Ali Ataie – Virtues from the Life of Prophet #Abraham
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
As we approach the season of Hajj, the
season of the pilgrimage,
let's remind ourselves of some of the great
virtues of our master, Abraham, peace be upon
him, a man whose very name means the
father of nations.
According to the sacred historical narrative of Islam,
Abraham, peace be upon him, or Ibrahim alaihi
salam,
traveled to the Arabian Peninsula with his eldest
son, Ishmael, peace be upon him, or Ishmael,
alayhis salam.
And both father and son built the walls
of the Kaaba in Mecca. The foundation of
which was laid by Adam, peace be upon
him, the first human being.
In more ancient times, Mecca was known as
Becca from the Arabic and Hebrew root word
meaning to weep.
The Quran says in translation,
say, God speaks the truth.
Follow the creed of Abraham, the quintessential
monotheist.
He was not an idol worshiper.
Indeed, the first house ever founded for humanity,
for the worship of the one true God,
was at Becca, the blessed,
a guide for all people.
Chapter 3 verses 95 to 96.
It was in this weeping valley that Ishmael,
as a very young child, cried for water
while his mother, known as Hagar in Hebrew,
ran frantically between 2 hills known as Safa
and Marwa
in search of water to give to her
son.
Eventually, a blessed spring was given to her
by god, the water of zemzen,
water that flows to this day.
The name Hagar in Hebrew is related to
the Arabic word,
meaning flight or migration.
It was Hagar and her son who migrated
from Canaan to the Meccan Valley by order
of God himself.
In Islamic understanding,
the Kaaba
in ancient Becca was one of the outlying
or tabernacles of the Lord that was visited
by some of the ancient Israelites.
Psalm 84 in the Tanakh describes the journey
of a group of Israelite pilgrims traveling to
Jerusalem
who, quote, passed through the
or
weeping weeping valley
and made it into a well.
Now we are told in the Quran that
after Abraham and Ishmael raised up the foundations
of the Kaaba,
they supplicated to god saying,
oh, our lord, accept this from us. You
are indeed the all hearing,
the all knowing.
Oh, our lord,
make us both fully Muslim to you
and from our descendants, a nation that will
submit to you as Muslims.
Show us our rights and rituals
and turn to us in grace. You are
truly the acceptor of repentance,
the most merciful.
Chapter 2 verses 127 and 128.
We're fur further told in the Quran
that god said to humanity,
and remember when we assign to Abraham the
sight of the house
saying, do not associate anything with me in
worship,
and purify my house for those who circle
it, stand in prayer therein, and bow and
prostrate themselves,
and announce the pilgrimage to all mankind.
They will come to you on foot on
every they will come to you on foot
and on every lean mount
And they will come from every distant pathway.
So they may obtain the benefits in store
for them and pronounce the name of God
on appointed days over the sacrificial animals that
he has provided for them.
So eat from their meat and feed the
desperately poor.
Then let them end their untidiness and let
them fulfill their vows and let them circumambulate
the ancient house. Chapter 22 verses 26 to
29.
So we can see from the Quranic narrative
that the pilgrimage to Mecca with its rights
and rituals
has its origin in none other than Abraham,
peace peace be upon him.
However, over time,
the descendants of Ishmael in that region, the
Arabs,
began to fall away from the pure Abrahamic
monotheism
or Tawhid.
And eventually, the Kaaba became surrounded by 100
of idols that the Arabs would pray to
as intercessors
between them and Allah,
whom they deemed too majestic to call upon
directly.
According to the Quran,
there was one more thing that Abraham and
Ishmael prayed for at the Kaaba.
They said, oh, our lord, raise from among
them a messenger
who will recite to them your revelations.
Teach them the book and wisdom
and purify them. Indeed, you alone are the
almighty,
the all wise. Chapter 2 verse 129.
This prayer of Abraham and Ishmael was answered
by god when he raised the prophet Muhammad,
sallallahu alaihi sallam, peace be upon him, in
Mecca as a universal messenger.
In fact, the name Ishmael in Hebrew or
Ishmael
means god will hear or answer,
and so his prayer was answered by god.
The prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was
the prophet of the Abrahamic restoration.
He was the greatest monotheist in the history
of the world.
The prophet Muhammad recited to humanity the Quran,
god's final revelation.
He taught us the meanings of scripture by
his speech and actions. And like his ancestor
Abraham,
his theological teachings purified humanity
of both explicit and subtle idolatry.
This Muslim narration of Abraham and Ishmael building
the Kaaba is not mentioned in the book
of Genesis, in the Torah.
Now the Quran's judgments of biblical narratives are
a bit complicated
and beyond the scope of this brief exposition.
In short, the Quran sees itself as both
a confirmation
of biblical tradition
as well as a corrective.
Modern historians and textual critics have argued compellingly
that the sources of the 5 books attributed
to Moses, peace be upon him, were in
fact composed
100 several 100 of years after the death
of Moses.
And then someone around the time of the
second temple, maybe 500 before the common era,
a a redactor, probably the scribe Ezra,
collated these sources and created what today we
call the Pentateuch or Chumash or the 5
scrolls, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
and Deuteronomy.
This is called the documentary hypothesis,
and it remains a popular and widely accepted
source criticism of the Pentateuch in the Western
Academy.
Nonetheless,
we are told in Genesis 17 in the
Torah
that God promised to hear Abraham's prayer regarding
Ishmael.
This, of course, a play on his name,
God will hear.
God says to Abraham,
I have blessed him, meaning Ishmael,
and will make him fruitful
and will multiply him exceedingly.
Twelve princes shall he beget,
and I will make him a great nation.
Genesis
17/20.
In traditional rabbinical Judaism,
the rabbis teach that scripture contains
four levels of meaning.
This is known by the acronym pardis.
That is peshat,
the plain or obvious meaning,
remez, an illusion or indication of something in
the future or foreshadowing,
drash,
this is when religious principles or ethics are
derived from the text,
and sod,
a more subtle or esoteric meaning. And there
is an analog to this attributed to the
Muslim scholar and sage, Imam Jafar as Sadiq,
who said that the Quran contains 4 levels
of meaning as well. The plain meanings, illusions,
subtleties,
and realities. That is the lafth, isharat,
lataif, and haqqa'ik.
Now just as Muslim exegetes see the prophet
Muhammad, peace be upon him, as the fulfillment
of the supplication of Abraham and Ishmael mentioned
in the Quran.
Some Jewish authorities
also see the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon
him, as a fulfillment of Genesis 17/20
mentioned earlier.
God said to Abraham that he blessed Ishmael.
That is to say in Arabic that Ishmael
was Mubarak.
At the level of the pashat,
the text clearly states that from Ishmael,
there will come a great nation, a goi
gadol.
At the level of remez, this indicates the
blessed and great ummah of the prophet
Muhammad,
peace be upon him, who again was the
most successful monotheist
in the history of humanity.
Judaism
could not simply ignore him.
In mystical Judaism,
gematria
or numerological
interpretation of sacred text is also often considered.
Now as Muslims, however, we should take such
things with a grain of salt.
Perhaps there is something to this, but we
should not be overly dogmatic or insistent about
such things.
As one of my teachers said, too much
salt on a meal spoils the dish.
Nonetheless,
some interesting numerological
correspondences
have been pointed out to me by some
of my Jewish colleagues
about Genesis 17/20.
These things would probably fall under the more
subtle interpretive level of sod.
In Genesis 17/20,
god said to Abraham that he would multiply
Ishmael exceedingly.
He
the Hebrew says,
The phrase
translated as exceedingly,
has a numerical value of 92.
The phrase, as a great nation,
the
also has a numerical value of 92.
Interestingly,
the numerical value of the name Mohammed in
Hebrew,
spelled memhet mem Dalet is also 92.
This subtly did this subtlety did not escape
the notice of Hebrew exigence.
Furthermore,
the value of the Hebrew name Abram, the
original name of Abraham according to Beresheet or
Genesis, meaning exalted father, is 243,
while Hagar is 208.
This totals
451,
which is the which is the exact numerical
value of Ishmael or Ishmael.
Abram plus Hagar equals Ishmael.
Finally, we notice that in Genesis 17/20 mentions
that Ishmael, the son of Hagar,
will beget 12 princes.
Remarkably, Ishmael is mentioned exactly 12 times in
the Quran, while Hagar is mentioned exactly 12
times
in the Torah.
The famous 11th century Tunisian rabbi in Talmudic,
wrote the following in his commentary of Beresheet
or Genesis 17/20.
He said,
we see from our historical records that this
prophecy came true
after a delay of 2,333
years.
The translator then interjected with this commentary.
Abraham was circumcised
in the year 2047
according to the Seder Hadarot,
and the Mohammedan faith originated in the year
4384,
exactly 2,333
years later.
Back to rabbi Chananel,
who says, quote, this delay was not due
to sins of the original Ishmaelites.
They had been looking forward to the fulfillment
of this prophecy
for all these years.
We lost our independence due to our sins,
however,
end quote.
Now one of the greatest challenges of our
current zeitgeist
is the rise of anti religious postmodern philosophies.
The most infamous of the postmodern
philosophers
said, quote, it is meaningless to speak in
the name of or against
reason,
truth, or knowledge.
Reason, truth, and knowledge are meaningless, he says.
It's true, unfortunately, we seem to now be
living in the age of feelings.
As Muslims,
I think we can say that reason is
limited,
but it is certainly not meaningless.
Muslim theologians maintain that,
that
is reason and revelation,
are not in conflict, but that the proper
use of the former former will lead to
the recognition of the latter
because they come from the same source ultimately.
And I think Maimonides would agree with this.
According to the Quran, the prophets of god
use logic and reason
to appeal to their respective communities
because logic and reason have efficacy.
And our master Abraham, peace be upon him,
is a prime example of this.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Quran
in surah number 6 in meaning,
thus did we show Abraham the dominion of
the heavens and the earth that he might
be among those possessing certitude.
When the night drew dark upon him, he
saw a star. He said,
This is my lord. But when it set,
he said, I love not things that set.
Then when he saw the moon rising, he
said,
This is my lord. But when it set,
he said, if my lord does not guide
me, I shall surely be among the people
who are astray.
Then when then when he saw the sun
rising, he said,
this is my lord. This is greater. But
when it set, he said, oh my people,
truly, I am free of the partners you
ascribe. Truly, as a hanif, I am free
of the partners you ascribe. Truly, as a,
a quintessential monotheist, I have turned my face
toward him who created
the heavens and the earth.
Now don't get the wrong idea. There is
no question of Abraham even considering the worship
of the sun, the moon, or the stars
as Muslim exegetes have pointed out. This is
Abraham's rhetorical argument against the idolatry of his
people, the ancient Babylonians.
He is drawing out through intellectual deduction or
reasoning
the flaws of their beliefs. He ascents, yes,
there is order and predictability
in nature.
The ancient Greeks called this logos.
There is logos in the cosmos. In other
words, the universe has order, But natural phenomena
also changes.
It is mutable.
It sets
in the language of the Quran.
And that which changes
cannot be the eternal. And if something is
not the eternal,
then it is created, and it cannot be
worshiped in its right.
To say it another way, that which is
perfect
cannot change
because it either changes for the worse or
it improves.
But if it improves, that means it could
have been better,
therefore not perfect.
Imam Tabari even says that there is a
hint of sarcasm in Abraham's argument here. This
adds to its rhetorical power,
as if to say, come on, you know
better than to worship
mutable celestial bodies.
Worship the immutable
supernatural
creator.
And of course, one of the names of
God in the Quran is the
perfect.
And there can and there can only be
one perfect being
because in order for 2 beings to differ,
there must,
exist a lack of something between them.
In other words, if I know something if
if I know something that you don't and
vice versa,
then neither neither one of us is perfect.
Neither one of us can be described as
as salam.
There's deficiencies in our knowledge.
If a skeptic were to posit 2 perfect
beings,
then we could ask, well, which one has
power over the other?
One of
them? Both of them?
Neither one of them?
Every answer is wrong, and we come to
a logical impasse.
Elsewhere, the Quran says, have you not considered
the one who debated with Abraham about his
lord
because Allah had given him sovereignty? And according
to a few exegetes,
this king was Nimrod, the king of Babylon.
When Abraham said, my lord gives life and
causes death, the king said, I give life
and cause death.
And then the exe exegesis says that this
king, he called for 2 slaves and he
killed 1 on the spot and he released
1 on the spot.
Abraham responded, truly Allah brings the sun from
the east.
Bring it then from the west.
Then he who disbelieved was confounded,
and Allah does not guide a wrongdoing people,
chapter 2 verse 258.
In this debate, Abraham points out the limitations
of human volition or choice.
Nimrod claimed to be God. In fact, many
exegetes say that he was the first man
in history to make such a claim. Perhaps
this is why the word nimrod in modern
English slang means an idiot or a fool.
If Nimrod is limited in his choices and
potential,
then he is not perfect.
If he's not perfect, then he is ontologically,
that is essentially,
inferior to a true deity.
Therefore, his mulk, his sovereignty,
could not have originated with him. It was
given to him and
as the Quran says.
Abraham demonstrates this quite dramatically by demanding Nimrod
to bring the sun from the west,
essentially saying, you think you have power over
life and death? Let's see you have power
over the sun.
This is easy for Allah because Allah has
absolute unrestricted unrestricted volition within his nature.
Allah is omnipotent.
This is one of his qualitative attributes.
Nimrod has no rejoinder in this debate.
Finally, we're told that Abraham, peace be upon
him, destroyed the idols of his people.
He was a younger man at this time
living in the city of Ur in ancient
Mesopotamia.
Abraham said to them, do you worship that
which you carve?
Allah created you and your actions.
The argument here is how can something that
you made be worthy of your worship?
It only exists because of you. You are
its efficient cause.
Thus, you are greater,
yet Allah made you.
Thus, Allah is greater.
And since Allah is the only real creator,
because there can only be one creator, or
else we are stuck in the intellectually repugnant
paradox of infinite regress,
since Allah is the only real creator
and what Avicenna called the efficient cause of
all creation,
then only he is worthy of worship.
I'll end this, with a
quick reading of the famous passage in the
Quran,
which describes the dream of Abraham, peace be
upon him, to sacrifice
his son.
This will bring us full circle,
back to the Hajj.
Insha'Allah.
So
God says starting in chapter 37 verse 99
of the Quran,
Abraham said, I will migrate for the sake
of my lord. Soon, he will guide me.
Oh my lord, bestow upon me righteous offspring.
So we gave him glad tidings of a
forbearing
son.
Interestingly,
the son is not named here in the
quranic discourse.
Imam At Tabari said it was Isaac,
while most commentators said Ishmael.
This is not so important for us as
Muslims. The importance of the story is its,
its lesson, principle,
or salient point.
We shouldn't allow ourselves to get caught up
in identity politics and ignore the bigger picture.
When the sun had reached the age of
serious work, Abraham said, oh, my dear son,
I keep seeing in my dreams that I
am sacrificing you.
And the verb here is in the imperfect
tense,
which suggests that Abraham was continuously having this
dream.
What do you think about that? He asked
his son.
The Arabic literally says, look, what do you
see?
In other words, are you having the same
dream?
Because Ishmael was also a prophet.
In Genesis 22,
the so called aqeda passage,
Isaac does not know what is happening.
He asks his father, where is the lamb
for the burnt offering?
The quranic account is a bit different. The
Quran
continues,
He said the son said, oh my dear
father,
do what you are commanded.
You will find me if god wills from
the patient ones.
Then when they both submitted their wills and
Abraham laid him down on his forehead,
And we called out to him, oh Abraham,
You have been true to your vision.
Indeed, this is how we reward the doers
of good.
Imam al Razi, one of the great exegetes,
he said that by demonstrating
complete obedience to god,
Abraham, peace be upon him, was true to
his vision,
fulfilled his vision. This is what god ultimately
wanted,
a willingness to obey,
not the actual sacrifice of Abraham's son.
Indeed, this was an evident test.
You see, the ancient pagans used to sacrifice
their children
as a demonstration of their obedience to their
false gods.
God tested Abraham
saying, in essence,
do you love me enough to be willing
to sacrifice your son if I asked you?
Your love for me, the one and only
true God, should exceed the love of the
pagans for their false gods.
Abraham passed the test.
Multiple exigits mentioned that Satan appeared to Abraham
while going to the place of sacrifice
with his son and tried to convince Abraham
to disobey God. So Abraham picked up a
handful of pebbles and threw them at Satan.
This is commemorated at the Hajj in Mecca
by pilgrims who symbolically reenact the event by
throwing pebbles at pillars called the
The narrative continues.
And we ransomed him, his son, with a
great sacrifice,
and we left him thus to be remembered
among later generations.
Peace be upon Abraham.
The commentary says that an angel brought a
ram to be sacrificed in the place of
Abraham's son. And so the substitution of a
ram for Abraham's son serves as the basis
for the ritual of the slaughtering of an
animal that is required as the final rite
of the Hajj. This is called the
or Korbani.
So to summarize and end,
the great virtues of Abraham are many.
He was a monotheist,
par excellence,
the great iconoclast.
He was a model of faith and obedience
to God.
He was a man of supreme intelligence, reason,
and rational discourse.
He was a man of empathy and concern
for the plight of humanity.
And finally, his
or tradition
was restored
and universalized by his noble descendant, the holy
prophet Muhammad,
the final messenger of god and prophet of
the Abrahamic restoration.
May god the almighty bless all of you.