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Story of Prophet Ibrahim
Ibrahim, known as Khalilullãh (friend of Allah, 4:1 25), lived in the country south of present day ‘Iraq. His father, Azar, used to make idols and sell them. The people of the area used to worship these idols, which they had made themselves, in a temple. Ibrahim was an intelligent young man. It was strange for him to see people bowing down before stone idols which could neither move nor talk. They could not even drive away the flies which sat on their eyes and noses. Ibrahrm wondered why people were so foolish to worship such powerless statues. Ibrahim enquiring mind was in search of Allah. He thought and thought. It occurred to him that the shining moon might be his Lord. But when the moon vanished he said to himself, “No, a vanishing thing cannot be my Lord.” He looked at the sun and said, “It is the biggest and it is my Lord.” But when the sun also went down, Ibrahim said to himself, “No, this cannot be my Lord.” He came to the conclusion that only the Ever-lasting, Ever-present and All-knowing Almighty can be his Lord. The stars, the moon and the sun cannot be the Lord (6:76—79). Ibrahim once asked his father, “0 my father, why do you worship idols which can neither speak nor hear?” Azar became angry and warned Ibrahim not to ask such questions. Ibrahim wished he could show his people the stupidity of worshipping idols. He thought of an idea which would give the people a practical lesson. Once, when people were busy celebrating a festival, Ibrahim went to the temple where the idols were kept. He asked the idols, “How do you do? Here is food and drink. Why don’t you help yourselves?” The stone idols were silent, of course. Ibrahim now took an axe and began to break all the idols except the biggest which he spared for a purpose. .When he had finished, he left the axe hanging round the neck of the biggest idol (21:58). On their return from the festival, people came to the temple to worship the idols and were astonished to see the pitiful condition of their gods. They were shocked, grieved and furious. “Who has done this mischief?” they asked themselves. They thought of Ibrahim, the only one who talked disrespectfully about the idols. They confronted Ibrahim, asking “Who broke the idols?” Ibrahim calmly replied, “Ask the biggest one. “The people knew that the idols could not talk. They said, “0 Ibrahim, don’t you know that the idols can’t talk?” Ibrahim retorted, “Why do you worship them, then? They can’t talk, move or understand anything. Why do you ask them for favour? ”The people had no answer. They were sure that it was Ibrahim who broke the idols. They could not let the matter rest easily. They called a meeting and decided to burn Ibrahim alive. They had to defend their gods (21:59—68). However, Ibrahim was favoured by Allah, so nothing could harm him as he had done the right thing. A big fire was prepared and Ibrahim was thrown into it. But a miracle happened! The fire did not burn him. .Allah protected him. People were amazed to see it and they could not believe their eyes. But it was so. Ibrahim was safe and his persecutors felt sad and helpless (21:69—70). In this way, Ibrahim was given the light of the truth by Allah. Ibrahim was a messenger and servant of Allah (16:120—122; 19:41). He loved Allah more than anything else. He was ready to sacrifice his son Isma’il on Allah’s command. Allah accepted Ibrahim’s readiness and sent a ram to be sacrificed instead (37:101—107). We observe the festival of ‘Idul-Adhã to commemorate this. It was Prophet Ibrahim who rebuilt al-Ka’bah in Makkah with his son Ismail (22:26 27; 2:125—129; 14:35—37Bold textItalic text