The Most Important Lesson From Ibrahim (AS)

The Most Important Lesson From Ibrahim (AS)

I want to take some lessons from the life of the Prophet Ibrahim (AS), to help us in our collective pain, in our frustration, over all the fires that we see in the world around us. The Prophet Ibrahim (AS) — his journey does not begin as a 40 year old man, as it was for our Prophet, or as it was for Musa, or as it was for other messengers, no. His journey as a Prophet actually begins as a young boy.

The Young Boy Who Shattered the Idols

The day in which he crushes the idols in his city, and they come and they discover what's most dear to them — their idols, their way of life, their ideology — shattered on the ground. They say, we heard that there was a young boy called Ibrahim who might have done this. A young boy? A young boy with that kind of confidence? A young boy with that kind of clarity? A young boy with that kind of conviction? Who is this young boy? Oh, it is none other than Ibrahim.

Desperate times call for the young to step up. Call for the young to get off their bums, get off their console games, get off their Netflix series, and to take some responsibility in the world around us. More often than not today, we see the phenomenon of the man-child — somebody who's been to university, 28 years old, but plays PlayStation all day.

Everything in their life has been already prepared and made easy for them. This person is supposed to be an adult, supposed to take responsibility, supposed to stand up to injustice, supposed to volunteer at the local masjid, help in the family, help in the home. But no, we have a generation of people who have been coddled into being children even while they are adults.

Ibrahim teaches us that it is the young people that make the ripples in society. And that if the young people don't stand up and don't use their energy and their wealth and their influence and their power and their intelligence to speak, to act, to stand up against an injustice, then nothing will happen.

Dialogue Before Action: The Method of Ibrahim

Ibrahim not only crushes the idols — he also explains to his people. When Allah describes the way he would engage with the non-Muslims around him, Allah says: I gave Ibrahim deep certainty. He was sure about his beliefs, 100% certain. And then he goes and he starts to discuss with his people.

As the night fell, he looked up at the sky and he pointed at a star and he asked his people: Do you think that could be God? But when the day set in, that star disappeared. And he said to his people: guys, do you think God can disappear and appear? He starts to ask them questions. He starts to make them think.

He starts to question their assumptions. He doesn't go straight for crushing the idols. He begins with the dialogue, with the discussion, and he opens their mind to the idea that they might be wrong.

Certainty, Clarity, and Confidence

This is the young man who teaches us that if the young people in any given society do not have certainty, do not have clarity, do not have confidence, then you can say bye-bye to that society and their values.