The story of the sacrificed, Isma'il son of Ibrahim

"And he said: I am going to my Lord: He will guide me. Lord, grant me a child from among the righteous. So We gave him glad tidings of a forbearing boy. Then, when he reached the age of accompanying him, he said: O my son, I see in a dream that I am slaughtering you: so look, what do you think.

He said: O my father, do what you are commanded: you will find me, if Allah wills, among the patient. Then, when they had both submitted and he laid him upon his forehead, We called him: O Ibrahim, you have believed in your vision: thus do We reward the doers of good. This was indeed the manifest trial. And We ransomed him with a great sacrifice.

And We left for him praise among the later generations: peace upon Ibrahim: thus do We reward the doers of good: he is among Our believing servants. And We gave him glad tidings of Ishaq, a prophet from among the righteous. And We blessed him and Ishaq: and of their descendants are the doers of good, and those who wrong themselves manifestly."

Surat as-Saffat, 99-113

The Most High mentions concerning His intimate friend Ibrahim that, when he emigrated from the land of his people, he asked his Lord to grant him a righteous child: Allah the Most High gave him glad tidings of a forbearing boy: and he is Isma'il (peace be upon him): for he is the first born to him, at the age of 86 of the Khalil: and this is what there is no dispute about among the people of the creeds: he is the first of his children and his firstborn. "Then, when he reached the age of accompanying him", that is: he grew up and began attending to his affairs as his father did. "Then, when he reached the age of accompanying him", that is: he grew up and traveled: and could bear what his father did of going and coming and labor. When that was, it was shown to Ibrahim (peace be upon him) in a dream that he was commanded to slaughter this son.

And in the hadith from Ibn 'Abbas, in elevated form: the dream of the prophets is revelation. 'Ubayd ibn 'Umayr said it as well.

And this is a trial from Allah (may His glory be proclaimed) for His intimate friend: that he slaughter this cherished son who came to him in old age, he who had already reached old age after being commanded to settle him and his mother in a barren land, a valley with no living being and no companion, no cultivation and no pasture: he obeyed the command of Allah in that, left the two of them there with trust in Allah and reliance upon Him: Allah made for the two of them relief and a way out: and provided for them from where they did not reckon: then, after all this, when he was commanded to slaughter this son whom he had devoted to the command of his Lord, who was his firstborn and his only one, who had none other than him, he answered his Lord, obeyed His command and hastened to His obedience: then he presented it to his son, so that it would be sweeter to his heart and lighter upon him than taking him by force and slaughtering him by subjugation: "O my son, I see in a dream that I am slaughtering you: so look, what do you think.

The forbearing boy then outdid himself in goodness toward his father, the Khalil Ibrahim: "O my father, do what you are commanded: you will find me, if Allah wills, among the patient. And this answer is at the height of uprightness and of obedience to the father and to the Lord of the servants. "Then, when they had both submitted and he laid him upon his forehead": the two submitted, that is: they submitted to the command of Allah and resolved upon it: this is an inversion of the preceding and the following: the meaning of "he laid him upon his forehead" is: he laid him upon his face: he wanted to slaughter him from the nape so as not to watch him at the moment of his slaughter: thus said Ibn 'Abbas, Mujahid, Sa'id ibn Jubayr, Qatada and ad-Dahhak.

Rather he laid him down as sacrificial animals are laid down: and the edge of his temple remained stuck to the ground: and "the two submitted", that is: Ibrahim pronounced the name of Allah, proclaimed His greatness, bore witness, and surrendered the son to death: he passed the knife over his throat: nothing was cut: between it and his throat was placed a plate of copper: and Allah knows best.

"O Ibrahim, you have believed in your vision", that is: the aim of your trial, your obedience, your hastening to the command of your Lord and your offering of your son as sacrifice is fulfilled, just as you permitted your body to the flames and your wealth was laid out for the two guests: "this was indeed the manifest trial", that is: the apparent, evident trial. "And We ransomed him with a great sacrifice", that is: We set as ransom for the slaughter of his son what Allah the Most High facilitated for him of compensation: the well-known account from the majority is that it was a white ram, blind in one eye, horned: Samurah saw it tied to a sidr tree on Thabir. From 'Abd Allah ibn 'Uthman ibn Khuthaym: from Sa'id ibn Jubayr: a ram that had grazed in Paradise for forty autumns: it pastured in Paradise until Thabir split open for it: and it wore a red cloth. A ram blind in one eye, horned, descended upon him from Thabir: it had a bleating: he slaughtered it: and it is the ram which the son of Adam offered: and it was accepted from him.

Ibn Abi Hatim reported it. So he slaughtered it at Mina: he slaughtered it at the Maqam. As for what was reported from Ibn 'Abbas, that it was a wild ass foal, and from al-Hasan, that it was a buck of the wild sheep named Jarir: it can hardly be sound from either of them: then most of the athar here are taken from the Israelite reports: and the Quran suffices concerning what took place of the great matter and the dazzling trial, and that he was ransomed with a great sacrifice.

It has come in the hadith that it was a ram: Sufyan narrated to us: Mansur narrated to us: from his maternal uncle Musaffa: from Safiyya bint Shayba, who said: a woman of the Banu Sulaym informed me: the Messenger of Allah (may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) sent to 'Uthman ibn Talha. She asked 'Uthman: why did the Messenger of Allah (may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) call you? He said: I saw the two horns of the ram when I entered the House: I forgot to order you to cover them: so cover them: for it is not fitting that there be in the House anything that distracts the one praying. Sufyan: the two horns of the ram remained in the House until the House burned: and they burned. It is likewise reported from Ibn 'Abbas that the head of the ram remained hanging near the spout of the Kaaba, dried out: and this alone is a proof that the sacrificed one is Isma'il: for he was the one residing in Mecca: and Ishaq, we do not know that he visited it in his youth: and Allah knows best.

And this is what is apparent in the Quran: rather it is as if it is a text that the sacrificed one is Isma'il: for it mentions the story of the sacrificed one: "and We gave him glad tidings of Ishaq, a prophet from among the righteous.

Whoever makes it otherwise has imposed a burden upon himself: and the basis of the one who says it is Ishaq is only Israelite reports: and their book contains an alteration concerning it: "his firstborn Ishaq": the mention of Ishaq here is thus an interpolated, lying, fabricated insertion: for he is neither the only one nor the firstborn: the only firstborn is Isma'il: what drove them to this is envy of the Arabs: Isma'il is the father of the Arabs who inhabit the Hijaz, among whom is the Messenger of Allah (may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him): and Ishaq is the father of Jacob, who is Isra'il, to whom the Israelites ascribe themselves: they wanted therefore to draw this honor to themselves: so they altered the word of Allah and added to it: and they are a people deluded: and they do not admit that the favor is in the hand of Allah: He gives it to whom He wills.

A large group of the early generations, and others, said it is Ishaq: they took it, and Allah knows best, from Ka'b al-Ahbar or the pages of the People of the Book: there is no authentic hadith from the Infallible in that, which would make us leave, for its sake, the apparent meaning of the Mighty Book: and this is not understood from the Quran: rather what is understood, rather what is stated, rather the text, upon reflection, is that it is Isma'il: and how excellent was the proof of Muhammad ibn Ka'b al-Qurazi that it is Isma'il: "and We gave her glad tidings of Ishaq, and behind Ishaq, Jacob. He said: how could the glad tidings of Ishaq take place, and that Jacob will be born to him, and then he be commanded to slaughter Ishaq while he is small, before Jacob is even born to him? This cannot be: for it contradicts the preceding glad tiding: and Allah knows best.

"and We gave her glad tidings of Ishaq" is a complete sentence. "And behind Ishaq, Jacob" is another sentence not within the space of the glad tiding: for it is not permissible, from the standpoint of Arabic grammar, for it to be jarr-governed unless the genitive particle is repeated with it: one cannot say: I passed by Zayd and after him 'Amr, without saying: and after him by 'Amr. "And behind Ishaq, Jacob" is accusative by an implied verb whose reconstruction is: "and We gave to Ishaq Jacob": and in what he said there is a point of reflection: "then, when he reached the age of accompanying him": but Isma'il was not with him: he was rather, in his infancy, he and his mother, across from Mecca: how then would he reach the age of accompanying him? And this too is debatable: for it was reported that the Khalil would go, on most occasions, riding al-Buraq to Mecca, to look upon his child and son, then return: and Allah knows best.

To whom the saying that the sacrificed one is Ishaq was attributed: Ka'b al-Ahbar. And it was reported from 'Umar, al-'Abbas, 'Ali, Ibn Mas'ud, Masruq, 'Ikrima, Sa'id ibn Jubayr, Mujahid, 'Ata', ash-Sha'bi, Muqatil, 'Ubayd ibn 'Umayr, Abu Mayasara, Zayd ibn Aslam, 'Abd Allah ibn Shaqiq, az-Zuhri, al-Qasim ibn Abi Buzza, Makhul, 'Uthman ibn Hadir, as-Suddi, al-Hasan, Qatada, Abu al-Hudhayl and Ibn Sabit: and it is the choice of Ibn Jarir: and this is astonishing on his part: and it is one of the two versions from Ibn 'Abbas: but the authentic, from him and from most of these, is that he is Isma'il (peace be upon him). Mujahid said, and Sa'id, ash-Sha'bi, Yusuf ibn Mihran, 'Ata' and more than one: he is Isma'il (peace be upon him). Yunus narrated to me that Ibn Wahb informed us: 'Amr ibn Qays informed me: from 'Ata' ibn Abi Rabah: the sacrificed one is Isma'il: and the Jews alleged it is Ishaq: and the Jews lied.

'Abd Allah ibn al-Imam Ahmad said, from his father: he is Isma'il: I asked my father about the sacrificed one: he said: the authentic is that he is Isma'il (peace be upon him).

It was reported from 'Ali, Ibn 'Umar, Abu Hurayra, Abu at-Tufayl, Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab, Sa'id ibn Jubayr, al-Hasan, Mujahid, ash-Sha'bi, Muhammad ibn Ka'b and Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn 'Ali: the sacrificed one is Isma'il (peace be upon him): al-Baghawi reported it likewise from ar-Rabi' ibn Anas, al-Kalbi and Abu 'Amr ibn al-'Ala'. And it was reported from Mu'awiya: "O son of the two sacrificed ones": the Messenger of Allah (may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) laughed: to this went 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz and Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar: there is no doubt in this. From Burayda ibn Sufyan ibn Farwa al-Aslami: "and We gave him glad tidings of Ishaq, and behind Ishaq, Jacob. This is a matter I have not yet reflected upon: and I see it as you said: then he sent to a man he had in Syria, who was a Jew who had become Muslim and whose Islam was good: 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz asked him about that: and I was with 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz: which of the two sons of Ibrahim was commanded to be slaughtered?

Isma'il, by Allah, O commander of the believers: and the Jews know that: but they envy you, O assembly of the Arabs, that your father should be the one about whom there was a command of Allah and the favor which Allah mentioned of him, for his patience with what he was commanded: so they deny that and allege it is Ishaq: for Ishaq is their father. And we have mentioned this issue in detail, with its proofs and its athar, in our Book of tafsir: to Allah belong the praise and the favor.