2. A long time ago, in the land of Babel, there lived a young man named Ibrahim. All the
people in Babel used to worship idols. They were ruled by a king called Namrud who
used to love his idol gods so much that he built a large temple for them.
The only person who never worshipped idols
was Ibrahim. For this reason, Allah chose
Ibrahim (‘a) as His prophet.
3. Ibrahim (‘a) used to live with his uncle Azar, who not only would
worship idols, but also used to carve them from wood and stone.
Prophet Ibrahim (‘a) tried to guide his uncle and explained him
that there is only One God who is All Powerful and that idols are
only man-made and powerless. But his uncle ignored him as did
all the other people whom Ibrahim (‘a) tried to guide to the right
path. Frustrated, he left his uncle’s house and started planning
another way to guide the people.
4. On the day of the annual
celebrations, all the people
left the town but Ibrahim (‘a)
said he was sick and
remained behind. When
everyone had left, he entered
the temple where the idols
were kept and smashed all the
idols with an axe, leaving only
one idol standing. Then he
placed the axe on that one
remaining idol.
5. In the evening, when the people returned, they were shocked to find that all their idols
had been destroyed and only one remained. When Namrud saw this, he became
furious and proclaimed from the roof of his palace: Whoever finds the person who did
this will be given a big reward! At that moment someone came forward and said: The
only person who remained behind was Ibrahim. Another said: Yes, it must be him. He
always tells us to stop worshipping these idols.
When he heard this, Namrud ordered that Ibrahim (‘a) should be
brought to the temple.
6. When Ibrahim (‘a) came in front of Namrud, he asked: O Ibrahim, why did you break our
idols?! Prophet Ibrahim (‘a) smiled and said: It seems this was the work of the big idol.
Look, it still has the axe! One of the priests of the temple said: Why do you mock our
idols Ibrahim? You know very well that they cannot speak let alone move! Ibrahim (‘a)
replied: Then how can you worship them? How can you worship idols who cannot even
protect themselves and ask them to protect you?
Upon hearing this, everyone became silent. They had no
answer!
7. When Namrud saw the effect Prophet Ibrahim’s words had on the people, he got
angry and shouted: How dare you make fun of our gods?! Our forefathers also used
to believe in these idols just as we do! Now you must be punished, and the
punishment is that you will be burnt to death! Take him away!
8. A large amount of firewood was gathered and a huge fire was lighted. The fire was
so big that nobody could go near it. Even birds could not fly over it! The people
came to Namrud and asked him how they could throw Ibrahim (‘a) into the fire
when nobody could even go near it. At that moment Shaytan came to Namrud in the
form of an old man. He have Namrud the idea of building a huge catapult that could
be used to throw Ibrahim (‘a) into the fire.
10. But Allah commanded the
fire to become cool and it
turned into a beautiful
garden! The people were
shocked to see Ibrahim
standing in what had been
a huge fire just a few
moments before. Many of
them decided to follow
Ibrahim (‘a) there and then.
11. When Namrud saw that Ibrahim (‘a) was standing in a garden full of beautiful
flowers, he was shocked. He could not speak! Finally he said: Whoever wants to
choose a god for himself, he should choose a god like the God of Ibrahim! When
Shaytan saw this, he was very angry – his plan had failed.
12. Even though he had seen the truth before his very eyes,
Namrud was stubborn and remained a disbeliever in order
to secure his power in his kingdom. He continued to
torture Ibrahim (‘a) and his followers until such a time
when Prophet Ibrahim (‘a) decided to leave Babel with his
family and companions.
F. T. Jaffer
