14. Ibrahim

Our Lord forgive me and my parents — this was before their enmity towards God Mighty and Majestic became clear; but it is also said that his mother submitted to God the alternative reading here being the singular wālidī ‘my father’; or yet another variant reading being waladī ‘my son’ and forgive believers on the day when the reckoning shall come to pass’ the day it shall be effected. God exalted be He says

And do not suppose that God is heedless of what the evildoers the disbelievers from among the people of Mecca do. He but gives them respite without chastisement until a day when eyes shall stare wide-open because of the terror of what they see one says shakhasa basaru fulān to mean ‘he opened them his eyes and did not shut them’;

as they come hastening muhti‘īna is a circumstantial qualifier with their heads turned upwards to the heaven their gaze their sight returning not to them and their hearts as air devoid of any sense because of their being terror-stricken.

And warn make them have fear O Muhammad (s) mankind the disbelievers of the day when chastisement will come upon them namely the Day of Resurrection and those who did evil who disbelieved will say ‘Our Lord give us respite by returning us to the world for a brief while that we might respond to Your call by affirming Your Oneness and follow the messengers’. It is then said to them in rebuke ‘But did you not use to swear formerly in the world that for you there would be no passing away? min zawālin min is extra from this world to the Hereafter?

And you dwelt in it in the dwelling-places of those who wronged themselves through unbelief those from among communities of old and it became clear to you how We dealt with them by way of punishment — but you were not restrained thereby — and We struck made clear similitudes for you in the Qur’ān but you did not take heed.

And verily they plotted against the Prophet s their plot — when they desired to kill him or detain him in his house or banish him — but their plotting is with God that is to say knowledge or the requital thereof is with God and their plotting even though it be great was not such whereby mountains should be moved meaning that it is not of any importance but that they are only harming themselves thereby. It is said that the use of ‘mountains’ here is meant to be literal; alternatively it is also said to be a reference to the laws of Islam which are likened to these mountains in the way that they are established and fixed a variant reading has la-tazūlu instead of li-tazūla with in softened from inna ‘verily’ in which case the intended meaning is that the extent of their plotting is great. It is said that ‘plotting’ here is actually a reference to their unbelief. This second reading is consonant with God’s saying Whereby the heavens are almost torn and the earth split asunder and the mountains fall crashing Q. 1990; according to the former reading however one should read it as if it were wa-mā kāna and their plotting was not such ….

So do not suppose that God will fail to keep His promise of victory to His messengers. Truly God is Mighty Victor nothing able to escape Him Lord of Retribution against those who disobey Him.

And mention the day when the earth will be changed to other than the earth and the heavens namely the Day of Resurrection mankind shall be gathered onto a white clear earth as reported in the hadīth of the two Shaykhs al-Bukhārī and Muslim. Muslim relates the following hadīth ‘The Prophet s was asked “Where will people be on that day?” He said “On the Bridge sirāt” ’; and they shall come forth they shall exit from their graves to God the One the Almighty.

And you shall see O Muhammad (s) the sinners the disbelievers on that day coupled chained together with their individual devils in chains manacles or collars

their shirts made of pitch because it ignites fire more intensely and their faces are engulfed by the Fire