And mention in the Book Ibrâhîm. He was a man of truth, a prophet.
His story returns in surah after surah. Few prophets are told about at such length.
Historians place his birth in Mesopotamia, in the land of present-day Iraq. The Qur'an names no land.
His people worshipped idols, and so did his father. In 6:74, the Qur'an calls him Âzar.
When he said to his father: “O my father, why do you worship
what does not hear, does not see, and cannot help you at all?”
He begins with a question, not an insult. And he opens each call with “O my father.”
In Arabic: yâ abati, a gentle way to say it. He repeats it four times, in verses 42 to 45.
O my father, knowledge has come to me that has not come to you. So follow me; I will guide you to an even path.
He does not say: I am better than you. He says: something has come to me. Knowledge is a gift, not a rank.
Then: “Do not worship Satan.” And: “I fear that a punishment from the Most Merciful will touch you.”
Notice the name he chooses: the Most Merciful. Even when he warns, he speaks of mercy.
He said: “Do you turn away from my gods, O Ibrâhîm?
If you do not stop, I will surely stone you.
So leave me for a long time.”
Four gentle calls. One answer: a threat, and an order to leave.
He said: “Peace be upon you.
I will ask my Lord to forgive you.
He has always been gracious to me.”
Threatened with stoning, he answers with peace. He does not return the blow.
Then he leaves: “I will withdraw from you and from what you invoke besides Allah, and I will invoke my Lord.”
The Qur'an says he kept his word: he asked forgiveness for his father, because he had promised it.
“But when it became clear to him that he was an enemy of Allah, he dissociated himself from him.”
And the verse ends: “Ibrâhîm was compassionate and forbearing.”
Sûrat al-Mumtahana makes him an example for you, except for this prayer for his father (60:4).
The first person Ibrâhîm (peace be upon him) called to Allah was not a stranger.
It was his own father. How do you speak to a father who is wrong?
He could not open his father's heart. He kept his own heart clean.
Tonight, think of someone close you disagree with, and pray for them by name, gently.