Verse 131 defines the basic principle of the religion of Sayyidna Ibrahim (علیہ السلام) . Allah asked him to submit himself, and he willingly and gladly agreed to submit himself to |"the Lord of the worlds.|" Let us add that the word of command employed in this verse is Aslim اَسلِم ، which comes from the same root as the word Islam. It is difficult to find an exact English equivalent, for the word signifies |"to obey, to submit oneself, to surrender one&s will.|" Anyhow, we should notice that in reply to the divine command, he did not say, as one would have expected, اَسلَمتُ لَک : |"I submit myself to you,|" but, more elaborately: اَسلَمتُ لِرَبِّ الْعَالَمِين : |"I submit myself to the Lord of the worlds.|" This particular form of reply expresses the attitude of respect and awe proper to the occasion, and includes the praise of Allah which the moment of receiving the honour of divine address demanded. It also carries a recognition of the fact that in submitting himself to the Lord of the worlds he was only performing the essential duty of a servant towards the Master of All, and doing it for his own benefit. The reply makes it clear that the basic principle of the religion of Sayyidna Ibrahim (علیہ السلام) ، and its very essence is contained in one word, Islam, which signifies total obedience and willing submission of oneself to Allah. It was to show to the world his perfect adherence to this principle that he was made to pass through all the trials before attaining his exalted station. Islam اسلام ، or submission to Allah, is what the world has been created for; it is the end all the prophets and all the divine books have been sent to serve. We also learn from this verse that the religion common to all the prophets (علیہم السلام) and the point on which all of them come together is Islam اسلام . Beginning with Sayyidna Adam (علیہ السلام) upto the Last Prophet (صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم) every messenger of Allah and every prophet has called men to اسلام Islam alone, and enjoined upon his followers to keep to this Straight Path. The Holy Qur&an is quite explicit on this subject: إِنَّ الدِّينَ عِندَ اللَّـهِ الْإِسْلَامُ. |"Certainly, in the eyes of Allah the only religion is Islam|" (3:19) and وَمَن يَبْتَغِ غَيْرَ الْإِسْلَامِ دِينًا فَلَن يُقْبَلَ مِنْهُ |"Whoso desires a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted of him.|" (3:85) In order to put the question in the proper perspective as also to avoid the risk of misunderstanding let us add a few remarks. All the religions which different prophets brought to the world had a divine sanction behind them, were essentially instituted by Allah Himself, and each of them was, in its own time, |"accepted|" in the sight of Allah. Consequently, each of these religions - whether one calls it Judaism or Christianity or something else - must in its essence be Islam, in the general sense of the word - namely, total submission to Allah. But the religion of Sayyidna Ibrahim (علیہ السلام) is distinguished from others by a peculiar characteristic - that is, he gave to his religion the name of Islam, and to his followers the name of Muslims. We have al-ready seen in Verse, 128 how he prayed for himself, his son and his progeny: رَبَّنَا وَاجْعَلْنَا مُسْلِمَيْنِ لَكَ وَمِن ذُرِّيَّتِنَا أُمَّةً مُّسْلِمَةً لَّكَ And, our Lord, keep us both obedient (Muslimayn مُسْلِمَيْنِ ) to you, and make of our progeny a people (Ummah) obedient (Muslimah مُّسْلِمَةً ) to you.|" And now in Verse 132 we find him advising his descendants not to die without being sure that they have been Muslims. After him this distinction of being specifi¬cally called Muslims and |"the Islamic Ummah|" passed on, according to his own instruction, to the Ummah of the Holy Prophet۔ (صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم) Addressing the Muslims, the Holy Qur&an says: مِّلَّةَ أَبِيكُمْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ ۚ هُوَ سَمَّاكُمُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ مِن قَبْلُ وَفِي هَـٰذَا |"Be steadfast in the religion of your father, Ibrahim. He named you Muslims before this as well as in this (the Holy Qur&an).|" (22:78) When the Holy Qur&an was revealed, the Jews and the Christians, and even the idol-worshippers of Arabia used to make the claim, each group on its own part, that they were the followers of the Abrahamic religion, but the &Holy Qur&an and its followers have made it quite evident that in this last phase of human history the religion of the Holy Prophet (صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم) ، and this alone, is the religion of Sayyidna Ibrahim (علیہ السلام) the relig¬ion of quintessential |"Nature|" (Al-fitrah). In short, the essence of all the divine books, all the Shari&ahs and the teachings of all the prophets is Islam - that is, turning away from one&s desires in order to obey divine commandments, and giving up individual opinion in order to submit oneself to divine guidance. But we are grieved to see that there are thousands of Muslims today, who have forgotten this basic truth, and wish to pursue their own desires in the name of Islam. What appeals to them is that kind of interpretation (rather, misinterpretation) of the Holy Qur&an and the Hadith which should flatter their desires. In fact, what they strive to do is to distort the Shari&ah to suit their fancies, and to do it so cleverly that the idols they really worship should appear in the garb of religion. Such men are, indeed, trying to be clever with Allah Himself who knows every particle of the universe and who can look into the deepest recesses of the human heart - the Almighty before whom nothing avails but complete surrender and total submission. What Islam requires of man is that he should set aside all his desires and inclinations, and seek, in everything he does, the pleasure of his Lord. And he can find this pleasure only when he knows the commandments of his Lord, and also performs these tasks exactly in the manner He has prescribed. This is what ` Ibadah عبادہ or worship is, in the real sense of the word. It is the perfection of this total obedience and submission and love which constitutes the final stage of man&s spiritual development, which is known as the Station (Maqam) of Abdiyyah (عبدِیہ Servanthood). This is the station where Sayyidna Ibrahim (علیہ السلام) received from Allah the title of Khalilullah خلیلُ اللہ (the Friend of Allah), and the Last of All the Prophets the title of عبَدِنا :Abduna (Our Servant). On the subsidiary levels of the Station of Servanthood stand the Abdal عبدال ، the Aqtal, the Awliya اَولِیا ، the men of Allah - the &saints& of the Islamic Ummah, each in his own degree. This is the essence of Tawhid توحید (the realization of unicity), on attaining which all one&s fears and hopes become bound with Allah, and with no one else. Thus, Islam signifies total obedience to Allah, and this obedience is possible only when one follows the Sunnah, the Way of the Holy Prophet (صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم) . The Holy Qur&an has laid down the principle in very explicit words: فَلَا وَرَبِّكَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ حَتَّىٰ يُحَكِّمُوكَ فِيمَا شَجَرَ بَيْنَهُمْ ثُمَّ لَا يَجِدُوا فِي أَنفُسِهِمْ حَرَجًا مِّمَّا قَضَيْتَ وَيُسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا ﴿٦٥﴾ |"By your Lord, they will never be true Muslims till they make you the judge regarding the disagreements between them, and find in themselves no resistance against your verdict, and sur-render themselves in full submission.|" (4:65). In the end let us clarify an important point. As reported in Verse 132, Sayyidna Ibrahim (علیہ السلام) made his descendants promise that before they died they should make sure that they had been Muslims. It means that one should steadfastly follow the teachings of Islam throughout one&s life, so that one receives the grace of Allah and remains a Muslim upto the last breath. A number of ahadith too say that one would die in the state which one has maintained in one&s life, and one would, on the Day of Resurrection, rise from the grave in the same state. This is the usual way of Allah with men - if His servant makes up his mind to do good deeds and also strives in this direction as best as he can, Allah helps him and makes the task easy for him. This principle does not in any way stand in opposition to what has been said in another hadith to this effect: A man keeps doing the kind of good deeds for which Paradise has been promised and it seems that there is only an arms& length between him and Paradise, and then all of a sudden his destiny overcomes him, and he starts doing what would lead him to Hell, and finally he reaches Hell; on the other hand, a man keeps doing what would lead him to Hell, and it seems that there is only an arm&s length between him and Hell, and then his destiny overcomes him, and he starts doing what would make him worthy of Paradise, and finally he enters Paradise. We have said that there is no contradiction involved, for some texts of this hadith mention a proviso too - |"as it appeared to people.|" That is to say, the first of these two men appeared in the eyes of the onlookers to be performing good deeds, while in fact he was doing just the opposite; similarly, the second man had from the outset been doing what would make him worthy of Paradise, though people thought him to be a sinner. (Ibn Kathir) We conclude this discussion with the remark that the man who has been steadfast in doing good deeds, should trust the divine promise, rely on the usual way of Allah with His creatures, and hope that through the grace of Allah he would depart from this world in this blessed state.
