His father, Azar, who is also called Târakh, was from Kûthâria, a village near Kufah. According to the unanimous consent of the principal historians, the birth of Ebrahim—u. w. b., etc.—took place when Nimrud, the son of Kana’an, the son of Kûsh, the son of Eram, the son of Sâm, the son of Nûh, was the ruler of the country of Babel. All historians agree that Nimrud reigned over the whole world, since it is recorded in history that four individuals governed the entire inhabited world—namely, two believers and monotheists, and two unbelievers or infidels. The believers were Zulqarneen and Suleimân; the unbelievers, Nimrud and Bakhtanassar. The opinion, however, of Qâzi Beidhâví is that the mission of Ebrahim the prophet took place in the time of Zohâk the Arab, which is contradictory to the assertion that Nimrud was the sovereign of the whole world. The Rauzat-ullâbab informs us that Muhammad Bin Esahâq asserts that the dominion of the whole world fell to the lot of three persons only—that is to say, to Nimrud, Zulqarneen, and Suleimân the son of Daûd. Others have asserted that Bakhtanassar also enjoyed the sovereignty over the whole world, but their opinion has never been considered to be true, and here the quotation from the Rauzat-ullâbab terminates; but Allah knows best what is correct.
It is related that when Nimrud became established on the throne of royalty, the rose-grove of his prosperity and good fortune increased daily in freshness and magnificence, and the foundation of his greatness and splendour became more firmly established from hour to hour. He governed his subjects with justice and rectitude until the expiration of a considerable time, when Satan, who is from olden times an unequalled champion in the arts of seduction and perdition, inspired him with diabolical suggestions of haughtiness and despotism, so that depraved imaginations having found their way into the mansion of Nimrud’s perverted intellect, he overstepped the dignity of a sovereign, and coveting the honours of a god, considered himself to be the partner of the Omnipotent. ‘Great God! protect us from what they utter, puffed up with pride.’* When the just-mentioned pretensions became fixed in his impure mind, he invited all persons to adore him, and having fabricated idols in his own likeness, he placed them in temples and monasteries, and commanded the inhabitants of the world to worship them. About that time Nimrud was one day sitting in council to decide certain affairs with the grandees of the realm, and with a company of soothsayers and astrologers. On that occasion the chief of the latter, Khâled Bin A’as, said to Nimrud that ‘it appeared from the position of the celestial bodies that this year a man of wonderful power and great authority will be born in the capital [of Nimrud], who will invite the people to a new religion and law; and will likewise abolish idols and the dynasty [of Nimrud].’ Khâled took pains to impress on the mind of the king the necessity of preventing this event, if possible; and Nimrud assured him that it could be easily done by appointing watchmen to prevent husbands from having connexion with their wives, and by causing trustworthy women to supervise the confinements, leaving all female infants alive, but slaying all the males which would be born. The assembly approved of this remedy, whereon Nimrud placed a guard over every ten men to watch them. Azar, however, the father of Ebrahim, did not happen to be one of the watched, but one of the watchers, being one of the intimate friends of Nimrud, enjoying his full confidence. Numerous midwives were superintending all pregnant women, and allowed freely to go and come, without let or hindrance, to and from the houses, and were ordered to send every male infant who entered the world out of it again. Kasâi narrates in his history—and the responsibility rests with the chronicler—that during the time the accursed Nimrud was engaged in slaying male infants one hundred thousand of them were exterminated. It is also said that their number amounted to seventy-seven thousand. When the time was near at hand for the pure seed [of Ebrahim] to become fixed in the womb of a virtuous wife, soothsayers and astrologers hastened to the palace of Nimrud, [which appeared to be] strongly based, like the firmament, and informed him that, after all, his numerous projects would prove futile to hinder the dreaded event from taking place, as the seed would become fertilized on such and such a night. Nimrud then issued a mandate that on the eve of the just-mentioned night all men should go out of the city; he also appointed confidential watchmen at the gates, so as not to allow any one of them to return to, nor to permit any women to come out from it. On this occasion even Nimrud himself left the city with his friends, and when the women saw it empty they walked out of the houses and promenaded about. When the evening had nearly set in, the mother of Ebrahim arrived near the gate which Azar and a number of other men had been appointed to guard. As soon as Azar recognised her face his love manifested itself; he retained her, and had connexion with her that night, that God might accomplish a matter which He had predestined. The mother of Ebrahim kept her pregnancy secret for some time from Azar; but when it was no longer possible to do so she said to him: ‘I am with child, and if it be a male we ought to give it to the king, because he has highly obliged thee by his kindness; and if we do what I suggest, his favours and gifts to us will yet become more and more numerous.’ Azar consented to the advice of his spouse, and was very joyous. When the moment of her confinement was near, the mother of Ebrahim said to Azar: ‘I am afraid lest some dangerous accident befall me whilst I am suffering the travail of parturition. I adjure thee, by our former love, to go to the idol-temple, to remain there, and to implore the greatest of the gods—namely, such and such an idol—to grant me a happy delivery. Do not come out from that temple until my infant is born!’ Azar replied that he would comply with her wish, for the sake of old obligations, and for the sake of relieving her mind from grief and apprehension. He accordingly went to the idol-house, where he remained during forty days and nights. In Azar’s absence, and after her confinement, the mother of Ebrahim had prepared a subterraneous apartment, provided with all things needful for an infant, and after concealing Ebrahim in that place, she informed Azar of her confinement and safe delivery. When Azar had returned from the idol-temple and inquired about his son, Ebrahim’s mother replied: ‘May thy life be long! The child was very sickly, and died the same hour it was born.’ Azar believed the words of his wife, and was grateful for her own safety. Whenever her husband left the house she went to suckle the infant, and when that boy of happy augury was two years old his mother weaned him. It is related, after A’bdullah Bin A’bbâs, u. w. b., etc., that Ebrahim grew in one day as much as other children do in one week; in one week as others in one month, and in one month as others in one year. When his mother tarried in coming she saw that Ebrahim sucked his own thumb, which emitted milk with honey, and nourished him. It is said that Ebrahim first manifested his intelligence on the occasion when he asked his mother, ‘Who is my nourisher?’ and she replied, ‘I.’ He continued: ‘Who is thy nourisher?’ She answered: ‘Thy father.’ He said: ‘Who is the nourisher of my father?’ She rejoined: ‘The king.’ He further queried: ‘Who is the nourisher of the king?’ His mother said: ‘Be silent; for the king is the greatest lord, and there is none higher than him.’ Ebrahim again asked: ‘Is my face better-looking, or thine?’ She said: ‘Thine.’ Ebrahim continued: ‘Is thy complexion purer, or my father’s?’ She answered: ‘Mine.’ Ebrahim further queried: ‘Is my father more beautiful, or the king?’ She replied: ‘Thy father.’ Then Ebrahim said: ‘If the king be the nourisher of my father, why has he created one better than himself? And if my father Azar is thy creator, why has he made thee handsomer than himself? And, likewise, if thou art my creator, why hast thou made me more beautiful than thyself?’ The poor woman was fairly puzzled how to answer her son’s questions, and left him alone. When Azar returned to the house he perceived that she was quite embarrassed, and on inquiry she replied as follows:
Distich: A secret is in this breast which I cannot tell,
Which I cannot reveal, and cannot conceal.
After he had much pressed and interrogated her, she said, ‘O Azar! the individual expected to change the religion of the world is thy son!’ When Azar heard these words he was quite confused, and asked: ‘What son, and what information?’ Then Ebrahim’s mother revealed the concealment of her son, and his being brought up underground; likewise the conversation which he had with her, and his denial of Nimrud’s godhead, as well as all the circumstances from his birth to the present hour. Thereupon Azar went down angrily into the cellar with the intention of doing some grievous bodily harm to Ebrahim; but when his eyes beheld the august and well-boding person of the latter, the Lord, who changes hearts and eyes, inspired Azar with love for his son, so that he was unable to inflict any injury upon him; whereon Ebrahim had a discussion with his father likewise, as God —whose word be glorified—has said, ‘O my father! why worshippest thou that which cannot hear, neither see, nor is of any use to thee?’ But Azar, not being able to refute Ebrahim’s objections, reproved him, according to the verse: ‘Dost thou not like reprimand, O Ebrahim? If thou hadst not been reproached I would not have mercy on thee, and would altogether exclude thee.’ It is said that the occasion of Ebrahim’s quarrel with his father originated from the latter’s giving carved idols to the former to sell them in the market. He carried them out of the house, tied ropes around their necks, and dragged them thus to the bazâr, exclaiming: ‘Who will buy a thing from which neither profit nor loss can be expected! What enjoyment will a carved statue afford to you? Rather worship an idol which has a soul!’ When the people heard these words of Ebrahim, they purchased no statues, and began to doubt their utility. Azar, having been informed of this, angrily reproved Ebrahim, who, however, gave intelligent answers to his father, and convinced him of their truth.
The inhabitants of Babel entertained religious superstitions concerning the stars, the sun, and the moon, wherefore one night, whilst they were keeping awake, Ebrahim made his appearance among them, and began to speak disparagingly of Venus, of the sun, and of the moon, first calling them lords, but afterwards denying that they were deities, and saying: ‘O people! I am innocent of your idolatry.’* The particulars of this will, however, be narrated by-and-by, at the end of the second tradition concerning the birth of Ebrahim. When Ebrahim’s way of thinking, and his dispute with Azar concerning the worship of idols, had become publicly known, the people were highly astonished, and asked him what kind of a new sect or religion he had invented, but he replied: ‘What are these statues which you constantly worship?’
Let it not remain unknown to the reader that whatever has been here narrated, concerning the birth and bringing up of Ebrahim, is, according to the opinion of the author, very reliable; the most current statements, however, set down by excellent and learned historians are as follows: When the astrologers and soothsayers had either from the aspect of the stars, or from dreams, obtained the information and conveyed it to Nimrud, that during a certain month of the year an infant would be born in the capital who would abolish all the existing religions; that his advent would bring great confusion upon the empire, and would shake the earth of royal authority, Nimrud asked whether the act of sexual connection had already taken place, in consequence whereof the child would be born. He obtained a negative reply, and determined to spare no effort to hinder such an event; he accordingly ordered all men to leave the city, near which he also encamped with his entire court. After some time, however, he despatched Azar, who was one of his confidants, to the city on a certain errand, telling him at the same time that he had been selected, in preference to others, on account of his perfect trustworthiness, causing him at the same time to swear that he would have no intercourse with his wife. When Azar had entered the city he considered with himself that, as he had not seen his family for a long time, it would now be proper to do so. As soon as he beheld his spouse, the fire of lust blazed up so lustily that the water of patience could not extinguish it; accordingly he spent some time with his wife in the embraces of conjugal duties. When the next morning had dawned, the soothsayers apprised Nimrud that during the past night a womb had received the deposit from which the birth of the dreaded child would ensue. He was so disconcerted at this news that he issued a mandate for the assassination of all male children about to be born that year. When the signs of approaching parturition began to manifest themselves upon Ebrahim’s mother, she went to the bed of a waterless river for concealment, and there gave birth to a darling the like of which had not been produced by Dame Nature since the creation of the world. The mother wrapped her infant in swaddling clothes, and hid it in a cavern, situated in the vicinity, so as to withdraw it from the sight of enemies. Then she returned to her home, and only went to the cave several days afterwards to ascertain whether the apple of her eye was dead or alive. She perceived, however, that her beloved infant was [alive and] sucking milk from one, and honey from another of his own fingers. Beholding this wonderful spectacle, the mother of Ebrahim took the finger of astonishment between the teeth of meditation, and after enjoying her son’s aspect for awhile, she went to her house, but returned again to the cave as often as she found an opportunity, and suckled the child until the time for weaning it had drawn near, which occurred, according to the opinion of some historians, in his eleventh year[!]. It happened one night, when his mother had arrived to contemplate his blessed person, that he asked her whether there is another world besides the place he was in, whereon she informed him that she had placed him in this narrow cave and secluded abode for the purpose of withdrawing him from the evil machinations of his enemies, but that the earth was great, the sky high, the world unbounded, and the universe immeasurable. Then Ebrahim concluded that hereafter he would no longer have the patience to dwell in a cave; he determined to leave it, to seek his creator, and so discover what his vocation ought to be. As soon as his mother was out of sight, he also left the cave and amused himself by contemplating the stars. Looking at the planet Venus, he said, by way of interrogation, ‘Is this my lord?’ but when it was near setting he exclaimed, ‘Indeed I love not the setting ones.’ Then he looked at the moon and said, ‘This is my nourisher,’ but when it likewise disappeared he retracted his opinion. When the shining morn removed the nocturnal veil from the light-spreading disc of the sun, the Lord Ebrahim beheld the magnificence of its form with the infinite radiations of its splendour, and said: ‘This is my lord; this is the greatest!’ But when the sun likewise withdrew its head within the skirts of the occident, the vanity of the adoration of celestial bodies was manifest to his enlightened intellect as clearly as the meridian sun; accordingly he turned away therefrom and said, ‘I direct my face unto Him who hath created the heavens and the earth. I am orthodox, and am not one of the idolaters,’* but the poet says:
| Verses: | If I have looked at a moon-faced one with the sun of the heart, I have looked only at that face which is the mirror of Thee! Apparently I have sometimes longed for another. Turn not jealously away, for my face is towards Thee! |
It is related that after Ebrahim—u. w. b., etc.—had left the cave, his mother brought him home, and, on presenting him to Azar, said that hitherto the fear of Nimrud had induced her to keep him concealed. Azar was delighted when he beheld his son, and was always caressing him, till the time when he began to manifest his aversion to idols, and to their worship. On this circumstance, however, the two traditions differ.
When Ebrahim began to invite the people to the orthodox religion and to the sublime Lord, and his creed had become public, Nimrud having heard of this state of affairs, sent for Ebrahim, who then went to the palace, but, acting contrary to everybody, did not adore the haughty tyrant. Nimrud inquired about the reason, whereon Ebrahim replied that he worshipped no one except the Omnipotent Nourisher. Nimrud asked, ‘Who is thy Nourisher?’ Ebrahim replied, ‘My Nourisher is He who causes to live, and to die.’ Then Nimrud ordered two men to be brought from the prison, one of whom he killed, and the other he allowed to depart. Then he turned towards Ebrahim, saying: ‘I have caused one of them to die and the other to live.’ Ebrahim then saw that those misguided persons who surrounded Nimrud could not be easily convinced of his false pretensions, and resolving to have recourse to plainer argument, said: ‘My Nourisher causes the sun to rise in the east; do thou so in the west;’ but Nimrud, being unable to answer, remained mute and confused. The Most High—w. n. be e.—said: ‘And he who blasphemed was astounded.’
As Nimrud was unable to refute Ebrahim, the latter departed, and began with all his might to invite the people to embrace the illustrious law and the white religion.* By the blessing of his august exhortations, untold multitudes and numberless crowds confessed the unity of the Deity and became followers of Ebrahim.
It is related that Ebrahim waited for an opportunity to demonstrate to the people the imbecility and abjectness of idolatry, to make it evident that statues are unworthy to be worshipped, and can neither profit nor hurt anyone. He meditated and hit on a plan, but hesitated to execute it until the festival of the idolaters had taken place, during which the people of Nimrud were accustomed, when the holiday drew near, to prepare handsome garments and costly robes, with savoury meats and beverages for the purpose of carrying them to the idol-temple, where they placed them before the statues on the feast-day. On the said day they betook themselves to the place of the celebration, on returning from which they entered the idol-temple, distributed those dresses and eatables to each other, and said: ‘Our idols have thrown rays of blessing and favour upon these things.’ They considered this act a good omen, an occasion of rejoicing and pleasure for the whole ensuing year. When the festival had arrived, the people requested Ebrahim to accompany them; but he refused on pretence of sickness, and said to himself: ‘By Allah! I will surely devise a plot against your idols, after ye shall have returned from them, and shall have turned your backs.’* Some persons who were going to the place of the festival in the wake of the others had, however, heard these words. When Ebrahim found the idol-temple empty, and containing no guards, the Friend of the Merciful One entered and addressed the idols by way of sarcasm, saying: ‘Why do not you eat something? What is the matter with you that you do not speak?’ Hereupon he broke all the idols to pieces with an axe, except the largest one, upon whose neck he hung the axe and left the temple. On the return of the people to the temple, according to the usual custom, they found the idols destroyed, and the axe suspended from the neck of the big idol; whereon they began to shout, to lament, and accuse him of impiety who had done this. From the blame and vituperation which Ebrahim had been in the habit of lavishing upon the idols and their worshippers, the latter were convinced that he must have perpetrated all this injury; therefore a great number of them made their appearance at the palace of Nimrud to explain the matter. Ebrahim was summoned, and the people who had heard his words concerning the idols bore testimony against him in the presence of Nimrud, who accordingly with his courtiers accused Ebrahim of having committed the act, but the latter answered, ‘Nay, the biggest of them has done it,’ and added, ‘But ask them whether they can speak.’ When Ebrahim had uttered these words the idolaters hesitated; everyone meditated within himself, and suspended his judgment. They all concluded that the right was on the side of Ebrahim, and said to each other: ‘Verily, ye are the impious persons.’* These words were intended to convince them that neither loss nor gain could be expected from the idols, and that they could not even protect their own bodies. In short, the idolaters were greatly abashed and ashamed, but relapsing into their former obstinacy, they said to Ebrahim: ‘Verily thou knowest that these speak not.’* Ebrahim answered: ‘Do ye therefore worship, besides God, that which cannot profit you at all, neither can it hurt you? Fie upon you, and upon that which ye worship besides God! Do ye not understand?’ After Nimrud and all the idolaters had been confounded, and unable to answer Ebrahim, he again began to preach to the people, and gradually many began to follow him. When Nimrud perceived that confusion had taken root, and the nation was favourably inclined towards Ebrahim, he ordered him to be imprisoned, whereon the hostile and obstinate party unanimously agreed to burn Ebrahim. By the mandate of Nimrud an enclosure was erected at the foot of a mountain near the city, sixty cubits long and forty broad, with walls seventy cubits high. Nimrud also ordered that, as an oblation to the idols, every man should carry a donkey-load of wood into the enclosure, which was in this manner filled up; then naphtha and sulphur were thrown into it. The fire having been kindled, the flames ascended up to the sky, so that birds could not fly across them, nor were the people able to approach the fire. And being perplexed, the crafty Eblis came to their assistance, and taught them to fabricate a catapult, after finishing which he proved the perfection of his workmanship by projecting from it stones into the fire. Then Ebrahim was placed upon this engine in bonds and fetters. This dreadful circumstance disquieted the spirits of the upper and the nether world, who began to clamour and to shout. The angels besought God to allow them to save Ebrahim, lest he who acknowledged the unity of the Almighty should be destroyed; whereon the allocution reached them that they might help him, but that it would be strange if he were to look for their aid, and stood in need of their assistance. Hereon two angels, who were in charge of rain and wind, approached Ebrahim, and informed him that if he allowed them, they would send a small cloud with a little rain over the fire, which would either extinguish it altogether, or, at least, scatter it in all directions; but Ebrahim refused, and when he had been projected from the engine, and was nearly falling into the fire, the faithful spirit [i.e. Gabriel] met him in the air and asked him whether he wanted anything, and Ebrahim replied, ‘Not from thee!’ Then Jebrâil advised him, if he refused his assistance, to ask it from HIM who could help him, because there was not a more dreadful event nor a harder fate than the impending one. Ebrahim then said: ‘Inform HIM of my case, and my deliverance will depend from my request.’
| Verses: | If I obey not the flames of love, what can I do? If I hazard not life for love, what can I do? They say, Why burnest thou like a moth? As I am the lover of that adorned lamp, what can I do?* |
Then the inspiration of the Most High Sovereign arrived to the effect: ‘O fire, be thou cold, and a safety unto Ebrahim.’* Ebn A’bbâs says that if the allocution of the Most Wise King had not contained the word ‘safety,’ Ebrahim—u. w. b., etc.—would have perished of cold. It is related that the angels took hold of Ebrahim’s arms and softly placed him on the ground. Jebrâil brought, with the consent of the gardener of paradise, a costly robe from that locality wherewith he invested him; and by the mandate of our Lord and Creator a space twenty cubits long and as many broad surrounded the Friend of God, and this area was full of aromatic and green plants, intermixed with various blooming flowers, and it also contained a fountain of delicious water. It is said that in the plenitude of His grace the Inscrutable Creator sent an angel resembling Ebrahim to keep him company, and ordered Esrafil* to bring a flower-bed from paradise, and to spread it under the noble feet of His friend.
Distich: Who was honoured by stepping on His threshold
Placed his first step into the uppermost paradise.
It is also narrated that Esrafil was ordered to bring, every morning and evening, savoury meats from paradise for the nourishment of Ebrahim (O God, provide for us with Thy wisdom and favour!). When three, and according to others eight, days had elapsed, and the vehemence of the fire had subsided, Nimrud the rejected one ascended a high spot and looked for Ebrahim, because his unhallowed mind had always suspected Ebrahim’s case to be a wonderful one, and that he might possibly have remained unhurt by the fire. He also dreaded that if his surmise should be verified, his own dominion would be jeopardized; but after communicating his fears to others, his courtiers reassured him, and considered it impossible that Ebrahim should have survived a fire wherein a mountain of stone would certainly have melted. Nimrud nevertheless beheld from his elevated position Ebrahim sitting with another individual among roses and fragrant herbs near a fountain of water. The aspect of that locality, which was more handsome than the garden of paradise, so dismayed Nimrud that he shouted in agony to Ebrahim and asked him how he had been saved from so great a calamity, and had been delivered from the vortex of perdition and established in so agreeable a spot. Ebrahim replied: ‘All this happened by the favour of my Lord’; whereon he inquired also concerning the person near Ebrahim, and was informed of his being an angel sent by the Almighty to keep him company. Then Nimrud said: ‘Thou hast a great God, O Ebrahim, whose power is manifested in the way we now see.’ Then he continued: ‘Canst thou leave the fire and come to me?’ Whereon Ebrahim said: ‘Why not?’ and immediately arising, placed his feet on a mountain of fire, passed through the flames, went to Nimrud, invited him to confess the unity of God, to acknowledge the truth of Ebrahim’s mission, and to be aware of the foreordained promises and threats; but Nimrud asked Ebrahim for delay, and consulted his friends and Haran, who enjoyed the dignity of wazirship. Haran said to Nimrud: ‘Wilt thou, after having been the Nourisher of the created beings of this lower world, become the slave of the creator of the spirits of the upper regions, and thus descend from the throne of deity to the condition of servitude?’ When the time of the respite [of Nimrud] had elapsed, Ebrahim condescended to pay a visit to the court of Nimrud, and invited him to accept Islâm; but he excused himself from receiving the Faith just then, but averred that he would offer a great sacrifice to Ebrahim’s Nourisher. Thereupon the Friend of God informed him that if he would not believe, his sacrifice would not be acceptable. Nimrud, however, would not be deterred, but prepared a great altar, whereon he sacrificed four thousand kine, one hundred thousand sheep, camels, and other animals. This was, however, of no avail, and on account of Haran’s diabolical advice he was at last received in the abyss of eternal perdition.
Although the following tradition differs from that which has just been narrated—but has been recorded in several respectable chronicles—the author of this work has considered it incumbent upon himself to take notice of it, lest critics should accuse him of apathy and obliviousness. He also hopes that wherever the gentle and intelligent reader meets in these pages with defects, to ascribe them to the various books from which the narratives labouring under them have been taken.
It is related in some books that when the Lord Ebrahim had issued from the calamity of the fire, like a hair from a trough of leaven, Nimrud challenged him to fight. Ebrahim agreed, and, having fixed a day, implored the Lord of Glory to cause Nimrud to perish, with all his followers, by the meanest and most despicable of creatures. His prayer was granted, and on the appointed day Nimrud marched out of the city with a perfectly-armed host of troops more numerous than locusts or ants, and halted with his army in battle array in a spacious plain. His lordship the refuge of amity [i.e. Ebrahim, the Friend of God] likewise arrived, and halted, quite alone, opposite to the army of Nimrud. Thereon the latter asked him with amazement where his army was, and Ebrahim replied that God—whose magnificence be glorified—would send it by-and-by. As soon as the conversation was ended, countless numbers of gnats made their appearance by the mandate of God, fell upon the army of transgressors, ate up their accoutrements, their flesh, and their very bones, so that no trace was left of them.