Prophett Abraham and tthe olld man

Prophett Abraham and tthe olld man

Once it so happened that no traveler passed that way for three days running. This, naturally, upset Prophet Abraham. It made him sad. Without having a guest on his table he would not eat. Each morning Prophet Abraham went to the main road hopefully. He would strain his eyes far away to the horizon. Yet no traveler was to be seen. Each evening he would return to his home disappointed. Three days passed. One morning an old man appeared on a camel. Prophet Abraham was happy. He invited the old man to his home to eat with him The old man accepted the invitation. In the house they set to eat. Prophet Abraham recited BISMILLAH (In the name of Almighty God) before taking the food, but the old man did not say anything. Prophet Abraham asked why he did not remember Almighty God before taking his meal. Was not Almighty our Creator, our Nourishing Master? Was it not proper to remember Him before partaking of the food provided by Him? The old man said that it was not the custom in his religion. Prophet Abraham asked him what his religion was. He said that he was one of those who worship fire. Prophet Abraham was very much annoyed and turned the old man out.
As soon as the old man went away, the Angel Gabriel (Gibraeel) came to Prophet Abraham, from Almighty God. Gabriel told Prophet Abraham that Almighty had been feeding this unbeliever person for seventy years. Could not Prophet Abraham tolerate him for even one meal! Prophet Abraham felt very sorry for this. He immediately ran after the old man. Finally he reached him and persuaded him to return to his house to have food together. He finally succeeded in getting the old man to his home. Moral: (1.) However good you may be, it does not give you right to judge other persons. (2.) You should always seek the forgiveness and pleasure of God. (3.) Always entertain and please a guest.Prophet Abraham and his wife Sarah became old and Sarah was a barren woman. Sarah loved her husband. She did not want him to be sad, thus she asked him one evening: “Do you want to have children?” “That’s up to God’s will,” replied Prophet Abraham “I’m satisfied with that.” Sarah, the righteous woman, explained: “I want to have a baby. I want to look after him. I will love it.” “How will that happen?” asked Prophet Abraham.
Sarah answered: “Friend of the Merciful (God), I will give you my slave girl Hagar. Marry her. May God give you children from her.” “Sarah, I don’t want you to be sad because of me,” explained Abraham. “Friend of the Merciful (God), I will not be sad. Rather, I will be glad,” commented Sarah. Sarah gave Hagar to her husband and Prophet Abraham married the slave girl Hagar, so at this stage he prayed My Lord! Grant me of the doers (son) of good deeds. Prophet Abraham’s prayers were granted by Almighty, So We gave him the good news of a boy, possessing forbearance. Prophet Abraham was eighty six (86) years old when Prophet Ishmael was born. Prophet Abraham was very happy and delighted to have this son and was very proud of him. The new-born son was the apple of his father’s eye and when Sarah watched the two of them, she was sad that she could not have a child. So, she grew jealous of Hagar. Sarah wanted to get rid of her jealousy. She did not want to bear malice against Hagar. So she said to her husband Abraham: “Now, I don’t want to see Hagar. When I see her, I’m jealous of her. I don’t want to enter the fire because of jealousy.” Hence she asked Prophet Abraham to take Hagar and her son to some other place out of her sight and Abraham accepted her request. God, the Most High, ordered Prophet Abraham to take Hagar and Ishmael to the land of Hijaz (Saudi Arabia). Prophet Abraham obeyed God’s order. He took his wife Hagar and Ishmael and headed for the south to an unknown place. They walked through barren, wide deserts. When Prophet Abraham saw a beautiful place or a grassy valley, he looked at the sky, and hoped that he arrived at the promised place, but the angel told him that he had not reached the land of Hijaz yet. After many long days and nights, Prophet Abraham arrived in a barren land. The land was a dry valley. It had neither trees nor water. It was full of sand and stones. Rocky Mountains surrounded the valley. The angel came down to Prophet Abraham and said to him: “You have arrived in the Sacred Land. You should leave Hagar and Ishmael here. Return back to Palestine.” Prophet Abraham knew nothing except obedience to God. The sight of Hagar and Ishmael all alone in that wild place was moving, so he wept for them. Hagar asked her husband: “Why do you leave us in this wild place?” Prophet Abraham answered with sadness “Surely, God has ordered me to do this” Hagar believed in God and the message of her husband, so she said in confidence: “As God has ordered you to do this, He will not forget us!” Prophet Abraham went back to Palestine to Sarah after making a small shelter to Hagar and her one year old infant. According to the Holy Quran, he prayed: “O our Lord! I have made some of my offspring to dwell in a valley without cultivation, by Thy Sacred House; in order, O our Lord, that they may establish regular Prayer: so fill the hearts of some among men with love towards them, and feed them with fruits: so that they may give thanks.” (14:37) Refer (14:35-38, 40-41) for further prayer.Abraham disappeared in the distant horizon. Hagar was unable to see him. She firmly believed that
God would look after her and her baby. During the day she collected some wood. When the evening came, she burnt the wood and made a loaf of bread. She spent most nights looking at the sky full of stars. Several days passed. She used up all the water in her water-skin and food supply. The thirst as well as hunger gradually weakened them both. Hagar walked about the valley to look for water but unfortunately she found no trace of water. No body passed
through the valley and no bird flew in its sky. Ishmael, the baby, wept because he was thirsty. Hagar looked at her baby with kindness. Then she asked herself. “What will I do?
Where can I get water in this desert?” Suddenly her heart was full of the feelings of motherhood. She said to herself. I must do something. I must find water in this
land. “Perhaps there is a small stream or a spring of water beyond that mountain. Perhaps a good person has dug a well beyond that hill for travelers.” Hagar rose again to find water. She was afraid that a wolf or a hyena would eat her baby. However, she saw
nothing except some thistles here and there, so she ran towards al-Safa Mountain quickly. She hoped that she would find water. Hagar stopped at the top of the mountain. She looked at the valley and saw something like the waves of water, thus she descended towards the valley. However, there was nothing except sand. What she saw in the middle of the valley was a mere mirage. Hagar came back running to her baby. Then she looked at al-Marwa Mountain. She hoped that she would find water beyond it. She ran very quickly. Sand was rising under her feet. She saw something like water. So she ran quickly but she saw nothing except a mirage. She did not hear Ishmael cry because she went far away. So she came back quickly feeling quite miserable. She heard him crying bitterly in the distance. She thought that he was looking for her or that he was afraid. This caused her to go and search again though she did not have enough power for that. Again she began running between the al-Safa and al-Marwa Mountain. She was repeated again and again for seven (7) times until there was no strength left for her. Thus, she put together all her efforts to get back to her son and be by his side in those last minutes, watching her dying son with broken heart. Then she looked at the sky and said at the top of her voice: “My Lord!” she suddenly noticed a current of water gushing up like a big spring from beneath Ishmael’s little feet out of sand. This filled her with great heavenly joy and praying to God, she quenched his son with that cold water. She made a small wall all around the water because she wanted the water to be a well. Later people called the well Zamzam (meaning abundant water). Note: And thereafter Sayee became a religious tradition and each year pilgrims run between al-Safa and al-Marwa Mountain seven times in memory of Hagar
as she run for her infant Ishmael’s thirst. Little by little the birds came flying over this spring and the Bedouins people of Jarham tribe, a nearby village, noticing the flock of birds flying over special spots rushed to the place, found the spring as well as Hagar and her son. Upon enquiring Hagar replied to them: “I’m the wife of Abraham, the Friend of the Merciful (God).”The members of the tribe of Jarham were good people, thus they asked Hagar the permission to reside over there. Hagar replied: “You have to wait till I ask the Friend of the Merciful (God) for permission.” The, members of the tribe of Jarham pitched their tents near the valley. They waited till prophet Abraham came. Prophet Abraham asked his wife Sarah to allow him to visit his second wife and see his son. Prophet Abraham came. He saw the tents and camels grazing around. He rejoiced at the arrival of that Arab tribe and the area was full of life. The members of the tribe of Jarham came and asked Abraham to permit them to inhabit the valley.
Abraham permitted them. In turn they gave Ishmael many lambs. They pitched a tent for him and his mother to protect them from the sun’s heat and winter rain and thus a new town flourished by leaps and bounds around the spring of Zamzam. Hagar gradually became used to them and living peacefully among them, she no more had the fear of being left alone. This was the fulfillment of Abraham’s pray to God asking him to take care of them. Ishmael grew up and learned the language of the Arabs. He was a good young man. He inherited the manners of his father, Abraham. When some time has passed, Ishmael became friendly with the tribe of Jarham and married a girl from there tribe. On one occasion when Prophet Abraham had come to see his son and by chance Ishmael was not at home, he did not like the attitude of Ishmael’s wife and considered her unsuitable for Ishmael. He left a message for Ishmael to change the threshold of his home. Ishmael understood the real meaning of this message. He divorced his wife, and then married another woman who was suitable in all respects; and God granted him several sons from this wife. He lived on this earth for One hundred and thirty seven (137) years