Adapted from Shaykh Amin’s Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī Lessons
Sayeed Siddiqui
Imam al-Bukhari often precedes discussions on hadith with reference to the relevant portions of the Qur’an; thus showing the primacy of recited wahy over non-recited wahy, though both are necessary. He introduces Ibrahim, Allah give him peace, through five key qualities extracted from Allah’s Speech. In this essay, we will discuss his two defining qualities: one in relation to Allah, and one in relation to humanity.
Allah says, “And Allah took Ibrahim as a khalil” (Surah al-Nisa, 125). Linguistically, khullah comes from something which separates or comes in between something else. From it comes the words for a gap (khalal), a toothpick (khilal), and to run fingers between something (takhlil) — as the Prophetصلى الله عليه وسلمwould do with his beard and fingers during ablution. An intimate friend is thus called khalil because the two are interwoven in their knowledge and concern for each other.
Allah thus appointed Ibrahim to be his personal khalil, and khullah is Ibrahim’s defining quality. In his magnum opus Fusus al-Hikam, Ibn ‘Arabi discusses the defining qualities of the prophets. Each prophet has a sifah dhatiyyah, an essential, innermost quality which he possesses exclusively; it regulates his life, and others derive it through him. Some of these qualities are mentioned in the following hadith (summarized) from Ibn ‘Abbas:
Some of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sat waiting for him. Then he came out, such that when he came close to them, he heard them talking, and he heard what they were saying. So some of them said, “It is wondrous that Allah, the Mighty and Sublime, has taken a khalil from His creation. He took Ibrahim as a khalil.” Some of them said, “That is not more wondrous than speaking to Musa; He spoke to him with real speech.” Some said, “And ‘Isa is the word of Allah and His Spirit.” Some said, “Adam was chosen by Allah.” So he ﷺ came out to them, greeted them, and said: “I have heard your words, and your amazement that Ibrahim is the khalil of Allah, and he is such, and that Musa is the one spoken to by Allah, and he is such, and that ‘Isa is the spirit of Allah and His Word, and he is such, and that Adam was chosen by Allah, and he is such. Indeed I am the beloved (habib) of Allah and I am not boasting… (Tirmidhi 3616).
The hadith then continues with other unique qualities of the Prophet ﷺ. It shows that each prophet has a unique characteristic. There are others as well; for example, Yusuf was “given half of beauty.” (Sahih Muslim, 316). Thus, Ibrahim owns khullah exclusively as a station which others benefit from him. Other prophets also derive those attributes from each other; there is no imperfection in that, as it would indicate particular virtue, not general virtue. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is thus the Comprehensive Light [nur jami’] which combines all virtues.
These attributes are reflections of Allah’s attributes, and He grants these perfections to His creation to ennoble them. They do not diminish His Perfection in the least; rather, they show His Nobility and Munificence. As a good manager develops and recognizes his employees, Allah distributes His Light in differing quantities and qualities, and appreciates that in His creation.
Subsequently, the Sahaba inherited the qualities of the prophets. They are the manifestations of their light, in the way that the prophets are themselves the manifestations of Allah’s Light. The Prophet ﷺ said, “If I were to have taken a khalil from my ummah, I would have taken Abu Bakr” (Sahih Muslim 2382). Thus Abu Bakr is to the Prophet ﷺ as Ibrahim is to Allah, if such a comparison could be made. The Prophet himself made this comparison, saying to him “You are similar to Ibrahim”. In a similar way, Musa and ‘Umar resemble each other in that Musa was spoken to directly (kalimullah), and ‘Umar was muhaddath in that he was synchronized with revelation, having numerous concurrences [muwafaqat] with it.
In what way are Abu Bakr and Ibrahim similar? They both reflected ultimate submission and loyalty. Abu Bakr was known as al-Siddiq, being the first to confirm the Prophet’s ﷺ miraculous Night Journey, when everyone else denied it. He never argued with the Prophet ﷺ, and neither did Ibrahim. Allah says, “When his Lord said to him: submit, he said ‘I have submitted to the Lord of the Worlds’” (Surah al-Baqarah, 131). Throughout his life, being thrown into the fire, leaving his family in a barren land, and in sacrificing his son, he did only what pleased his Lord. His willingness to sacrifice his son was not just about parental love, although that was there. It also represented his willingness to give up his highest aspirations, his inheritance and his progeny, whom he prayed to be the leaders of mankind (Surah al-Baqarah, 124). That is true khullah, that the khalil becomes the mirror of the other. The murad of the murid is reflected purely in him, until nothing is left that goes against the murid.
Allah’s attribute of creativity – khaliqiyyah – is also reflected in Ibrahim. As Allah creates from nothing, Ibrahim, with Allah’s power, created the Ka’bah from nothing in a barren valley [wadin ghayri dhi zar’in], with no vegetation, never mind food and shelter (Surah Ibrahim, 37). He had a firm belief in Allah’s ability to completely transform it without any physical evidence, and certainly without undertaking a feasibility study. Through his optimistic prayer “And provide for them fruit so that they may be thankful”, a desert was transformed into the birthplace of a civilization.
The second unique quality of Ibrahim is that Allah names him “an ummah, devoted to Allah” (Surah al-Nahl, 120). How can one man be an entire ummah? A clue lies in the fact that Allah speaks about the millah of Ibrahim eight times in the Qur’an. Millah is variously translated as religion, faith, way, or community. In fact, millah encompasses all of this. It is the sum total of all the civilizational values required to create an ummah. Ibrahim represented these values, across the spectrum, and is thus the blueprint for our civilization on a moral level.
The first, most important principle he represents is tawhid. Allah says about him multiple times “He was not of the polytheists”. He looked upon his people’s idols with disgust and scorn, despite being raised in the cesspit of shirk. He managed to preserve his fitra even before prophethood, as Allah says “And indeed, We had granted Ibrahim sound judgment even before” (Surah al-Anbiya’, 51). He had the ability to demonstrate Allah’s Oneness to others, as when he hung the ax around the largest idol’s neck, and when he showed the king’s inability to bring the sun from the west. Allah describes him as hanif, pure and original of faith, throughout the Qur’an.
Ibrahim set the standard for all major areas of human behavior, even mundane matters of hygiene, taharah. Ibn ‘Abbas is narrated to have said regarding the verse “When Ibrahim’s Lord tested him with commandments, then he fulfilled them” (Surah al-Baqarah, 124), that they refer to the ten qualities of the fitrah which are matters of hygiene. All of the prophets were born circumcised, except, we are told in a hadith, Ibrahim: “The Prophet Ibrahim circumcised himself when he was eighty years old and he circumcised himself with an axe.” (Bukhari & Muslim). This was to establish the practice itself as a part of natural human hygiene.
Taharah is not limited to hygiene, though. It also refers to internal purification, from false beliefs and ugly character traits. Allah says “As for your clothes, clean them; as for filth [idols], shun them” (Surah al-Muddaththir, 3-4). It is this purification being referred to in the command to Ibrahim and Isma’il, “And purify My House for those who circle it, stand in prayer, and bow and prostrate themselves” (Surah al-Hajj, 26).
Ibrahim’s legacy is apparent in the ritual of Hajj, which almost entirely follows his actions and those of his family. We have discussed the significance of the sacrifice, which is a symbol of devotion solely to Allah above all else. The sa’y follows Hajar’s striving to save the life of her son, expending all of her effort because of her faith that Allah would not abandon them. Allah says that it is found in Ibrahim’s scripture “that man will only have what he strove for” (Surah al-Najm, 39). In regards to Isma’il, He says, “then when he reached the age to strive with [his father]”, meaning that he realized the value of hard work (Surah al-Saffat, 102). It seems that sa’y is in the blood of the family of Ibrahim. Hijrah is also shared among his family; abandoning the familiar for the unknown in order to please Allah.
Ibrahim established all of these values personally, as one man, or within his family. He had no people who followed him, but was nevertheless an ummah. His example shows us that values are the core of what comprises a civilization, and the material and political trappings are secondary to and at the service of the religious values. As Ibrahim did, we must sow the seeds by propagating and implementing all the values of Islam, even if in a seemingly barren valley.
