Part 58

of the P rophet ~ , "A ll ah drew the end s orthc world near one

another for my sake. And I have see n its I.!astcrn and western

ends. The domin ion ormy Ummah wi ll reac h those ends wh ich

( 1) Narrated by A1-0ukhari (2217).

(2) Siddceqat : Ifolle.\·( and righteous women.

ha ve been drawn ncar me: ' (I)

TIle Story of tile Birtll of [sma 'eel ~ by Hajar

The Peopl e o f the Sc ripture said that Ib nillcem ' as ked

A llah 10 gram hi m finc offspring and Ih al A llah gran tcd hi s

requ est According 10 what th ey said , when Ibrahccm ~ was

in the land o r Bai t UI-M aqd is fo r twellty yea rs, Sarah sa id to

Ibrah ec l11 ~ , "A llah has not permitted me to bear c hildren. so

tak e my slave-gi rl , and haply, Allah w ill bl ess me with a so n

from he r." Th en, when she gave hc r to him , he had int imat e

rel atio ns w ith her, as a result of whic h. she becamc prcgna nt

by him. T hey (t he Peop le of the Scriptu re) said th at whcn she

became pregnant . she bccamc flIl eci with a scnse o r her ow n

importance and she became arrogant towa rd her mist ress.

SiII·all . Sarah then became j ca lolls of her a nd complai ned of

hcr to Ibra hccm '£f.! and he sa id to hc r, " Do wi th hcr what you

wi ll." Haja r then bcca me afra id and she fled and camped nca r

a spring thc re. One of thc ange ls sai d 10 he r, "Be not afra id, for

A lla h will place goodness in th is c hil d whi c h you havc carricd. "

And hc commanded hcr to return and gave hc r th e g lad tidings

that she woul d bear a son. whom shc would ca ll Isma·cc l. He

wo uld be a powcrfulll1an , whosc authority wo uld extc nd over

all men and every man's ha nd woul d act in obedi ence to him.

He woule! rule a ll of thc lands of hi s brothers. She thank ed

All ah. the A lmi ghty. the A ll-Powerful fb I' that.

These tidin gs onl y hold tru e for hi s son (i .e. descendant )

{Vl uhalllll1ad ~ , because it was through him tha t the Arabs

ga in ed ascendancy over a ll of the lands, from East 10 West, and

( I) Naffillcd by Muslim (2889). Abu Dawood (4252). AI-Tirmidhi (2176).

Ibn Majah (3952) and Imam Ahmad (2 I 946).

A ll ah gave thcm bencA c ial knowledge and righteou s deeds, the

like of wh ich were not give n to any previous nation and thi s

was only due to the honor of their Me ss engcr ~, the bl ess ing

of hi s Message, the sllccess of his prophecies, the comp lete

manne r in which he de live red the Message and the general

nature of lli s mi ss ion , to all of the peop le of the carth.

When I-iajar returncd, she gave birth 10 Isma 'ee l iW. It is said

that she gave birth to him when Ibraheell1 ~ was eighty·six

years o ld and th at was thirteen yea rs before the birt h of Ishaq

~ . T hcy said that when Isma'ee l itiY was born, Allah inspired

in Ibraheem ~ the glad tidings oflshaq's birth from Sarah. On

hearing these glad tidings, Ibraheell1 ~ fell down to prostrate

in thanks to A llah and A ll ah sa id to him , " I have answered yo ur

supplicat ions by giving you Isma 'eel and I ha ve blessed him

and increased him and ad vanced him greatly. From hi m wi ll

be born twelve great ones and I w ill mak e him the head of

a great peop le. Thi s was also glad tidi ngs of the coming of

thi s great (Muslim) nat ion and these tw el ve great ones arc the

twelve Righteous Ca liph s of Wh0111 we were informed in the

hadeerll of 'A bdul Ma lik Ibn ' Umair, on the auth ority of Jabir

Ibn Samurah ~, who reported from th e Prophet ~ that he said,

" There w ill be twelve Commanders." Then he spoke word s

wh ich I did not unde rstand and so I asked my fath er what

he had sa id. I-I e rep lied, "A ll (twelve) of them wi ll be from

Q umis h. " T his was na rrat ed by AI·Bukhari and Musli m in

the Sallee/win. ( I) In another narration , he added, "T hi s ll1atter

wi ll cont inue." (2) And in still another narrati on, " Islam will

cont inue to be powe rful until there have been twe lve Caliphs,

( 1) Narratcd by Al-8ukhari (7223) and Muslim ( 182 1).

(2) Narrnted by tmamAhmad (20506). Inlhis isnad is Simak Ibn Harb. who

uscd 10 make lois of miSlakes.

The Ston.' of /bra"eem ~ 263

all Oflh cll1 from Quraish."I"

These twel ve include the fOll r 111I011ls, Abu Bakr, 'Unmr,

' Uthman a nd ' Ali ~ and they a lso inc lude 'U mar Ibn 'Abd il -

'Azecz and among them arc some from Banu AI -' Abbas. II

does not mean that they will be twelve ru lers in success ion,

rather, it means th ai th ey mliSI co me (as foreto ld). Ne ithe r is

the reference to the twe lve Imams believed in by the Shiites, of

whom (acco rdi ng 10 thei r claim), the first is 'Al i Ibn Ab i Talib

and the last is the awa ited /1110111, who is (supposed ly) hid in g

in a subterranea n cavern and he is Muham mad Ibn AIHasan

AI -' Askari , accord ing 10 the ir claim. Among those twe lve there

arc none more beneficial than ' Ali ~ und his son, AI-Hasa n Ibn

•Ali .;e, when he abando ned fighting and gave up the Cali phate

to Mu' aw iyah ...;c, thus ex ti ngu ishing the fire of c ivil strife and

sto ppin g the wars betwec n th e Muslim s. The other Imallls

(menti oned by them) had no rul e over the ( Islamic) natio n in

any malter. As fo r what is bclieved rega rding the subterrancnn

cavern, thi s is pure fantasy a nd the re is no trut h to it whatsoeve r

and no ev ide nce for it.

The StOlY of lbraheell/ :~ Migration With His

Son, ISII/a 'eel, alld His Mothel; Hajfll; to the

Mo untaills of Faran, Which is the Land of

Makkah, al/([ His Buildillg ofthe A llciellt House

AI-Bukhari narrated on the aut horit y of' Abdu ll ah Ibn' Abbas

~ th at he sa id , ' 'The fi rst lady to li se a g ird le was the mothcr

of Isma 'ee l ~ . She lI sed a girdle so that she might hi de hcr

track s from Sara h. Ibrahee l11 brought her and her son. Isma ' cel

( \) Narrated by Muslim (182 1) and Ahmad (2042 1).

ifgJ wh ile she was suckli ng hi m, to a place near th e Ka 'bah,

unde r a tree on the spot of ZOll1w m, at Ihe highes t place in

the mosque. Du ring those days there was nobody in Makka h,

nor was there any water. So he made them s it over there and

pl aced near them a leather bag contain ing some dates, and a

small waterskill contai ning some wat er, an d set out homeward .

ISllla 'ee\ 's mother foll owed him, saying, "0, Ibra heem ! Where

are you going, leav ing us in thi s vall ey whe re there is no

person whose company we may enjoy, nor is thc re anything (to

enj oy)?" She repeated that to him many times, but he did not

look back at her. Then she as ked him, " Has All ah ordered you

to do so?" He said, " Yes." She said, "Then He will not neglec t

us," and she returned, while Ibrahcel11 ~ proceeded onwa rd,

and on reac hing the mountain where th ey cou ld not see hi m, he

fa ced the Ka 'bah, and rai sing both hands, invok ed All ah saying

the fo ll owing prayers: ( "0, our Lord! I have made some o f my

offsprin g dwell in a va ll ey withou t culti vation , by Your Sncred

House (the Ka 'bah in Makkah) in order, our Lord , that they mny

offer praye r perfectly. So fill sO llle hearts among men with love

toward th em, a nd (0 , A ll ah) provide them with fru its, so that

th ey may give than ks ." ) (SoOl'olllbl'oheem 14 .3 7) Isma'eel's

moth er we nt on suckling Isma' ee l and drin king from the water

When the water in th e wa terskin had all been used up, she

became thirsty a nd her child also became thirsty, she sta rted

loo kin g at him (i.e ' m a ' ee l ~) tossin g in agony; she left him,

for she could not enu ure looking at him , and fo und that the

mountain of As-Sa fa was the neares t mounta in to he r 0 11 th at

land, She stood on it and started loo king al the val ley keen ly so

that she mi ght see so mebody, but she could not see anybody.

Th en she desce nded from As-Safa and when she reached the

vall ey, she tucked li p he r robe and ran in the va ll ey like a person

The SlOrr of Ihraheel1l ~ 265

in di stress and trouble, till she crossed the va lley and reached

A I-Marwah mounta in whe re she stood and started looki ng,

expecti ng to see somebody, but she coul d no t see anybody. She

repeated that (runnin g betwee n As-Safa and AI-Ma rwa h) seven