Ibrahim's Duas and the Divine Purposes of Prophethood

The Du'ā of Ibrāhīm and the Purposes of Prophethood

My dear respected brothers and sisters in Islam, respected elders and students, As-salāmu alaykum wa rahmatullāhi wa barakātuh.

When Ibrāhīm عليه السلام was founding the city of Mecca with the instruction of Allah, he made many beautiful du'ās for his progeny that were going to be established in that city. And Allah narrated those du'ās for us as a lesson in Sūrah Al-Baqarah, as well as in Sūrah Ibrāhīm, the sūrah that bears his name.

He made du'ā for their provision in this world, for their financial security:

O Allah, not only provide them their staple diet for their existence, but on top of that, grant them fruits and such additional amenities that they could enjoy their life. He made du'ā for their safety and security — O Allah, make this city baladan āminan, a safe and secure country, a safe and secure area, so that they can lead their lives in prosperity and happiness.

But more importantly, he made du'ā for their deen:

O Allah, protect me and my children from worshipping idols.

O Allah, for my progeny, grant that this becomes a Muslim ummah, an ummah that submits to Your will.

O Allah, make me amongst those who establish salāh, and my progeny to be amongst those who establish salāh. And to protect his children from shirk, and to protect his children from falling astray, as well as to ensure that they remain muwahhidūn upon tawhīd, and also punctual in performing their salāh and their ibādāt.

The Du'ā for a Messenger

He made du'ā that, O Allah, send amongst my progeny a teacher, a rasūl. And the du'ā Allah mentioned:

O my Lord, send in my progeny a messenger from amongst themselves — so it is easy for them to accept his message. He is not a foreigner or a stranger. He is someone who grew up within the same community. As Rasulullāh ﷺ was instructed to say:

Have I not lived my life right here amongst you, forty years prior to prophethood? Do you not understand that I am the one you yourself used to call al-Ṣādiq, al-Amīn — the truthful, the trustworthy one? Were you not pleased with my decision? Did you not exclaim raḍīnā bil-Amīn when I walked into the Dār al-Nadwa of Quṣay ibn Kilāb, when you were sitting and making mashwara of where to place the Ḥajar al-Aswad? You all exclaimed, "We are pleased with the decision of the Amīn," and I am that same Amīn.

O my Lord, send in my progeny a messenger from amongst themselves who will do the following four tasks:

Number one: يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِكَ — He will recite onto them Your āyāt, he will make tilāwat of the āyāt, recite onto the ummah the āyāt of the Qur'ān.

Number two: وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ — And he will teach them, on top of that, the meanings of the book.

Number three: وَالْحِكْمَةَ — And he will teach them the way of wisdom; this is the way described as the sunnah of Rasulullāh ﷺ.

Number four: وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ — And he will work on purifying their hearts and cleansing their hearts of all of the inner sicknesses. This is the tazkiyah of the qulūb.

O Allah, You are the Mighty, the Wise — You are the Azīz, the Ḥakīm. So this is the du'ā that Ibrāhīm عليه السلام made. Allah accepted his du'ā.

The Prophet's Own Words About His Beginning

Someone came to ask Rasulullāh ﷺ many years later — as Imām Qurṭubī mentions in his tafsīr of this āyah — that, Yā Rasulallāh, ḥaddithanā 'an bad'i amrik — tell us some news about the beginning of your life. This is a very standard question. People, when they have interviews with famous individuals who become famous based on their accomplishments, their childhood is always something fascinating for their followers to know — how did they grow up, tell us something interesting about the early portion of your life.

So the questioner thought he was going to talk about his childhood. Instead, Rasulullāh ﷺ went so far back and said:

(Referenced by Imām al-Qurṭubī in his Tafsīr, Al-Jāmi' li-Aḥkām al-Qur'ān, under the commentary of Quran 2:129)

In fact, I am the acceptance — I am the personification in human flesh — of the du'ā of my forefather Ibrāhīm عليه السلام. And I am the glad tiding that Īsā عليه السلام came with six centuries before, when he came and said — as Allah mentioned in Sūrah al-Ṣaff:

And I am coming with the glad tidings of a Nabī who will come after me, and his name is Aḥmad. Aḥmad and Muḥammad ﷺ — both coming from Ḥamd, the praise of Allah. Aḥmad: the one who praises Allah the most. And Muḥammad: the one who is praised after Allah by the creation the most — so we praise him the most from amongst human beings.

Of course, Allah is the one who is worthy of all praise — الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ. And when we are praising Allah, we are either praising Him directly or indirectly. When we say how beautiful are the mountains and the oceans, waves crashing on the beach — subḥānAllāh — the beautiful stars in the night — this is alḥamdulillāh, all praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the worlds who created them. And we say how beautiful is this building, how beautiful is this work of art, how beautiful are these man-made objects — again we are praising Allah indirectly, as the intelligence and artistic ability we have as human beings was granted by none other than Allah. So He is worthy of all praise.

And Rasulullāh ﷺ also said: And I am the interpretation of the dream of my mother, Āminah عليها السلام. When she was pregnant — that noble womb — and Rasulullāh ﷺ was still developing in the fetal stage, she saw a dream that there was nūr and light emanating from her womb, and it was reflecting on the walls of the quṣūr al-Shām, the palaces in Shām — subḥānAllāh — where the deen burned brightly and enlightened the world for centuries. He said: that dream she saw, I am the interpretation of that dream.

Allah's Confirmation: The Great Favor Upon the Believers

So Rasulullāh ﷺ himself confirmed that he was the acceptance of the du'ā of Khalīlullāh Ibrāhīm عليه السلام. And Allah also confirmed on two further occasions that He accepted his du'ā. And what Nabī Ibrāhīm عليه السلام had asked for — O Allah, send a prophet who will do these four tasks — Allah mentioned the same four tasks. These are known as the maqāṣid al-risālah, the purposes of prophethood.

Allah said:

Indeed, Allah has done a great favor upon the believers when He sent from amongst them a messenger from amongst themselves.

Now, this word mann — for human beings, it means that if a person does a good deed, does an act of kindness, and then he robs it and continues to remind about his favor, he will be invalidating the reward of that. So this is something we cannot do. It is strictly prohibited for us. It is something of a low character, that if you were gifted with the tawfīq from Allah to do some good act, and then you keep on reminding the individual of what you were able to give him — Allah prohibited that. He said:

O those who believe, do not invalidate your charitable actions with mann — as in Urdu they use the word iḥsān jatānā, reminding the individual: "Oh, this is what I did for you, this is what I was able to give to you, you are eternally indebted to me." وَالْأَذَىٰ — that is verbally harming someone, and adhā is also physically causing pain on top of that. Do not invalidate your good deeds by doing so.

And in case we feel, "Oh, I would never do that" — subḥānAllāh, it goes beyond that; it applies even within the heart. In the tafsīr of this it is mentioned that at the time you give ṣadaqah to some individual, if you do not have this belief — with 100% conviction, with no doubt — that you yourself, as apparently now the upper hand, and the person you're giving to is the lower hand — you are going to be in greater need for the reward of that good deed on the Day of Judgment than the recipient today is in need of the food, and the medicine, and the money that you're giving him today.

So I as a giver today, I think I'm doing a favor on the recipient, whereas it is the opposite. He is doing a favor upon me by accepting the ṣadaqah, giving me an opportunity to gain that reward. Because the reward of this one good deed on the Day of Judgment — أنا أفقر وأحوج, I am in greater need of it يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ than this recipient is for that food and medicine today. What is the worst case scenario for him? He'll die. And what is the scenario for me? If I don't have that good deed, I may end up not dying, wishing for death in Jahannam — خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَدًا, remaining therein forever.

So that is why mann is prohibited for us. Allah says:

Some of these Arab Bedouins who just came and accepted Islam think they have done a great favor by accepting Islam? Tell them: it is Allah's favor that He guided you to faith. So Allah can make mann; He is al-Mannān. But for us, it is prohibited.

In any case, Allah says: Indeed, Allah has done a great favor upon the believers, when He sent from amongst them a messenger from amongst themselves. And who is this messenger and what does he do? SubḥānAllāh, He repeats the same four tasks:

يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِهِ — He recites unto them the āyāt of the Qur'ān. And وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ — He helps in purification of their hearts. Allah is the actual muzakkī, but Rasulullāh ﷺ is the means for the tazkiyah, He is the means for the hidāyah.

We ask Allah:

Allah says:

Allah is the one who is the muzakkī. We ask Allah: O Allah, You purify our hearts. You are the one who can purify our hearts. But the purification of our hearts is done through the way of Rasulullāh ﷺ.

وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ — He teaches them the meanings of the Qur'ān and Ḥikmah. And this is such a great favor because Allah again says: وَإِن كَانُوا مِن قَبْلُ لَفِي ضَلَالٍ مُّبِينٍ — And prior to his advent, prior to his being sent, they were in open misguidance.

You have been sent to guide such a people whose forefathers had not been warned. There had been no messenger in the Arabian Peninsula since the time of Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm عليه السلام. No Prophet had come. All the Prophets had come on the other side of the family — from the Banū Isrāʾīl side: Isrāʾīl ibn Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm عليهم السلام. And on the Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm عليه السلام side of the family, no Prophet had come all these centuries.

So فَهُمْ غَافِلُونَ — they had forgotten their ways and had gotten steeped in jāhiliyyah. So this is a favor of Allah upon our Ummah, upon the Quraysh, and by extension for all of us, that Allah granted us this Nabī, this Rasūl, this Khātim al-Anbiyā, this Sayyid al-Awwalīn wal-Ākhirīn who did these four tasks.

The First Task: Tilāwat of the Qur'ān

Coming to our reminder for today — from these four tasks, the first one is يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِكَ. This is the du'ā of Ibrāhīm عليه السلام, and the acceptance of Allah: that may he come and make tilāwat of the āyāt. So tilāwat of the āyāt — reciting the Qur'ān — is one of the primary purposes for which Rasulullāh ﷺ was asked to be sent, and was sent by Allah. And we can never lose sight of how important it is. Separate from the taʿlīm al-maʿānī, of learning the meanings, there is an individual maqṣad of prophethood: to recite the āyāt of the Qur'ān correctly.

This is that task which, subḥānAllāh, Rasulullāh ﷺ completed in the best manner. He fulfilled that obligation. And subḥānAllāh, he asked the Ṣaḥābah to bear testimony to that. On the Ḥajjat al-Wadāʿ, the farewell pilgrimage, when Rasulullāh ﷺ was in front of the 124,000 or more Ṣaḥābah, and he asked them in that farewell speech and address: أَلَا هَلْ بَلَّغْتُ؟ — Did I not convey the message of Allah? So all of them proclaimed:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 15, Hadith 1218; Sahih al-Bukhārī, Hadith 1739)

You have fulfilled the trust, you have conveyed the message, and you have guided the Ummah. So Rasulullāh ﷺ taught the Ṣaḥābah how to recite the Qur'ān. He taught them the tilāwat of the āyāt, and he taught them the meanings:

It is your responsibility to explain to the people that which has been revealed. Allah gave him the responsibility to teach both the words and the meanings. And He told him not to stress. He said: don't worry, I will inspire you with both.

In the beginning, Rasulullāh ﷺ was getting so stressed by this huge burden, this قَوْلًا ثَقِيلًا, this heavy burden, that he was moving his lips rapidly when Jibrīl عليه السلام would be reciting the āyāt to him, bringing the revelation down from Allah. Then Allah consoled Rasulullāh ﷺ:

Do not rapidly move your lips trying to ensure you remember everything being said. My responsibility — I will ensure that the words are preserved in your heart. Then it is also My responsibility — I will also inspire you with the meanings of those words. SubḥānAllāh, both. So Rasulullāh ﷺ did both.

Now the Ṣaḥābah who came afterwards learned the words from Rasulullāh ﷺ and they learned the meanings from Rasulullāh ﷺ. They learned the tazkiyah, the purification of the heart. They learned the ḥikmah and the sunnah from Rasulullāh ﷺ. And they transmitted this on to the next generation, the tābiʿūn. And from the tābiʿūn to the tābiʿ al-tābiʿīn. And generation after generation, these ʿulūm and these sciences — both pertaining to the ẓāhir, the external, and the bāṭin, the internal conditions of the heart — were transmitted all the way to this day and age.

A Living Miracle: The Preservation of the Qirāʾāt

We are so lucky, subḥānAllāh, so honored that tomorrow night we have an opportunity to witness something very, very beautiful. This is what I was actually leading up to in the last few minutes. Tomorrow night we have an opportunity to witness one aspect of the maqāṣid of Rasulullāh ﷺ, which is the tilāwat of the āyāt — the recitation of the words of the Qur'ān. How it was revealed upon Rasulullāh ﷺ and how it has been transmitted throughout the generations up to our day.

Not only in one qirāʾah or one riwāyah, but all of the qirāʾāt, all of the riwāyāt have been preserved. Not a single one of them has been lost. And this is a living miracle of the Qur'ān that we can witness. SubḥānAllāh, in this day and age right here in America, we have such students of knowledge who are studying these qirāʾāt right here in our local masjid. And inshāʾAllāh we will witness the different qirāʾāt being recited, the different explanation of how these qirāʾāt reached us, what they are about, and how they were transmitted, how Rasulullāh ﷺ taught them.

There will be a presentation along with the qirāʾāt. First of all, just listening to the qirāʾāt themselves is so inspiring when it is recited so beautifully in a live recital in front of us. It has its own impact. And it is proven from the Qur'ān that just sitting and listening, a person will be receiving the raḥmah, mercy from Allah. Allah says:

Listen attentively when the Qur'ān is being recited, and remain silent — so that you can be deserving of the mercy of Allah. So just sitting and listening to this gathering, we can with full confidence and yaqīn say — as Allah said, and who could be more truthful than Allah? — that we will be receiving the raḥmah from Allah. That is the intention we should come with tomorrow night.

And also Rasulullāh ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 35, Hadith 6853)

Whenever people gather in the house of Allah — and here, alḥamdulillāh, this is the house of Allah, وَأَنَّ الْمَسَاجِدَ لِلَّهِ, these houses belong to Allah — so whenever they sit in the house of Allah and they recite the book of Allah, حَفَّتْهُمُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ — the angels will surround them. SubḥānAllāh. We are hopefully with the angels today in the Jumuʿah. But inshāʾAllāh, for sure, when we have the qirāʾāt majlis, we will have the angels surrounding the gathering. And the sakīnah from Allah will be descending. And the raḥmah of Allah — ghāshiyah — subḥānAllāh — not only descending but covering the whole gathering. And Allah will remember them in the company of the noble angels.

So we do not need any further encouragement than the words of Allah and the words of Rasulullāh ﷺ to ensure that with no exception, all of us — men, women, and children — attend. Of course children are very important. We say, "O Allah, Imām Ṣāḥib, make du'ā for my children that they learn how to read Qur'ān, that they practice the Qur'ān, that they live their lives according to the Qur'ān." When we have such events where the Qur'ān is being recited in such a beautiful, powerful, heart-shaking manner, that will inshāʾAllāh transform the hearts:

When the Qur'ān is being recited, the īmān will increase. Just by listening, زَادَتْهُمْ إِيمَانًا — your īmān should increase. This is the condition of the believers:

In fact, the believers are only those that when they hear the Qur'ān being recited, their īmān increases. So we bring our children front and center so they can listen to the Qur'ān being recited and be inspired inshāʾAllāh, be motivated to also learn to recite the Qur'ān with tajwīd and qirāʾāt in the best manner, in a manner pleasing to Allah, in the manner كَمَا أُنزِلَ عَلَى الرَّسُولِ ﷺ — as it was revealed on Rasulullāh ﷺ, as he taught the Ṣaḥābah — so that they are able to recite the Qur'ān in that same way inshāʾAllāh. Beyond that, practice upon his teachings, embody them in their lives inshāʾAllāh, and become representatives of his message throughout the world.

So this was the humble appeal today for everyone. May Allah make it easy for me and you and all of us to attend this gathering and take full benefit from it. وَآخِرُ دَعْوَانَا أَنِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ.

Announcements

Please stand up inshāʾAllāh and come closer; fill in all the gaps from sunnah. Stand up, fill in all the gaps:

Make space for one another; fill in all the gaps in performance of sunnah inshāʾAllāh.

Please pass the donation boxes from left to right; donate generously. صَدَقَةٌ تَدْفَعُ الْبَلَاءَ — ṣadaqah wards off calamities and draws the mercy of Allah. Specifically, there is a narration that Rasulullāh ﷺ said that the ṣadaqah given during the day of Jumuʿah is greater in reward than on any other day. Today being the day of Jumuʿah, let us not lose out on this opportunity.

As I have been mentioning throughout the talk, our annual Qur'ān Night and Benefit Dinner will be held tomorrow night, September 24th, after ʿAṣr at 5:30 p.m. inshāʾAllāh. We have world-renowned qurrāʾ and mashāyikh coming. Please RSVP at masjidds.org/quran. This is something that happens once a year only — we should not miss out.

Weekly programs: we have our Monday night's Bukhārī Durūs — lessons from Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. Tuesday night's Tafsīr with Muftī ʿAẓīmuddīn after ʿIshāʾ — this Tuesday we are starting Sūrah al-Anbiyāʾ. And Saturday's team Fajr program, with Fajr iqāmah at 6 a.m. followed by community breakfast.

Du'ā Requests

We have requests for du'ās for our Uyghur brothers and sisters. They are requesting du'ā for them in China. The ẓulm has been continuing for a long time, and subḥānAllāh, it has reached new levels. They are being blocked in their apartment buildings, not allowed to exit — with soldiers shooting them if they try to escape under the pretext of COVID isolation — and many are starving. May Allah grant them relief from their suffering, and may Allah never test us for our continual transgressions. May Allah grant them the loftiest maqām in Jannah, grant them ṣabran jamīlan.

Zubaydah Begum is in the ICU, requesting du'ā and shifāʾ. And for all the marḍā, the sick individuals of the entire Ummah throughout the world — O Allah, cure our sick and the sick of all the Muslims.

One correction I want to make: I said "there may be angels" — that was wrong. There are angels, as Rasulullāh ﷺ said that the angels are here. What is their primary purpose? To take attendance — who is here on time. But when the khuṭbah starts, they will close their attendance books. Whoever comes after that is tardy. It comes in the ḥadīth — they close their book of attendance and they sit down to listen to the khuṭbah as well. So whoever comes after the khuṭbah starts still has a second option — a second Jumuʿah inshāʾAllāh — otherwise the faḍīlah, the reward, is lost. May Allah protect us from losing the reward of Jumuʿah; may He grant us all the ability to come on time inshāʾAllāh.