Volume 10 Surah 12 - 15 - Enjoy Islam

Ibrahīm (Abraham) | GRACE AND GRATITUDE
truly Much-Forgiving, Merciful. Our Lord, I have settled some of my offspring in a
valley without cultivation, by Your Sacred House, so that they may establish regular
prayers. So, cause You people’s hearts to incline towards them, and provide them with
fruits, so that they may give thanks. Our Lord, You certainly know all that we conceal
and all that we bring into the open: for nothing whatever, on earth or in heaven, can
be hidden from God. All praise is due to God who has given me, in my old age, Ishmael
and Isaac. Surely my Lord hears all prayers. My Lord, cause me and [some of] my
offspring to establish regular prayers. My Lord, accept my prayer. Our Lord, grant
Your forgiveness to me and my parents, and all the believers on the Day when the
reckoning will come to pass.’ (Verses 35-41)
Here Abraham is shown in front of the House he built for God in Makkah, and
whose custody has passed to the Quraysh, an Arabian tribe bent on disbelief in God,
yet benefiting by the House built for the worship of God alone. Abraham is shown
addressing his supplication with perfect devotion and heartfelt gratitude. This
should make the ungrateful reflect and revise their attitude. It should make the
unbelievers turn back to faith, and the oblivious remember God. It should make
people generally follow Abraham in his exemplary attitude.
Abraham begins his supplication by saying: “My Lord! Make this land secure.”
(Verse 35) Security and safety is so important for man, for it is intertwined with his
survival. The sūrah mentions this here so as to remind of it the people of Makkah
who enjoy it as if it was theirs by right, and who do not give thanks for it. They forget
that it is the result of answering the supplication made by Abraham, their first father.
Hence, they follow a course which is different from that of Abraham. They turn away
from pure faith, yet the second prayer in Abraham’s supplication is: “And preserve me
and my children from ever worshipping idols.” (Verse 35)
This second aspect with which Abraham opens his prayer reflects his total
submission to God, and his turning to Him in the deepest recesses of his heart. He
appeals to Him for help in steering away, together with his children, from idol
worship. He also makes it clear that to be so preserved is yet another of God’s
blessings. It is indeed a great blessing that one’s heart is saved from the darkness of
polytheism and its ignorance in order to be brought into the light of faith in God and
belief in His oneness. This blessing takes a human being out of error, loss and
confusion to the comfort of knowledge, reassurance and stability, and out of
humiliating submission to a variety of false lords to honourable submission to God,
the Lord of all worlds. Abraham appeals to God to maintain this blessing for him by
preserving him and his children from the worship of idols.
Abraham is fully aware of the great number of people in his generation and
previous generations who went astray when they were deluded by such idols.
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