8. A HISTORICAL DEBATE
Once a debate took place between Namrood and Sayyiduna Ibraheem details of which have been mentioned in the Holy Quran.
Who was Namrood
Namrood was a king bearing utmost arrogance. He was the first one to place the royal crown of kingship on his head and to claim that he is god. He was born of an illegitimate birth due to fornication committed by his mother. His mother thought that if there would
be no inheritor of the kingdom, then the kingship will end. That illegitimate child grew up and became a very prominent king. It is famous that there have been only four persons who had been given the kingship of the entire world. Among these four people, two were true believers and two were unbelievers. Sayyiduna Sulayman and Sayyiduna Zul-Qarnayn were among the believers while Namrood and Bakht Nasr were among the unbelievers. Namrood took all the food stuff under his control and passed the legislation in his kingdom that he would provide sustenance to only those people who would acknowledge him as god.
Once, Sayyiduna Ibraheem went in his court to get some cereals. Namrood, the vicious and atrocious said, ‘First accept me as your god. Only then I will give you cereals.’ In presence of all his courtiers, Sayyiduna Ibraheem openly announced, ‘You are a liar and I worship the only one with whom no partners can be associated.’ Upon hearing this, Namrood lost control out of anger and ordered for dismissal of Sayyiduna Ibraheem without giving him even a single grain.
Sayyiduna Ibraheem and few of his devoted believers became restless due to extreme hunger. Due to the intensity of hunger, they were about to die. Sayyiduna Ibraheem took a sack, went to a mound of sand and brought back the sack full with sand. He then supplicated in the court of Allah and consequently, the sand turned into flour. Sayyiduna Ibraheem fed his devotees from that flour and he also ate from it.
The enmity of Namrood rose to such an extent that he got Sayyiduna Ibraheem put into fire. But the fire turned into a garden for him and he safely came out of the fire. As soon as Sayyiduna Ibraheem came out of the fire, he openly announced Namrood to be a liar and resumed preaching the oneness of Allah openly. Namrood became disturbed too much and one day, he called Sayyiduna Ibraheem in his court for dialogue. Following dialogue took place in between them in the form of a debate.
Namrood
O Ibraheem! Tell me who your Rab is towards worship of Whom you are calling the people?
Sayyiduna Ibraheem
O Namrood! My Rab is the One Who gives life and death to the people.
Namrood
I can also do this. Hence in order to prove his point, he called two prisoners from the prison into his court. One had been sentenced to death and the other had already been
released from the prison. Namrood freed the one who was sentenced to be hanged and hanged the one who was guiltless. Then he said, ‘You see, I have given life to dead and death to alive.’
From this ridiculous display of Namrood, Sayyiduna Ibraheem concluded that Namrood was an extremely foolish person who had misinterpreted life and death. Hence,
Sayyiduna Ibraheem presented an easier and logical argument and said:
Sayyiduna Ibraheem
O Namrood! My Rab is the One Who brings out the sun from the east. If you are god, then bring out the sun from the west for one day.
Listening to this argument by Sayyiduna Ibraheem Namrood stunned and could not say anything. Thus this debate ended and Sayyiduna Ibraheem walked out of his court victorious. After this, Sayyiduna Ibraheem resumed preaching of monotheism with a new vigour and more openly. The Holy Quran has described the incident of this debate in the following words:
Did you (O dear Prophet Muhammad) not see him who quarrelled with Ibraheem concerning his Rab, as Allah had given him the kingdom? When Ibraheem said, ‘My Lord is He Who gives life and causes death’, he answered, ‘I give life and cause death’; Ibraheem said, ‘So indeed it is Allah Who brings the sun from the East – you bring it from the West!’ – The unbeliever was therefore confounded; and Allah does not guide the unjust ones.
Moral:
We can derive following lessons from this incident:
1. Sayyiduna Ibraheem continued proclamation of the oneness of Allah steadfastly. Neither did he get frightened of the great number of Namrood’s army nor did he ever get depressed by the oppression of Namrood. Instead, when the tyrant Namrood put Sayyiduna Ibraheem in the blazing flames of fire, even then the determination of
Sayyiduna Ibraheem in the proclamation of the message of monotheism remained unaffected. Then the heartless Namrood banned the provisions for Sayyiduna Ibraheem. Even this could not affect the perseverance of Sayyiduna Ibraheem.
Namrood then challenged Sayyiduna Ibraheem for a debate and called him in the royal court to inspire him by showing his royal grandeur and splendour. Sayyiduna Ibraheem accepted the challenge of debate without any fear and presented such strong and sound arguments before Namrood that he became awestruck and failed to answer. The truth as mentioned in the following verse overwhelmed the court and courtiers of Namrood:
And proclaim, ‘The truth has arrived and falsehood has vanished; indeed falsehood had to vanish.’
Finally, the truthfulness of Sayyiduna Ibraheem dominated and Namrood was killed by just a feeble insect i.e. a mosquito. The devout Islamic scholars should pick the moral lesson from the excellent character of Sayyiduna Ibraheem that, whilst confronting the forces of evil, they should show perseverance and remain steadfast until the last breath
without having any fear and without getting worried from the difficulties. They should have a stern belief that the help from Allah will definitely descend and ultimately, they will succeed against the infidels and the infidels will be obliterated.
2. We should also believe faithfully that Allah will provide us sustenance from an unseen source. When the tyrant Namrood ceased the provision of food for Sayyiduna Ibraheem and he could not get even a single grain in the whole country, Allah turned sand and soil into flour. Thus, the truthfulness of the following Islamic belief became fully evident:
Indeed it is only Allah, Who is the Greatest Sustainer, the Powerful, the Dominant.
In short, the blessed lifestyle of Sayyiduna Ibraheem is a paragon for the Islamic scholars. It is an unshakeable reality that those following the footsteps of Sayyiduna Ibraheem will definitely be successful. This is a reality that is evident like sun. This reality has been expressed delightfully in the following couplet:
Source: (QURANIC WONDERS) by ‘ABDUL MUSTAFA A’ZAMI.
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