Part 63

j; said, "Do you know th at when your peo ple (Quraish) rebu ilt

the Ka 'bait. they dec reased it from its original foundation laid

by Ibrahccm?" I said, "0 , Messenger of Allah ! Why do you

not rebuild it on its original foundation laid by Ibrahcem?" He

replied, "Were it not for the fact thaI your people arc close

to the pre· Islamic Period of Ignora nce (i,e. they have recently

become Muslims) I would havc spcnt the treasure of the

Ka'bah in Allah 's Cause and I would ha ve made its doo r near

to the ground and included AI·/·/ijr in it." ( I ) It was also rebuilt

(I ) Narrated by AI-Bukhari ( 1583) and Muslim (\333).

by Ibn Az-Zuba ir - Ill ay A llah have mercy on him - duri ng hi s

time, according to what had bee n indi cated by the Messenge r

of A lIa h ~ , based on the in formation give n !O him by his au nt,

'A' ishah , the Moth er of the Be lie vers, which she relayed from

him ~. When A I-Hajjaj kill ed him in the year 73 A. H., he wrote

10 'A bdu l Malik Ibn Marw<ln , who was the Ca liph at that tim e.

T hey th ought that Ibn Az-Zubair had done it of his own accord

and so Ma rwan ordered it 10 be return ed to th e way it had been

be fore and so they demo lished the wa ll that fa ced toward Ash-

Sha m and removed At-t-f ijr frolll it, then they fi ll ed in the wa ll

and put the stones in side th e Ka 'bah, ra ised it s eastern door and

blocked the wes tern one com pl ete ly, as aile sees it today. The n,

when they were informed that Ibn Az-Zubair had only thi s

based on wll at 'A' ishah, Ihe Mother of the Be li evers, had told

him , they reg rett ed wha t th ey had done and w ished Ih at they

had left it as th ey had fOll nd it. Then during the e ra of AI -M ahdi

Ibn A I-Ma nsoor, he sought Ihe advice o f Imam Malik Ibn Anas

regard ing th e idea o r renlrll ing ilIa the way Ibn Az-Zubair had

rebuilt it, but he sa id to hi m, " I fear th at th e ru lers will take it

as a plaything." ThaI is, whenever a new mler comes to power,

he w ill rebuild acco rd ing to hi s own whim. And so it rema ined

as it was up to the present day.

Mentioll of the Praise Heaped on A llah ~\' Slave

([lid Kh([leel, fbraheem, by A II([ h ([lid His

Allah, Most High, says, ( And (rcmcmbcr) when the Lord

of Ibrahccm (i .e_ Allah) tried him with (certain) Commands,

whieh he fulfill ed. He (Allah) sa id (to him) , "Veri ly, I am go ing

to make you a leader (Prophet) of mankind." (Ibraheem) said,

The SI01:I' of /brahecm 'ft!l-

"A nd o f my offsp ring (to make leaders)." (A ll ah) sa id, "My

Covenant ( Prophethood. etc.) in cludes no t the zalimooll. " )

(Soorah A I-Baqarah 2: 124). When he fulfi ll ed the obli ga tion s

enjoined 0 11 him by his Lord, He made him a leader of his

pcoplc, who fo llowed his exa mp le and his gui dan ce. Ibrahecm

~ then asked A llah to let thi s leadershi p cont inue because of

him and to let it remain within his lineage; and th is thing which

he asked for and craved was granted. Leadership was granted to

him , but excepted from acquiring it were the w ro ngdoe rs; and

those selec ted to receive it fro m his offs pring were the scholars

and those who performed right eous deeds. Allah, Most High

says, ( And indeed, We sent Noah and Ibra heclll , and placed

in the ir offspring Prophc thood and Sc ripture, and among them

there is he who is guided, but many of them arc jasiqool1

(rebel1i o us, di sobedi ent to All ah) (Soorah AI-fiadeed 57:26)

So every Scr ipture se nt down from th e heaven to o ne of the

Prophets who came after I brahee m ~ , AI-Klwleel, was sent to

one of hi s offs pring and hi s foll owers. Thi s was a n hOll or that

was unique and w ithout parall e l and a rank and status without

cqua l. From his lo ins we re born two g reat sons: Isma 'eel ~

fro lll i-Iajar and then Ishaq ~ from Sarah. From the lattcr was

born Ya ' qoob ~ , who was Isra ' cc l, from whom all of their

tribes claim descen t. Amo ng the lll were Prop hets and th ey were

ve ry nUlllcrO ll s, so much so that it is imposs ible fo r us to know

their exact number, except those w hom He sent and se lected to

receive a Message, along with hi s Prophet hood - and the last

of them was' Eesa ~~ , the son o f Mary am, who was from Bantl

As for I s ma 'c el ~ , frolll him desce nded the Arabs , including

all of their diverse tribes, as we sha ll make c lear lat er o n, if

A llah , Most Hi gh, w ill s. And there were no Proph ets among hi s

descendants except the Seal of the Prophe ts, Muhammad Ibn

284 The S IOIT of Ihmllt-t'm *"'"

' Abdullah Ibn 'A bclul-Mullalib Ibn Hashim AI-Qurashi , AI-

Hashimi, AI-Makki (Ihe Makkan), Ihen AI-Mada ni (Madin ile)

- may A ll ah 's Bless ings and Peace be upon him . From this

noble branc h there wa s onl y this one da zz ling, g litt ering a nd

splendid jewel and the ou tstandin g piece dc res ista nce, who

was the Lead er of whom Ahlul-Jal1l ' a rc proud and who l11 th e

first and Ihc last will cn vy on the Da y of Resurrecti on.

It has been authc nti ca ll y rcpon cd from him j.l in SalleelJ

Muslim that he sa id, "(On the Day of Rcsurrcct ion) I wi ll

occ upy a positi on (so eleva ted) that all of c rcmion w ill turn

to me, even Ibra heel11 ." (I) And hc praised hi s fa ther, Ibraheem

~, hi ghly in thi s context. Thi s saying of hi s pro ves that he

(Ibrahccm) is the best of crea ti on after the Prop he t ~. in the

Estimati on of the Crea tor - both in th e lifc of th is wo rld a nd in

AI -Bu khari narra ted on th e au thority of 'A bdullah Ibn

' Abbas 4 1hat he said: The Messe nge r of All ah 3:ii: llsed to seek

Refuge wi th Allah for AI-Hasan and A I-Husain and say, " Your

fo refat her (Le. Ibra heem) used to scc k Refuge w ith Alla h for

Isma'eel and Ishaq by reciling the foll owi ng: ' 0 , Allah! I seek

Refuge w ith Your Perfect Words fro m eve ry devil and fi'om

poi sonoll s pests and from every ev il , harm fu l, e nvious eye. '" m

Allah. Mosl Iligh , says, ( And (reme mber) when Ibrahce lll

sa id, ·'My Lord! Show mc how YOli give life to the dead:' He

(A llah) said, ·'00 yo u not be lieve?" He (Ibrahcc m) sai d, "Yes

(I believe), but to be stronger in faith:' l ie said, ·T a ke four

bird s. th en cau se them to incl ine towa rd YO ll (then slau ght er

them, cut (hem into pieces). and the n put a portion of them

(I) Narr.ucd by Muslim (820).

(2) Narr.llcd by A\· Bukhari (3371). Abu Dawood (4737) and At-Tinnidhi

Th /.' 5101,. of ' brahC!/.'111 "'=-

on cvery hill. and ca ll them. they will come to YOli in ha ste.

And know Ihal A llah is A lmighty. Mosl Wi se." ) (Soorah A/-

Baqarah 2:260) Sc ho lars of Ta/s eer said thm Ihere were reasons

for Ihi s question , which we have cxplained in Ihe T(~f;'eer and

wc cSlabl ished thc m beyond doub t.

In short, we may say that Allah, th e Almighty, the AII-

Powerful, answercd hi s question and ordered him 10 take

four birds - scholars di ffc red as 10 the type of birds - but the

objcctive was att ained at a ll events - and He commanded him

to slau gh ter th em, rcmovc thcir fcat hers, tear the birds 10 pieces

and mix thc pi eces together. Then he was ordcrcd 10 place parts

oflhese mix ed pi eces on four hill s. Thi s he did and thcn he was

ordcrcd to callthel11. by hi s Lord's Permi ss ion. W hcn he ca lled

them , A ll ah ca used the pieces to fl y to cac h ot her and eac h

feather went to th e body to which it be longed, until the bodies

of the birds wc re joined together once mo re and he observed

the Ability of th e One Who says, "Be!" a nd it is. They came

runni ng to him , so thaI Ihe matter should be eve n clea rer to

him than if they had come 10 him flying. It was sa id Ihat he wa s

ordered to take thcir heads in his hands and each bird came to

him to co ll ec t its head frol11 Ibrahec l11 ~ and it became fi xed

10 its body as it had been. thu s proving that none ha s the right

to be worshipped except Allah. Ibra heelll ~ had known, with

a ce rtai nty that admitted of no doubt , th e Ab ilit y of A ll ah , Most

High, 10 resurrect thc dead, but he walll ed to w itncss that for

himse lf and progress from certai n know ledge 10 eye-w itness

knowledge. So A llah agreed 10 his request and gratified hi s