, and he said, "O Abraham! Do you need anything?" Abraham replied, "From you, no!" Then Abraham raised his head to heaven , and heaven and earth and the mountains and the angels all said , "Our Lord! Abraham, the only one on Your earth who worships you, is being burned in fire for Your sake. Permit us to help him !" And Allah said , "I am most knowledgeable about him. If he calls on you, help him, for I have given permission for that. But if he calls on no one but Me, I am his Friend; leave it between Me and him. I will protect him." When he raised his head to heaven, Abraham said, "My Lord! You are alone in heaven and I am alone on earth-there is no one besides me who worships You. Allah is sufficient for me, and how goodly is He in Whom I trust ."
Then the chief priest gave his order to cast Abraham into the fire. The catapult was shot and Abraham was cast into the fire. But his descent into the blaze was as descent on steps in a cool garden. The flames were still there, but they did not burn for Allah issued His command, "O fire, be coolness and safety upon Abraham." (Surah Al-Anbya [21]:69). According to al-Suddi, When they pushed Abraham into the fire, Allah called out to it saying , "O fire! Be coolness and peace for Abraham ," and it was Gabriel who called out. Ibn `Abbas said, "If its cold had not been followed by peace, Abraham would have died of the cold. Every fire on earth that day went out, thinking that it was the one that was meant."
The fire submitted to the will of Allah, becoming cool and safe for Abraham. It only burned his bonds, and he sat in the midst of the fire as if he were sitting in a garden. He glorified and praised Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, with a heart that contained only his love for Allah. There was not any vacant space therein for fear, awe, or worry. It was filled with love only. Fear and awe were dead, and the fire was turned into coolness, making the air pleasant. Those who love Allah as Abraham do did not fear.
The throng, the chiefs, and the priests sad watching the fire from a distance. It was burning their faces and nearly suffocating them. It kept burning for such a long time that the disbeliveers thought it would never be extinguished. According to at-Tabari, when the fire was extinguished, they looked at Abraham and saw that there was another man with him, with Abraham's head in his lap. He was wiping the sweat from his face. It is mentioned that that man was al-Zhil, the angel of shade. Allah had sent down fire to mankind, which, in general, had benefitted from it.
When it did burn out, they were greatly amazed to find Abraham coming out of the pit untouched by the fire. Their faces were black from the smoke, but his was bright with the light and grace of Allah. The raging fire had become cool for Abraham and had only charred the ropes which held him. He walked out of the fire as if he were walking out of a garden. Cries of astonishment were heard from the heathens. This miracle shamed the tyrants, but it did not cool the flame of anger in their hearts. However, after his event many of the people followed Abraham, although some kept their belief a secret for fear of harm or death at the hands of the rulers. Abraham had established a definite reasoning against idolaters. Nothing was left for him except to reason against the people who proclaimed themselves gods.
According to Ibn `Abbas and some of the companions, the first king who ruled over all the earth, east and west, was Nimrod ibn Canaan ibn Cush ibn Shem ibn Noah. There were four such kings who ruled all the earth: Nimrod, Solomon ibn David, Dhu al-Qarnayn, and Nebuchadnezzar-two believers and two infidels. Abraham lived in time when Nimrod ruled.
When Nimmrod, heard of Abraham's safe exit from the fire he became very angry. He feared that the status of godhead he had proclaimed for himself was not challenged by an ordinary human being. He summoned Abraham to the palace and held a dialogue with him. According to at-Tabari, then Nimrod said to Abraham, "Have you seen this God Whom you worship and to Whose worship you call others, and of Whose power you speak, and Whom you glorify above any other? Who is He?" Abraham replied to him, "My Lord, Who gives life and causes death." And Nimrod said, "I, too, give life and cause death." Abraham asked, "How do you give life and death?" He replied, "I shall take two men-two were condemned to death by my order-and I'll kill one of them, so I will have caused him to die, and I'll pardon the other and free him, so I will have made him live." But upon hearing that, Abraham said to him, "Allah causes the sun to rise in the East, so can you make it rise in the West?" Nimrod abashed, and he gave no answer; he knew that he was not able to do that. Allah will not guide the wrongdoing people.
Abraham's fame spread throughout the entire kingdom. People talked about how he had been saved from the blazing fire and how he had debated with the king and left him speechless. In the meantime, Abraham went back to his family. On the way he passed a dust - colored sand dune and said to himself, " Let me take some of this and bring it to my family , to make them feel better when I come to them." So he took some of it to bring to his family. He put his baggage down and slept. His wife arose, went to his baggage and opened it, and found there the best food anyone had ever seen. So she prepared some of it and presented it to him. To his knowledge the family had no food, so he asked, " From where did this come ?" She answered, "From the food which you brought." So he knew that Allah had supplied it to him, and he praised Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
According to Zaid Ibn Aslam, then Allah sent an angel to Nimrod, saying, " Believe in Allah and I will leave you in your realm." Nimrod said, "Is there any lord besides me?" The angel came a second time and said the same, and again Nimrod refused . And he came a third time, and yet again Nimrod refused. So the angel said to him, "Gather your assembly in three days." The tyrant gathered his assembly, and Allah gave a command to the angel and he unleashed upon them a swarm of gnats. The sun was blotted out by their numbers. Allah sent the gnats against them, and they ate their flesh and drank their blood, and nothing but their bones was left.
The king was as before, however; none of that befell him. But Allah sent to him a single gnat which entered his nostril and went on beating the inside of his head with hammers for four hundred years. The most merciful to him of his friends was he who bunched up his hands and beat Nimrod's head with them. He had been a tyrant for four hundred years and Allah punished him for four hundred years-just as long as he had reigned -and then He caused him to die.
Abraham continued calling people to believe in Allah, exerting a great effort to guide his people to the right path. He tried every means to convince them. However in spite of his love and care for his people, they felt angry and deserted him. Only one woman and one man of his people shared his belief in Allah. The woman's name was Sarah and she became his wife. The man's name was Lot and he became a prophet. Sarah was the daughter of Abraham's paternal uncle, Haran, where the city of Harran is attributed to his name.
When Abraham realized that no one else was going to believe in his call, he decided to emigrate. He left his people and traveled with his wife and Lot to a city called Ur, then another called Haran, and then to Palestine. After Palestine, Abraham traveled to Egypt, calling people to believe in Allah wherever he traveled, judging fairly between people, and guiding them to truth and righteousness. Abu Hurairah narrated that Abraham did not tell a lie except on three occasions, twice for the sake of Allah, when he said, "I am sick," when his people were holding a festival in honor of their gods, Abraham excused himself by saying he was sick; and when he said, "I have not done this but the big idol has done it." The third was that while Abraham and Sarah, his wife, were going on a journey, they passed by the territory of a tyrant. Someone said to the tyrant, "This man (Abraham) is accompanied by a very charming lady." So, the tyrant sent for Abraham and asked him about Sarah saying "Who is this lady?" Abraham said, "She is my sister." Abraham went to Sarah said, "O Sarah! There are no believers on the surface of the earth except you and me. This man asked me about you and I have told him that you are my sister do not contradict my statement." the tyrant then called Sarah, and when she went to him, he tried to take a hold of her with his hand, but his hand got stiff and he was confounded. He asked Sarah, "Pray to Allah for me and I shall not harm you." So Sarah asked Allah to cure him and he got cured. He tried to take hold of her for the second time, but his hand got as stiff as or stiffer than before and he was more comfounded. He again requested Sarah, "Pray to Allah for me, and I will not harm you." Sarah asked Allah to again, and he became all right. He then called one of his guards who had brought her and said: "You have not brought me a human being but have brought me a devil." The tyrant then gave Hagar as a maid servant to Sarah. Abraham, gesturing with his hand, asked, "What has happened?" She replied: "Allah has spoiled the evil plot of the immoral person and gave me Hagar for service."
Abraham's wife Sarah was sterile. She had been given an Egyptian woman Hagar, as a servant. Abraham had aged and his hair was gray and after many years spent in calling people to Allah. Sarah thought she and Abraham were lonely because she could not have a child. Therefore, she offered her husband her servant Hajar in marriage. Hajar gave birth to her first son Ishmael when Abraham was an old man.
According to Ibn Ishaq, when Abraham's wife Sarah bint Haran died, Abraham married a Canaanite woman, Qatiirah bint Yaqtan. She bore his six children, Yaqsan ibn Abraham, Zamran ibn Abraham, Madyan ibn Abraham, Yasbaq ibn Abraham, Suh ibn Abraham, and Basar ibn Abraham. So, Abraham had eight sons altogether, including Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael was his firstborn, the eldest of all his offspring. Yaqsan ibn Abraham married Ra'wah bint Zamar ibn Yaqtan ibn Liidhan ibn Jurhum ibn Yaqtan ibn Eber, and she bore him the Berhers and their mixed groups. Zamran ibn Abraham gave birth to the pipers, who are not known. To Madyan were born the people of Midian, who were the folk of the prophet Shu'ayb ibn Mika'il-all of them were descended from Madyan, and Allah sent Shu'ayb to them as a prophet.
After Abraham had put to the test, after trying to be burnt by his people in the fire, and when Allah commanded him to sacrifice his son, Ishmael, after he had become old enough to walk, and when He made him raise the foundations of the House and devote himself to its rituals, after all of this, Allah put Abraham to the test with still further commands which He has mentioned, for He said, in Surah Al-Baqarah [2]:124, "And [mention, O Muhammad], when Abraham was tried by his Lord with commands and he fulfilled them. [ Allah ] said, "Indeed, I will make you a leader for the people." [Abraham] said, "And of my descendants?" [ Allah ] said, "My covenant does not include the wrongdoers."
According to Ibn Abbas, this quote, "And [mention, 'O Muhammad], when Abraham was tried by his Lord with commands,' means that Allah tested him with the acts of ritual purification , five in the head and five in the body. Those in the head are trimming the mustache, rinsing the mouth, cleansing the nostrils with water, using the toothstick , and parting the hair (with the fingers). Those in the body are paring the nails, shaving the pubic hair, circumcision, plucking the armpit, and washing off the traces of feces and urine with water.
In Sahih al-Bukhari, Abu Huraira, radiallahu’anhu, narrated from the Prophet (ﷺ) saying, “Five practices are characteristics of the Fitra: circumcision, shaving the pubic hair, cutting the moustaches short, clipping the nails, and depilating the hair of the armpits.”
Imam Malik said from Yahya ibn Sa'id ibn Musayyab, he said, "Abraham was the first to receive a visitor, circumcised, trimming a mustache, and who first saw gray hair. Abraham said,"O my Lord, what is this? "Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala replied: "It is a greatness, O Abraham." Abraham prayed: "O my Lord, add greatness to me." It was added also, "Abraham is the first person to attenuate his mustache, shave his pubic hair and wear pants."
One day, Abraham begged Allah to show him how He brought the dead back to life. Allah commanded Abraham to take four birds, cut them up and mingle their body parts, divide them into four portions and place them on top of four different hills, then call back the birds in Allah's name. Abraham did as he was told. Immediately the mingled parts of the birds separated to join their original bodies in different places and the birds flew back to Abraham.In Surah Al-Baqarah [2]:260, Allah revealed, "And [mention] when Abraham said, "My Lord, show me how You give life to the dead." [ Allah ] said, "Have you not believed?" He said, "Yes, but [I ask] only that my heart may be satisfied." [ Allah ] said, "Take four birds and commit them to yourself. Then [after slaughtering them] put on each hill a portion of them; then call them - they will come [flying] to you in haste. And know that Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise."
Abraham lived on earth worshipping Allah and calling people to monotheism, but he was journeying to Allah, knowing that his days on earth were limited and that they would be followed by death and finally resurrection. The knowledge of life after death filled Abraham with peace and love, and certitude."
Then the pilgrim said, "O young man, we ask Allah to let our path, in this life, end in the Garden of Eden. We beg Him to make us among those who take sufficient provisions from this life, for the dwelling of everlasting delights and constant shade. We ask Allah to make us and our parents and relatives in the grades encompassed by His Mercy, those who shall have no fear, nor ever grieve."
"O Allah! Send Your Mercy on Muhammad and on the family of Muhammad, as You sent Your Mercy on Abraham and on the family of Abraham, for You are the Most Praise-worthy, the Most Glorious. O Allah! Send Your Blessings on Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, as You sent your Blessings on Abraham and on the family of Abraham, for You are the Most Praise-worthy, the Most Glorious."
(Part 1)"The believers are only the ones who have believed in Allah and His Messenger and then doubt not but strive with their properties and their lives in the cause of Allah . It is those who are the truthful." - [QS.49:15]
Bahasa
Reference :- Ibn Kathir, Stories of The Prophets, Darussalam
- The History of Al-Tabari Volume II : Prophets and Patriarchs, translated and annotated by William M. Brinner, SUNY Press
- Abu Muhammad Asim Al Maqdisi, Millat Ibrahim, At-Tibyan.
