Theological and secular scholars differ whether Esma’il or Esahâq was sacrificed. Many of the companions and followers, such as the Commander of the Faithful and victorious lion of God, A’li, the son of Abu Tâleb, may Allah ennoble his face, and O’mar, the son of Khettâb, u. w. b., etc.; and among the followers, Ka’b-ullâkhbâr, and Sa’id, the son of Jabir, Masrûq, Ab-uzzib, Sa’d, etc., mentioned that it was the sacrifice of Esahâq. But another galaxy of noble companions, such as A’bdullah, A’bbâs, Abu Hasiwa, O’mar, A’am, Abulfazeel, the son of A’amar, and Omm Solmah,* u. w. b.; and among the Emâms of guidance, Ja’fer, the son of Muhammad-ussâdiq, Sa’id, the son of Masib, Yusuf, the son of Mahrân, and Mujâhed, asserted that it was the sacrifice of the lord Esma’il. Each of these two parties has adduced arguments to support its assertions, which are, however, too lengthy to be recorded in this book. The author has examined the claims of both sides, and has concluded those to be in the right who maintain that Esma’il’s sacrifice is meant, therefore he has turned the reins of the pleasantly-trotting pen in the direction of the plain of their words, and hereby records that Ebrahim had made a vow that, in case the Lord of Glory should grant him a son, he would sacrifice him ‘to approach God’ [with a thankoffering?]. After Ebrahim had made the vow, Esahâq and Esma’il were born, but he forgot his vow till one night, when he was fast asleep, he dreamt that a man said to him: ‘The command of Allah has gone forth that thou sacrifice thy son.’ When Ebrahim awoke, he meditated whether this dream had been sent by the Merciful One or by Satan; the second and third night, however, it was repeated in the same manner, and at last he heard in his sleep these words: ‘O Ebrahim! Satan invites thee not to obey the Almighty Nourisher; but do thou what thou art commanded.’ When it was morning the lord Ebrahim said to Hâjar: ‘Comb the boy’s hair, anoint it with oil, and dress him in a new robe!’ Hâjar acted according to Ebrahim’s command, and also told Esma’il to take a rope with a knife for the purpose of bringing wood from the mountain-gorge, to which Ebrahim afterwards proceeded, Esma’il following in his rear. On the road Satan met them in the guise of an old man, and asked Ebrahim where he was going. The latter replied that he had some business in the mountain-pass. Thereon Eblis said: ‘By Allah! Satan has decoyed thee to sacrifice Esma’il.’ Ebrahim, however, recognised him, and said: ‘Be gone from me, O enemy of Allah, because I am fulfilling the command of the Omnipotent Nourisher.’ Satan being thus disappointed with Ebrahim, went to Esma’il, and said: ‘Knowest thou where thy father is leading thee, and hast thou ever seen a parent sacrificing his own son?’ The boy replied: ‘My father does what the Lord has commanded, and I obey him.’ When the evil one saw that he could effect nothing with Esma’il, he went to Hâjar, and said: ‘Knowest thou where Ebrahim is taking thy son?’ She rejoined: ‘To bring wood to the house.’ The accursed one continued: ‘Thou art mistaken; he leads him away to sacrifice him.’ Hâjar replied: ‘He is more compassionate than to deal thus with his son.’ Eblis said: ‘He imagines that he is doing this business by the command of God.’ Hâjar replied: ‘We submit entirely to the will of the Almighty.’ Eblis retired, confused and disgraced, but a guardian-angel preserved Ebrahim and his family from the vexations of Satan.
When Ebrahim had entered the mountain-pass he said: ‘O my son, verily I saw in a dream that I should offer thee as a sacrifice; what thinkest thou I should do?’ He answered: ‘O my father! do what thou art commanded; thou shalt find me, if it pleaseth Allah, a patient person.’* He afterwards also said to his father: ‘Do not tie my hands, lest I struggle when thou slayest me, and my robe would be bespattered with blood. It is a hard thing to die. Sharpen also thy knife on a stone, that I may be delivered quickly. Lay me on my face, for fear that on beholding it, the chain of paternal commiseration might by its motion induce thee to delay the execution of the command of the Inscrutable Lord, and thereby to soil the skirts of innocence with the impurity of guilt. Present my dress to Hâjar, that she may be consoled by smelling its odour.’ Then Ebrahim said: ‘My God, to whom gratitude and thanks are due, Thou hast vouchsafed to bestow upon me a son in my old age, and now Thou commandest me to afflict myself with separation from him, and to sacrifice him. If this be Thy wish, who am I that I shall refuse to obey?’ By the prayers of Ebrahim the angels of the upper and the nether world were moved to tears, and when Ebrahim had, after whetting the knife on a stone, placed it to the throat of Esma’il, the more efforts he made to sever the same, the less it would cut.
Distich: If the sword of the universe springs forth,
It cannot cut one vein unless God wills it.
His lordship sharpened the knife thrice and drew it across the throat of his son, but the knife recoiled every time, and did not cut, whereat Ebrahim was much astonished, until the exclamation reached him from the invisible world: ‘O Ebrahim, thou hast indeed brought the dream to pass.’ The same voice then again admonished him to look in his rear, and to sacrifice that which he would see, because it would be the redemption of his son. Ebrahim then looked back, and perceived a ram arriving from the mountain. Some say that it was a sheep, which had grazed forty years in the meadows of paradise, whilst others assert that this sheep was the one sacrificed by Habil, and which the Almighty—w. n. b. e.—had allowed to fatten in paradise. In fine, Ebrahim left Esma’il thus tied, and went in pursuit of the sheep. The ram had, however, fled; but his lordship ran after it, and at each of the three gravel-heaps, which are surnamed the first, the second, and the large one, he threw seven pieces of gravel towards the sheep, overtook it, and, carrying it to Mina,* which is the place of sacrifice near Mekkah, slaughtered it there. Meanwhile Jebrâil untied the hands and feet of Esma’il, and informed him if he had any request to make to the Supreme Ruler and Granter, that now was the opportune time and the fit season in which his prayer would be answered. Accordingly, Esma’il raised his hands towards the mansion of abundance, and said: ‘O Lord! pardon all Thy servants who are believers and acknowledge Thy unity.’ When the friend of the merciful [i.e. Ebrahim] turned towards his son, and perceived that Jebrâil had untied his hands and feet, and had understood his prayer, he said: ‘My son, thou art strengthened by the help of God and seconded by divine grace.’ Then the following allocution reached them from above: ‘O Ebrahim! the most truthful of speakers, and Esma’il, the most patient of the patient, you have fully answered our expectations in that wherewith we have tried you and tempted you, and you have been patient in that wherewith we have afflicted you! We shall make you of high degree in the garden of A’den, and we have in both worlds bestowed upon you the tongue of truth; for we thus reward the righteous. O Ebrahim! thou among all beings art My friend; and O Esma’il! thou of all creatures art My pure one.’ Thereupon the august father and his excellent son thanked and praised their Almighty Nourisher.
We read in the history of Tabari that when the Friend of the Merciful One heard the verse, ‘O Ebrahim! indeed thou hast verified the dream,’ etc., he so trembled from awe of the Bestower of favours that the knife fell from his hands. Then Jebrâil, who held the sheep which he had brought from paradise by the ear, exclaimed: ‘Allah is the greatest!’ and Ebrahim, who had perceived that ram, said: ‘No God but Allah,’ and ‘Allah is the greatest.’ Then he said to his son: ‘Lift thy head, because God— w. n. b. e.—has delivered thee.’ The boy got up, saw Jebrâil with the ram, and said, ‘Allah is the greatest,’ and ‘Praise be to Allah.’
It is related in the ‘Manâhuj-uttâlebeen,’ wherein Sâduq Âl Muhammad says: When the Almighty—w. n. b. pr.— prohibited Ebrahim from sacrificing Esma’il, He said: ‘I have preserved him from the knife, because he is the bearer of the light of Muhammad, the seal of prophets.’* On that occasion the Creator raised the veil [of futurity] and showed Ebrahim the high degrees and stations of his lordship the best of men [Muhammad], and of his family, saying: ‘These are the children of Esma’il.’ Ebrahim then beheld Husain, the son of A’li, and seeing the exalted dignity, asked: ‘O Lord, to whom of the family of Muhammad is this station due?’ The Almighty said: ‘This is Husain, the descendant of Esma’il, and the son of the daughter of the last of the prophets [i.e. Muhammad].’ Ebrahim continued: ‘O Lord, I love Husain more than Esma’il.’ The Omnipotent Lord—w. n. b. e.—rejoined: ‘We have received [the murder of] him as a ransom for Esma’il.’ According to the assertion of Sâduq, Husain was the great sacrifice and the ransom for Esma’il—may the bl. of Allah be on both of them—and not the ram. This has become a well-established tenet, since a sheep is by no means worthy to be called by the Almighty—w. n. b. e.—in His Holy Word ‘the great sacrifice’; and here the tradition from the ‘Manâhuj-uttâlebeen’ ends, which the author of this book has faithfully transcribed.
From the preceding narrative it is evident that the first individual who was engaged in founding and building the Ka’bah, was the Lord Adam the pure, after whose decease Sheth was occupied with the construction thereof, and the inhabitants of the world were in the habit of circumambulating it, and of performing the ceremonies of pilgrimage, as Adam had taught his children. When the epoch of Nûh’s deluge had drawn near, angels descended by the mandate of the Omniscient Sovereign, took up the black stone, and all the others which Adam and Nûh had brought from the mountains, and again took them into their own keeping.
According to another tradition, it is said that when the father of mankind had been expelled from the paradise of promise he had become extremely melancholy, and thus addressed the incomparable Sovereign: ‘My God! since I no longer hear the voices of the angels, I feel very sad and depressed.’ Then the divine reply arrived from the Lord of Lords: ‘O Adam, we have sent down a house from heaven to earth, which the inhabitants of the world will constantly visit, in the same manner as the various classes of angels circumambulate always the glorious throne. Now thou must proceed to the holy sanctuary, so that the closet of thy heart, being freed from sorrow, may obtain perfect familiarity with the sacred apartment.’
Distich: Unless thy heart be emptied of strangers,*
Thou wilt not see thy house filled with friends.
Adam accordingly proceeded to Mekkah, under the guidance of an angel, and as each step of his lordship consisted of fifty Farsakhs,* he performed the journey in a very short time, attained his object, and beheld a house made of the rubies of paradise, having two doors of green emeralds, one of which faced the west and the other the east. The Lord of Glory also sent an angel to teach Adam the customs and ceremonies of the pilgrimage, after the completion of which angels appeared to him, saying: ‘O Adam, thy pilgrimage has been accepted by the forgiving Sovereign.’ According to some traditions, however, this house was raised to heaven during the deluge of [the time of] Nûh, and when the waters subsided, the place in which it had been looked red like talc, and the people who came from various regions of the world to that sacred spot offered prayers to the Supreme Donor of all good gifts, and were apprised of the responses to their requests. Thus the place remained until the time of Ebrahim, when the Omnipotent willed that the house should again be erected, and the honour of having performed this work was to belong to the family of Ebrahim. Jebrâil was commanded to accompany him from Syria to Mekkah, in order to build with his son Esma’il the edifice of the Ka’bah, and to invite the inhabitants of the world to go on pilgrimage to the house of Allah. When the desire of building the Ka’bah had become firmly established in his mind, he started with the greatest pleasure from Syria to Mekkah:
Distich: Love for the Ka’bah so excites my heart
That the thistles of the desert look like silk.
When he had completed his journey and arrived in the sacred locality, he perceived Esma’il sitting at the foot of a mountain engaged in cutting arrows, whereon the exalted father informed his excellent son of the mandate, and the latter cheerfully complied. There are various traditions current about the manner in which Ebrahim learnt how long and broad the house was to be, most of which are recorded in the ‘Rauzat-ullâhbâb,’ and the author of the present work has extracted that from it which concerns Ebrahim, namely, that Jebrâil had informed him concerning the position and qualities of this incomparable place, whereon he set about with his son Esma’il to build the house of the Ka’bah. Esma’il brought the earth and stones while Ebrahim was building. When the foundations had risen to some height from the soil, and Ebrahim was unable to reach the wall [without a scaffold], he found a stone upon which he stepped, and thus lifted the others up to the wall with ease; the marks of his blessed feet have become impressed upon it, and that stone is to this day called the ‘Place of Ebrahim.’ It is related that when the building had been raised to the height of the black stone, the angels, who had carried it off at the time of the deluge to the mountain Abuqbis, now brought it back, and Ebrahim fixed it in its proper place. It is narrated in histories that the black stone was milk-white when brought down from paradise, but had, from the touch of idolaters and sinners, gradually become black and dark like their hearts. Some have said that when the foundations of the house had risen to the spot of the black stone, Ebrahim said to Esma’il: ‘Bring me a good stone for a sign to men.’ He obeyed, but not meeting with his father’s approbation, went in search of another and better stone, when the allocution was heard from the direction of Mount Abuqbis: ‘O Ebrahim, thou hast a deposit with me; take it.’ Thereupon Ebrahim took the black stone and fixed it in its place. When Esma’il returned from looking for a stone, he perceived the said black stone, and asked his father who had brought it. His father replied: ‘He who has not left either thee or me without stones.’ When the edifice was completed, Ebrahim and Esma’il thanked and praised God, and after having finished their prayers, they said, ‘O God, we confess Thee to be the most wise, and the hearer of prayers.’ Jebrâil then descended, informed them of the acceptance of their prayers, taught them the ceremonies of the pilgrimage, as well as of the things to be done at A’rafat, such as the running, the throwing of stones, and the sacrifice, as they are practised also in our days.
After the father and the son had circumambulated the house of Allah and performed the ceremonies, Ebrahim appointed Esma’il to the government of the noble region and gave him instructions how to maintain it. When he was about to return to his native country, he ascended to the top of Mount A’rafat and looked towards Syria. He looked also at the country surrounding Mekkah, his blessed mind being occupied with thinking about Esma’il and his glorious descendants, whose future existence was revealed to him by his prophetic light. He considered how arid, stony, and sandy that district was, the very mountains appearing to his enlightened gaze to be barren, without water or grass. All this was different from Syria, with its pleasant trees, delicious fruits, good climate, excellent water, and population of numerous tribes of the sons of men. When the Lord Ebrahim had weighed all these circumstances he was greatly moved, and raising his hands in prayer to the mansion of omnipotence, he craved that Esma’il and his seed may enjoy affluence. When he had completed his devotions he betook himself to the sanctuary to make himself quite happy, and was again reminded by a heavenly allocution to invite the inhabitants of the world to visit the house, so that the honour of building it, as also that of inviting all mankind to it, should belong to him. Hereon Ebrahim also asked, ‘How far will my voice reach?’ and the allocution came, ‘Do thou invite, and I shall bring the invitation to pass.’ Ebrahim returned to his place, which became large and high like a mountain. He first turned his face towards Yemen, and exclaimed in a loud voice: ‘Allah—w. n. b. e.—has by his bounty and grace ordered me to build a house for you, and invites you to go on pilgrimage thereto, and to circumambulate it. Obey the command of Allah quickly, that your pilgrimage may be accepted, that your endeavours may be approved, and your transgressions forgiven.’ Then he turned towards the east, and to all the points of the horizon, repeating the same invitation, which was answered from every direction in the words, ‘We await your behests!’ and it was repeated on all sides. It is narrated after Ebn A’bbâs, that all who gave this reply, and even those who reposed as yet in the wombs of their mothers and in the loins of their fathers did, and will share in the blessings resulting from a pilgrimage to the Ka’bah; those, on the other hand, who will remain deprived and excluded from them are the persons who thought proper on that occasion to keep the seal of silence on their mouths, and did not speak. O Lord! cause us to go on pilgrimage to Thy house, and to that of Muhammad, u. w. b., etc.
When his lordship the Friend of the Merciful had ceased to call the inhabitants of the world to visit that holy country, he made Esma’il his successor in the noble city of Mekkah and returned to Syria. The next year, when the season of the pilgrimage had approached, Ebrahim, Sarah, and Esahâq came to the city of Mekkah, where they performed the visitation, circumambulation, and the ceremonies connected with them. On that occasion Esma’il acted as host and servant, and obliged Sarah so that she was highly pleased. Afterwards these three persons again returned to Syria with their followers, but Esahâq came every year to Mekkah at the time of the pilgrimage, renewing his covenant of amity with Esma’il, and after he had performed the ceremonies, again returned to wait upon his parents. When one hundred and twenty, but according to another tradition one hundred and thirty, years of Sarah’s life had elapsed, the bird of her victorious spirit soared to the rose-garden of the Most Holy One, and the ‘Field of Haran,’ which had become the property of Ebrahim, was distinguished by becoming the place of her sepulture.